It’s never too late to follow your artistic dream

Derek from Malahide Library offers tips, advice and shares his experiences of learning to play the guitar.

An avid music fan for most of my life, I always had the ambition; shared with many of my age, to become that most mythical of things – a guitar virtuoso.

Unfortunately I also found myself living up to the adage that Homer Simpson coined when advising Bart after he took up guitar in the Simpsons:

“If something’s hard to do it’s not worth doing”

Sadly my dreams foundered.

That was until 14 years ago, whilst working in Blanchardstown library. I read two books in quick succession that changed my life forever. The First was “Dazzling Stranger - Bert Jansch and the British folk and blues revival” by Colin Harper and the second was “Guitar Man” by Will Hodgkinson. The first a biography of my musical hero Bert Jansch, Scottish folk singer and guitarist. The second, the story of  how Will Hodgkinson, a music  journalist with the The Times, embarked on learning the guitar at the same age as myself, by taking his guitar to interviews and getting a free lesson from each famous interviewee.

Coincidentally, Bert Jansch was his first interview in the book, taking this as a sign, I embarked on my own musical odyssey.

Now, I am the first to admit that Homer was right, guitar is hard to learn. But I followed some simple rules to get there:

1. Make it a habit

Most guitar tutors will tell you that to practice 20 minutes a day is far better than for a couple hours at the weekend. After several weeks, the 20 minutes becomes a habit – and a daily habit is far harder to break than a once off occasion.

2. Set achievable goals

My first goal was to learn one Bert Jansch tune. Nearly a year after beginning, I achieved this. The feeling of adulation at this point was unforgettable and helped to set a second goal – two more tunes. I now know many, of which my family can attest, as they tell me I never stop playing them!

3. Listen, Listen, Listen

Most guitar icons of the 60s, 70s, 80s, tell of how they analyzed their records, replaying certain musical phrases over and over until they were clear in their minds. Today with so many resources available this is easier than ever.

Some helpful resources:

Sites such as YouTube, offer you access to most tunes and many free online lessons, and tablature (musical notation for those who cannot read music) sites are readily available.

Maybe you would like to check out some of my efforts, posted onto Fingal Libraries very own YouTube account. There are great postings from many of my colleagues on subjects ranging from multilingual storytelling, mindfulness, poetry and photography tutorials. (link below)

Your virtual library offers fabulous resources for the budding musician too, including:

Freegal - a music download site, not only featuring recordings by the likes of Bert Jansch etc. but also many albums of backing tracks to play along with, my favourite is ‘Play Along with the Smiths’. 

Rb Digital offers thousands of free magazines from around the world, including Guitar Magazines.

Universal Class offers hundreds of online courses including music.

Health Benefits:

Learning an instrument, is one of the most beneficial exercises for your mental and physical health, as you get older. The multi-discipline nature including:

memory training

muscle training

Learning new language and skills

So in these unprecedented times maybe you too can follow that dream - the one you left on the backburner. Try to form the habit and the next stop may be……. ..Carnegie hall, but remember practice, practice, practice.

- Derek, Malahide Library

Follow the link to our YouTube channel to watch Derek play a Donal Lunny tune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4IBkkEExUc