(Began at 11.06)
The last hobby I will write about in this series is very closely connected to me as a musician. Playing bass was my biggest hobby for years. It was something I spent doing hours a day on. Practicing, rehearsals, gigs, more practicing. Eventually it turned into my job, and I suddenly found that I had lost my biggest hobby. It was strange to realise that something that had been a sanctuary wasnβt the place I could go to to escape in the same way anymore. I did of course still find moments where I could treat my bass as a hobby, but it never turned back to the same again. I found another thing instead that I could use as a hobby, but still be connected to the music: Guitar. I had learned to play the guitar some years before, but had never really sat down and played it as I had eventually done with the bass. This changed now. As I started to play more and more guitar, I also discovered that it was a great tool to write songs and explore around chords and progressions. It became a different part of the music I already was engulfed in, but I found ways to use it βrecreationallyβ. I never became an excellent guitarist, and I think that was perhaps intended. I didnβt want to be a guitarist. I wanted to have it as a hobby and to use it when I wanted, and not when I βhad toβ.Β
After my arm got inflamed and I couldnβt play bass anymore, the guitar got more and more space in my life. I could play it since it was much easier on my arm and fingers, and it was easy to just pick it up and play for a few minutes now and again. Even though I can play the bass again – to some extent – I still have my guitar close at hand. I pick it up and I pick the strings, strum some chords, play a melody line and hum along it, and I find myself enjoying it again. I can still not play as much as I would like to have done, as too much playing makes my hand act up. But every now and again, I enjoy the feelings of six strings under my fingers.Β
(Picture will follow when I am able to get my airdrop to work between my phone and my Mac)Β
