Birthday Jam

We got Blake a guitar for his birthday. He's been talking about it for quite some time now so we decided to get him one. I'm not sure if it was due to Guitar Hero, which he's really really good at, or the fact that the neighbor kid has a guitar....or at least we think he has a guitar, but he really really seemed to want one. Of course, those reasons alone would not prompt me to get him a guitar....the reason I thought a guitar might be good for him is this... I secretly believe that he has some sort of hidden musical talent.

I remember when we used to go to Costco or any store that had musical instruments lying around for the kids to touch. Blake couldn't resist playing with the piano, or the keyboard, or the drums, or the ukulele. Which I think is normal behavior for a kid. But the difference, at least for me, is that his random playing, sounded good. It was music. At first I thought it was a fluke, so of course I would try...and sure enough, I sounded like .... crap. So over the years, I've been watching him and taking notice and it's been pretty consistent.

This past summer, he found his school recorder. He carried it around all summer long and played songs with it. He started out just playing random notes. After I couldn't take it any longer, I showed him some notes and how to play a real song. After that, he started figuring them out himself. He taught himself Hawaii 5-0 and Smoke on the Water (Deep Purple).

So anyway....Music savant....maybe.

He's going to take an informal music lesson from our friend Dan, who we bought the guitar and amp from. He's got a cool store..Dan's Guitars. Check it out if you are interested in getting a guitar...Dan's a really good guy.