What is common
among guitar legends and
rock stars? No, not a tight ass or a hot body! But a good ear. Yes, a good ear in playing music and in learning one. The most common sense of all is the sense of hearing.
Have you ever wondered how blind people can fiddle with the guitar when they can't see those notes? We've seen Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder grace their knuckles on piano bars but I've also seen other blind people on the street or the church, strumming that string. Perhaps, what they lack in sight, they may achieve in might.
Carlos, a guitarist for a church choir said "If you have a heart for music then you'll have the soul for hearing". The chords and the notes are the basics but without putting your ear into it, they'll forever remain as symbols for what could be a lovely tune. Not everybody can afford regular guitar classes. For instance, Ramon has to rent an old acoustic guitar for $5 a day from his uncle. He lives in a trailer and there's no way he can afford to buy his own guitar. So how did he learn? Everyday he watches how musicians play. He listens to Cat Stevens on an old audio player of his grandfather, or he would walk all the way to the city and watch how people play on the streets. He then goes home, with an empty pocket but with a memorized finger positions without labels of what it could mean. He plays it back at home, he listens, and arranges different knuckle- combos.
Basically, that's how Ramon, now a jingle composer, learned how to play guitar. He doesn't even know how to read notes but he knows more about tone simulation. Just by hearing the string, he could convey it in a swing.
