pat loughery

I have very few regrets in my life. Usually I have none, and though there are phases of my life that I’d rather not repeat again, I can see that I’ve survived them and maybe even learned something from the process.

But every now and then I have a specific pang of regret. I wish that I’d have learned to play guitar earlier in life. I play a bit now – basically, enough to find my way around reasonably simple songs in a strumming style, but not much beyond that. I spend a bit of time here and there playing, but not enough to really get better.

I remember being a teenager and at one particular event I was at – not sure what, probably some catholic youth group thing – I ran into these three guys who were guitariss. Shread-head metal guys, you know, the guys who think that Yngwie Malmsteen is God. But they had a passionate dedication – they practiced, hard, for a minimum of 8 hours a day. Of course they had no social lives to speak of (but then mine wasn’t all that exciting either). I was playing music at the time too – headlong into the saxophone world and was starting to study jazz, but not all that dedicated.

Later, I realized that sax isn’t much fun to play by yourself 🙂

So I switched and started playing guitars – mostly in small groups in church. I really enjoyed it. Still do the same thing to this day. I have a nice electric – a gorgeous red American Standard Strat, and an out-of-this-world acoustic, a Goodall Concert Jumbo. Both guitars are wayyy better than my skills in using them (I firmly believe in this rule of musicianship: play great instuments; it’ll make you enjoy your time more, and want to keep coming back for more. Also, at one point in my life I could afford such niceties :-)). I took lessons from a good, patient guy for a couple of years- even continuing my lessons when I broke both wrists and had one hand in a cast at a time for 6 weeks (left) and 8 weeks (right). Lessons stopped when Kaileigh arrived, and that was the right choice.

But if I’d have played a lot in my younger years, when I had much more free time, I’d have that base of skill on which to build now. And I simply won’t in the foreseeable future have 8 or 10 hours a day to devote to playing guitar.

Why do I write this now?

Whenever I go see live music, I get the BUG. I want to play more (and more than that, I want to be a better musican). And yesterday we as a family went to the Folklife Festival in Seattle – 4 days of ethnic/folk/traditional/world music, donation only for entry(and the $10 asking price is always an EASY decision for us).

We headed first to the Rhythm Tent (a big participatory drum circle; Kaileigh had a blast and did really well) . We then saw these bands (parentheses are the way the bands describe themselves in the program):

• Natalie Wouldn’t (ska, soul, rock-n-roll)
• Blackthorn (Lively Celtic music & more)
• Jamie Laval and Ashley Broder (Progressive Celtic)
• The Tulalip Two Plus One (rockabilly)

I loved the first three the most.

Natalie Wouldn’t was a fun band, very danceable, lively. Anytime you have a guy on tenor and bari saxes (my favorites from my playing days) you’ve got me hooked. I’d love to check them out in some local pub.

Blackthorn was a nice Celtic band, pretty traditional, from Vancouver. Nice crisp musicianship. I’m pretty sure we saw them last year; their name stuck in my brain. The guys were powered by Utilikilts, which I often wish I had the huevos to wear, but alas, I don’t. They had Kaileigh and Brogan up and dancing – Kaileigh, imitating the older redhaired girl who had some Irish dance skills. It was very cute to watch, and I’m hoping a picture or two turned out.

Laval and Broder were a tricky, intricate, well-composed fiddle/mandolin duo. I described them to a friend as the John Coltrane of Celtic music. You had to concentrate to get them, and that meant that the crowd was quiet, and that meant that our 4.5 and ~1 year old weren’t quiet enough for the crowd, so we moved along. I’ll buy a recording from these guys though and dig into it.

I’m not a big rockabilly fan, but Shannon really enjoyed that band.

Celtic music, good acoustic driven stuff, makes me really want to pick up my guitar – which I’ll do more in the next few weeks. But it would be nice if I had the foundation in that instrument to actually go out and learn some new songs as opposed to just noodling around and not really going anywhere, which is what usually happens.

I took Kaileigh and Brogan for a walk to go burn off some energy. We walked through the instrument makers’ showcase, and Kaileigh immediately wanted to buy a violin.  When I told her that she could learn how to play one, she said she already knew how to play it – you put one end under your chin and the other hand you go back and forth – it’s easy, dad.  Then I told her that violins were expensive, and I didn’t have that much money right now.  She suggested I pool with Shannon’s money.  Always ready with a response, she’s quick.  Actually, I think she’ll do well at percussion or piano – that tactile work would be great for her.

Now, if you want to go apply this rambling story to a greater truth for your own life, go for it. I don’t really have that implication in mind, I just wanted to write.