In the year 2019, I leaned forward with my guitar goals. I’m not alone. People all over are buying guitars according to Fender, Gibson and my friend and luthier extraoidinaire Dean Zelinsky. Younger people are learning, shredding and making music with a guitar like never before. The pandemic increased it.

Learning the guitar, is a forward-looking process, kindling hope and optimism. You may not know this but it helps regulate stable mood chemicals like serotonin and dopamine.

The process, according to smart guy Dr. Levitin, is “neuro-protective” in that it “requires that you grow new neural pathways — something you can do at literally any age.” He added that “using your brain for something that is challenging, but not impossible, tends to be rewarding, and hence comforting.”

Learning the guitar, he wrote, is also a forward-looking process, kindling hope and optimism, which helps regulate stable mood chemicals like serotonin and dopamine.

This dopamine tells individual neurons to fire off a signal or not. It influences other brain signals and pathways, and essentially, serves as the traffic cop for motivation, emotion, and social behavior. Dopamine is also an important chemical messenger in the brain. It’s the thing that involves reward. It’s motivation. It’s memory. Its attention even regulates our body movements. When dopamine is released in large amounts, it creates the feeling of pleasure and reward, and it motivates us to repeat a specific behavior.

For me, it gives me joy. I can physically chart my progress. It is cheaper than therapy and doesn’t leave me any bad side affects. I am now scribbling notes to put together my next book on guitar playing inspired joy. I am still working on the title. The journey has been combined with a new understanding and learning of video editing. I am still learning and haven’t mastered editing by a long shot, but what I am doing is helping me post more confidently. A few of the videos I posted on my channel are below.

Continue on your journey. There is nothing to be afraid of. I’m starting to understand a few things. It feels kinda cool. Speaking of cool, please subscribe to my channel if you find it.

Rock on.

Kenn