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Testimonies of learning to play the guitar from my experience are as follows: Let me start by saying, playing the acoustic guitar is one of the most beautiful and disciplined things I've ever done for myself. It took a lot of time and patience on my part to actually sit down and learn to strum this amorous instrument. Many hours are involved along with timeless inspiration. There is plenty of concentration and discipline involved as well.

At first, it was very frustrating because I couldn't get the strings to make that wonderful sound you hear on the radio, they kept buzzing and it made me feel discouraged. But with some perseverance and practice, slowly the strings started to sound more like a melody and not a huge bubble bee flying around. Once acceptance of not being a superstar set in, it became open-mindedness and intuition.
Since the process of teaching myself to play this beautiful instrument is trial and error, I don't recommend that, but for me it's been a magical experience once I allow my fingers to glide freely up and down the strings. There's nothing more exciting in the world to me than feeling that sense of accomplishment and creativity flow through me when I finally get a piece right. On the other hand, there is a certain amount of freedom involved and unless I allow myself to not be perfect, the sound continues to sound forced and not effortless.
To me playing an acoustic guitar is more than just learning chords or learning to read tablature, but instead it is a piece of myself bounded by the material ways of the world that for an hour or two at a time I allow to play like a child. There is a spark of inspiration that is there, that seems not of anything I can produce, and to be apart of that is amazing to me. It takes me to a higher level, where I forget about the everyday stresses of the world and just sit down and listen to the relaxing sound of my own playing.
Now, there is also a certain amount of pain involved, as far as building up calluses, but once you get the initial layer of skin hardening it usually happens pretty fast, if you keep practicing. Hey! No pain, no gain right? This virile finger tip is totally worth it once my fingers start to strum a nice little melody that isn't heard on the radio or heard ever before, except in my own mind.
Creativity at a heightened level like this, almost gives me purpose at times and it makes me feel satisfied with whatever is happening in my life at that time. A sense of peace and accomplishment comes over me and I am okay with everything in that moment, all because I've made a simple melody on an acoustic guitar.

Learn more about this author, Celeste Vitello.
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