Dad Rocks!

So my dad has been playing guitar since as long as he can remember. He got his first guitar as a child and has since sharpened his skills and is now one of the best guitarists I know. I took up guitar at the age of ten, he gave me a red ibanez for christmas that year and it was evident that I had no idea what I was doing, but he supplied me with all the resources necessary to teach myself (videos, books, charts, etc.). He said that he wouldn't teach me and if I wanted it badly enough I would learn how to do it myself.

My dad also coached my little league baseball team and one day he and I were discussing different players' skill levels. My dad was the coach that drafted all the players that nobody else would draft, so our team always sucked, but winning didn't matter to us. He was musing about how possible it is to teach a kid who just doesn't have it in him to be good and his analogy was this: "It's just like you and your guitar. I don't think that you will ever play like Joe Satriani. You just don't have it in you. It's the same with these kids and baseball. They just don't have it in them." Needless to say his little analogy was dismaying, to say the least, so I made a promise to myself that night that I would prove dad wrong. That I would play like Joe Satriani.

Dad has been in and out of bands his whole life and he made it very clear that only talented musicians would be his bandmates. Finally one night Dad, my mom, and myself were loading up the truck to go and hear his band play, just like always. This night was different, though. Once all his equipment was loaded he said "go and get your guitar." Suddenly my stomach was flooded with a whole host of butterflies and I was nervous as hell, but I went and got it. I had since switched to a Les Paul.

When we got to the venue, his band played a couple of sets, so by now it was around 11:30. During the break, dad told me to set up. By now I was shaking but still super excited. I got my things together just as the band was returning to the stage and without a word the drummer starts in on John Bonham's famous intro to Rock and Roll and dad looked at me with a look that said "go." So there we were, rocking that classic Zep song and it was loud and awesome.

I finished the evening with my dad's band, rounding out two more sets. He gave me his cut of the pay and finally I felt I had surpassed my dad's expectations and I really felt like a musician.

And who doesn't love that song?