I started this journey when I began taking guitar lessons at the age of 21. I never got very far and really didn’t see in myself any great aptitude or talent for music. However, I fell in love with the guitar and its musical possibilities. I think the high point of my guitar playing was the duet above, played with a violinist whom I accompanied on guitar when he did gigs playing fiddle tunes at country fairs. It’s Paganini so the violin can be very demanding but at least on this one the guitar is really very simple and only requires that you follow the rules for chamber music. I really enjoyed playing it and it was always very satisfying thanks to the superior skills of my friend the violinist. I highly reccommend the experience of learning to play with someone. I had some fun with The Rosewood Book for flute and guitar too during that time. I look back fondly on those times when I played more often but I am mostly glad that I was able to turn my weakness in playing into a path towards building. Below is guitar number 216, one of the earlier Santos copies which is so successful now.

So somehow I turned that “failure” or disappointment into an open door into guitar-making.