Taking a Third Swing

By the time I got around to attending my first weeklong guitar camp in 2001, I was fifty-one years old. The numerous advertisements I'd seen for these camps in Guitar Player had enticed me through the previous twenty+ years I'd spent studying jazz guitar.  During those years, I frequently wondered how long I'd postpone this experience that was on my list of goals. After all, before I began studying at thirty, I'd spent the previous ten+ years making a living playing guitar to accompany my singing. What would it take for me to finally take this plunge? Aside from remembering how inadequate I felt that week in 2001, all that remains with me now is my mantra when I got home - "never again".  

Reflections From The Bell Curve: School's Out (& In)

In 2016, a good friend and jamming partner talked me into taking a second shot, an experience I wrote of in the post above.  At that point, I was five years into my project to memorize 300 jazz standards, started soon after leaving the world of full-time work. I guess I felt ready for the challenge. Although my sophomore effort ended up being a marginally better experience than my maiden voyage in 2001, I still returned home discouraged. I had some good moments jamming with my friend in the cabin we shared but - surrounded by guitarists who intimidated me - I barely played in the classroom settings and skipped performing at the student concert held on the final night. Though I don't recall saying "never again" again, I probably thought it.   

And yet, later this month, I'm taking a third swing. I cannot identify the logic for me doing so. It's been eight years since my last guitar camp experience but wait. Read that again. Camp? At seventy-four? With or without a guitar, how do I make this sound less weird? More important, how do I ensure I don't return this year either saying or thinking "never again"?