Here, here, Lonesome EJ!

I grew up with a classical and folk music purist father, so I listened to rock only in my own bedroom as a kid. When my son wanted to learn guitar, I told him I'd pay for the lessons but asked him to first take classical, to learn the theory behind the music. He agreed because he wanted a guitar and wanted lessons, and after a year or so bought himself an electric guitar. I didn't want him to think I disapproved, I didn't, I just wanted him to have a solid foundation to build from. For several months I watched and listened at his guitar lessons and he didn't mention the new guitar, so one day I asked his teacher if he knew my son had bought an electric over the summer. The response was an interested "Really? What kind?" and they talked for 20 minutes past the end of the lesson about electric guitars, and his teacher suggested he bring that one along next time. They alternated between classical and electric over the next four years. His teacher used to front for some of the local bands in his mis-spent youth. :)

My 19-year-old knows that musical talent comes with many forms of music. I daresay there are as many people here at mudcat who can discourse about talented rock performers as there are who can talk about classical virtuosos. Mudcat is the intersection, where those of us who also have an interest in folk and blues meet. But these types are not mutually exclusive and our conversations bleed over into other types all of the time.

SRS