The Gift of Guitars

Positive Pensées

Kathy King

The Gift of Frets

“The difference between the ordinary and the extraordinary is practice.”

Vladimir Horowitz

What is a fret?

A fret is a strip of metal on a guitar.

They make the most beautiful sound when the strings are added.

Melodies, harmonies, strokes and picks of pure beauty. 

Those frets turn into chords that folks can sing along.

The frets can play a Bach prelude and fugue that holds so much musical charm.

Frets on a bass guitar can keep the beat.

In order to use those frets and strings, you have to have calluses on your fingers to ease the pain.

If you do not practice and those calluses go away, you have to re-acquaint your fingers with those steel or nylon strings.

So when you hear the gift of frets don’t immediately think that you need to worry about all that life brings.

Frets are a gift that brings melodious strains and chords of pure beauty. 

Remember the playing, the practice all takes time and work. 

But when you come to play the music the reward produces much meaningful worth. 

As I was reading the news this morning… well, I just sighed.  I looked for a few minutes, read some articles and I had to put it down.  It is not that I am indifferent to the sheer suffering of others.  It is more of a, “Why are we humans so cruel to one another?”  I know that we live in a fallen world.  I know that for my part I can pray earnestly for those in peril.  But what can we do?  We can be better people.  We show care when there is none around us.  I know that this is must easier said than done but my goodness.  I wanted to share this quote by Ram Dass: “When you go into the woods and look at tress, you see all the different trees.  And some of them are bent, some of them are straight, and some of them are evergreens, and some of them are whatever. And you look at the tree, and you allow it.  You see why it is the way that it is.  You sort of understand that it didn’t get enough light, and so it turned that way, and you don’t get all emotional about it. You just allow it, you appreciate the tree.  The minute you get near humans, you lose all that.  And you’re constantly saying: You are too this, or I am too that.  That judging mind comes in.  And so I practice turning people into trees.  Which means appreciating them just the way they are.”

The guitar originated in Spain in probably the 16th century.  The guitar is obviously more portable than a full orchestra or a piano.  The type of the instrument is a chordophone which basically means the sounds are made through the strings and the vibration of the wood.  The neck originally had about 4 strings.  Today’s modern guitar has 6 strings. Before playing the guitar the strings need to be tuned with set notes.  Otherwise the chords will not be in tune and basically in the words of my music professor “It will sound like a musical gobbly gook mess.” Suffice it to say tuning is important.  When playing the guitar (in my experience particularly the acoustic guitar), you have to maintain calluses on your fingers otherwise the calluses will go away and you will have to repeat the painful process of calluses again.  So, practice is quite important.  Reforming calluses is not a fun task.  I have let my calluses go way too much. The piano is my main instrument, however I do like to play from time to time. When you place your fingers on the fret to form a chord, you use your pick and stroke the strings and voila!  You are making music.  Also, Bach never specifically wrote pieces for the guitar but some of the most beautiful pieces of music were adapted for the guitar.  Why frets?  How does this relate to life?  Our life is a song.  Whether that day is a melancholy minor (sad sounding) key, or a resounding major (happy sounding), key.  Each day is played with notes of life.  Those notes make up the scale that plays the great melodies and harmonies of our life.  For example, we will use the key of D major as our life song.  The first note is D which could be determination.  The next E, it could be an eagerness to make a better day and life for yourself.  Now, next is F# you can face the day whether it be sharp or flat, that is up to you to say.  G is next in line, it could be a generous gesture or some wisdom to be gained (gotta keep those calluses in good shape).  A, aim high, or find some amusement to lift your spirit.  Next we have B, take a moment and breathe, build someone up or find a small moment of bliss.  C# is next, what should it be? Catharsis? Charisma? You make the choice.  Finally we are back to D. The end of the scale where you can dance and play on your life frets a beautiful melody.  Frets are not always good in life, but they do keep us disciplined and mindful that when we don’t practice mindfulness and thankfulness we lose those calluses and have to start them all over again.  Play your frets with great gusto dear readers.  

Source: Yamaha.com