Musical Evening

My recent renewed interest in guitars and music has been well-received by my immediate family.  This week, before and after a celebratory birthday dinner at home, I broke out a number of my new guitars to show and various family members gave them a try, from my brother the professional musician to my son who tried his first couple of chords.  My daughter pulled up a clip and some chords online for a song she is learning to sing from one of her favorite acts, "City and Colour."  After transposing the song up to her preferred range (capos are a wonderful thing), it was very satisfying to accompany her beautiful voice and make music together.  Her grandparents were a very appreciative audience. It's always wonderful to be able to share a common interest with the ones one loves.

The family then spent the weekend in New Hampshire, another occasion for shared meals, some music, and birthday presents. The many music-related gifts that came my way were much appreciated.  My kids sprang for the Farley's folding guitarist stool and stand with footrest pictured above that MusiciansFriend.com delivered earlier in the week.  I also received a coffee table book surveying the acoustic guitar lanscape.  Although the text leaves a little to be desired, the large-size pictures are eye-candy to the aficionado.

My wife was even able to find me (courtesy of Amazon) the American re-issue CDs of one of my "guitar heros" Marcel Dadi's first two LPs I owned in the 70s as a teen (see my earlier post). These include some of the earliest finger-picking tunes I learned and with which I can now get re-acquainted (in other words, re-learn!).  I wonder how we managed before the internet.  The resources available online to the guitarist are almost limitless and I hope to continue sharing some of them in future posts.