The Truth in the Stars

Part 5: Guitar Lessons

I had saved up half the money needed for the guitar after two weeks, so I decided to stop in at Jason's Guitar Shop to reserve the guitar before someone else bought it. Although it sells other instruments, its primary line of business is guitars, because Jason offers guitar lessons.

When I walked into the store, the bell on the door rang. As soon as the door was open I could hear the sound of someone playing a guitar in the back room. Jason was leaning against the reception desk playing games on his cell phone. He quickly put his phone away as the bell rang.

"Hello, Mark."

"Hey, Jason. I was wondering if I would be able to reserve that guitar, I was playing the other day, for two weeks?"

"No problem. Are you planning on buying it soon?" he questioned as he went to grab it and put it into the storage closet behind the desk.

"Yes. I got a job with Eddie's dad and should have the money in two weeks."

"Awesome. If you're planning on purchasing it I could start giving you guitar lessons in advance. The first three come with the purchase."

"Well, if they're already paid for I'll take 'em!" I said enthusiastically.

"I can give you one in a few minutes, if you would like?"

"Sure. I can stick around."

"Okay. Don't go to far."

Since today was Saturday I had just gotten home from work. My parents weren't expecting me to be home for another hour because I was supposed to go hang out with Eddie, but he cancelled on me last minute. I gave my parents a heads up anyway to let them know where I was.

After waiting about seven minutes Jason walked into the back room and said a few words to the person inside. The guitar playing ceased and a few minutes later a girl with a black guitar bag walked out.

The girl had brown hair with the bottom of her hair dyed blue to match her eyes. Her jeans were ripped at the knees and they went down to her ankles. She wore a navy blue jacket decorated with graphics of multiple different kinds of flowers that matched her shoes.

She took a quick glance at me and walked out.

"Mark!" Jason called and pulled my gaze away. "The room's ready!"

I walked into the back room. There were two bar stools in the room and the walls matched the blue and white walls outside. Amplifiers and speakers were placed against the wall for use with electric guitars.

Jason beckoned me to take a seat and brought over an acoustic guitar.

"To start place your left hand on the neck," Jason said as he demonstrated the motion himself. I assumed the neck was the long part of the guitar. "Now move your thumb so it's in the center of the guitar."

I did as he said and I could easily tell the difference in the range my fingers could go.

"Do you remember the G-chord I showed you last time?" he asked. I tried to remember and eventually shook my head no. "Okay. So the thicker string at the top is called the E string. Going down the strings; E-A-D-G-B-E. On the first string, place your finger on the third fret."

"Fret?" I questioned.

"See bars on the neck of the guitar. Those bars form different notes when you place your finger above them. All the places on the six strings you can press between two bars is called a fret. There are a total of twenty-seven frets on the fretboard."

"Okay. So would this be the first note?" I asked placing my index finger on the third fret of the E string.

"Yes, but try using your middle finger."

I did and my hands slowly remembered the rest of the G-chord.

"So you did remember it," he exclaimed.

Our lesson ended after about an hour, and by the time I was done I was familiar with the G, C, and D major chords. I couldn't transition between them yet, but Jason told me we would go over that next time. During the lesson I also familiarized myself with the different terminology that went with playing guitar. I thanked Jason and headed home for the evening.