Amish Guitar

Why Amish Guitar? I don't know really. It just seemed right when I began this blog. The Amish, of course, would have nothing to do with musical instruments let alone the guitar. I do know some who played guitar before being baptized and becoming a member of their community. But the Amish side of my title speaks to me of a certain plainness or simpleness of the music I hope to make with my guitar.

My heritage does stem from the Amish, however. My grandfather grew up in an Amish family, but he chose to be baptized as a Mennonite. One thing led to another and then I was born. The Mennonites do have a reputation for being as plain and as strict as the Amish. And, in part, this is true. There are sects within the Mennonite label that are virtually indistinguishable from the Amish unless you're raised in the tradition and can see the differences. But, on the other end of the spectrum is my brand of Mennonites--contemporary and modern, virtually indistinguishable from the society at large.

Still, there is a love of music among the Mennos with a great affection for 4 part a Capella singing in church. And I must admit I prefer this to contemporary worship with the praise team. The rich harmonies balanced between the four voices can carry so much emotion that at times I find it overcoming. My favorite hymn is Be Thou My Vision which is just amazing when you sing with 1500 people in a congregation. There are times when singing this hymn I am transported past my spiritual doubt and approach a certain peace with whatever God might be.

And so it is with my guitar. Only an acoustic would do. I live for the plain sounding harmonies and overtones, without processing them through the bells and whistles of electronic gadgets. I need to feel the vibrations resounding in my chest. I need that physical as well as spiritual connection to the music I make. I need my sound to be raw.

Amish Guitar has thus far been a journey of my growth as an adult teaching himself how to play guitar. I enjoy sharing my musing of myself on these pages and I hope there is something my readers have gained from my writings. But, Amish Guitar needs to expand. I need to explore the Amish side of the Guitar, the Amish side of the music I make.

I don't know where this will lead me. Perhaps I will explore all things musical in my life. Perhaps this blog will become more general as I reveal more of my everyday life. Perhaps not. I just know that my narrow focus of writing about my guitar is beginning to burst at the seams.

The gig got canceled due to flooding.

I should explain a bit. There is a county park just to the south of our church and every September the park service holds a celebration there. Think arts and crafts, food, old tractors. See, part of the park is an operating grain mill powered by the local river that has been operating since the late 1800s. So the celebration hearkens back to a simpler life.

Our church has had a food booth there for something like 22 years. Recently we've also been involved in the community worship service there. That was the service our praise band was going to play at.

But not this year. For the first time in it's 33 year history, the celebration has been cancelled due to torrential rains and flooding. Yeah for me, bad for our church. We're stuck with 75 homemade pies, dozens of sheets of cornbread, about 5 gallons of homemade ham and bean soup and about 40 pounds of sloppy joe meat. Sadly, I'm on a strict diet or I would consider it my duty to help out.

Getting back to the subject at hand, as this is a guitar blog, I am both relieved and disappointed at the same time. I guess part of me wanted to prove I could do it, or at least see how far I could go playing by ear. I'll be playing before my home congregation tomorrow instead. Since no one really had anything planned, we're just going to do the same thing we had planned for the community service: old fashioned hymn sing, sermon, pass the plate and get out by eleven. It will be easier to play in front of this crowd.

Last night the praise team had another practice for the upcoming community worship I wrote about earlier. One of the members had gone through most the hymns and chorded them out, so that's good. I still feel very unprepared, but I'm going to do it anyway. Why? Because my modus operandi seems to be that I worry and fret and fear performances and it always turns out ok. And, if it doesn't, I can stop playing and just sing.

Thankfully I've learned not to change strings the night before a performance. :^)

Some good news is in order, however. I played my song Caitlyn's Starshine for my friend Doug. Some of you longtime readers may remember Doug from when I asked him to critique another song of mine. He was honest then and it hurt. This time, however, he really liked it and wanted me to show him the chords.

Yeah me!

I am in way over my head. Our church praise team was asked to lead an old fashioned hymn sing at a community worship next Sunday. I thought it would be mostly the same songs we play Sunday mornings. Nope. Old Time Gospel. And no chord notation.

Now, I've got enough music theory under my belt that when they said, 'Don't worry, most gospels are based on I, IV and V,' I knew what they meant. The major chords built on the first, fourth and fifth tone in a given scale. That's all well and good. It's another thing to play by ear to it. Especially if it's some weird a** key like A flat.

Thankfully, I'm not the only one in the group who feels completely unprepared. Another fella in the group plays exclusively off of chord notation. So, we're going to stand in the back and do the strumming equivalent of mouthing "watermelon watermelon" during the service. :^)

Wish me luck. I'm gonna work on I, IV, V in the more common keys this week.

Hoo boy.

I spent the weekend at mom and dad's farm where mom's extended family held their annual camp out. We've been doing this for nearly thirty years. We tried camping at a campground once, but somehow it moved to mom and dad's sizable yard. This year there were 47 relatives and 5 generations (if you count my late grandparents as the first, which we all do). Sadly, mom and dad are downsizing, selling the farm and moving on a smaller plot of land in their front meadow. So, this was the last reunion at my homestead.

This is also the first year I dared to bring my guitar. My mom's family is very musical. And can be very critical. It is a joy to sing with my family, but I also know what it is to sit through their criticism. It is a family I don't always feel like I fit in. But that would be a subject for another blog. I wasn't sure I wanted to take my guitar because I wasn't sure I wanted to put myself out there for judgement.

In the end, I decided to take along my guitar. If it wasn't well received, I would just play for myself and forget the rest of them. But, to my delight it was very welcome. I played quietly as everyone visited and conversed. Just noodled, or strumed a few simple songs. Afterwards several cousins came to tell me they appreciated my music as a kind of background to the relaxed evening.

Today, then, after the big family meal, we had a traditional hymn sing. My mother wanted the song "They will know we are christians." To my surprise everyone called me out to get my guitar. It is a song I do know how to play, and play well if I may say so. Unfortunately, I had decided to leave my instrument at home for the day (we live down the road and usually don't actually camp--give me a queen size bed any night). So I couldn't oblige. But it felt good to have my family, who I know to be musically discriminating, clamor for me to get out the guitar. It was another kind of affirmation--the best kind--the one you aren't looking for.

I haven't been able to get the guitar out for a few days. My family and I were out of town over a long weekend to make sure my brother got married. It was a marvelous time. Just no time for the guitar.

I wrote a few weeks ago about searching out and finding the hymn "I Bind My Heart This Tide." Well, that song has taken a strong hold on my mind and soul. I strum it, and it is beautiful. I pick out the melody, and my heart sings. Last night I picked up my guitar and tried some Travis style picking to the chord progression and I nearly cried. Yeah, a bit over dramatic, but, dagnabit, I love that hymn!

My wife walked in after I had played it through a few times. She said "That's pretty. What is it?" I proceeded to sing it to her while finger picking. All the powers of the universe must have lined up at that moment. Smooth chord changes. Strings that have aged into a caramel mellow tone. A picking rhythm that complements the song so well. It is very rare that I actually feel the music flowing out of me and into my instrument. Last night was one of those times.