Music is a language of emotion. No matter what mood you are in, you can find music that will complement it, or change it. How many songs have been written into your mind ( because memory works with association ) ? Every song, at a subconscious level, was stored because of something that happened, or because it triggered, or complemented, or enhanced a certain emotion. Have you found that a certain song just "does it for you" when you are in a certain state of mind ? Go make a list of songs you know, and you will see the memories that come with it as the list grows........

As you listen to your favourite music, it will stir a certain amount of emotion. It may vary from excitement as you listen to something with a beat, to letting go of frustrations as you listen to rock music, to sadness as you listen to an old country song, to inner peace as you listen to some gentle classical music.

When you decide to take up the challenge of learning to play an instrument, you set yourself up for an irreversible change. Once you start playing a few of the songs that "have meaning" to you, your whole perception of music changes. Songs that had no attraction before, suddenly come into focus. Yet other songs that you enjoyed before, suddenly seem empty. How you listen to music will never be the same again.

Once you have played a song yourself, you tend to see it differently. Even though your own "arrangement" of the song may sound crude, or "rough around the edges", the original now somehow seems different. Almost as if you can "hear more" when you listen to it. Yes, you will pay more attention to the individual instruments than before. But the real magic lies in gaining a sense of what the songwriter felt as the song was created.......

Most songs are simply sung, or "performed", by performers. Someone with ( commercially speaking ), the voice, the looks, and the "moves". Performing in itself is an art form, and the standard is raising all the time. But playing a song yourself, singing along in your own ( maybe "not-so-professional" ) voice, connects you to the source.

Because some time ago, someone sat with a single instrument, and a simple string of notes and words sprung to mind, which eventually evolved into the song you are playing.......

After being performed on stage by a magnificent performer, aided by a massive sound system, fantastic lighting, professional backup musicians and backing singers, professionally coreographed dancers, and a solid marketing campaign to stir excitement beforehand........( not to mention the crew who put it all together )

So after all the glitz and glamour of the stage and television, here you are, playing a song that turned many millions during its "commercial life span". And how you play it, it probably sounds quite a lot like how it sounded when it was created. The song may have been written with the hope of it "being a hit". But as it "came out", it was simply an expression of emotion. Pretty much what you are recreating, playing your guitar in your room with the door closed.........

There are limits to what car you can drive, to what house you can afford, to what food you can enjoy, and where you can travel. BUT there are no limits to how many different songs you can play. Except the length of your life, maybe. You will probably run out of time before you run out of songs,,,,,,

"Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions".

Albert Einstein

If you don't believe me, ask ANY musician, no matter how good or bad.