Had a revelation the other day.......I was attending an outdoor event and had the opportunity to sit with my guitar and noodle a bit. This guy walks up and wants to hear more, so I played him a song or two. He asked if I would let him play. I noticed he had applied fingernails to his right hand which made it obvious he is a finger picker. Indeed he is and a fine one at that. He started pressing me on the art of finger picking. I never quite got the idea of finger picking and probably can say I don't have the patience to learn. But this fellow was insistent to teach me some beginners exercises to which I was resistant but allowed him to show me anyway. I even participated a bit, but not wholeheartedly as I'm just not that interested in learning it.
I've always been a little embarrassed at my lack of expertise in guitar playing. I've written well over a hundred songs and they aren't too bad as a whole. Most of my expertise is focused on melody and lyrics. I also am proficient with harmonies.
I struggled the rest of the day with what this guy presented me and even felt guilty for being so disinterested in finger picking. But that day as I rolled this around in my conscience it occurred to me what my problem is. While finger picking is a beautiful expression and an admired talent it doesn't represent my writing very well. If I submitted to the art of finger picking, my music would be different from the way now I write. I'm afraid it would sound a bit like many of the other writers out there using this approach. For the first time ever I was able to excuse myself from my years of guilt and shame over the lack of this skill. I realized that it doesn't speak for me the way my own style does. I worked just as hard developing my style as anyone else does using whatever guidelines or discipline necessary. When I looked around at some of the worlds famed artists it is safe to say that many of them lack even more skills than I do.
