While My Guitar Gently Weeps..

I used to play guitar.

Oh I still pick up my acoustic and strum it on a semi-regular basis but I used to be a real guitar player.

There was a point in my life where I could not envision myself doing anything other than playing music. As a teenager, I could not wait for my twenties because I just knew that I would be playing music and entertaining millions of people around the world. Fans would line up around the block just the chance of buying a ticket to be entertained by yours truly.

It did not help matters much that I started playing in bands at a young age and by the time I was in high school, I was playing in clubs and venues on a fairly regular basis. All this "success" early in life was simply more fuel for the fire.

Well, somewhere along the way (probably by my mid-20's) reality set in and then it just became playing for fun. The thing is, the 'fun' sure was a lot of work: finding time and places to rehearse, playing crappy weekday gigs until 1 in the morning, breaking my back loading equipment into my car, etc. All for what? The few hours on stage in front of a handful of people?

Absolutely.

Playing music in front of an audience can only be likened to the most addictive drug known to man. With music however, once it is in your blood, no amount of rehab and detox will rid your body of this narcotic. And just like any junkie, you will subject yourself to playing any type of music just to get your fix. That polite applause, the smile on people's faces, the foot-tapping.. it's what your body craves uncontrollably.

In just a few short months, I will be 36. I haven't played in a band in over two years and my electric guitars hang on the wall more like pieces of art than musical instruments. The drug I once craved is now simply an addiction that I have control of.

While my guitar gently weeps...