The Day I Played The Guitar

I remember when I was in Grade One, my late father brought home a ukelele, a small 4-stringed musical instrument. I was surprised why Tatay bought it for nobody in the house knew how to play it. I saw him strumming it but I didn't think it's a music.

By the way,I'm no music minded when I was a kid. I only used to listen to radio for a drama, news and commentaries. Although there were times but not often I also listened to love songs, popular songs, and local songs.

After playing Tatay hanged it on the wall. I was curious. I took the "small guitar", strummed it at my own will, without pressing any string with my left hand fingers. When I came home after my classes, I did play it until its strings went off to nowhere for unjust strumming. I broke the uke but I never learned at all.

One market day I saw a little boy playing a guitar perfectly while singing. I asked myself on how he did it. I talked to myself, "that boy could play the guitar so well. Could I also play it? Why not?"

I befriended with one of the sons of the stall owner, the late Deogracias Magan who was good in playing the guitar. I frequented their store in the market and attentively watched him every time he played the guitar. He noticed me that I was curious every time he started singing and playing the guitar.

"Would you like to know how to play the guitar," he asked me. I replied, "No!" I was ashamed to tell him of the truth for I was thinking that I might destroy his guitar as what I did with our ukelele.

Playing the Guitar for the first time

One day, I visited the Deog's store just to find out that he's not around. I only saw a kid in my age playing the guitar. I came closer to him, watched how his left fingers worked, and how he did the down-and-up strumming stroke. I overheard someone was calling boy's name for an errand. He responded and left the guitar and placed it beside a wooden chair. I picked it up, starting pressing the strings by my left fingers. Worse, there were 6 strings, unlike the ukelele it's only 4.

I didn't notice that the boy got back and he was standing at my back, watching me how I struggled to play the guitar in a wrong way. When I noticed him, I right away returned the guitar to where it was before. "Please don't," he said, "Take hold of it for I will teach you how to play it." He taught me the "C" chord, "F" chord, and the "G" chord which were unfamiliar to my normal hearing. He taught me how to place my left fingers to execute those chords. I did it for myself while strumming randomly. I went home that day with a big, big question in my head: Could I make it?

And the rest was a history.