40 Years of Playing Guitar

It's hard to believe, but I've been playing guitar for almost 40 years now!

I first started out playing the piano. I'm not sure how old I was or how long I had piano lessons, but I'm going to guess it was perhaps 2 years of lessons. Yeah, I was probably only 8 years old when I started. But I didn't stick with it. My brother Rick was always way better than me (he's a full-time professional piano teacher today) and I just couldn't compete. So I quit.

Not long after I decided to quit piano, I told my parents I wanted to play guitar. "Are you sure you'll stick with it?" I recall my mom and dad asking me. "Yes! I'll stick with it!" I think they had their doubts.

Even though they didn't think I would play guitar for long, my dad signed me up for guitar lessons at the North Center Music store around Irving Park and Kedzie in Chicago. There I had a great teacher named Don Maro. Mr. Maro taught me for several weeks and then he left the music store! So one week, I went in for my lessons only to find some other guy as my new teacher! I couldn't believe it! I didn't want this new guy and so I told my parents that I was thinking of quitting. They just figured they were right... I didn't stick with it.

But later that week, I received a phone call from my old teacher, Mr. Maro. It turns out that he decided to go off on his own and so he was contacting all of his past students to see if they might want to continue learning from him privately! He asked to talk to my dad about it. I gave my dad the phone and told said, "Yes! Tell him yes!" So that next week, Mr. Maro came to my home and we started once again.

I was always surprised that Mr. Maro went from home to home to teach guitar. He only charged $4.00 per lesson back then and he didn't drive. That's right... he either took a bus, or he walked from one home to another! It amazed me that someone could walk so far and carry his guitar as well to go from home to home. Not only did he teach guitar, but also drums and trumpet, but he didn't carry those instruments with him.

Well, in a short time, Mr. Maro had taught me the fundamentals of guitar and then our family decided to move from Chicago to Morton Grove, a local suburb. So, I found that in less than perhaps 1-1/2 years, I had to quit guitar. Before we left, Mr. Maro confided in me that I was either his top student or second top student. He said he didn't want to tell me which so that I wouldn't get a big head over it. But still, for only having taken lessons for less than 1-1/2 years and becoming either number one or number two out of all his students, that was quite a compliment. And yes, I was only 11 years old.

Did I stick with the guitar? Yeah... too much, if you ask my wife! I've been a guitar fanatic for a long time now and I do play constantly too.

Just a few days ago, my friend Jerry and I went to see Doyle Dykes and Haley Dykes play in Rockford, IL. After the show, the owner of the store was giving away door prizes and as usual, I won one. It was a free set of Elixir Nanoweb Medium guitar strings. So after having my ticket stub number called, I went up... camera and all, to claim my prize. "Hey! The photographer won a set of strings! Do you even play guitar?" the owner asked... "Yeah... I do!" was my reply. Then a smile came over my face as I remembered when I first started. "I have been playing for forty years..."

Whenever I go to weddings to take photographs, clients and their wedding party always think I'm in my late thirties or perhaps early forties at best. But when I tell them that I'm almost fifty, they always say, "No Way!" Perhaps it's that Rock 'N Roll in me that keeps me young, huh? Or maybe, I just never knew any better to grow up! All I can say is, "Thanks Dad! Thanks Mom! And Thanks, Mr. Maro... I stuck with it. And it's kept me young too!" Rock on...