Passion de Guitarra

The moment I gazed upon a guitar, my world was turned upside down. My mind was blown away by its beauty, like a singer turned into a dancer, sugar becoming salt, and black turning white. I was on fire! When single chord is struck and rings into my eardrum, it feels like I’m in another dimension in a snap, a single snap that changes my thoughts, actions, and my personality, turning my simple life into something extremely extraordinary.

           

            This life-changing event happened during my childhood years. As young as I was, people expect me to do what a child normally does, but my heart and mind was already captured not by childish play, but passion for music. My entire being was caught by the arpeggiated one.

            Every moment I spent with my guitar is as clear as ice in my mind. I can even remember that moment when I was playing with my kitchen set in our living room. I was into that game of pretend, pretending I was a little chef, but as I look up, there hanging at the corner was an old guitar. I didn't even mind it all! Why? Because I thought that I'm too young to play it, my fingers are too little, and it might be heavy to carry. But when my father unhook it from that pointy nail from the wall and started playing with the strings, I knew for sure that playing guitar is what I like most.

            Time passed by so fast, seeds grown into trees and flowers into fruits, as I was into an adolescent. That old guitar has been broken, mended, painted, and played. No matter how old it is, the melody that flew in the air is as sweet as honey and pure as gold. My fingers had been swollen, fingernails chipped, and finger pads callused, but the more I endured those pain, the better I have become.

I almost wanted to give up. Picking those strings is not an easy game. I cannot reach the fret board especially in fretted chords. My fingers were sore and painful when I forced my fingers to hold the strings, to go beyond what I can do. Despite the pain, I’m still triumphant!

Those hurdles I encountered are challenges that all guitarists had also experienced. A guitarist can't be a guitarist when he/she doesn't experience those things, for you cannot taste the sweetness of success if you cannot experience the bitterness of sacrifice. In other words, you cannot hear the sweetness of a guitar’s melody if you haven’t experience a callused finger.

Here’s a simple lesson I learned from playing guitar. I called it “WAN”: widen your patience, always, as in always, trust in yourself, and never ever, ever lose hope. Learning how to play a guitar is not a joke. It requires a lot of patience, time, and effort.

Learning is fun, right? And I do believe that playing is also the best part in all things. It is the most special and awesome scene of all the stresses and stumbling blocks I have—the part where I can play it wholeheartedly. Playing the guitar without pausing and free of worry and confusion of the chords as the rhythm transitions is a real and actual achievement. The first time I plucked my G-chord is the moment of truth that I have been waiting. G-D-Em-C are the four noble chords that made my guitar’s history outstanding and remarkably unique.

Bakit Ba in English Why is a song by the Filipino band Siakol in the year 1994. It is the first song that I actually learned how to play. I learned that song from my brother who is a fan of their music, and I was influenced by him. Some people said that song doesn't fit my personality for Bakit ba for them is not a song, but merely a nuisance. I didn't even bother to hear their nuisance. For me, music is something that needs to be appreciated, or should I say, something we should appreciate. If they do not appreciate that song, I do. If others cannot, someone will.

Sangue is my guitar’s name. It means blood in Italian language. I baptized my guitar with this very unique name because in entering the world of strings, you have to first undergo bloody obstacles of finger pads swelling and bleeding. If exercise is for the body, reading is for the mind, then my guitar is my sangue, my blood.