Musical Genius

Nah, not really. Musical genius I aint. For one thing, my fingers don't co-ordinate anywhere near easily enough. For another, I don't have a perfect ear. Despite these limitations, I decided to learn guitar. So I researched away, then searched the internet, emailed various shops, and finally settled on a 'bargain' Segovia acoustic guitar. Solid top, steel strings, good quality machine heads, lots of pretty inlay, free gig bag. All well and good, but then I had to learn to play the thing. It looks kinda nice just sitting around outta the gig bag, but I could've just bought a cardboard cutout and painted it up if that's all I wanted it for. Well, the first few (self-given) lessons were atrocious. No volume control, buzzes, squawks and various other unmelodious noises. But I'm slowly getting the hang of it. A month later and I can pick out tunes like Greensleeves and Scarborough Fair... and even play some songs along with the CD that came with the instruction book. I have genuine callouses on the fingers of my left hand. I've just bought a couple of new instruction books for the next part of the learning curve... chords. ARGH. Know how I said my fingers don't co-ordinate easily? Chords require a lot of LEFT hand co-ordination. Sigh. But I think back to a month ago and realise I felt much the same dread starting the last instruction book... and OK, I'm bound to gain some extra callouses (which require PAIN), but it'll be worth it in the end. PS. There's a life lesson in there somewhere. I couldn't be bothered drawing it out, but feel free to expostulate on it yourself in the comments area, if you so desire :-)