Sunday, December 04, 2005

Just call me Maestro

Remember how I wrote the other day about the next door neighbor's little boy who wanted to take guitar lessons from me? Well, I got home from church this afternoon and there was a message from him on my answering machine. Children leave the cutest messages on machines; they always sound like they're lost. Anyway- I called back and talked to his mom- who was super friendly and sent over a really nice Christmas tree skirt for me to keep. So, five minutes later, let's call him Clay- not his real name- showed up on the doorstep with his little child sized guitar, and I gave my first lesson. He learned three chords- D, G, and A - and we used them to pay Jingle Bells together! It was a BLAST! He is such a riot- very bright and and talkative and he learned amazingly fast for a nine year old.

And the teaching wasn't all one sided. He showed me how if you play the bottom three strings open, it sounds just like the ending to the Dr. Phil Show. I didn't have the heart to tell him that it didn't really sound like the end of the Dr. Phil Show...But I think it might be the same notes- just backwards. ANYWAY- I just appeared enchanted and said I couldn't wait to show Mr. Brad.

He also noticed that the chords for E and A sounded like they were from The Mask of Zorro. He's totally right! When played one after the other, they DO sound like they could be part of the sound track to some sword fighting scene. Is this kid amazing or what? He's picking out chords and sounds and placing them in other songs he already knows. I thought that was unusually insightful for a child that age...

He was here for about an hour and I thought he might stay all afternoon as he seemed to have no end of stories to tell and useful information to pass on...but I tactfully mentioned that I hadn't had any lunch yet and suggested he go show his parents what he had learned. What a cherub!

Hopefully, Clay is coming back on Thursday, to coincide with another Grandpa visit. On the way home from church today, Grandpa was still talking about him, so great was the charm which Clay manifested on his last visit.

5 comments:

Loreo said...

How nifty to have made friends with a neat new neighbor boy!

ljm said...

Clay--what a great made-up GA name! Is his hair red?

KW said...

Ah yes...you'll come to notice some very different names in that region...things like Peyton, Preston, etc etc...all very preppy sounding

lis said...

Yes, and Camden. And THEN there are the other ones, like Rockacious! (I'm not kidding).

WAY cute little boy and storytelling, Claire. Made me smile.

Shay Dawg said...

That is so awesome. Look at you making new friends in a new habitat so quickly, soon you'll have a classroom of 30 kids in your livingroom.