Guitar Face
I was watching The West Wing special on television the other night and as I settled into the episode, something struck me.
W.G. Snuffy Walden played the theme song on acoustic guitar during the opening credits. As he played the familiar tune, I couldn’t help but notice how the emotion of the piece was fully displayed… on his face.
I played a little guitar growing up and I remember getting a bit of mocking when I picked it up again a few years ago. Why? My family said that my face looked funny while I played the thing.
So I stopped. I shouldn’t have.
My family didn’t mean anything by it — it was a good natured rib. But it was enough to make me put the guitar down.
Think about musicians you’ve seen perform. Almost every one of them puts on a face, showing the emotion of the pieces they play. Sure, they probably look silly whenever they put on their “guitar face” as they perform, but I don’t think that they care.
I also don’t think that they’d be able to perform as well without it. They know that, too.
I’m not necessarily going to pick up a guitar again anytime soon, but as I sit here writing this I can tell you that I’ve got my “guitar face” on.
I’m not worried about how it’ll make me look. Neither should you.
