Earlier this week, I found a white Hagstrom Swede for sale on eBay. I bid, won and the new guitar arrived today.

This meant that instead of writing I spent the evening getting to know my new six-string. I’m at the point in my guitar journey where I know scale patterns by heart and can change chords automatically. I transitioned from beginner to intermediate. It’s been a rich and rewarding journey and I learned the following:

Becoming a guitar player is a lot like becoming a writer. One will never be able to compose a solo before memorizing the diatonic scale patterns. Likewise, one will never write a novel without learning how to write a complete sentence.

Guitar players must be willing to bleed upon steel strings. Writers must shed a different kind of blood. Talent, luck and the other lies have little to do with the end result. Rather, both accomplishments come about through a daily choice to put in the hours. This is how we earn our chops.

It’s worth it. Ask the kid above, or just believe me.