toward another goal

If you've been reading my blog for some time you know that one of the post-retirement goals I set for myself was to learn the piano. I learned the guitar when I was 17 and over the years I've been able to play a few rock-n-roll tunes and sing a ballad or two while accompanying myself on my 6 string. This weekend Dorothy, Kelly, and Karon went on a shopping trip to Branson, and among the goodies she brought home was a 61 key piano keyboard. Well, I sat down and started lessons immediately. I'm taking lessons online to learn piano theory and get acquainted with the layout of the keyboard, but I'm surprised at how quickly I'm picking up chords and melody. I can already play the tunes that I used to play on the guitar, although very slowly. On a guitar you can play chords or the melody but not both at the same time (unless you're Chet Atkins), but on the piano it's great to be able to play chords and melody together. For me playing the guitar was like traveling to Musicland over a twisting, turning trail through the forest, but on the piano I feel like I'm making the same trip on the autobahn.