Guitar

Love, peace, serenity…the guitar radiates all of that and more. The guitar is the singer of the heart’s secrets. It is the olive branch offered through Apollo, given to all those who practice the sacred art of music. A sensuous, sinuous body designed to sing the most beautiful melodies and chords, the guitar is a consummate seducer…none can resist its unfathomable allure. Most guitars are shorter than the average human, maybe about 3.5-4.5 feet in length, and sit comfortably on top of your right thigh (or your left if you’re a southpaw). It is armed with six strings of steel or nylon, and when plucked, vibrates like the oscillating flight of sine and cosine waves. This brings me back to my high school math and physics classes…we used to learn about how sound travels through the air. It makes me wonder if music is math, and if math is music. Because if music is math, and math is music, then indeed, there is more to both music and math than just the formula, there is something deeper, that animates it, that brings it to life. Dense emotion, that is what the guitar pulls out of the singer, who then pulls it out of his audience. Like the Buddha, who has felt the sweet caress of Nirvana, the guitar player returns from lands of unseen depth to enlighten all who hear his song. He guides them, holding their hands with music, and lead them on an journey of self-discovery and understanding. Thich Nhat Hanh once said that “Understanding is love.” Therefore, the guitar player takes the audience on a journey of love. The guitar is the child of human emotion and masterful woodwork. Praise upon the man who first invented this marvelous instrument. Shower him in wreaths of gold, and laurels of musical notes. Crown him with the righteous rewards that he ought to receive - yet will certainly reject - in his creation of this hand-held muse. Amen.