Strings And Things

Writers: Leigh M-F., Paula
Date Posted: 28th August 2014

Characters: Jessmyr, A'kua
Description: Tuning up a musical interest.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 8, day 21 of Turn 7

Jessmyr would probably be arriving soon, so Aluka took some time to tidy up
his cot and the area around it. Then he tuned his gitar, and warmed up with
some arpeggios, scales, and chords. Once the gitar sounded perfect, he
passed some of the time by singing. "Every time she looks away,
There's something changing; what a price to pay.
A broken heart, an unfamiliar room;
She'll be a hero and nobody's tool.

She could take your heart away with a smile;
She could make this dream come true with style
Won't somebody please come and stay for a while
With the lonely girl, the lonely girl tonight?"

Jess walked in when he heard his singing. He stopped to listen, loathed to
disturb him.

After a run of the song, Aluka put the gitar down, intending to get out his
little red notebook and fixing some of the notations. He lifted his head
and jumped on seeing Jessmyr already in the room. "Oh! Ancients," he
exclaimed, which was a lot kinder than what he actually wanted to say.

"Hi, Aluka. I didn't want to interupt you. That was lovely," Jess said with
a smile.

The statement got a hesitant smile in turn. It wasn't often someone
complimented the redhead's music, considering how often he played alone,
and interrupting someone while they were playing an instrument was indeed a
bad idea. At worst, you could wind up with a broken string and an angry
player. "Thanks," he said. "So, ya ready to start?"

"Yes, although I should warn you. I have no idea if I have any talent. I
can turn out to be horrible," Jessmyr replied and sat down.

"Well, ya won' find that out in just one lesson," Aluka pointed out. "This
stuff takes time." He picked up the gitar again. "Which hand d'ya use the
most?"

"Right one, like majority of people," Jess answered.

"Good, 'cause this ain' a left-handed instrument." The redhead positioned
the gitar so Jessmyr could see its construction. "Let's start with the
sound." He pointed out each string and its designation, demonstrated an
arpeggio and some simple fingering for the strings, and the proper way to
swing the strumming hand to get the desired sound. Then, finally, he handed
the instrument over and showed Jess how to comfortably settle it so it
wouldn't slide off his lap. "Let's hear ya play an A. Just a li'l pluck'll
do it." Once Jess actually _felt_ the sound resonate in the string, the
wood, and his chest, Aluka was hoping the other young man would be
enchanted.

Jess plucked the string too hard and grimaced at the sound it made. He
tried again, with softer touch. "Not as simple as it looks like."

Aluka was glad his guest realized that so soon. "Let's hear a B."

"What's that?" Jessmyr asked and stared the quitar strings.

"That one," Aluka said, motioning to the correct string, and reminded
himself to be patient. By the end of this, he was going to have Jessmyr
fingering some less complicated chords, or at least familiar with the
placement of the strings and their sounds. He hoped.

"Oh. Do the go in alphabetic order? You know, A, B, C and so forth?"
Jessmyr asked.

"No, actually. That'd be altogether too kind to practicin' harper
apprentices," Aluka said dryly, half-hoping he would at least get a snort
of amusement. "And just to make things head-tiltin'ly confusin', there're
two E strings, though one has a deeper tone." He pointed out the B string
again. "Let's keep tryin' this, unless I've bored ya already."

Jessmyr chuckled. "Whoever came up this system?" he wondred while plucking
the chord. "No, I'm not bored. This is interesting."

"Prob'ly someone with too much time on their hands," Aluka snickered. "Try
the low E now; it's the bottom-most string." He sat back to listen,
starting to feel as though this was going really well.

"Allright," Jess did as he was told to.

Last updated on the October 3rd 2014

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Strings And Things