Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Guitar lessons and respectful young people

I GAVE A group guitar lesson to six kids from Chaddock Monday night at Second String Music. We had a blast and I hope they learned a few things.

The young people were respectful, listened carefully and tried their best. If you've never played, the first guitar lesson is not easy. You are doing something completely different and using parts of your brain you might not normally use. They asked good questions and were very funny, and they had no problem laughing at themselves and the big geeky guy doing the teaching.

They are going through some tough times in life. They've been placed in the residential program, often against their will. They appeared to be in their mid to late teens. I wasn't sure what to expect. I came away impressed.

I hope a few of them are inspired enough to try playing. All I know is that my guitar was my best friend many, many times when I was learning to play. It's therapy, creativity and just a bunch of fun all rolled into one.

This was the idea of the legendary Megan Peters, the (now) fill-in singer for the local band Eleven. She did this as part of her Quincy Service League project. Apparently the kids who behave get to do a special activity once a week outside of Chaddock.

I hope the young people got something out of our fun lesson Monday night. And, as usual, the teacher learned just as much, if not more, than the students.

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