Guitar - The Coolest Instrument

 Most guitarists and music lovers (including me) consider guitar to be the coolest instrument. This is true to a certain extent although I enjoy other instruments too such as the Piano. Piano might be the most elegant and royal instrument out there but guitar is arguably the coolest instrument. You can play almost anything you want on the guitar, a unique distinction that only a few instruments have. 

Learning guitar is probably a slightly more challenging task. Well after all its a skill and as I said for tennis in my previous article, there is no way to master a skill overnight. One has to be persistent and work hard to get a hold of the skill. Guitar is arguably a tougher instrument to learn than most other instruments and most musicians would agree. The intricacies of guitar and the dynamic play that it brings are definitely a joy to watch and experience but its also that much tougher to play it. 

Learning the guitar can be a very tiring and often boring process (especially in the early days), but just like tennis, the joy of being able to play an instrument and to master a skill is invaluable. Guitar brings the spirit of optimism and can light up the most sulky souls and enlighten people. It is truly a joy to play the guitar and watch maestros exhibit their skills.

There are different types of guitars : classical, acoustic, Hawaiian and the electric guitar. Each brings something new with it and brings a lot of variety into music. Skilled musicians can often play multiple instruments and a decent number of guitarists can play more than one type of guitar. 

I started to play the guitar when I was 11 years old. I was fortunate enough to learn at the renowned Calcutta School of Music and learnt to play the classical guitar. In Kolkata, I took part in multiple concerts including the Crescendo and other Calcutta School of Music concerts. I used to thoroughly enjoy these and it was a great opportunity to relax and enjoy the beautiful music being played. 

I also gave 3 Trinity exams and received distinction in grades initial, 1 and 2 by the Trinity School of Music, London. Interacting with other guitar players and learning about the world class guitarists not only boosted my interest in guitar but also motivated me to practice more and get better. 

While in Kolkata, I also learnt to play the Acoustic guitar and I enjoy playing both of these to this day. Guitar has helped me immensely even in my academic life. I can relax and rejuvenate in a matter of minutes as and when I want. Whenever I have to study a boring subject, I usually include it with playing the guitar so that I don't get bored while also managing to complete my tasks. 

I have been playing the guitar since almost 5 years and now I can play a large number of songs and classical pieces. It does take hard work, but once the skill is developed it stays for a lifetime (unless you stop practicing for years). I can now play just about any song I want after hearing it a few times (yes, even gratitude by Amin Toofani if you were wondering). My mom also used to play the guitar, so that was a natural inspiration for me to get better at guitar. 

Guitar is a tough skill to master, there's absolutely no doubt about it. But it's probably my most cherished skill that I can count upon anytime. In the early days I used to struggle for days on end trying to get a hold of fingerstyle and flamenco on the classical guitar. I used to also struggle a lot with the strumming patterns on the acoustic guitar. I couldn't get an upstrum to save my life! And even after I started to get an idea of fingerstyle, strumming, flamenco and the various dynamics and theory of music, I struggled again! I could barely manage to sing a line while strumming. The words just couldn't come out of my mouth. 

But I worked on my guitar skills quite a lot, especially during the pandemic to lighten up the mood, and eventually got to a level where most can't. I don't want to discourage anyone by writing this article and the previous one, in fact if you have a chance go for it and grab the opportunity to learn with both hands. But don't give up, never give up cause if there's something guitar and tennis have taught me is to never give up, keep working hard and one day it's going to pay off. 

There are a lot of musicians that I enjoy. Fabio Lima, Sungha Jung, Igor Presenyakov and Acoustic Trench are some of the guitarists that I admire. I also love many other musicians such as One Direction, One Republic, Bon Jovi, Imagine Dragons, Linkin Park and Avril Lavigne. There are quite a few highly under rated musicians that are unbelievably talented such as Sean Koch, Greyson Chance and James TW. 

There is so much more to the world of guitar and music and the sky is definitely not the limit in this field. The creativity and talent of the musicians of today are beyond what words can describe. Music has helped so many people get through their tough times and it has brought a smile to millions of people on the planet. On that note, let's try to learn an instrument and keep the spirit going.