We’re going waaaay back. Fifth grade. My best friend played the guitar (so naturally I wanted to as well). My mom did the logical thing and signed me up for guitar lessons at a music store. I took my little electric guitar to the store every week. I did what the teacher told me. I went home and hooked up my amp, cracked open my Mel Bay music book and plugged away at “Hot Cross Buns” and “Mary had a little Lamb”.
It. Was. Awful.
My teacher was getting me to read music (which was soooo boring and difficult – for ANYONE, let alone a fifth grade kid). I dreaded going to that music store – crowded with other kids (playing much better than me) – it was embarrassing. I didn’t feel like I fit in. Not to mention the sketchy older guitar players sitting in the corner and blasting out distortion-laced riffs. It was weird. Alien. And after two months of lessons… I was done.
Fortunately, I picked up the guitar a few years later and haven’t put it down since. But my disdain for music stores has only grown stronger over the years. And there are four main reasons for that. Here they are…
