I started playing guitar when I was 12, initially Classic Guitar and Music Reading, and later when I was 16 popular guitar by simply playing what I liked and was able to listen and then play.
As a way to practice and keep my ability fine-tuned, I started playing for the close-by Catholic Parrish Sunday Mass Choir, which ended up being an excellent idea. As of that moment I was only able to play guitar reading music from musical scores and could not play and sing along at the same time.
Playing for the Choir helped me really develop my musical abilities, including being able to play from just listening to music and learning, developing as well a sound musical perception, improvising and following someone’s lead. And finally, the ability to play and sing along… this was a real achievement that lead me to really enjoy music. After that, while I was still 16, I was fully able to play and sing my favorite songs just by simply listening to them and practicing.
My guitar-playing and singing abilities made me an asset to any group gathering among friends and family, which was increasingly satisfying… and for a very shy and introspective person like me that was like an ice breaker or an easy introduction to any group of people, I just needed to play and sing.
I even had the opportunity to take part on an Educational Cruise-type trip along with 500 other teens from 50 different countries, for more than a month following the route of the 4th trip of Christopher Columbus (when the Amazonian River and Jungle were discovered) and imagine my luck for meeting people now that I had such a fine-tuned ability? I simply met everyone and everyone knew who I was just because of playing guitar and having fun singing with different groups of people.
But it was not until I was out of college after graduating as an engineer and started working full-time, that I really found the true value of playing guitar. Every day when I got back from a long hard day at work I just sat in my rocking chair or laid on my hammock and just played!
What a great therapy this was for relieving the accumulation of stress of either long work hours or just plainly the daily situations of life. Ever since that “epiphany” when I realized the simple pleasure and reassuring soothing music coming out of my guitar no matter what I played or even how well I played whatever I was playing, I have always effectively used Playing Guitar as a Stress Reliever.
If you play guitar, don’t underestimate the true stress relieving power and pleasure of doing so.
Enjoy!
