The Art of Living

[59] Guitars on the Floor

"What do you want me to play for you? Or do you want to play?" He asked and sat beside her again.

Ellie swallowed her biscuit and wiped her hands. "Me? Oh I don't know, I really can't play anything good. Just stuff like what I played in Truro.."

"Well, I can teach you stuff if you want. Let's see... You can try a slower version of Satisfaction? What do you like?"

"You think I could play that? I think you overestimate my skills," Ellie chuckled and shook her head, looking at the guitar.

Brian smiled and handed her the acoustic before he got up again. "I think you underestimate your skills. Just give it a go, okay?"

"Alright," Ellie sighed. "But what are you doing now? You can't teach me from back there."

"I'm getting my guitar so we can both play." He smiled at her, returning to the couch with his electric guitar.

Ellie looked at it again and smiled. "That's a pretty fancy guitar, you know?"

"I know, yes. I made it the way I wanted it to be."

"So you actually really made that?" Ellie asked and looked at it a little closer. "It looks so real though ... I mean.. professional. Not homemade. You know?"

"Yeah, I guess... I mean, we put a lot of time into it, and my dad is pretty good with stuff like that, he makes a lot himself. Without him I couldn't have done this. We made her out of stuff we had lying around the house, really."

"Her?"

"My guitar." Brian smiled at her. "Alright, so let me show you the first things from Satisfaction." He placed the guitar on his lap, checking that it was tuned correctly. "So first chord is E.. Do you know that one?"

Ellie raised her eyebrows, placing his accoustic in her lap properly. "I might? I honestly don't know. I'm really bad at remembering stuff like that."

"It's this one," he told her, showing her how to place her fingers on the strings.

Ellie bit her lip, trying to coordinate her hand enough to do that. "Like this, right? This is an easy one." She asked, strumming the strings.

"Yes," Brian told her and nodded with a smile. "Exactly, wonderful. That sounded very good. Try to remember that one okay? This is the next chord you need, A." He showed her that on his guitar before helping her position her fingers.

"I remember this one," Ellie told him with a smile. "I just forgot the name. Okay, the next one?"

"D, do you remember that?" Brian asked and looked at her with a smile.

Ellie nodded and looked at the fretboard. "I think I do.. like this?" She asked, placing her fingers on the strings the way she remembered it. When she played the chord, however, it was easy to hear that it didn't sound quite right. Ellie laughed softly and shook her head a little. "No, don't say anything. Not like that..."

"Close," Brian told her, slightly amused. "You just have to put your middle finger here, and only play these strings," Brian showed her on his guitar.

"Ah right, yes, I always forget about that. Especially if I'm playing. Sorry," she apologised with a small smile.

Brian shook his head a little. "Don't apologise, you know how to play, you just have to remind yourself of the chords again. I mean, you could play that song pretty well."

"Yes, but only because I've played that very very often and I don't really have to think about it anymore."

"Yes, but that's how you start. Eventually you won't have to think about the chords anymore because you're played them so often. Patience, my dear," he told her, looking at her with a smile.