The Portrait of a Young Artist Scared of Pearl Jam
At the age of 13, after a few months of playing guitar, I asked my dad to buy me a Pearl Jam. tablature book (music for guitar). Specifically, for the Ten record.
At this moment of my guitar studies, I only knew how to play a few chords. There was no way I was going to be able to play Pearl Jam guitar solos, let alone the main riffs. It’s like being in fourth grade and reading Charlotte’s Web and then jumping to James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
But there is no stopping a teenager who’s mind is made up, so my dad bought me the Pearl Jam book, and I rushed home to attempt it!
In my bedroom, I listened to the Pearl Jam CD and tried to follow along in the music book. Instant failure. It didn’t make any sense to me…so I gave up, and sadly went back to practicing my guitar teacher’s Mel Bay Book 1 homework.
Here’s the thing that shocks me: I never attempted to play those Pearl Jam songs again. It was like my first failure at guitar scared me away from Pearl Jam for good, no matter how much better of a guitar player I became.
Last year, I stumbled upon that old Pearl Jam music book hiding in a box. I chuckled, and opened up to “Even Flow.”
I was able to sight read it.
The instant failure at 13 became an instant success at 31.
Fear is a strange thing, isn’t it. How many illogical fears do we carry from childhood into adulthood?
Whenever I hear a Pearl Jam song, I remind myself not to let initial failures scare myself away from attempting again.
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