A string of things has kept me from playing my ukulele for a few months. Long enough for my fingertips to go soft again. And I'm in one of the worst arthritis flare-ups I've ever known.
But I played today. And it HURT. But the ukulele sang... And it was so worth it.
Now I just need to put new strings on my guitar and explain to my cat why we don't play with them her way.
@weirdfizz I understand the cat and strings very well indeed. Whenever I did a string change, my cat would go after the string ends until I clipped them off at the tuners. It was one of her favourite things and she liked it more than her feather on the end of the stick, lol.
And, to a degree, I understand the pain of playing, too. I don't have to deal with arthritis, but I do have diabetic neuropathy and that causes pain of its' own that can make it difficult to play.
@XaoslordErie Never had a cat who even seemed to notice my instruments before, but Gatsby thinks everything mine is also hers.
After today, I think it hurts more not to play. I never realized how much my ukulele has become part of me. The strings sing for me when I don't have words.
@XaoslordErie I think a friend of mine could see it in me. He and I would drive around on nights he didn't want to go to a meeting but shouldn't be alone. He taught me guitar. His wife would roll her eyes when she came home and heard us at the piano singing Whiter Shade of Pale.
He died a couple of years ago, and sometimes I can almost still hear him telling me to play by how it feels, not how somebody else sounds.
@weirdfizz That's one of the earliest and best lessons I learned when I was beginning to play years ago. The other one was something Miles Davis said to John McLaughlin during the recording of 'Bitches Brew'. He said to John, "Play guitar like you don't know how."
@weirdfizz And *THAT* is why I am a musician. Right there.