Recently, my oldest pals and I went out for some drinks.
It was in a town near where we grew up (an infamous little town called Dudley).
We had a “pub crawl” and stopped off in a dingy pub with lots of character.
It had karaoke on.
It was a rough pub we’d only ever been in a few times.
The floor was sticky, and the place was sweaty.
There was a sad and depressed-looking drunk person in the corner.
There was a very elderly lady who looked like she’d rather be anywhere else.
…And the place was mostly full of hard, gnarly, mean-looking men.
Most of these men had barely any teeth and looked like they would headbutt you at a moment’s notice.
We were glared at when we went in.
But then, one lady gets up and sings karaoke.
She chose Erasure’s 80s classic pop song, “A Little Respect”.
It’s not really the sort of place you’d expect this soppy, anthemic, pop, love song.
Anyway, my pals and I all look at each other and say, “Cool song” (it is).
Then, things get a little funny.
The sad drunk woman in the corner gets up and dances joyfully, looking happy.
The elderly lady smiles as her granddaughter gets her up, and they dance together with her friends.
All the hard, tough-looking blokes throw their arms up in the air and sing at the top of their voices.
My pals and I join in and have a good singalong too.
The place is pulsating, and everyone is loving it.
It was one of those unique moments where it seemed like time stood still for a few minutes.
This shows that music has no boundaries.
A great song is a great song no matter where it comes from, or what era or genre.
It brings people together.
There aren’t really enough moments in life where things like this happen, but the more we do things, the more we push ourselves and open ourselves up to new experiences, the more joyful times we can have.
Some of my favourite and most important moments have been through music.
So, this email is for all those times when the guitar comes alive in your hands, songs make you feel electrified, and music makes you feel true joy.
We are all pretty blessed to be musicians – no matter where we are on our journey.
Keep on playing and keep living life to the fullest.
Dan Thorpe
Guitar Domination
P.S. Just a heads up if you’ve found playing guitar to be tough so far. I haven’t mentioned this in a while, but if you like strumming, you might want to check this out:
The Ultimate Guide to Strumming
P.P.S. This post was originally taken from Dan Thorpe’s private email list. To get blog posts like this sent to you which are full of great tips to make fingerpicking, strumming, and learning guitar more enjoyable (especially if you are over 40) join Dan’s list. It’s 100% free, HERE.
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