From time to time I’ve posted on IMHO with questions related to my oldest son, who is a guitar player. He’s always been a creativity machine, doing whatever was age appropriate. So when he was two he was cranking out drawings all day. When he learned to write he started producing letters and stories and that lasted till he was 12.
That’s when he discovered the electric guitar, almost three years ago. He’d already failed at piano and French horn so I wasn’t too excited. I didn’t even offer to pay for lessons at first. So he googled “guitar lessons” and found enough stuff online to practice and played every day for the next year, at least, and became pretty proficient. And several times since then my wife or I have commented on how much better he’s playing as he’s progressed.
But last night was pretty wierd. He frequently plays something and I ask him what it was. Last night he was playing something that sounded really unusual and very good - kind of like I could buy this groups’s CD - so I waited till he stopped and I asked what it was. And he said “Oh, that’s just some of my stuff.”
So even though his teachers have always told us how creative he is and all that I never felt any pressure before. Now, I feel like I better do whatever it takes to nurture this talent. Should I just keep doing what I’ve been doing? Does it matter anyway what I do? Maybe the stuff wasn’t even original anyway. Probably no easy answers but I feel for the first time like I’d better handle this correctly.
Just be encouraging. It’s great that he’s writing his own riffs. That shows that he’s basically got a handle on the instrument and can figure out how play what’s in his head.
Along with the Crybaby, pick up an Ibanez TS-9 Tube Screamer as well. I loved mine when I first was playing back in school.
Also, if he gets in a band and plays shows, go to them. At least, try to. I think my sister has been to one or two of mine, but neither of my parents have. It kind of sucked when I was younger, and I still think about that before I play. It’d be nice if they came to one even though I’m a grownup.
Turn him loose on Audacity or Garageband or some other multitrack recording/looping/editing software. If you already have the computer (Mac/Windows/Linux), Audacity is free. And Garageband is included with Macs, so if you’ve gotten a Mac recently, you already have it.
Get him a microphone/mixer/standalone recorder/other cool and not too expensive gear. Or a sound system would be nice.
In general my policy has always been to buy him whatever he wants related to music. I bought our first Apple laptop this summer so he could have garageband but so far no interest in that. I asked him about the Ibanez TS-9 Tube Screamer and he said he’d thought about it but hadn’t pushed for it. Maybe I’ll follow up on it this weekend.
He’s only been in two bands so far. The first one was a bad mix so he quit and he immediately got invited to a new band. His first practice is Sunday so we’ll see how that goes.
brendon_small I know what you mean about attending his events. When I was a kid my guitar laying was so bad that no band would have me. But I can relate in terms of sports. When my parents came to an event it meant a lot to me.
