I taught myself to play the rhythm guitar parts of Sultans of Swing today. I know you may think this is a cheesy aspirational personal goal. You wouldn't be wrong. But if you've ever tried to play along with the thing there are a lot of little touches that make it fun and challenging. He is a clever player. Yes, the guy that wore tennis sweat-bands to play his own concerts in the 80s. Dire, indeed.
My playing has improved, again. I'm not saying that Khruangbin has invited me to the recording sessions for their new album, but I concede my own obvious technical improvement.
It's fun to feel like you're somehow playing along with life. That's all I wanted.
Oh yeah, I was doing all of this on the acoustic guitar. If I can be happy with my playing there then it usually makes me that much more happy to finally play the same song on the electric guitar, where many of the subtleties that require some hand strength on the acoustic feel much more effortless on the electric.
So as to not overstate my victory of virtuosity over 70s rock-and-roll: this was all done with a pick, no fingerpicking at all.
That's all that I have to say about the Straits. Oh wait, one more thing: CS responded that the below clip reminded him of Mark Knopfler. I felt the same.
I'm going to try to retreat into useless things that entertained me as a child - playing the guitar, calling girls up late at night and hoping their dads don't answer the phone, eating acid, etc.
I played this song around the house yesterday for Raquel. We drank wine and swooned a little together, kissing in the kitchen where the boy could not see us.
We seem to have come to a new understanding - a mutual concession that neither one of us knows exactly what is going on between us. That seems to suit our current relationship needs better than the state in which neither one of us knows exactly what is going on between us, but we become occasionally and mutually frustrated about it.
See how simple things can be?
Life gets easier as you get older. It's bizarre that is is also becomes more troubling.
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