guitar

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My Fine Motor Skills Are Definitely Lacking

I’ve determined that my fine motor skills are not what they should be.

my fine motor skills are definitely lacking

It’s not as though I can’t work a pen or pencil, although, if you’ve seen some of my writing, you might call that into question. 

When my son was little and watching me journal, he asked me a very thoughtful question. He said, “Daddy why are you scribbling?”  

I told him I wasn’t, that I was writing, to which he rebutted “you are scribbling”. 

So maybe I can’t wield a pen or pencil like other people. 

I get along just fine doing most things. My hands work well: I can type, hold a baseball and catch a ball in my hand. I have no trouble holding or using a hockey stick … though my thumb is a little sore after a collision playing hockey this morning. But when it comes to more intricate moves, maybe I am lacking. 

If you do something enough times you get the hang of it. And that should also be true when using your hands.

For instance, no matter how uncoordinated you are, if you practice tying your shoelaces enough times, you will get pretty good at it. … I’m glad to say that I have mastered that fine motor skill and I don’t think I even needed any remedial help with it. 

But there are a few things that I just can’t seem to master. One of them is a video game joystick. 

Maybe you have to be born after 1980 to use one. I can never get my thumbs and fingers doing the right things at the right time. 

I was not much into video games but when my son was just starting out, we would play hockey on his Nintendo. 

… Well, that lasted about a month. 

We started off about equal but within a matter of weeks he had surpassed my skill level and never looked back. 

Any time after that when he’d challenge me to play with him, I just smiled and said I was not in the mood. It was really because my fingers don’t work that well.

But there is one more thing that really bugs me and that is playing the guitar. I can practice the same thing over and over and never seem to get past a certain stage. 

There is a little lick I’ve been trying to master for literally half a year. It is a couple of chords and then a solo part. I’ve played it over and over but I can’t get it to sound like it fits. 

And my fingers on my right hand refuse to cooperate with my pick in my left hand. 

I’ve practiced that bit way more than I ever practiced learning to tie my shoelaces. But if I had had this much trouble mastering my shoelaces, I would have switched to velcro straps instead.

Maybe you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.

Here’s the thing: We all have limitations; there are things we just can’t master or figure out. But there is a God who has created this whole world, who has never fretted one moment about accomplishing any of it. He is worth trusting your life to and depending on when you’ve reached your limitations. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you find hard to master? Leave your comments and questions below.

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My Guitar Is Not Making Me Want To Play

Though I don’t want to buy a guitar, after playing my son’s, I think I do need a new one. 

my guitar is not making me want to play
Handsome man playing guitar. Close-up of young man playing acoustic guitar while sitting in front of the window

In my last post (read it here) I wrote about how things like an inexpensive guitar can be harder to play than a more expensive one.

It’s not right if you ask me. I should learn the skills on a guitar that is easy to play and then graduate to something that is more difficult. 

Well, just recently my son got a new “axe” and he paid a good chunk of change for it. When I got to try it, I couldn’t believe how easy on the fingers it was to play. 

The space between the strings and the fret board of a guitar makes a big difference in how easy it is to press the strings down. The closer the strings are to the frets the less force you have to exert to form those chords. 

Basically, on my cheap guitar I’m breaking my fingers trying to play, while on my son’s it’s easy.

Why wouldn’t guitar makers encourage guitar students to keep playing rather than giving up in frustration? 

My son’s guitar is really nice; it’s also electric. He has an acoustic but he wanted to work on other aspects of playing. 

Recently, he brought his new guitar to our house so he could wail on it … and it can be deafening when the volume is turned it up and you are close by. 

My son lives in an apartment so I’m just waiting to get a call from him that he’s getting the boot. I’m sure his neighbours in the units around him aren’t thrilled with his new purchase. Fortunately, his apartment is all concrete and he keeps the volume down. 

He can play all day long. I can’t play much more than a half hour without my fingers hurting … and that’s with calluses. 

On the guitar I have now, the strings are closer to the frets than on my first guitar but they are not near as close as on my son’s guitar. 

If I had a guitar like his, I would want to play more. But I don’t want to spend all that money on a guitar when I’m not that good. 

Why couldn’t they make a cheap guitar that would be easy on the fingers? I think the issue is that they don’t care if you get good or not. They want you to get so frustrated with your instrument that you will spend any amount of money to get one that is easier to play. 

Playing my son’s guitar has inspired me to pick mine up a little more now that his is not around. I fiddle a bit with mine but still get to the place where my fingers need a break.

It’s like playing outside as a kid when it’s really cold. You play way too long and want to keep playing, but your toes and fingers are so frozen that you just can’t stay outside any longer. 

Here’s the thing: Putting your faith in Christ costs a lot. Jesus said you have to take up your cross and follow Him. Anything else you put your faith in will cost less, but in the end it will not last as long. Faith in Christ takes you to eternity. Faith in anything else leaves you suffering at some point. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What are you willing to pay for long-term ease? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Cheap Doesn’t Always Mean It’s Easy

I think cheap things should be easy and simple, while more expensive things harder and more complicated. 

cheap doesn't always mean it's easy

For instance, take two drones that look the same. You might think the cheap one would be easier to fly than the more expensive one. You might think the more expensive one would take more skill to fly it. 

But that’s not the way it is. 

The first drone I had was very inexpensive. I constantly had to work both control sticks to keep the drone in the air so it didn’t drop to the ground and crash.

It was hard, constant work. 

My next drone cost me more. But I could put the drone in the air, take my hands completely off the controller and it would just stay there, hovering in place. 

The more expensive drone was much easier to fly. It took less skill to use the more expensive one than the cheaper one. 

Things shouldn’t be that way.

If I’m new at something and buy an inexpensive product to learn on, it should be easier to use. I want to gradually get more proficient at it and then upgrade to something that requires more skill. 

Drones are not the only things like that. Guitars work that way, too. 

Every guitar has the same components. Someone should be able to pick up any guitar and play it. You place your fingers on the frets the same way. You strum the same way. The sound comes out of it at the same place. 

No matter what guitar I pick up, I should be able to play it. 

… Well, that’s only partly correct.

I remember when I got my first guitar. A guy I knew said he had an old one I could have, which was great since I was just learning to play. 

The first thing I did was change the strings that were probably twenty years old. I took off all the strings, put the new stings on and then started tuning it. … I didn’t know you should always keep some tension on the neck.

As I got the guitar closer to being in tune, I snapped the neck right off the back of the guitar. 

I was back to having no guitar, so I went out and purchased one. It was cheap – only $85 – but it had a nice sound to it.

I learned how to play on that guitar and had it for many years. 

There was just one problem with it. The strings seemed like they were about an inch off the neck so I had to press really hard when forming a chord. As much as I played, my fingers never seemed to get past the hurting stage. It didn’t matter how thick the calluses were on my fingertips, after twenty minutes I needed to put the guitar down. 

But a cheap guitar should be easy to play. 

Unfortunately that is not the case. … In my next post (read here) I will expose this problem more.

Here’s the thing: Because two things work on the same principles doesn’t mean they are equal. Some people believe that all religions are based on faith and, therefore, are the same. Not true. Christianity is the only religion that believes you can’t earn your way into heaven. It is the only religion that requires 100% faith in God to provide it. There’s nothing you can do. Not all religions are the same and not all faith is equal. God has provided through Jesus what we could never do – a relationship and eternity with God. Take God up on His offer; put your faith in Him.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How much faith do you place in your future? Leave your comments and questions below.

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I’ve been Neglecting My Guitar 

I need to play my guitar; I think it’s feeling a little neglected.

I don’t play the guitar all that well, and maybe that’s part of the reason it has been sitting on the shelf so-to-speak … but I do like to strum and play some songs.

When my kids were young, I would play songs like “Cat’s in the Cradle” by Harry Chapin, and they would bounce up and down on the bed, while screaming out the words to the song.

I’ve played the guitar for about 30 years, but I have about 5 years of real experience … and about 6 months’ worth of talent.

When I was a youth pastor I wanted to lead my teens in worship, so a friend and colleague got me started.

I never really progressed much past that, and it was a bit of a relief when the students in my youth group got good enough to lead. They formed bands and took over all the worship for the group.

Since that time I’ve really only played for myself and my kids. Both of them now play a little too … and I think they’re both better at it than I am.

I chock it up to not having great hand-eye coordination. I see where my fingers need to go on the strings to form the chord; I just can’t get them on the right strings fast enough.

It’s like I’m in slow motion.

It’s easy to tell it’s been a while since I’ve played the guitar: there is a thin layer of dust on the guitar neck and when my wife strummed the strings, wow, were they ever out of tune!

And speaking of tuning, I’ve never been great at that either. Maybe my hearing is off, because even with my digital tuning device, I can still mess up the tuning.

With all these negative thoughts, you might wonder why I bother to still own a guitar.

The truth of the matter is I don’t even put it away. My guitar is always on a stand, prominently displayed in our family room. Why, you ask? – so it’s always right there, ready to be played.

It’s like keeping my hockey sticks in the car all winter long, or keeping my golf clubs in the trunk all summer, just so that I am ready to play at a moment’s notice.

I don’t think Lily would appreciate me keeping my bike on the roof carrier though. That might be too over-the-top – plus then our vehicle wouldn’t fit in the garage.

Hearing that out of tune guitar this morning did stir something in me. I think before the day is done I will try to bring those strings into harmony with each other and then pluck away for a little while.

I’ve always found playing the guitar a little soothing to my soul.

Here’s the thing: There are times in our life when we might find that we are neglecting God with our time. We can get busy doing other things; family responsibilities can get in the way; our Bible collects dust, and we become a little out of tune with our Lord. Let me encourage you! No matter how long it’s been, don’t play the guilt song. Just pick up that Bible and sit with the Lord for a while and have a conversation. He hasn’t gone anywhere; He’s right there waiting for you to check in with Him again.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What has kept you from spending time with God in the past? Leave your comments below.

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What Are You Growing Out Of?

“We should pay attention to things we might be growing out of.” … That sounds like a funny statement. Of course we pay attention to things we grow out of!

shoes

Long gone are the days of trying to squeeze my body into pants that are a size too small. When a shirt gets too tight, it’s not showing off my muscles, it’s accentuating my belly … and the all-season Michelin XPS I carry around my waist!

No, we have no trouble noticing when we’ve grown out of clothes. When we were young we always needed something new because we were always growing.

It was either shoes, pants, shirts, coats, or boots. Always something.

Now we don’t grow out of much – at least in a clothing kind of way.

But we do grow out of things.

But really, it’s not so much a growing out of something as it is a moving on from something.

The other day I came home after work and my wife, Lily was on the phone with our daughter, Karlie. They were catching up on what was happing in their lives. In their conversation, Karlie mentioned she had been talking with a friend from Bible college days.

They got to talking about spiritual things and apparently the guy hadn’t been going to church. He kind of got lazy, didn’t feel like going to the church he grew up in, was tired Sunday mornings and so was just sleeping in.

In some ways he’s growing out of church, moving on. I don’t think he’s stopped believing in Christ but just outgrown the church thing.

How does one outgrow church? How do you move on from church, to a pillow and a comforter? … I believe you do it by neglecting your heart.

When you neglect anything it has an impact. I didn’t pick up my guitar for two weeks … guess what? It was out of tune when I strummed a chord. I promptly set it back down and walked away.

I played pool the other day for the first time in a month and I was missing shots I normally would make. I didn’t feel like playing all that long.

A friend who hadn’t been out to hockey for two months, commented that his puck handling was off. I hadn’t exercised all week and felt really tired playing. I wonder why!

The answer is all the same: neglect. When you neglect something, you lose something, not permanently necessarily, but you have to do something to get back to the way it was before you neglected it.

I’m going to have to tune my guitar before I play it again. I need to play a few more games of pool to get my angles figured out. I need to exercise throughout the week if I want to have more energy when I play hockey.

Here’s the thing: When you neglect your heart by not spending time with God, praying, or dialoguing with Him, other things will fill your heart and you’ll begin to grow out of things like going to church, serving in a ministry, things like that. It could get worse to the point where you’ve grown out of God all together. Has God changed? No. Did He become irrelevant to you? No. You’ve just neglected your heart. And the only way to get your heart back in shape is to spend time with God, talk, dialogue, get involved in His work. Then you’ll be sure not to grow out of Him.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you neglected lately? Leave your comment below.

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The Blues is Still Kickin’

The Limestone City Blues Fest was on this weekend and my wife, Lily, and I decided to take it in. I like the “blues” so I was looking forward to hearing some music that sounded like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Albert King or Colin James.

IMG_1733 - Version 2

There was an open-air concert right on Princess Street and when we got within a few blocks, we could hear the guitar man wailing away. We didn’t really need to pay the admission fee; we could hear the music fine from the other side of the barricade. But it’s only up close that you get to feel the music, so we paid.

As we entered onto the blocked off street, we ran into one of our son’s friends. He was eating on the patio of a restaurant in the “hub”. We had a short chat and then moved on to get close to the music.

As we left Gibby, that was the last time I saw someone under 25 for the rest of the night. Actually, it was the last time I saw someone under 65!  We passed into a time warp and everyone you looked at was old, and from a bygone era.

I don’t mean just middle aged – we were the young people in the crowd! I gazed over everyone sitting in their lawn chairs in front of the stage, and it was a sea of white hair. I couldn’t believe it.  Where were all the younger blues fans?

The band leader was just givin’ it on his guitar and these people were soaking it up. I think they probably had their hearing aides turned down and all they really heard was a muffled sound.

Hey, some of them probably turned off their pacemakers because the kick drum was so heavy you felt it inside you, like it was replacing your heartbeat.

It was funny to see all those old folks (some with canes), all happy like they just got out of a nursing home for the night. I checked, but there wasn’t any one of the seniors from my church at the event. And I couldn’t imagine any of them being there, or at least staying for more than two minutes.

The band we saw was called “Papa Chubby” and it was a very descriptive name for the leader of the group. He sat and played his guitar for most of the set, but it wasn’t like his show lacked energy!

The old folks were into it, too; they were moving. One guy reminded me of the bobble head figurines, only he was a whole body bobble head, standing there jiggling.

People were tapping their canes and even formed something of a weak resemblance to a mosh pit at the front of the stage.

We checked out just before it ended. We left the concert area to go grab some gelato on Front Street. And there we were, transported back to present-day Kingston!

Here’s the thing: Just like the “Blues” isn’t music for just an older generation, God is not the God of a past generation. And like anyone can enjoy listening to the Blues, Christ came to reconcile all generations to God. You are never too old or young to believe in God.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you stereotyped as being for another generation? Leave your comment below.