I spent my childhood watching the acoustic guitar crack in the corner next to the family piano that sang “Mary Had a Little Lamb” more out of tune each time I sat down at it. Our house was always filled with oldies we blasted from our speakers, but that corner by the piano became a graveyard of a song.
There was a point where we each gave music our all. However, My sister’s guitar skills didn’t complement her self-proclaimed “tone deaf” voice. My Mom could never quite find the Cannon in D buried within the piano. My Dad’s best efforts to give the guitar a second life had been reduced to Christmas carols. My voice lessons ended prematurely when my teacher told me I sounded like a crashing plane.
So for years, the instruments spent their lives collecting dust rather than jamming. It’s sad. So much potential reduced to user error. We forgot about them. Sometimes we would exchange a musical gift like a harmonica or a mouth harp only to later bury it in the graveyard with its comrades whose talent was left unrealized—until now.
With my immense free-time combined with infinite boredom and a bad case of “QuaranTeenage Angst,” I’ve found myself picking up the guitar, sitting down at the piano, and giving my Rockstar fantasy another chance. It turns out, you don’t need lessons when you have the internet. On the guitar, I’ve learned the three chords that allow me to play most songs, I’ve mastered Billie Eilish’s “Ocean Eyes” on the piano (even though I’m still working on singing that high note), and I can almost play “Stuff We Did” from UP because who doesn’t enjoy a good cry during a global pandemic.
There are resources all over the internet that will help you learn the piano, guitar, harmonica, even the wine glasses. So if you’ve been waiting for a sign to dust off the old drum set or pick up your glockenspiel from middle school band, THIS IS IT! Who knows, maybe you’ll be the next Rockstar we feature.
