Many times as a young teenager when I would come home from school the house would empty. Mum and Dad would still be working and other siblings – well who knows what!

This would leave no-one around so one of my favorite pass times would be to crank up the stereo. Fortunately my brothers worked after school or already worked full time jobs. Our families love of music was well represented with a good record collection, of which everyone else owned leaving me to do my best negotiating to try and get one I liked on the turntable. Their warnings of “don’t touch my collection” didn’t apply in moments like these despite the warnings of severe bullying.  These were great moments and always had a sense of excitement about them. Anyway, stereo cranked and probably a David Bowie tune, more than likely the most hard out one of the album.

The next thing of course was to drag an old beaten up electric guitar from the closest. As an aside, for years I thought this guitar was broken because the bridge kept falling off. It wasn’t till further down the track that I realized it just needed strings! Homer Simpson would be proud of me.

I am sure you can imagine the scene, next thing I would present myself in front of the full length mirror in hallway. i would be truly amazed at my playing ability and how I could shred up and down the guitar so fast, man you couldn’t even see the strings! I was wicked!

One day, the next door neighbor couldn’t take it any more! He decided to come and investigate this continual noise problem from 3:30 to about 5 pm most week days.

I of course was oblivious to the neighbor observing me through the window while I strutted my stuff in front of the mirror. After all I had to concentrate otherwise the fans would be disappointed.

Now that my cover had been blown I had to face constant jokes being made at my expense, not only from my family but also a large proportion of the neighborhood.

The question though I asked myself was did all the posing pay off or contribute in anyway to my guitar playing? Well I believe it most definitely did. From my early teens I was captivated by the guitar and I used my imagination to reinforce my dream of playing it and some day being on a stage in front of people who enjoyed what I was offering.

In my mind visualization is crucial in projecting where you want to be. This can get lost along the way in the journey of life and if it does I would encourage anyone to renew their dream by starting to imagine it again.

If you have a story you would like to share please let me know by leaving a comment or contacting me at info@justguitartalk.com

Regards

Steve Webb
www.justguitartalk.com