Guitarist: Am I one?

Very recently I happened to hear Ms. Shobha De speak in an interview. I frankly don’t know much about Shobha De. I have not read properly a single piece written by her. I even saw the interview in quite bits-n-pieces while doing some other things, but the last thing she spoke about in that interview was extremely sensible and made me think about it.

She was asked what she would advise young writers to do. She simply said: to write! Writing is just like any other art, where a daily riyaz is absolutely necessary. Around 500-2000 words have to flow through your pen every day. Just like a musician practices every day, irrespective of whether he is performing or not, a writer also must do it. Otherwise he should not call himself a writer.

That made me think about a comment I had heard around a year back. One of my musician friends, let’s call him Mr. A, had commented on another common musician friend of ours, let’s call him Mr. B. Mr. A had said something like: “Hehehe…yeah, he plays guitar, he can decently move his fingers around some chords, but he is not a guitarist!”

Now that I think of it, I don’t remember what Mr. A had in mind when he said that. I had agreed partly on that comment that time, since although Mr. B loves music, Mr. B is not a musician by profession and cannot devote as much time to practice / learning music as much as he would like to. Frankly, I do not know more about priorities of Mr. B, so I am not the right person to comment anything further on it. But that remark surely had made me think about myself as a guitarist.

I am quite a beginner level guitar player, if not complete novice. I was like that a year back, I am like that right now – with of course whatever improvements I have managed to achieve in a year. But I used to wonder quite often whether should I or should I not call myself a guitarist?

But now after listening to that interview of Ms. Shobha De, I am quite proud to call myself a guitarist. Having said that, I must clarify that it is based on my interpretation of that term. Well, I happen to have some musical background (active - with respect to playing the Harmonium before I started playing guitar, passive – with respect to whatever exposure to music I have been fortunate to have since my childhood). But it does not interfere with my ideas & understanding about the term “guitarist”. A guitarist, for me, doesn’t necessarily mean that that person is a proficient/skilled guitar player. When I call myself a guitarist, it just means the following:

• I have dedicated considerable portion of my life to music. The guitar, or music at large, is not just an interest for me, it’s been a passion.
• I have been involved in an active relationship with my guitar for around 4 years now.
• I have sincerely tried to better myself with the instrument ever since I first laid my fingers on it. To best of my efforts, I try to practice every day as much and as often as possible.

I really don’t know how many of you out there would agree upon my interpretation. But I honestly feel that a dedicated musician - with continuing, regular & sincere efforts over a period of time to improve his skill - irrespective of his current skill level - has a right to call himself a guitarist/pianist/violinist/vocalist or as the case may be.