Charles Jensen | Writer

This is the longest my guitar and I have been separated from each other since we came into each other’s lives in 2002. And typing that, I just realized I’ve had it for six years now, that I’ve been playing (and teaching myself) for that long.

It was a tough decision to put it in the moving van. I probably questioned that more than any other moving choice I made. Truth was, it could have fit into the Scion…but at the expense of my back window. And, it turned out, that was pretty handy to have on the drive.

Under normal conditions, I play my guitar every day. Typically I pick it up when I get home from work for at least 15 minutes of goofing around. I tend to play the same songs over and over until I feel like I get them down pretty good, and then I start trying to learn new songs. Right before I left, my typical set list was:

“Alone,” Heart
“Goodbye to You,” Michelle Branch
“Potential Breakup Song,” Aly and AJ
“Gimme More,” Britney Spears (Yeah, I finally got that F#m fingering down!)
“Umbrella,” Marié Digby

And sometimes I’d add my version of “Genie in a Bottle” too.

I found out my movers are finally getting here at the end of the week–thank goodness–so my guitar and I will finally be reunited. I’m glad I have a corner unit in my apartment building, where at least one of my rooms doesn’t share a wall with another tenant. Let me rephrase that: THEY will probably be very glad!