flattered

now playing: dire straits, "tunnel of love"


every now and then, i fail to consider how lucky i am.

thankfully, the universe doesn't often allow me to continue down that road for long.


was at work last night until after 8:30pm, and had two stops to make before i went home - had to stop off and drop some cash off for my daughter, and then over to keith amos' shop to pick up my two finished dobros...one is a wood bodied squareneck for traditional bluegrass-style playing, and the other is a national-style metal-bodied roundneck model. he tuned up the resonators in both of them and installed pickups for me. i was initially a little agitated with his choice of location for the output jacks, but i never specified where i wanted them, so that was my bad - but i got over it the minute i heard them both plugged in. wow.

unreal.

as an added bonus, i got to play keiths' les paul through his paul rivera-modified fender bandmaster amp for a while - perhaps i shouldn't even use the word "play"...this guitar plays itself. it really is an amazing instrument. you bend a note and hold it and the guitar just sings....

so i reached for my checkbook, and he told me to put it away - and asked if we could work out a trade...i couldn't initially think of anything that i had that he'd want. but he said he'd waive his installation and tuneup fees for the dobros if i'd commit to six hours of lessons. he wanted me to sit down with him and show him how i do some of the things i do, and work on phrasing and technique a bit as well.

now i've had people ask me to teach them to play before, either from scratch or after having managed to throw together a few chords, but this guy is an accomplished player - he's been playing longer than i have, and i was floored when he brought this up. my first reaction was, "what could i possibly show this guy?"

but i am quite flattered - i've gone through a humbling process, playing with our new guitar player in stone road - not inasmuch as i have a huge ego, but i think i'd become accustomed to having all the complex stuff fall on my shoulders in the band...and having someone around who brings donnie's chops to the table has shaken me loose, to be certain. i'd gotten lazy, and having donnie there to fire back and forth - well, it woke me up. so maybe this opportunity to work with keith is the next step in wiping the complacency out of my eyes and getting on with my proverbial day.

i think the other thing that factored into my reaction was a story that i heard from roger mcguinn once...he was talking about the byrds' first trip to the UK, and about the night they played london and the beatles were in attendance. there was a great deal of pressure surrounding this trip, what with being billed as america's answer to the beatles - and it apparently showed in their performance, as far as roger was concerned. he thought they sucked that night.

anyway, after the show, john lennon apparently came up to roger and told him how much he enjoyed the show, and roger shot back, "really? i thought we kinda stunk." and john kinda shrunk after that remark, and was pretty distant for the rest of the night.

for me, the lesson to be taken away from that would be not to impart your own judgement onto anyone else...which is what i'm trying to take with me into the keith situation. there must be something that i do that he appreciates and respects - and if i can convey that to him, i'm only too happy to do so.

it's a difficult thing for me, allowing myself to be grateful for my talents, because it involves acknowledging them, and my upbringing frowned upon this, having branded it as vanity. for me, even saying the words "i'm a talented musician" out loud sounds arrogant, even though it is obviously true and has been acknowledged time and again. i have to personify the doubting thomas, though, because i've yet to figure out what it is that validates my talents. eventually, i have to make peace with it, though.

i've been the eternal roger mcguinn up to this point in my life.