good music, pt. 1

good music has always been important
very young i ran around the house singing elvis, "you ain't nothing but a hound dog" and everly brothers "dream, dream, dream, dream, dream"
uncle elwood was my first musical influence;
sitting on the floor in the middle of his living room surrounded by his friends;
guitars, mandolins, fiddles;
country, gospel, rockabilly
a blur of chords, melodies, harmonies
i wanted to do that
my first guitar, the vagabond, came from my grandmother's cousin who played in a square dance band.
my grandmother took me to see them
during their break i talked to her about her guitar and how she played it
it was the only time i remember seeing her
the next christmas her guitar was leaning against the couch in the living room with my name on a gift tag
she bought a new guitar and decided i needed her old one
it leaned against the wall in a corner of my bedroom until february 9, 1964 - the day the world of music changed for me
i had heard beatle singles on the radio, "I want to hold your hand" and "love me do" and "my bonnie" (sort of a beatle song) but did not grasp the whole package until ed sullivan said, "ladies and gentlemen, from liverpool, england, the beatles!"
i was speechless, mesmerized, inspired
i wanted to do that
i got out the guitar
a mystery of strings, wood, ivory
fortunately 20 or so friends had the same dream
we taught each other
uncle elwood taugh me a couple of chords
house of the rising son - the most chords, if you can learn that one, you know almost every chord you need for rock & roll
louie, louie; satisfaction; peter gun; twilight zone theme; walk don't run - guitar primers
it was frustrating but i needed to learn
pain in finger tips, bloody callouses, we played for hours, we sounded horrible
thank God for parents who endured
formative musical years
later came music for Jesus
then it was just music because