In the beginning

Changing the strings on my old Spanish Classic guitar I couldn't but help remember the first time I picked up the instrument and decided I had to learn how to play it.

Music has been a long standing tradition in my family mostly from my father's side: he plays the guitar, my grandfather played the guitar and so do my uncle and cousins. I still have a clear memory of a Saturday morning when barely 8 years old I grabbed my dad's guitar and took it to my parent's bedroom and I don't think I even said "good morning" when I handed it to him and asked 'Dad, how does this thing play?'; he was a good sport (probably glad of seeing my interest on the instrument) and the first lesson was the C Am Dm G7 chord progression.

After I learned the finger positions I went back to our room and took it from there, that was the only one lesson my Dad ever gave to me, the rest I picked up from his extensive song book collection... 36 years later the learning has never stopped, although I took a wrong turn somewhere early on and most of it has been on the rock and roll and heavy metal side of things.

The very first song I learned based on the chord progression noted before:

"El Reloj" (The Clock) is a very famous song written by Armando Manzanero and immortalized by many artists, Los Panchos being one of the most prominent ones... this is the music I listened at home as I grew up those early years, my beginning:


Clock, don't mark the hours
Otherwise I'll go insane
She is going to leave forever
When the sun rises again

We only have this night left
To live our love
And your tick tock reminds me
Of my helpless pain

Clock, stop your course
Because my life is extinguishing
She's the star that lights my being
I'm nothing without her love

Stop the time in your hands
Make this night perpetual
So that she will never leave me
So that the sunrise will never come

We only have this night left
To live our love
And your tick tock reminds me
Of my helpless pain

Clock, stop your course
Because my life is extinguishing
She's the star that lights my being
I'm nothing without her love

Stop the time in your hands
Make this night perpetual
So that she will never leave me
So that the sunrise will never come
So that the sunrise will never come...