RP: Guitar Lessons

[ezra_loy]

Date: April 19th, 2011
Characters: Ezra Loy, Erica Allen
Location: Erica's Apartment
Status: Semi-Private
Summary: Ezra heads over to Erica's place for the first round of guitar lessons.
Completion: Complete

Comments

[ezra_loy]

"Take it from someone who spent the better part of four months doing nothing, followed by another two week stint just recently. Busy is a million times better then having nothing to do, seriously began to contemplate online gaming, and I read way to many blogs." Ezra replied, grinning faintly as he took the coke from Erica. "So, you're a full time student? What're you majoring in?"

Ezra moved over towards the couch, taking the guitar book from Erica with his left hand, he winced slightly, but hoped Erica didn't catch it. "Okay, this looks like a good start." He remarked, placing the coke down on a end table so he could leaf through the book. "So, I'm assuming you can identify the correct notes, have you tried chords at all?" He asked while taking a seat on the other end of the couch, laying the book down he retrieved his own guitar from it's case. "You've just been plucking away at it? Have you focused on any particular song?" Okay, he maybe was rambling a bit, but nobody could accuse him of knowing how to act like a teacher. "Sorry, kind of throwing eight hundred questions at you."

[erica_allen]

Erica's eyebrows rose at Ezra's comment. "Wow, I haven't done nothing since I was fifteen," she admitted. It was hard to believe she'd been working her ass off that long, already, but she had, and she'd keep on doing it because she had no other choice. "Yep, full time for both." She chuckled, shaking her head at his question. "Two years into University, and I think I've finally figured out what I'm majoring in. Luckily most of the classes I've been taking will work toward the major. Music education," she finally answered him. "Think I'd do okay teaching choir and music appreciation, stuff like that."

Erica missed the wince. "Umm, working on identifying the notes. Guitar sheet music is kind of different than vocal or piano," she pointed out with a little grin. "But as far as playing a note and recognizing it, yeah, I've mostly got that down." Her eyebrows rose as he kept firing questions at her, but she laughed when he apologized.

"No need to be sorry. You need to know where I'm at if you're going to teach me. I have tried a couple chords, but yeah, I've mostly just been 'plucking' away at it. Haven't tried to focus on a song yet, because I'm still figuring out how to read the sheet music," she explained.

[ezra_loy]

Ezra shrugged. "First go around wasn't by choice." He replied. "The two week stint kind of was though, at least a little bit. Honestly, doing nothing gets old fast, plus I'm not accustom to it, hence the search for stuff to fill my time." growing up Ezra had always been expected to keep busy, and when high school hit he worked his ass off to graduate a year early so he could join the service and get away from his Dad. "Okay, you are officially putting every single overachiever and workaholic to shame." He laughed. "Well, better late than never in picking one, right? And music education sounds like it's a pretty good fit for you." He didn't know Erica all that well, but from what he did know music education really did seem like a good fit.

"Yeah, no, they aren't." He agreed, though he never focused on it he had played piano longer then he had guitar. "Okay, well that's the first hurdle really, and one less thing we'll need to spend a chunk of time on." He was still mentally trying to decided where to start at all, but if Erica already knew the notes well enough chords seemed like that would be a good place to start. "Still not guaranteeing I'm any good as a teacher. So do you want to cover the sheet music? or work on chords. And I'm just assuming here that you've only attempted caged major chords so far, such as A major, G major, D major, etc." He replied, playing each chord as he listed them off. "And just going to throw this out here right now, but if I start talking and you have absolutely no idea what I'm saying, just tell me, okay?"

[erica_allen]

Erica sensed there was more there, but she definitely didn't feel comfortable with him yet to ask about it, and he didn't seem keen on delving further into it, so she let it go. She just shrugged when he said she was putting others to shame. "Necessity," she said simply. "Have to pay the rent somehow. And yeah, I do think it'll be a good fit. I just can't believe it took me so long to figure it out."

She smiled as he talked, wondering if he was a little nervous about teaching someone or if he was just shy. "I'll let you know," she assured him. "I'd prefer to start with sheet music. Just the basics on that, and then if we have time we could move on to chords today?"

Erica shifted, glancing down briefly before looking up at him. "I know it didn't come up before, but..." she paused, wondering how he'd take it. "I would like to pay you for the lessons."

[ezra_loy]

Ezra was kind of grateful when Erica didn't ask him to elaborate on the comment. He could talk about it just fine, and actually he'd stopped looking at the accident as the end of his world. Actually, it had been a blessing sort of, without it he wouldn't have ended up here in Fort Worth, he wouldn't have found Kyle or finally managed to get back to focusing on music. Grinning, Ezra replied. "Necessity or not, it's still kind of impressive." he remarked. "You just took your time finding what you wanted to do, I probably would have been served better if I'd thought through life decisions before doing them." Maybe he wouldn't have jumped into joining the Marines if he had.

"Okay, Sheet music it is then." He set his guitar aside, picking up the book Erica had given him earlier he flipped it open to the first song in the book. "It's pretty straightforward actually, and I'm going to be honest with you when I say I play by ear more then I do sight reading. So, what do you want to know about reading sheet music?"

He had kind of figured that Erica would bring up paying him, but Ezra had kind of hoped she'd forget. "Really, Erica, you don't have to pay me." He protested. "Honestly, teaching you forces me to get back into playing more, and I wouldn't feel right taking money for that."

[erica_allen]

Erica just shrugged, flushing lightly in embarrassment. "Can't really complain, though, right? You have Kyle," she pointed out with a grin. "It's really sweet, what you guys have." Granted, she'd only seen them together once, but it was enough to show the bond between them.

"Hmm, in that case, I'm sure I can work out the sheet music on my own over time." It didn't really bother her either way, she just was really looking for someone who was familiar with the guitar and could give her tips, maybe teach her a few things about it.

She picked up her guitar and strummed a few chords. "That's basically what I've managed to figure out so far," she told him.

She looked at him, wondering who would be able to out-stubborn who, and then she had to admit to herself that she really couldn't afford to pay him for lessons. She sighed, feeling horrible that she wasn't going to push the point, and said, "All right, but there's got to be something I can do, even if you don't want money. Just... think about it?"

[ezra_loy]

Ezra shifted, rubbing at the back of his neck awkwardly. “No, can’t really complain. Kyle’s kind of the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” He remarked, a flush creeping onto his cheeks. “Ah, thanks.” Ezra wasn’t entirely sure how to respond to Erica’s comment. He knew what he and Kyle had was unlike anything else he’d ever had before, but he was still not used to other people commenting on them as a couple.

“Honestly, you’re probably better off that way anyway.” Ezra felt kind of bad about it, but honestly he wasn’t much for reading sheet music or guitar tabs. Being self-taught he played nearly everything by ear.

He studied her as she played the few chords she new, making mental notes on what Erica was doing right, and what he could improve upon. “Okay, not bad. There are just a couple things I saw.” Ezra picked up his own guitar from the floor. “The first chord was good, but on the second one you should position your hand more like this.” He explained as he played the chord, keeping his hand in place so Erica could mimic him. “And as much as it feels awkward and uncomfortable right now, you could press down firmer on the strings when you play.”

He was relieved when Erica didn’t push the payment issue, though he had been prepared to hold his ground on the ‘no way in hell are you paying me’ front. “I promise if I think of something I’ll let you know, okay?”

[erica_allen]

Erica felt a little bad that she'd brought up his relationship when Ezra was obviously still shy about talking about it to others. She smiled at him, letting the topic drop and focusing on the point of his visit.

She watched his hands at he picked up his guitar, pointed a couple things out to her. She shifted her own hand on her guitar, trying to mimic his hand position. "Like this?" she asked. It did seem to be a little more comfortable. "Oh," she said, flushing lightly. She'd wondered why the sound didn't seem as full; she hadn't realized she hadn't been pressing the strings firm enough.

She strummed the same few chords again, this time taking his tips into consideration. She let out a little squee when the sound was a little fuller, even though, yes, it did feel a little awkward and uncomfortable to press the strings down firmer like that. She figured that with practice it would begin to feel more natural.

"Okay," she agreed, thinking that if he didn't come up with something in the next couple weeks, she'd come up with something herself. Maybe she'd send him and Kyle some of those dark chocolate raspberry brownies if she could talk Carrie into making her a batch. It was an amusing thought.

[ezra_loy]

Ezra watched as Erica shifted her hand into the correct position. "Yeah, like that." He confirmed with a nod, Ezra was thankful that for the most part it was hard to notice the slight change in the way he had to play now to accommodate his shoulder. "Pretty soon this'll all be second nature to you." He commented, noticing the way Erica had gone a little red when he had made his observations, that part of teaching he probably wouldn't get used too. Pointing out things people were doing wrong or not exactly right wasn't something he enjoyed doing.

"See, that was totally better." Ezra had to laugh at Erica's reaction to the same chords the second time around. "You'll be playing like a pro in no time." He continued, pausing before asking. "Okay, are those the only ones you've learned so far?"

When Erica agreed to let him think on some sort of compensation Ezra figured he'd probably just let the whole subject drop, and conveniently 'forget' about it. He was really just doing this because he wanted to, and didn't necessarily need some kind of payment for it.

[erica_allen]

"I hope so," Erica said with a small grin. She'd picked up a bit of piano through her years of choir, having teachers' that were willing to let her give it a go once in a while, but the only thing that was second nature to her was singing. Perhaps she'd save up to buy a full keyboard next. If she was going to do music education, she thought it would definitely be an asset to be able to play piano and guitar.

"Yeah, so far," Erica admitted. "Don't have a lot of extra free time to practice, so." She shrugged. But she was serious about learning, confident that she'd be able to teach herself. Once school let out for the summer (and she was SO glad her guidance counselor had helped her work out a class schedule for the next two years so she didn't have to take summer school), she'd have more free time, as she'd only be working full time instead of doing both full time.

[ezra_loy]

“You already have one up on some people, you’re musically inclined.” Ezra pointed out honestly. “It’s definitely making this easier, since I have practically no teaching experience.” He continued with an easy grin, he knew it helped that Erica had already studied up a bit so he wasn’t starting from square one with her. Although he had started from square one with Kyle, and so far hadn’t screw up teaching him, but Ezra was pretty sure that was mostly due to Kyle and not his own teaching abilities.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. That’s actually not bad for fitting practice in whenever you have time.” Ezra remarked, fully aware that not everyone had loads of free time on their hands. “Not everyone has the luxury to spend hours practicing.” He had started playing so young that having hours of free time on his hands had been easy to come by at the time, even in High School. “Actually, it’s probably a good thing, means you have some semblance of a life, even if it is just work and school.”

[erica_allen]

"That is true," Erica agreed with a grin. Music had been the one constant in her life. She'd had a little clock radio that she'd kept with her no matter where she went, and no matter how bad things got, she could turn her little radio on and the music was always there for her. It was, without a doubt, her one true love.

"I try." She had to chuckle at his 'semblance of a life' comment. "Well, it's not all just work and school. I do try to get out once in a while," she said dryly. "And I worked out my schedule so I do actually have a day off from both, just for me." She'd learned the hard way, when she was at the community college, that she couldn't survive working and going to school seven days a week.

[ezra_loy]

“I mean if you were tone deaf or something, I’m not sure what I’d end up doing.” Ezra said with a small shrug. Music came second nature to him, had kept him sane growing up and even while in the Marines it had been his anchor, or a reminder that he wasn’t just a Marine.

Ezra laughed. “Okay, yeah, that didn’t come out right. Obviously your life isn’t just school and work.” He replied. “Honestly I have more days off from work then I need, but even my days off aren’t really mine, I usually end up playing baby-sitter to my nieces.” He spent a lot of time entertaining the three girls, but hell, for everything Neve did for him the least he could do is look after the girls for her when he was able.

[erica_allen]

"That would probably present a few problems," Erica agreed with a little grin. "Lucky you, I'm not."

Erica smiled at him. She couldn't relate to playing baby-sitter, couldn't imagine what having nieces would be like. How would it feel to have those family connections? "That's nice of you," she said, keeping her issues to herself.

She glanced at the clock. They still had about a half hour left if they were going to keep the lesson only one hour long, and she wanted to make the most of it. "Hmm, so what's next, Yoda?"

[ezra_loy]

"Oh, just a few." Ezra replied with a grin. "Yeah, thank god you're not."

Ezra shrugged, he never really thought much about giving up his time to help Neve out. After all she was one of two people in the world he felt he could count on entirely. "I guess, I mean they're family so it's not like it's hard or anything." Well the part of his family he liked dealing with that was, now if it was spending time with his parents he'd probably liken it to having teeth pulled.

"Yoda, huh?" He smirked at the reference. "Do you try playing a song want to, hmm?" He asked, doing his best Yoda impression, which granted wasn't that great.

[erica_allen]

Erica just nodded, letting the topic of family drop, as she usually did when it came up. She didn't actively keep her childhood a secret, but unless she was directly asked, she just didn't bring it up. She was glad he had family that he seemed to care for so much, though.

Erica had to laugh at his Yoda impression. "Cute," she said dryly. "And sure, why not?" She wasn't sure how she'd do playing a song, but it could be interesting.