How This Guy Capitalized on COVID-19 Solitude

Chester: You're done playing when I say you're done playing, human!

​To say live music is an integral part of my life is an understatement.  Going to concerts is so much a part of my lifestyle that I have a running joke on Facebook, “I don’t go to enough concerts,” a joke I make every time I’m at a show, which is nearly every weekend.  Thanks to COVID-19, this can’t happen now.  But, to paraphrase the Grateful Dead, the music never stops.
 
One day, almost on a whim, I picked up an $80 acoustic guitar from a pawn shop near me.  I had played on and off since I was sixteen, but I never really took it seriously.  That casual relationship resumed once I brought it to the office: I played it a few times, but ultimately, I stashed it in a corner of my office and forgot all about it.
 
When I found out we would be working remotely, something possessed me to take the guitar home.  One evening, after getting done to work, I just felt the urge to play Phish’s “Waste,” a song I had committed to memory several years earlier.  I had been witnessing the struggles of my loved ones on Facebook, so I posted a video of my performance.  I was astonished by the number of “likes” I received.  So I vowed to post a new song every week.
 
I started out with some other songs I had committed to memory: “Norwegian Wood,” “Blowing in the Wind,” and “Uncle John’s Band.”  For me, these were fairly easy to relearn.  Then, I decided to expand my comfort zone with more complex tunes, like Led Zeppelin’s “Good Times Bad Times.”  Not easy, but I accomplished it.
 
After teaching myself a few songs, and a few new chords that went them, I decided to play for a purpose.  While I’m childfree by choice, I couldn’t help but feel empathy for those parents trying to homeschool their children.  I always struggled with math, so I can’t even comprehend trying to help someone in that subject, even in basic arithmetic.  So I learned Jimmy Buffet’s “Math Sucks” to help soothe the frustrations of those parents struggling with math. 
 
Ever since she saw Bohemian Rhapsody, my mother has been obsessed with Queen.  I give all due respect to them as musicians, and I like some of their songs, but I’ve never been enough of a fan to pay money for their music.  But I decided to learn “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” as a Mother’s Day present to her, which I sent to her phone.
 
One thing I’ve learned in my relationship with my guitar is that perfection is the enemy of progress.  If I were going to be a rock star, it would’ve happened already, so if I simplify some chords or change a lyric or two, it doesn’t matter.  The only people listening are my friends, and they won’t (or shouldn’t) judge.  So why not loosen up and have some fun with it?