My Favorite Source Component

If the first goal of high fidelity is enjoyment of music, playing an instrument seems foremost.

I began this journey in 1984. Having been told to stop playing the piano and get a job, I took my mother's steel-string to the bedroom and worked with a book to learn to play with a pick. After doing this a while, I knocked out four teeth in an auto accident about April 1985. Then the inability to sing made flat picking a bore.

Perhaps the seed had been planted earlier. When I was about eight, dad invited a coworker to visit. When he came, he brought a handmade Spanish guitar and played some for us. Later when I was 19, a friend persuaded me of the virtues of classical guitars. After the accident – when a visit to the mall took me to a music store – I saw for sale two classical guitar methods: a Carcassi method book for $5 and an antique one for $1.50. Lacking for cash, I bought an antique book copyrighted 1901 and began my quest to learn Spanish guitar on the acoustic guitar I had at hand. After learning the basics, I lost interest in the antique book because it had too many waltzes and polkas and did not seem headed for the Spanish music promised. In place of the book, I started to improvise. By 1990, I had become skilled in improvisation to where I played several songs of my own composition.

In September of 1994, amid much personal turmoil, I went to the local music store and purchase the first guitar of my own – a Yamaha classical – and began improvising again. I continued in this way until a stunt by adversaries in 1996 caused me to stop playing for a long time.¹

About a year after moving away, I felt free to play again. At first, I only allowed 15 minutes a day of improvisation because I had a book to write as well. When time allowed I began to practice Classical guitar more diligently from a better method book I had put away for future use.

Eventually I took my guitar to the garage to make a bone saddle to replace its plastic one. Whether the improved sound was worth the renewed feeling that I had to give up my guitar is anybody's guess. I deduced that I had come into view of someone's espionage. Therefore when it came time to apply golpeadors (Flamenco tap plates) – and eventually a new bone nut – all had to proceed much more secretly.

¹See related article Orbit.

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>November 3, 2017 Created.