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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
National

Break out the guitar as an instrument of resistance, writes Simon Walker

If you're looking to alleviate Covid-related cabin fever this current lockdown, try learning a musical instrument.

My choice of weapon, the guitar - tailor made for social isolation.

Indeed, it may well encourage more, depending on the patience of your housemates.

All you need is an instrument and a dogged belief that sooner or later you will sound better than when you started.

This is called "blind faith" and when combined with persistence, reveals learning guitar is like ascending a mountain.

You climb, you plateau. You climb again, you reach another plateau. Eventually you look back and realise there's a lot more climbing left.

More from Simon Walker: The complete That's Life archive

But that's all right, you've got all life.

I took up the axe way back in year 9, inspired by a mate who'd mastered the riff to Stairway to Heaven.

I found the positive effect on his social standing highly motivational and have been chopping away aspirationally ever since.

Whether I've gotten any better is relative, preferably in a minor or major pentatonic scale.

At its heart, learning guitar is a character-building spiritual challenge that brings you face to face with personal shortcomings, like lack of talent, ability and technical knowledge.

These shortcomings are no barrier to success as many artists have proved, but rather a beacon of hope.

If you keep at it long enough you will learn to if not overcome these shortcomings, at least disguise them.

This is called "faking it until you're making it" which is essential in those early days when most of the weeping will be coming from your audience rather than your guitar.

Naturally, early twangs will generate thoughts like "gee that doesn't sound very good", and that's probably because it doesn't.

But if you persist you'll discover you could sound better if you know a few things - like chords, or songs, or maybe a bit of music theory - and from there you'll be on your way.

In Biblical parlance, ye will begin to seek, and typically ye will start to find.

Particularly if you have access to the internet.

There is a mountain of online material ideal for guitar hero exile, not to mention technology that can bring the virtual jam into your Corona-cut-off loungeroom.

Indeed, it makes me wonder how we ever got a tune going before the arrival of the web. Oh that's right - all hail Smoke on the Water - gateway to guitar for countless generations.

It doesn't matter what song your entry point, just so long as it exposes you to the basic chords (you only need about three to last a lifetime).

Once the fingers are doing what you mind is willing them to do on the fretboard and you're getting "a sound", you'll be hooked to a friend for life.

And hopefully a distraction from all those other things currently giving you the blues.

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