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

[erica_allen]

Erica still couldn't believe her luck. She'd been so busy since Spring Break that she hadn't had much of a chance to look for someone to give her guitar lessons. That she'd actually found someone by accident was just unbelievable to her.

She'd hurried home after her last morning class. She had plenty of time since Ezra wasn't going to be there until 1, but she wanted to be able to eat and relax a bit. Maybe get a headstart on her homework. It was a miracle she kept up, but she'd been working at this pace for so long, she hardly knew the difference. She just didn't get a lot of sleep.

When the knock sounded at her door, Erica went and answered it. "Hey, Ezra, right on time. Come on in." She smiled at him, holding the door open. Once he was inside, she shut the door. "Do you want anything to drink? I've got water and I think there might be a coke in there somewhere."

[ezra_loy]

Smiling as Erica usher him into the apartment, Ezra replied. "Hey, Erica, and yeah, I guess old habits die hard." he shrugged while glancing around the apartment. His entire childhood and military career had consisted of being punctual, Ezra was pretty sure he couldn't be late to an appointment or event even if he tried. "Oh, ah, if the coke does actually exist in your fridge I'll take that, and if not water's fine." Not that he needed caffeine in his system, he was already just a little jittery, but he figured 'what the hell, it couldn't hurt, right?'.

"How've you been?" Ezra asked as he set his guitar down near her sofa. He wasn't entirely sure how one went about starting a guitar lesson, and maybe he was using pleasantries as procrastination, not that he would admit to that. He wanted to teach Erica, he did, he just wasn't sure where exactly to start. "So, Erica, you mentioned having taught yourself a bit already, so I guess I'm going to have to quiz you on what 'a bit' really is, so I know where we need to start."

[erica_allen]

Erica's apartment wasn't much to look at, at least in her opinion. Most of what she owned had been thrift store finds. Her couch was old, but she'd splurged at the craft store on new stuffing for the cushions, so it was still moderately comfortable. Her coffee and end tables were mismatched and scratched up, but they served their purpose. She had one lamp in the living room; a freestanding one that she hated, but she'd chosen to splurge on a guitar rather than household items, so it was her own fault. Though the bookshelf full of books might have been an indication to where her money did go

[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

[erica_allen]

Erica chuckled softly, shaking her head. "No worries. I'm not feeling rushed, I just hadn't realized I was doing better than I thought," she explained.

Erica played along when he started the song again. It was definitely more difficult and a little more awkward to shift her fingers between the different chords faster than she'd been doing, but halfway through the verse, she thought she was finally starting to get the hang of it.

As they finished the verse in the upped tempo, she grinned widely. "I am so glad I splurged on this!"

[ezra_loy]

Ezra nodded in understanding. "Often times we're tougher on ourselves then we need to be." He remarked with a grin. "And honestly you are doing really good."

He kept a close eye on Erica as they ran through the song again at the quicker tempo, noticing that she struggled just a bit in the beginning, but by the time they finished the verse she had managed to get the hang of it and played without faltering.

"Splurging on a guitar is never a bad choice." Ezra said with a bright smile on his face. "At least that's my opinion anyway."

[erica_allen]

Erica shrugged one shoulder, but nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah, guess we probably are." She hadn't had anyone to be hard on her in the ways that she needed until Jack came along, and even then, Jack was more the live by example type. So she figured if she were going to achieve anything in this life, she'd have to be hard on herself. "Thanks. I'm trying."

Erica had to agree with him there, though she supposed she shouldn't. There were other things her money could have gone toward, more important things, but she'd learned long ago that life had to be a balance of responsibility and indulgence. And music was such a big part of her life that it wasn't much of a sacrifice to put her money toward a guitar rather than something more practical.

"So, yeah, you should definitely jot down the whole song for me, and I'll practice it when I have time. Maybe next week, I'll be able to play it all the way through," she said, feeling a little more confident now that she'd had some direction.

[ezra_loy]

"At least when it comes to music anyway." Ezra commented, knowing he had spent way to damn long fretting over trying to play again after his accident. But music was really the only time he really turned into any semblance of a perfectionist. In every other aspect of his life he hadn't really carried enough to worry, plus he had his father who nearly made it his life's purpose to point out Ezra's faults to him. "Well it shows, and it's making my job a lot easier."

Ezra grinned at Erica before putting his guitar back in it's case. "Yeah, of course. I'll even attempt to make my handwriting legible. Oh, I don't doubt that you'll have the entire song down by next week, and actually I'll look forward to hearing it." He replied, positive that Erica had the ability and the determination to master the song in one week.