The Star Spangled Banner

Just under thirty years ago, I took my first IT contract. It was working for National Power (as it was called then) based in a business park just outside Harrogate. Since there was bugger all to do there, I set up a squash ladder and I ended up playing pretty much every lunchtime. Over the course of eighteen months, I went from being an enthusiastic amateur to being a pretty good player. 

The lesson I learned from that experience - in addition to the squash skills - was that just because I didn't start out being a 'natural' at something didn't mean I couldn't become good at it by practising regularly. It's a lesson I've relearned over the last eighteen months or so, doing my German lessons every day.

Recently, I've picked up the guitar again, taking the same approach. I signed up for a course on Udemy, which feels like it's been bolted together from a series of other online courses, but I do my practice (almost) every day and I'm definitely getting better. 

The lesson I'm doing at the moment is twenty minutes long and involves learning to play 'The Star Spangled Banner'. I reckon I've spent at least three hours on it so far, trying to remember the fingering for the sequence of notes. In the end, I've printed off a blank tab sheet so I could write the notes in. If nothing else, it's saved me from constantly replaying the lesson!

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-10.9 kgs
Reading: 'Girl, Woman, Other' by Bernadine Evaristo