I met with Doug once a week (Mondays I think), so I was always in a hurry to learn the next thing. Great sounds would mesh with awful clams so that I was constantly feeling like I was stranded in the ocean just grabbing at anything floating by. The more frustrated I got the harder I practiced. She’d give a glimpse at what might be possible and then close the curtain as if to say “But not yet.” The more I dug the more I wanted. My guitar would give me something and then seem to take it back and then some. That’s the beauty and magic of a guitar, it’s just like a woman once you think you have them figured out, they change BUT you don’t mind the change cause their just that awesome and amazing! Finally, I thought, a little daylight! One chord = 1 week! That’s my formula! Now I know exactly how hard I’ll have to work to get this guitar under control! Friday night “you want to go out? Nah, I’m gonna stay home and practice.” One chord, over and over, sometimes 4 of the 6 strings would ring, sometimes only 2, days went by and by the weekend I was getting all 6 strings to ring a little. A piece of paper with hand drawn dots showing where my fingers go. I went home and locked myself in my room and practiced. That E chord, yikes! “Just put this finger here…” I felt like my hand would cramp and fall off! I couldn’t make the chord, let alone play a song that required me to use this contortion in it! Something made me keep going though. Which forced me to learn my first chord and very nearly ended my guitar playing career before it started! This is the tape that I took to my guitar teacher, Doug Thurman, and asked him to teach me Voodoo Chile (Slight Return). This record was released in 1984 (according to wikipedia) so I probably picked it up because it would’ve been the most recent release. I hadn’t heard any of the original records or 1,000’s of bootlegs at this point so this was all fresh and new to me at this point. Randomly sequenced, it had no real chronology to it, just Jimi firing it up for 45 minutes. For a Hendrix neophyte, which I was, this was a great way to dive in music from all over his career. This one was clear! Cool!) My first Hendrix record is the one that drove me to play guitar, THIS one was my sonic bible. (I can still remember how they smelled when you tore the plastic wrap off and opened the box.How the cassette would rattle in it’s cradle. I bought my first copy of this record on cassette at The Sound Shop in Columbia, TN. The first being the soundtrack to the Motion Picture Jimi Hendrix. This was the second Jimi Hendrix record I bought. In the office today, listening to this record, bringing back so many memories I thought I’d write some of them down.
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