Guitars on the Camino

Due to generosity of pilgrim-guitar builder Federico Sheppard, we now have Esperanza, a Paracho del Norte guitar, here at the Peaceable for pilgrims to use. (we don´t know how to play it ourselves!) It is gorgeous, built on classical Spanish lines with conch-shell details. It sounds really lovely, too -- its premier performance last night was a Bossa Nova concert played by a Thai pilgrim.

The guitar is here for pilgrims. So if you´re a pilgrim who plays guitar, you are welcome to come over and play.

In Holy Year 2010 Sheppard and his guitarrero friends are planning a series of guitar concerts in churches along the camino, so you might meet him then. Or stop in at his guitar-building workshop he´s setting up out here along the meseta... details on that come later.

The nickname of our little Mac laptop is, ironically, "The Mighty Wurlitzer," so I think we are covered on that account. (When it comes to pipe organs I will hold out for a Buzard tracker. Although I can´t play an organ either. I can´t even sing so well. I settle for "joyful noise.")

I see at least three pilgrims per day in high season shlepping an instrument along, which should be a lesson to us all... Almost half the pilgrims who stop here say they´d love to play a guitar if there was one. And so Federico´s stepped into the gap. Spain has a long, long guitar tradition, and both players and luthiers will enjoy this particular instrument.

So put the word out there. Meantime, I shall look on YouTube for guitar instruction videos. Hopefully chords are easier to grasp than Spanish verbs, and I can learn to make a joyful noise on a guitar too.