How To Give Up Playing The Guitar Like An Engineer

A wannabe guitar player tries to take the easy way out and solve the “pain in the digits” problem with LEGO…

The “solution” to sore fingers. Photo by author.

There is a clear distinction between loving music and playing music. One of those requires work. Who would have thought?

Brooks Rocco

is right. Many people are picking up the guitar. Some after a hiatus. Some for the first time. I did too, then swiftly put it back up on the wall just ten minutes later. The sore fingers that used to be distant memories all came rushing back, just like the excuses I had when I first gave up on playing the guitar. Not enough time, fingers too sore, not in the mood, fingers too short, it’s an acoustic guitar, fingers too sore, neighbours will hate me… did I mention fingers too sore? Name any excuse, I had it and then some.

The truth is, I know a failure when I see it, even if it happens to stare right back at me in the mirror, but in recognising that I failed miserably at playing the guitar, I found an opportunity to solve a problem. This is nothing new. At my core, this is what I do. I don’t give up, I pivot. Several times if I have to. A ruin is but building material for something new, so looking at my ruined — pun intended — fingers, I saw an opportunity.