Ryan's Guitar

Ryan & Robert working on the basics

A few months back, after watching the guys at church play around with the guitars before & after service...Ryan thought it was something he might enjoy doing, so started looking for a guitar. We really didn't have to look to far, as God put one right in our path at the first place we looked. Amazing. Get this..

We were supposed to go to work in Eugene, but I had a sore throat and wasn't feeling too hot, so stayed home. We had made plans to visit the music store in Eugene, so Ryan was REALLY disappointed. He wanted to look at how much he would need to save, what was available for lefties, etc. I told him that I would have to go into Costco in Albany later in the week, and we could stop & look either there or in Corvallis when I was feeling better. SO...Ryan started looking through the yellow pages for music stores. He brought me one and jokingly said "You'll like this one...it has a frog in the ad"....so, we thought "Why not hit Bullfrog Music" in Corvallis. On Thursday, we picked up Bill for lunch, and headed over. The man that met us in the store was a really neat guy, and said that if he were a lefty, he would try to learn right handed...as the options for choosing a guitar were greater, and the price was lower....plus, he happened to have a used guitar on consignment that sounded great, and was in the right price range. There was a sticker mark on the front of the guitar face, but other than that, it seemed like a good deal....BUT, being we aren't guitar people, and our friend Robert had asked us if we would take him along guitar shopping to make sure we got a good one, we decided we weren't buying. We happened to know that Robert was working in Corvallis that day, so Bill called him to see if he could stop on the way home to check it out for us. Robert asked Bill where the guitar was, and once Bill told him, Robert said that Kurt would not steer us wrong....that it must be a good guitar, and the price was right. SO..we bought it. Looking turned to buying, but the circumstance was perfect, and it all feel into place. Ryan as it turned out had EXACTLY the right amount of money!

Last evening, Robert came over for supper and a visit. He sat down with Ryan for nearly an hour, going over proper care of a guitar, how to hold it, explained the mechanics to him, and told him what he'd need to purchase for it yet. Ryan seemed to do really well in understanding what Robert was sharing with him. They played around a bit on Ryan's guitar, then Robert went out & got his guitar, and they worked on things together. It was nice to hear Robert play and sing...and good for Ryan to see it was something he could do if he put his mind to it. Robert explaining the guitar to Ryan

Ryan spent about three or four 15 minute sessions today practicing, and each time he improved. I heard him changing chords much quicker tonight, than he had this morning. He was actually making nice sounds instead of idle stumming! Way to go Ryan! We will be looking forward to our first campfire song on our next trip out!