A new Fender Guitar

I just came in from our front porch at 11:45 p.m on a Monday night to write this blog. I should already be in bed. I have a long day tomorrow and an equally demanding week. But, I always stay up too late. It's amazing what you can accomplish at night and I find myself more and more often working late at night either on Facebook, blogging, or cleaning the house. My husband is also turning into more of a night owl. Funny how we change as we age!

Ok, what was I doing on the front porch at 11:45 p.m? I was practicing on my new Fender acoustic guitar! That's right, I have a new guitar!!!! Until now, I have had the immense honor of using a very generous friend's Takamine acoustic/electric guitar. The Takamine sounds wonderful and it fits me perfectly. I have tried to buy the Takamine from its owner, but he is adamant that he plans to learn to play and he will not sell. I can appreciate his reluctance. The Takemine is a 1983 with a beautiful sound. In my teacher's hands it really has a beautiful sound. Sometimes I framm it until something akin to a beautiful sound leaps out of it in pure frustration! Still, I trudge on hoping to get better. The picture is me with the Takamine guitar. Practice, practice, practice.

I often practice on the front porch. My husband appreciates that I often practice on the front porch rather than in the house. I understand. I can hear myself play. Not sure if the neighbors are happy about my front porch playing at 11:45 at night. Sorry neighbors. I figure the louder I play the better I sound. I am afraid it's like talking to someone who does not speak English -- just talk louder and they will understand. Right? I think if I play louder or harder that maybe listeners will appreciate the passion and energy of the music. In other words, I hope to fake out the listeners until I can really play. I totally believe that it's working so far.

Back to the Fender guitar. A friend of our family recently brought me the guitar as a Christmas present. It's not a new guitar, but he knew that I was learning to play and he had this great guitar. He brought my husband a very nice golf club that he played with Sunday, but he will have to blog about that. I am interested in telling you about the Fender.

I almost cried when I opened the guitar case he handed me. When I saw the word Fender and the beauty of the guitar I was elated! I was getting ready to buy a new guitar so that I would have one of my own, so this Christmas present was perfectly timed. As I brought the guitar into the house, our friend said that it had not been tuned in 10 years and probably was terribly out of tune. As I sat down to tune each wonderful string of that guitar, I realized that they were perfectly in tune with the exception of one string that needed minor tuning. I immediately began playing my short list of songs. Beautiful. I can't wait to hear the guitar played by someone who is especially talented. Maybe I should think of a name for this fine, new guitar. I will ponder the perfect name for a Fender acoustic guitar owned by a Rock and Roll Wanna Be!

The generosity of our friend is so much appreciated. You can all appreciate the kind of friends that you have known for 20 years who you can call on if you need them. My husband and I will make great use of our new Christmas presents.

It's a great time of the year to call up old friends and make sure that they know you appreciate them and value their friendship. I don't do this nearly as much as I should. Facebook and this blog have been great ways to reconnect with friends from high school and college. Keep in touch. Life is short and has no guarantees. I hope that I will become talented enough on the guitar that you can hear me play some day on my new Fender acoustic guitar. If you hear some very loud guitar music, it could be me. Practice, practice, practice.