Spears and I
The need for a complete mastery of a range of instruments has always interested me. The Ukulele, seen as a sub category, a small guitar or toy caught the eye of Spears. It's four nylon strings and solid wood body was what caught his interest. I gladly handed the man the fifty dollars in exchange for my second stringed instrument. Spears hated the way the neck of the instrument was made. As the small frets, already too big for his fingers grew smaller the higher notes became impossible to play. I eventually found out how to work my way around the fret size and got to work learning everything about the instrument inside and out.
Spears was interested in the specific type of wood, sound board, and neck that it was constructed of and I was happy to know that it was not made of plastic and was solid wood. Spears learned each note up and down the neck of the instrument, each movable chord shape and deconstructed them. I focused on learning familiar songs in hopes of eventually being able to learn my own. I'd strum up and down with my thumb and index finger at the bottom of the neck. I was please at the speed I was learning. Spears wanted more from the Ukulele, he started to learn for complex strumming patterns and riffs. He got to work on writing a song each note at a time with a tempo faster than anything I'd ever played. Both Spears and I had a love for the instrument, he longed for a more complex understanding of it and I was content learning new things about it slowly day by day.
"Spears learned each note up and down the neck of the instrument, each movable chord shape and deconstructed them." This line has great detail and really stood out for me!
ReplyDelete"Both Spears and I had a love for the instrument, he longed for a more complex understanding of it and I was content learning new things about it slowly day by day." I love the contrast between Spears and I in this line.
ReplyDeleteA good way to end your piece,"Both Spears and I had a love for the instrument, he longed for a more complex understanding of it and I was content learning new things about it slowly day by day."
ReplyDeleteI liked the line "He got to work on writing a song each note at a time with a tempo faster than anything I'd ever played" because it starts with one of the selves and ends with the other.
ReplyDelete"Spears wanted more from the Ukulele, he started to learn for complex strumming patterns and riffs. "- you have to test your own abilities to become the possible best you can be.
ReplyDelete"I gladly handed the man the fifty dollars in exchange for my second stringed instrument". I like how this line shows how much you want to learn to play another instrument.
ReplyDelete".. He longed for a more complex understanding of it and I was content learning new things about it slowly day by day" I really like the way you ended it because it kind of shows that you want to learn in different ways.
ReplyDeleteOmari--Your ability to illustrate both frustration and majesty is beautifully evocative. You allow us a sense of what it means to take up a new instrument and dive into it with complete passion. When you speak of how frustrating it is to get around the instrument in these lines,
ReplyDeleteSpears hated the way the neck of the instrument was made. As the small frets, already too big for his fingers grew smaller the higher notes became impossible to play...
...capture this with style and grace.
I really like "Both Spears and I had a love for the instrument, he longed for a more complex understanding of it and I was content learning new things about it slowly day by day." I like how it shows the difference between the two.
ReplyDelete"Both Spears and I had a love for the instrument, he longed for a more complex understanding of it and I was content learning new things about it slowly day by day." I like this line because it shows that there is some conflict between what you really want
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