GUITAR HERO

 

 When I was fifteen I wanted to play guitar , be in a band and make a glorious noise, all power chords and "riffs". My parents, mindful of the potential racket insisted I first bought an inoffensive acoustic instrument and a "teach yourself" book . Chapter one advocated spending five hours a day mastering "Michael Row The Boat Ashore" and my musical ambition withered and died.

When I was thirty I bought myself a shiny red electric guitar - this time nothing would stop me. Trouble was, I was now a busy adult and when I couldn't windmill my way through "Pinball Wizard in a fortnight it ended up gathering dust in the loft with only my rock n roll dreams for company.

Then I discovered Richard Deyn.

A professional musician for nearly twenty years Richard says he can teach you to play from novice to band standard in a month, online. I'm sceptical so he challenges me to do it in half the time and taking a firm grip on my plectrum, I accept.
Richard's Easy Guitar Method is not just about where to put your fingers, it concentrates first on the reasons why you want to play the instrument. Richard says that because I want to learn for myself and not to impress anyone else, half the battle is already won, which should save a bit of time.

He teaches me to get into a positive mind-set by visualizing myself on stage, rocking an awestruck crowd. By the time we get to thinking about actual chords I already feel like Jimmy Page.
My challenge is to play the Snow Patrol song "You're All I Have" alongside The Picturehouse Big Band and I have two weeks until showtime. Richard emails me the chord sequence as I work through his online tutorials. 

For a novice like myself it's refreshing that the Easy Guitar Method concentrates on the often overlooked fact that playing the guitar is a real laugh. Richard skilfully de-mystifies the learning process so when my nervous fingers coax a noise out of my instrument it actually sounds like it does on the record, brilliant.

With one intensive ,thirty minute practices session a day ,  my finger tips harden and I am delighted to find that they are also holding down the right strings with increasing accuracy.
I wander around the house Snow Patrolling incessantly while my Girlfriend is on the phone and my son does his homework. They understand, but after the seventy fifth time they've heard the same song its safe to say that neither is in any danger of becoming a Snow Patrol fan.

Later, I join my own bandmates in a glamorously dank, concrete rehearsal space in Ipswich.
Shane, Kilbey, Andy and Frisky Pat. are all talented musicians who have been playing together for years. They are welcoming, supportive and only take the Mickey out of me a little bit. I soon realise that playing on your own is one thing, but this is a whole new dynamic. "See you Saturday" beams Shane after rehearsal and I find to my surprise that I am really looking forward to it.

 It's the big night and the Cork In Felixstowe is a heaving mass of tipsy rock fans. The band blast through a couple of numbers, then it's my turn. For the first verse I am biting my lip in concentration, by the time we get to the chorus it dawns on me that I'm really doing it.

Verse two arrives and I'm checking out the crowd ,feeling like a part of the band. After that it's an absolute joy as I grin my way through the rest of the song, safe in the knowledge that I
know exactly what I'm doing. It all ends much too soon. 

Afterwards, rock-fingers aloft I salute the audience and frankly milk the applause for all its worth.

 The Easy Guitar Method is about expressing yourself and not seeing music as an exclusive club from which you are forever barred. I spent twenty five years wanting to stand on a stage playing the guitar, I've just done it and it felt great.

 Anyone fancy forming a band?

http://www.easyguitarmethod.com/