Raise your glasses to the fabulous guitar. What an amazing instrument! There are many forms of this instrument: six-string, twelve-string, baritone, and bass. Some guitars are re-labeled as “mandolins,” “banjos,” or even “fiddles”—which are really just guitars played with taut horse hairs. I’m not a musicologist, but there’s no credential or degree requirement for loving the harmonies they create. This creature can sit and sing with you if you’re willing to have that conversation. A musician has a dialogue with their instrument as they play it, which can turn into debate, interrogation, celebration; this creature can even sit and sing with you.
Don’t let the pure tones fool you into believing that the guitar was meant to sing gorgeous singing on mountaintops; I’ve heard them growl in basements, hooked up to amplifiers with distortion circuits that mangle that purity into synthesized, air piercing tones, alerting listeners to heed their messages. Others are looped repeatedly through effects until each pluck is transformed into a wash of sound that pours over listeners, reminding them about their own forgotten lives. The thick ‘twangs’ of a lone banjo player in the Appalachian hills will remind you of the poignancy of life, but their playing brings a relatability that others seldom achieve with words. In fact, that’s the power of the guitar: it sings a tune that most can relate to, though it often travels different emotional paths to the same conclusion—I feel sad, but glad to feel sad in the company of others who feel as I do.
The shared appreciation for the guitar reinforces its staying power. Do you want my advice? Skip purchasing a computer for music and give the guitar a chance. You might find that, when the power goes out, or when you’re traveling to a remote connection, you want to bring a partner who always challenges how you feel; your thoughts and perspectives will rise and fall with each brush of its metal strings. On your lonesome adventure, quiet will serve as your accompaniment. Or perhaps your dog. But he’s generally asleep by the time you begin your earnest talk about the state of things.