I was doing some straightening up yesterday during my day off at Grapevine Guitar Works. Sean let's me hang guitars up, arrange things, etc.
Paul Reitz comes in most days for a while as well, and gives guitar lessons in the back of the store. He walked up and said, "Rick, my lesson cancelled. You want to come back for a lesson?"
Now, friends, I like to think I am a pretty good acousitc rhythm guitarist. Paul is a classical style guitar player . . . one of my favorites to listen to . . . and I love to watch him play as well.
So . . . with nothing to lose, I grabbed a guitar off the wall and walked back with him to the lesson room.
I got worried pretty quickly when he said, "Rick, I've notice a couple of things when I watch you play that you could work on . . ." And in the next 20 minutes, Paul proceeded to gift me with a weeks worth of lessons.
1) Left hand placement, particularly the thumb
2) How to more correctly hold a guitar pick
3) Strumming the guitar with more action in the elbow, and not the wrist
4) Placement of the right hand for finger-picking
5) Action of the thumb and first 3 fingers on the right hand
There was probably more . . . I just don't remember.
In the process . . . Paul was gentle, kind, and explained things to me where it didn't take me more than 2 times to get every point, and to understand the drills I need to practice.
And awesome experience.
God's grace still amazes me . . . ><>
Rick is a retired United Methodist Church pastor who is proud to provide music for children and senior adults, as well as providing pastoral support as a community chaplain, especially to individuals and families who are not part of a church home in Hood, Summervell and Johnson Counties in North Central Texas. In addition, Rick is currently serving as the part-time pastor of the Waples United Methodist Church in Granbury, TX.
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