In May of this year I came upon the novel idea of learning a hobby that I had always wanted to attempt but never had the wherewithal to attempt: Learning to play a musical instrument.
My employer currently reimburses me for 75-80% of my schooling costs, and one of the credits I need to complete to get my degree is an “Arts Activity” (aka: Art Lab) credit. Since I had no interest in Poetry, Pottery or Paper Mache, I decided that through this credit I could get my employer to reimburse me for 10 weeks worth of guitar lessons.
On May 15th I purchased a Yamaha bass guitar and began sinking as much of my spare time as could make available into this new hobby. Frequent readers will remember my secondary guitar purchases, the dismantling of a Fender Squire bass, and the preparation of the body for paint (which now awaits only me clearing out a painting area in the garage).
While my “addiction ” to playing has waned just slightly, I still pick it up every day and run through the scales and whatever lick I am currently learning, as well as those I’ve recently learned.
Below the fold are videos of some of the songs I have learned so far (these are not videos of me playing them, so do not be disappointed in my lack of attention whore-itude). They are a smattering collection of tracks that either I thought would be interesting to learn or were tied to a lesson on technique or style. I enjoy playing each one of them, though I’m sure that by now The Wife has heard quite enough of all of them for a couple of lifetimes. I have left out some songs because either I have only learned parts (Another One Bites the Dust, etc.) or are not available on the intarwebs in video form (Move Me On Down the Line by ZZTop, etc.).
Enjoy!