The strangely shaped human-like musical instrument!

I recall the first words of my guitar teacher explaining to me the parts of guitar: “Child, there are three main parts of every guitar: the head, the neck and the body-as if it were a human being. It will become your friend through your life’s journey, maybe even your best friend.” I was just a nine-year-old girl when that strangely shaped human-like musical instrument joined my life forever. 

When I came to Austria just three years prior, was surprised by the way music is handled in schools. Children meet their teacher of musical instrument just once a week. If I'd visited my guitar teacher once a week, I wouldn't have made such a great progress on the guitar. In Croatia, where Iʼm from, you see your guitar teacher three times a week and your music theory teacher twice a week. Besides that, you are obliged to play in different guitar ensembles and sing in various vocal groups and choirs. One of the most common stereotypes about musicians is that they are really strange and overly arty people. All of my teachers were extraordinary, and sometimes it seemed to me as if they inhabited their own worlds. The high-pitched voice of my music theory professor was unbearable, and her Marge Simpson haircut distracted me from listening to what she had to say. But she was extremely competent and professional in her job.

The guitar may seem difficult to learn but in reality it's not. It's more approachable than any other musical instrument as soon as you master some of the first basic steps, which may be boring for most people. For me it was “beautiful boredom.” In the first lesson you learn about proper hand positions for the left and right hand on the guitar. After that you learn the fingerboards, one of the most difficult tasks when learning to play the guitar. In my second week of playing, I learned that you play the C note on the fifth string, the third fret. Three weeks later, there was one more C on the second string, the first fret. Five weeks later, there was another C on the first string, the eighth fret. The same with the rest of the D, E, F, G, A and B notes. I was desperate!

Your guitar teacher shouldn't proceed immediately with the next step but leave you some room and time to digest all this new information. My guitar teacher approached the task of teaching methodically. After I had mastered the fingerboard, he taught me various guitar techniques: tapping (tapping with your index, middle or ring finger on a certain fret), slides (a guitar technique where the player plays one note on a particular fret then slides their finger up or down the guitar fretboard to another fret), bending and release techniques (which involve bending the string with a playing finger until you hear the next note and then releasing back to the first note) and many others. Initially, you must practice for at least two hours in order to master all of these techniques. When playing the guitar, you have to cut the nails on your left hand but keep the nails on your right hand longer because it makes the sound far more beautiful. Although it can be ugly to see a girl with short nails on one hand and long on the other. You don't need to be talented in order to learn play the guitar, just persistent. You have to practice regularly and find a good instructor who will force your hand. Terrible pain in your fingers, hands and wrists and grooves in your fingertips are certainly a poor excuse to give up on playing the guitar.

Serenades, sonatas and tangos were part of my everyday life. Slowly my hair turned gray because of Francisco Tarega, Ferdinando Sor and Andrés Segovia. Just a week after receiving my new guitar, I came home and found it on the floor with its head mysteriously broken off. I thought I had reached the point when the guitar was my enemy and not my best friend as my guitar teacher told me.

Even today, I don't know when the key moment was when I became an avid guitar player. At the age of 15 I won the first place in a regional guitar competition with "The Love Serenade" and made it into a national competition of Croatia. I finished third because I suffered from terrible stage fright, and because my teacher gave me a composition which was too difficult for me: “Tango” by Francisco Tárrega.

Playing the guitar leads you into some completely different dimensions, far removed from everyday reality. Just think of "The Shape of my Heart" by Sting, or "Tears in Heaven" by Eric Clapton. The sound of a guitar being played in these two songs still impresses me! Or think of the soothing music of the acoustic guitar played by Paco de Lucía, one of the most famous flamenco guitarists, or William Thomas, a prominent Australian guitarist. The sound of guitar strings never fails to make me relax.