You won t be able to pick it up later, I promise. Few people become virtuosos in their 20s; you re more likely to get really annoyed when you can barely play Chopsticks . Right now, I m picturing you as a jazz guitarist blessed with some serious pipes, but I m not gonna pin that one on you just yet.
Better that you make your own choices and if, during your music education, you happen to come across my old teacher Mr. Spencer, go ahead and punch him in the diaphragm for me. He can take it.
Let your parents take you to your first concert. Even though I ve already told you that Mom and Dad need some help in this area, it ll be worth it for the story you tell later (yes, even if it s the Fray). I mean, how cool is it that my first concert was one of Roy Orbison s last shows, also featuring the Beach Boys with John Stamos on drums?
You just can t buy this type of memory. Try to accept, if not embrace, the inevitable gap between your parents music choices and your own. Though I may not have always wanted to listen to Oldies 103.
3 on every car trip during my formative years, I was glad I did later on. A well-rounded musical background is crucial; otherwise, you could end up like a friend of mine, who had never heard Jimmy Soul s If You Wanna Be Happy for the Rest of Your Life , and so felt lost during some hand-clapping good times at the bar last weekend. That reminds me: learn all the words to Sweet Caroline and Dirty Water as soon as possible.
You will be the most popular toddler at Fenway Park. If your parents don t take you there soon, give me a call and I ll head home. Don t let your parents pick all your music, of course.
Explore on your own, and don t be afraid to try new things. With all the mash-ups these days, there ll probably just be one huge genre by the time you re my age, but do your best to seek out as many of the multi-hyphenated subsets as you can. It s probably overly optimistic to think that there will still be record stores around in the next decade or two, but however you find music, try to do it randomly every once in awhile.
There s nothing like stumbling upon a gem after an hour of wandering through the stacks (or shuffling through the database on your surgically-implanted microchip). When you do know what you want, don t hesitate. Back when I was eight, I spent a week or two yearning for a cassette single of Dino s Romeo (don t try to find it).
When I finally had the money and got a ride to the store, I decided I was too embarrassed to buy it, with all those people standing around, silently judging me. As if anyone shopping at Strawberries cared what anyone else bought. On the way home, I confessed what I d really wanted, but by then it was too late.
So listen to what you want, and don t worry what anyone else thinks about it. They probably don t think about it at all. But remember to temper your expectations; Romeo got old, fast.
As for what to buy, I can t, and won t, tell you. Well, I do suggest that you save some money for when You won t be able to pick it up later, I promise.
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