Growth Process Essay

Liming Huang

English 120

Prof. Breech

25 October 2014

My biggest motivation: Guitar

Guitar is the first instrument I learned and would never forget. Back into freshmen year in high school, I had a chance of choosing guitar as my elective class. I thought I did not have that much passion in guitar, so I planned to take the class for a year and quit after I fulfilled the two-credit requirement for elective. However, guitar became part of life and introduced me to another “world.” I still remembered the very first day of my Beginner guitar class. I was nervous and helpless because I had never approached any instrument, plus that was my first day of high school. The instructor asked us to introduce ourselves and tell him the reason why we want to learn guitar. So I told him that I wanted to play the birthday song for my best friend on her birthday. I probably failed the class if I told him that I wanted to take easy class to get my requirement core done.

We started learning about guitar the next day. He introduced to us the structure of guitar, what the basic notes sound like, some music theory about guitar, and certainly, he showed off his guitar skill. After a week of the introductory lessons, we finally got to feel the guitar and play. We needed to practice the basic scale several times every day so that we were familiar with the notes and our hands would become more agile. After few weeks of practice, we finally got to learn our first song. I was surprised because our first song was the birthday song. My instructor came up to me during practice and told me that he does not want to defeat my purpose of learning guitar. From that day on, I came to class with excitement and joy. I started enjoying guitar, rather than getting my credit done. I practiced guitar more and more often, and it was not because I wanted to get the checks done or get a good grade on the class, but because I enjoyed playing guitar and I wanted to be good at it.

I spent more and more effort on guitar and I finally got in the advanced guitar class, which means everything is harder and more challenging. In advanced guitar, we need to memorize several jazz scales by heart, made alternatives for the basic chords, and create our own solos. I still remember my very first solo was terrible, I did not know how I came up with this mess. Since then, I practice my scales until my fingers get sore every day; because I believed the practice makes perfect. After a long time of being patient and persistence, I was very lucky that I got a chance to perform a concert with my guitar fellows and instructor. Although it was a year ago, I still remembered how nervous and excited I was that night. That was the first performance I’ve ever had and certainly the greatest one.

My instructor had taught me a lot, or rather, learning guitar made me a better person. Learning guitar made me realized that you have to be patient if you want something good, because nothing good is done in a rush. It took me three years, practicing every single night, to stand on the stage and enjoy everyone’s clap. It did take a lot of efforts, but I am glad that the result came out well. Being able to play guitar makes it easier to socialize in daily life, people ask you hundred of questions when you tell them that you can play guitar. They just want to know everything about guitar in one conversation. Also, the greatest thing about guitar is that you could always express your feeling in guitar. You could play a love song to the person whom you have a crush on, or you could play a heartbroken song when you failed your chemistry mid-term. Guitar would always be your buddy, it never leaves no matter what. Now, guitar has become part of my life, and it had motivated me through my hard time. When I am feeling stressed out or depressed, I will pick up my guitar and play a song that I like; a song that refreshes my brain and calm my mind. Every time when I play guitar, it reminds me of those good times and how much I’ve been through when I learned guitar. It is my best motivation, because it proves to me that being patient will help me get to my dream.