I Give You The Yamaha SBG500 Electric Guitar...

Maybe ten years ago, give or take a year or two, my nephew Josh and I entered into a trade. For the life of me I can't remember what I contributed to the exchange, but I do know I left with a Yamaha SBG500 electric guitar. If I had to guess, I think I traded him an old laptop computer, but don't hold me to it. I doubt even Josh remembers what he got.

But whatever it was, I know I got the better of the deal.

By a long way 

(especially if it was a ten-year old laptop...)

On Wednesday I brought home little amp (the one I had has a short in it and doesn't work well...). I took out the red guitar and played a bit. I am in no way proficient on the instrument, but guitars--like almost all musical instruments--are beautiful. I had my computer close so I did a google search on the guitar since I know little about Yamahas. In all these years owning the guitar, I never researched the Yamaha.

Turns out, my little red guitar is quite a find. 

It was built in Japan in the 1980s. Yamaha released a SBG500 B series in the 1990s, I believe, but it's always better to have an original. There weren't many of this particular model for sale on the internet, but the ones that were had a value more than I expected. In fact, I was shocked. I believe my nephew bought this guitar at a yard sale, the same yard sale we had visited. In fact, I think I saw this very guitar when it was for sale. He picked it up and I ended up with it. Since it was at the yard sale, with a price (if I remember correctly...) of around $100, I thought my guitar wasn't worth much. I was wrong.

I've blogged about my bass guitar a few times. It's a Gibson from the 1970s, a big old heavy beautiful guitar. I don't have the opportunity to play it very often. It's a shame. It should be played, yet it's hard for me to imagine selling it. Then again, if I sold both of my guitars, I could get a nice used car.

Sometimes, when I pick up any guitar, it reminds me of the Rush album 2112, and specifically the song, Discovery where a boy finds a guitar, learns to play it, and ultimately loses his life over it because possessing a guitar is against the law. Holding the guitar in my hands, strumming the wires, hearing the vibrations...I can understand why a musician would write a song like that. A guitar is a beautiful beautiful thing.

Thought I'd Give "Fender Play" A Shot...

I admit, I was influenced by an ad. The ad, and the free trial offer.

The ad was from the Fender Guitar people and the product was Fender Play, virtual guitar lessons.

The guitar has always plagued me. My first guitar was a small bass and I think I got it when I was in jr. high. I might have even traded my accordion for it. There are times I miss that accordion. But, we must live with our decisions--even ones from jr. high school. I ended up trading my bass for a nice acoustic guitar that I still have. Not knowing much about guitars, I asked my friend--who knew a lot about guitars--and he said my acoustic guitar was a much better guitar than the bass I traded it for.

So I got that going for me.

When I was in high school I bought my first real guitar, an RD Artist Bass. I fell in love with it, and even thought I don't play it very much, I still love that guitar.

Still, the six-string guitar has always been there, tempting me to learn, to master its wily ways. Like most kids who pick up a guitar, I was shown how to play a few cords. In the back of some of my kid's piano books, there are occasionally guitar cord charts. I tried learning how to play those songs. It didn't really work out too well.

Fender Play are virtual guitar lessons. Sure, guitar lessons have been around forever on YouTube, but something caught my attention on the Fender Play ad and I signed up. I even downloaded the iPhone app and tried it out. Both my daughter and I are going to give it a go. We'll see how things work out before the free trial expires. 

Though I'm partial to Gibson guitars, Fender makes some beautiful instruments. I'm not a big fan of the Telecaster, but the Strat--that's one fine guitar. But if Fender Play can help me learn, I may be a Fender fan for life.