the Martin Part 1

I think we all need an emotional outlet. A vent. I envy the artist who can paint out his heart on canvas. Or the pianist who can sit and play all night till her blues are used up. I really envy the physically fit people who look forward to their workout. Rowing, a bike ride. They get the physical and the mental release. It's just not simple for me. I don't know what is going to give me the release. Sometimes I just luck out and there it is. But I don't have a "go to" thing. If my "go to" thing was something like golf, or flying a single-seat sailplane, I don't think it would work forever because those things might not be a true release. They are maybe just playing at something I like. If I had a little motor boat and took it out every single day, of course I'd get sick of it. I have a little airplane, and I almost never take it out to just fly around. And I surely wouldn't want to fly it every day. The closest that I can maybe come to a "go to" mental release is my guitar. I used to keep it in the man-cave which is an air conditioned little room in our pole shed. But lately it's been sitting in my bedroom so I can just pick it up anytime. My playing doesn't have to be "good". Nobody can hear it, and my wife says it doesn't disturb her. That's all great. But here's the problem. If I am mentally energized enough to pick up the guitar in the first place, I'm probably okay and not desperate for the release it could give. Once you are depressed, well, you don't feel like doing anything. I'm hoping that when I'm down I can just pick up the guitar, or take a walk, even though I don't feel one bit like doing it. Then let the activity take it's course. If you change the way you think about something; the thing that you are thinking about changes.

My old guitar has been pronounced dead a long time ago. And I have ordered a new guitar. It will be built in July. In the mean time, I lowered the tuning on my old one, put on new strings, capoed up to concert and it actually works well enough for me to fool around with. Oddly, when I went to the house concert mentioned in my last post, I at the last minute decided to case up and bring the old guitar along just for the heck of it. And minutes before the guests arrived I set the old Martin out on a stand in the front room just for decoration along side of the baby grand. Well, it turned out that through the evening after the concert, several guests picked up the old thing and played it. These guests were accomplished players. I could have tried to explain about the de-tuning, and the bad "intonation" and the rough "action" that makes it hard to play. But I didn't and the old pros just played it. It was the only guitar there. Even the featured performer played a song with it! This is just such a sweet swan- song for my old Martin D-18. I had bought it used on consignment in a famous little shop in Ypsilanti, Michigan over thirty years ago. When I get my new guitar, the Martin will be retired as a campfire guitar I suppose. But for now and the next three months it's still my "go to". .. LLITTY :::::+:::::