Because It Has a Song

It's been a relentless winter this year, and though the ground is still covered with a thick blanket of snow, the first hints of spring are finally appearing. While walking my dog this morning, the sun was shining high in the sky, the roads were dry for the first time in weeks, and the trees were filled with the sounds of birds chirping their joyful songs...

"A bird sings not because it has an answer.
It sings because it has a song."
– Chinese Proverb

Like a songbird, where each species has its own distinct songs, every guitar seems to prefer certain songs. There's something about the way a guitar feels in my hands, its tone and timbre, that evokes a particular style of music or maybe even one particular song. Often, when I'm learning a new song or style of playing, everything will come together effortlessly, as if the guitar was deliberately making it easier because it liked what I was doing. Yet the same song on another guitar can be a struggle every lick of the way.

On very rare occasions, something mysterious and magical happens. I will pick up the guitar, not intending to play anything in particular, just mindlessly noodling around, perhaps contemplating something else entirely, and begin to play music I've never played (or even heard) before, as if the guitar was playing me instead of the other way around. If I just let it happen without intent, allowing my hands to simply follow the sounds, it emerges as a whole song seemingly born from inside the guitar. However, if I try to analyze what I'm playing, or force it in any way, the song simply vanishes and no amount of coaxing can bring it back. There's probably a better explanation for what's happening, but I prefer the mystery and magic of it all, the notion that the song comes from the guitar and I'm merely the catalyst.

When I mentioned the Ten Guitars and an Oud project to my friend Bucky, he suggested that I write a song for each guitar after I've finished restoring it, a song for that guitar only. His challenge was not only intriguing, it struck right to the heart of what I'm trying to do, and why! I'm not merely fixing up a few neglected guitars with the hope that I might be tempted to play them more often, although that seemed reason enough when I started. No, my real purpose is to discover the songs already inside each guitar, to make whatever sawdust is necessary to prepare the guitar (and myself) so it might be willing to reveal its unheard song.

I will play... and it will sing... because it has a song...