Rock Star Joel

I am extraordinarily talented at many things in life, from writing great blog posts to drawing purple dragons to creeping people out.  One area that I have been sadly lacking experience in though is in the musical realm.  My dad once tried to get me to play the trumpet in fifth grade, but I never learned to make anything other than a dying screech.  In junior high, I took a required choir class and hated singing Christian songs so much I never sang again.  However, I have begun to regret being unable to play an instrument as well as my white man dancing skills.  So I have decided to learn how to play the guitar.  Plato was kind enough to lend me his father’s guitar to learn on.

Yes, yes, I know.  Trying to learn to play the guitar at age 25 is like getting a giant permanent black marker and writing “Douche-Fag” on my forehead.  I think that I am doing it for the right reasons though:

• I have worked hard to develop my analytical, writing and business abilities, but have never learned the first thing about music.  A whole section of my brain has never developed as well as it should have.
• In order to dance better, I need to have a better feel for rhythm and beat.
• It gives me a nice break after studying C#, ASP.NET and SQL all day.

A lot of guys who try to learn guitar just do it to get laid or are having a mid-life crisis and want to reconnect with their non-existent youth.  I have no such desires.  Women are plentiful and easy, my mid-life crisis is still brewing and I am the King of America.

My goal long-term goal is to be able to cover 10-15 songs well.  I am not dumb enough to try to write my own songs… I’ve seen too many people I know do that and make cringe-inducing screeching noises.

Song #1- “Leaving on a Jet Plane” by John Denver.  It’s supposed to be pretty easy.