When I was young, my dad told me I was good with my hands. Growing up, he was pretty woo, and I loved it. When I got a headache, he’d give me a quartz from his crystal collection instead of children’s Tylenol. There was a lot of magic in my childhood. He also believed in astrology and attributed skill with my hands to my being a Gemini. I liked that, too. I don’t know if it had anything to do with the stars, but I have always loved doing things with my hands. Making things, molding things, digging in the dirt. I have loved creating things with these two strange appendages that feel like instruments of something greater than myself.
Things I will admit to being good at—it’s a short list:
Being Zelda’s mom
Being Brad’s wife
Writing sometimes
Acting sometimes
Singing sometimes
Making flower crowns
Picking knots out of necklace chains
Typing
Parallel parking
I’m sure there’s more, but I’m not going to think about it too hard. The point is, about half of that list would imply that my dad was right, I’m good with my hands. I’ve always wanted to play guitar, a hand-heavy endeavor, so it stands to reason that with enough effort, I would be good at playing guitar.
The problem is that playing guitar is a very difficult thing to do with your hands. I’m not discouraged. I love practicing every day. I looked back at my past videos and realized I’ve been practicing consistently for about four months. I don’t know if I’m satisfied with my progress, but I have gained some new tools recently that I think will make learning more effective. Anyway, I’m still doing it. And I might be good at it one day.
Here’s what I learned today. One step closer to shredding. I think my favorite thing about this video is actually the reveal of what’s behind me when I move to turn on distortion. I make no illusions about the state of my living room with a four-year-old around.
Rock on, lovers.