Sometimes life is a farce, no matter how hard we try to be ‘in control.’ In our case, the latest comedy of errors started with our 15-year-old son, the budding rock star.
Our youngest son, who’s 15, has been surprising us all year. First, back in January, he signed up for a music class in guitar at school. We confess we were tempted at first to add extra insulation to his bedroom and pretend it was his new recording studio, but we managed to restrain ourselves. Then our son surprised by showing a heretofore unsuspected aptitude for playing the guitar. We can only surmise that his newfound talent spurred him to keep up with daily music exercises, running up and down scales on the guitar strings as if they were the old playset in the backyard.
Well, his father was so impressed that he decided at the first opportunity to get our teen-ager his own guitar. He combed the online classified ads looking for every announcement of an electric guitar for sale. Trouble was, most of those ads wanted ‘way more than we could afford in this recession economy.
In order to avoid disappointing our teen-ager, we stayed mum about the Great Guitar Quest. What we didn’t count on was that although he never heard his parents when they called him to do a chore, his super-hearing kicked just as we were discussing how to acquire a guitar for him. This knowledge set off a teen-age version of the ecstatic dance done by a certain cartoon beagle when his round-headed master brings out a full supper dish.
Once we got our son to calm down reasonably, we decided it was the better part of valor to consult with him about the purchase. Dad explained that because a guitar was a big investment, involving both the instrument and an amplifier, our son would have to meet certain expectations. He had to keep up with his lessons and his practice. He had to keep up with his chores and his schoolwork. And under no circumstances was he to loan his guitar to any of his friends.
However, we got a major parental jolt when Dad inquired about which model of rock ‘n roll guitar our son desired.
A sober countenance quickly overcame the ecstasy on our son’s face. Although we’re sure he thought his parents were utterly clueless, our teen explained patiently that he was learning to play classical guitar, not rock ‘n roll. He wanted something that would serve that purpose, such as a takamine acoustic electric guitar
Then after a moment, he added we also might consider the ibanez acoustic electric guitar.
You could have blown us over with a feather! Here we middle-aged Generation X-ers were contemplating our sprout turning into a god of rock, and instead he’s preparing to become the Andres Segovia of his generation!
Our boy is growing up. Soon as we can pick our jaws up off the floor, we’ll congratulate him for his maturity.
Tags: electric acoustic guitar, generation gap, parenting, teenagers