My first guitar, April 1963.
Regrets, I've had a few...and aside from all the many thoughtless things I've said and done throughout my life, one of the very biggest regrets is never having learned to play the guitar. I've always had tunes spinning around my noggin with no means of letting them out and when I was younger, would scribble reams of (admittedly rubbish) lyrics, for songs that I knew could never be completed. I had chances to learn the instrument, but just didn't apply myself - something I now bitterly regret. My last real opportunity was in the 1990's, when my girlfriend at the time bought me a guitar and paid for a couple of lessons. My tutor was brilliant. He cut to the chase, asking me what exactly I'd like to be able to play. 'This', I said, putting on Bob Dylan's cover of the 1931 Mississippi Sheiks song, 'Blood in My Eyes'. After two lessons, a little progress, followed by frustration, distractions and despair, I put down the guitar and stupidly never picked it up again.
Mississippi Sheiks - 'Blood in My Eyes'
.jpg)
