Music Men
A young talent and an empowering teacher from Wyoming
Here is the audio file for yesterday’s Morning Journal flash briefing for Alexa:
Signs Point to Jazz Guitar
I loved the Magic 8 Ball, which was introduced in 1950, the year I was born.
It was shaped like a huge black 8 ball from pool, and when you shook it and turned it over there would be an answer to your question.
I’ve been reading an excellent book about how to detect life signs and guidance from the universe, and I’ve also felt drawn to picking up my guitar after a multi-year sabbatical.
My finger tips have turned soft. But my heart has been drawn to smooth jazz guitar music on Apple and Amazon Music. Could a 75-year-old guy learn to play with that much freedom and playfulness?
Left brain has been quoting the Magic 8 Ball’s five ways of saying no, including “Very doubtful” or “My sources say no” or “Outlook not so good.”
I was just about to drop the idea when a friend and his wife arrived from Wyoming. I think of Randy Crain as Thing One and Thing Two all in one person—magical, mighty, musical, and magnetic. His wife Christi, a calm and orderly soul, has been Darlene’s friend since they were in elementary school together in Belle Fourche, South Dakota.
We’re about to take Randy and Christi to Ocean Perk for coffee and famous salted biscuits with apricot jam. They travel back to Upton, Wyoming, this afternoon. So I need to wrap this up.
If you listen to the Morning Journal, you will hear Randy rave about John Dorney, a 27-year-old musician he and I heard Thursday night at Blue Portland Maine, a beloved music venue on Congress Street in downtown Portland.
Before retiring, Randy taught music in Upton schools for 40 years. He owns 10 guitars and loves those made by Taylor. Yesterday I screwed up my courage and asked him whether I could learn to enjoy playing jazz guitar at my age.
If Randy were a Magic 8 Ball, his answer would have been “Signs point to yes.”
In the living room here at the cottage, next to a fire in the fireplace, he gave me an introduction to the scales I will need to begin with.
This morning before a vegetarian lunch at Green Elephant, he will accompany me to the Guitar Center.
“Your job will be to make sure I don’t buy a Taylor guitar today,” I told him.
“That’s not the right attitude,” he replied.
He says I will need to take a look at the guitars on offer and hold them one at a time and play some scales.
“It’s not really a scientific thing,” he told me just now. “If you pick it up and it feels like it belongs in your hands, it probably does. But you have to do a bunch. If none of them feels right, don’t get one.”
Okay. I’ve gotten my sign. I’m ready to make some music.
