Is it just me (#1 cliche opening of all time for a comedic essay or stand-up monologue...), or is the guitar just the most magical instrument in the whole wide world??

Think about it.

If you go to a party, and someone just happens to pull one out of their back pocket, it is like some sort of human being magnet, drawing everyone around in to see what will happen next.

What happens next most often is that whoever ends up strumming the thing only knows about the first three chords of any song, and even less of the lyrics. The crowd gathered around won't be much help either, even if the song being attempted is Kumbaya, or 99 Bottles Of Beer On The Wall.

If the guitar person is fluent in the musical language of the guitar, the tradeoff then is generally his or her singing voice. On more than one occasion, and even with slightly more than my fair share of Smirnoff Ice acting as a distraction, I've heard amateur "Idols" sound like Bob Dylan impersonating Bullwinkle the Moose. For most people, Bob Dylan alone would have been sufficient as an example...

One guy that could save the day at your average late-nite house party would be TV's Spanish guitar sensation Esteban. He'd raise the bar of attendance just by showing up in that "Zorro meets Roy Orbison" outfit he likes to wear during his infomercial...

Chow for now!!