The intro to this piece struck a chord with me (pun intended).<p>My mother recently gifted me her old Martin classical guitar that my grandfather handed down to her. I&#x27;ve been having a musical itch I needed to scratch after going over a decade without really playing an instrument after I had been section leader of the clarinets in HS band class and taken piano for a year or so.<p>I&#x27;m now learning guitar with the help of JustinGuitar.com (seriously amazing totally free site) and a guitar-obsessed co-worker who has been super helpful.<p>The most jarring experience to me about learning this has been the fact that I physically cannot play certain notes yet, and changing notes is extremely physically challenging.  Not just in a muscle memory sense--but literally the process of getting my fingers to move in these incredibly unnatural ways and distances.<p>I remember back in the day what it felt like to be proficient with the clarinet and not have to think about how to play a note or change keys.  Building that muscle memory up again is incredibly humbling, and frustrating as hell.<p>That said, there&#x27;s something immensely satisfying the first time you struggle your way through a basic song (in this case Bob Marley&#x27;s &quot;Three Little Birds&quot; with three chords) and all of a sudden, you can gradually make out the actual song in the midst of all the incorrect fingering and delays in chord changes.<p>I hope I have the mental fortitude to persevere as I love the sound of guitar and the idea of playing one. I expected a learning curve with memorizing notes and finger positions and such, but christ did I not envision it being anywhere near this difficult to physically play. When I see a talented musician playing I now have massive newfound respect when I see them whipping through chord changes during 16th notes for example.<p>Not much more to add here, but seeing things like this that dumb down the experience are disappointing.  Sure it might be a way to help people have early success, but I&#x27;d guess those people are a lot less likely to jump to the real thing if they seek out the easy road like that.