Every time I get stopped at a railroad crossing, I don't get as mad as I used to. Matter of fact, I smile.
Because that train reminds me of learning to play the guitar.
You're sitting there with somewhere to be. The engine's running. Your foot's tapping. You're thinking, Damn, come on already. Then your mind starts wandering. "Maybe I can turn around. Maybe there's a side road. Maybe I can beat this thing somehow."
Sure enough, somebody always tries.
One car cuts left. Another hangs a U-turn. Somebody's looking for a shortcut because waiting feels like losing.
That's damn near every guitar player I've ever met.
Everybody's in a hurry.
They want to play the blues before they've learned why the blues hurts. They want the flashy lick before they can make one note mean a damn thing. They want to sound like B.B., Stevie Ray, Albert, or Muddy, but they don't want to sit still long enough to understand what those men spent years figuring out.
So they start copying.
They memorize somebody else's solos. They chase tabs. They learn songs by muscle memory. They collect tricks instead of truth.
That's taking the side road.
Here's the thing about that train.
You can't scare it off. You can't outsmart it. You wait...or you don't get through.
The guitar's the same way.
There are some lessons you just have to sit with. Timing. Touch. Feel. Listening. Knowing when not to play. Those things don't come from no shortcuts. They come from putting your azz in the chair day after day, playing until your fingers quit complaining .
The funny part?
The folks who keep looking for the easy way usually end up taking the longest road. They spend years chasing somebody else's sound because they never slowed down long enough to find their own.
The ones who stay put...the ones willing to wait on that train...they're the ones who come out the other side with something worth saying.
So the next time you get caught at a railroad crossing, don't cuss the train.
Thank it.
Because every now and then life throws a damn train across your path just to remind you that the good stuff ain't late. The train is teaching you patience.
And patience has made more real blues players than talent ever did.
Now let me ask you something...
When life puts a train in front of you, are you willing to wait...or are you still burning gas looking for a shortcut?