Guitar Breakthrough

HaHA! Today I played a song and I played it so many times it became automatic. So then I was able to stop worrying about the chords, and about half an hour later I had the strumming down, and half an hour after that it occurred to me to stop thinking about the words and notes to “Hey Julie” (for that was the song) and to instead listen to what the guitar part of “Hey Julie” sounds like. And half an hour after that I was able to anticipate what each chord might sound like.

It was a little like when you say the same word 100 times and it stops sounding like a word. I think this is the first time I’ve actually listened to my guitar instead of singing along (“Working all day for a mean little man” – Hey Julie lyrics), or thinking along, or singing the chords (“G,C,GGD,Em,C,DDG” – for that is also “Hey Julie”), or thinking the beat ((Hey)strum, (Julie)strum,strumstrumstrumstrum). And you know what? The guitar part is like a totally different song.

Weird. But I could now enter “So You Think You Can Play the Guitar.”