Guitar Story
At the time this photo was taken, this guitar that many of you already know, was not mine.
Inspired by people who share great stories on social media daily, I decided to share mine, a story about the guitar I’m playing in the following photo taken in July, 2010.
It was a couple of months after I started playing guitar, my family and I went on a summer vacation in Vrasna, Greece. By that time, I was exploring and getting to know the instrument better, observing what types of guitar that people around me were playing, wanting to find where I musically belonged. The only guitar my parents could afford was a low-priced acoustic (high action, old strings) that was extremely hard to play. However, I loved it and I even had it with me on this particular vacation.
I was spending time on the beach, swimming and enjoying when all of a sudden something caught my attention and I couldn’t think or focus on anything else. I noticed someone jamming on this beautiful guitar at the beach bar nearby. I was guessing out loud what guitar might that be, and I was super curious, but I couldn’t make up my mind and go there. My father felt my excitement and told me that he would come with me if I was too shy to go to the beach bar alone. I was in doubt for a while but sometime later that afternoon, I decided to go there, wanting to only observe the man who was still playing his guitar. I got there and I was standing aside, watching him play. We didn’t talk but he noticed my excitement and he probably thought I might want to try it, so he took the guitar off of himself and brought it to me as I was standing a few meters away. I took it and sat on the chair and I started playing parts of solos that I knew. The owner of this guitar, with a few other friends and my father was standing aside listening to me play. I was in tears a few minutes later when I tried to give the guitar back to him, and he told me to keep it for the day and take it with me to the beach. So I did, stoked to be able to play on it longer. I took this beautiful Fender guitar with me to the beach and continued to play on it. It was maybe half an hour later when my parents and brother noticed that he was coming from the beach bar holding the case of his guitar. I felt instant sadness; his guitar was the most precious guitar I’ve ever played on, I didn’t go to music stores often because I didn’t have a chance to, and it was maybe the second electric guitar I’ve ever played.
He stood next to us smiling, and I was about to give him the guitar when he hand gestured stop signs saying “It’s yours. If you ever want to sell it, don’t do it, just bring it back to me.”. Not being able to process what he just told me, I started looking at my family all shocked and burst in tears of happiness few moments later as I told him “thank you” many many times. I don’t remember the last time I cried that much.
It’s the guitar that you see in this picture that was given to me as gift by this amazing man named Ioannis, that I try to visit every summer when I go to a family vacation.
This photo was taken by my fathe
r when I first played his guitar, now mine, at the beach bar I mentioned.
It’s my first and only electric guitar I’ve ever owned . I travel with it and it’s the major guitar helping me throughout my studies as a Guitar Performer at Berklee College of Music.
Surrounded by a forced political environment even then, this story proved that music is beyond everything.
My love and a lot of my music goes for Ioannis and his Stratocaster gift – my favorite electric guitar for a lifetime 🙂
