Tony Jajou (and Terence Dickinson) – A Musical Journey.
I am sixty-one years old. When I was fifty-nine, I suddenly discovered I was looking for a new challenge in life. This came as quite a surprise as I thought I’d covered most of the things I really wanted to cover and figured I was maybe getting a little long in the tooth for anything constituting too much hard work. So, what to do? It was around this time I was walking through Papakura, South Auckland. I was just casting around for books and other things of interest, when I came across John Walker’s Music shop. It was one of those classic moments when you look but don’t see, then do a double-take as it suddenly hits you that you may just have stumbled into a whole new world. I find myself smiling as I looked at the musical instruments in the window. “Of course”, I mused silently; “this could well be the challenge I’ve been looking for. How about learning to play something?”. Now, what would fit the bill. I wandered into John’s shop and started looking around. It occurred to me that I probably wouldn’t be interested in playing the drums, or the bass guitar as these really need some support to produce much of note. I also don’t like anything that requires too much expenditure of oxygen,(at my age, I can hardly spare it!!) so all the blowy things were out. The violin was a possibility but then I remembered the awful noises I made when taking lessons as an eleven year old and dismissed that. I couldn’t possibly inflict that on the world again. This left either keyboards, or the guitar. Now the problem with keyboards is that you can’t carry them around with you….not unless you have a truck, big strong arms and a lot of friends, so I settled on the guitar. “That should be quite easy to learn” I speculated confidently. “I expect it will take a few weeks, or so”. Deluded or what? I decided almost immediately that if I wanted to become the next Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton or Mark Knopfler within the next few weeks, I would definitely need a tutor, so I asked John if he could possibly think of anyone who could play; who had a few guitars on hand; was an all-round nice guy; and wanted to get his name in the paper as the tutor of the next guitar legend. “I know just the fella” he replied with gusto, and handed me a business card. On it was a photo of a guy wearing glasses; not a lot of hair; a confident expression and, best of all, holding a real guitar which he definitely looked to be playing. “Eureka” I said…. ”He’s the man for me. I’ll ring him immediately”. And that, dear readers, is how my musical journey with Tony first began. A few weeks later, I was sitting in Tony’s studio with my own real guitar in my hands confidently telling Tony that I could already play several chords and was expecting to be an expert in no time at all. Now, seriously folks….anyone who has ever attempted to learn the guitar will tell you that the process is a long, involved one full of pitfalls and hidden difficulties. Two years on, I can speak from experience when I tell you that you really, actually do need an expert tutor in order to break down the mysteries of playing this instrument. So has Tony fit the bill…….? You bet he has.
It’s now just over two years later and I can report the following: I have a repertoire of around fifty songs that I can play confidently. These include around twenty songs I can play without reading the tab (yes, I can read the tab now too). I can play in many different styles, both on the electric and acoustic guitars and - one of the nicest things of all – I can go into a music shop, borrow a guitar and play it there and then. What a sense of achievement!!! I put most of all this down to Tony and his ability to confidently and expertly teach the instrument to those who actually have very little prior experience. This includes me, despite my claims at expertise in being able to play some chords two years earlier. He always says it’s a partnership and yeah, I guess that has to be so in the end. I’ve realised in the last two years just how much there is to learn with this instrument but, with Tony’s encouragement, I’ve got through a heck of a lot of it and I aim to get through a lot more before I’m done. Two years ago, I remember Tony saying something really important to me during my first ever lesson: He said that together we were embarking on a musical journey that, above all else was going to be fun. How right he was. I can honestly say that I’ve enjoyed every moment of the journey and that I’ve been inspired for the first time in my life to give the learning process a real go. And it’s worked!! Thank you Tony. As well as a tutor, you’ve also become a valued friend and I have no hesitation at all in recommending your teaching to the wider world. I wish you every success for the future and…..see you next lesson.
Terry.
