Why the guitar is like a lover

So far, my posts have been primarily about the technical and conceptual aspects of playing guitar. This evening, I'm going to depart from that and touch on the spiritual, and to some extent, the emotional side. Playing guitar is an unending ritual of courtship. Get used to it!...

Desire - We all come to the instrument because we want something from it. It's doubtful, in many cases, that we have much of an idea as to WHAT we want, but we want something. It seems to magically hold some promise for us that we eventually give in to. It's this desire that fuels our relationship with the guitar.

Flirting - Most people don't get past this. They pick up the guitar and play with it when the mood strikes them. They flirt with the guitar without giving much consideration to what lies inside. What makes it tick. What makes MUSIC tick. Those who do look closer find a good deal more.

Presence - "Being there" is what the guitar wants. It wants to know that you're listening, that you're focused. Being attentive to the little details of how we move and how the guitar behaves are the very definition of the path on which we tread every day.

Honesty - The guitar is like a mirror in this way. When we're dishonest with it, it lets us know. Haven't practiced in a couple of days? Feeling disengaged? Don't know what to say? Are you frustrated? The guitar will reflect that with the most pure sincerity. If you're dishonest when you pick up the guitar, you won't like what you hear. Be sincere. If you're honest about where you're at in every way, you'll feel it.

Dedication - Time and effort are a necessity in order to play guitar. There are times when giving those things are not what we have in mind and we have to deal with that. Practicing is something we need to learn and practice! We all reach a place where we have to dig our heels in sometimes. We learn that "doing now" is an investment.

Humility - The guitar doesn't respond to demands. If any of us are unfortunate enough to persist in insisting on getting something we want from the guitar, we meet resistance of some kind or another - tendonitis, despair, sloppy playing, gibberish, bad tone... The guitar is really here to teach us about ourselves. We learn to approach it as something to listen to and learn from. This has a lot to do with the practice of honesty and dedication, which lead to:

Altruism - Somewhere along this path, we begin to realize that the guitar really only responds to one thing - what we give to it and give willingly. What we want from it becomes inconsequential as we begin the courting ritual anew every day.