The Story So Far: Part I

...as a kid I took piano lessons for about a year. Maybe more, maybe less; since I didn't like practicing, the total time is immaterial. I can still play chopsticks, but other than that it's all gone

Fast forward several years and I'm not too sure how I got the idea in my head, but I decided I wanted to learn how to play guitar. I was living in Somerville at the time, and there was a guitar store on Mass Ave and I went in and looked around, and the guy there showed me a Yamaha acoustic that wasn't too expensive. He played Blackbird for me - I guess he knew I was a Beatles fan - and it clinched the deal.

After spending some time with several self-teaching books that got me a few chords and not much else, I signed up for a class at The Cambridge Center for Adult Education, taught by Chris Breen.

There were about eight of us, and we sat in a circle and played along with Chris. It was a little intimidating, but fortunately we played together, rather than individually.

Chris had a great handbook he'd put together of easy to play songs, running from simple chords, to tabs for a few songs.

One of them was Blackbird...

After about six months, I had Blackbird down pretty good, and a few other bits and pieces. The F-chord was still a struggle.

But then two moves, a succession of job changes, and other things got in the way, and I pretty much didn't touch the guitar for seven years...