I Can Kill You With My Brain

My love affair with The Hazards of Love by The Decemberists has reached a new level.  I can now play guitar along with two of the songs from the album.  I learned the basics of “The Rake Song” last week.  As much as I love that song, I was disappointed in the complexity.  Even my way-out-of-practice skills didn’t have too much trouble with it.  Looking to learn more music from the album and challenge myself a little more, last night I learned how to play “Won’t Want for Love (Margaret in the Taiga)”.  That song is again not too difficult, but the arrangement I made for myself has me going back and forth between the lead and rhythm guitar parts throughout the entire song.  It’s a lot of fun to play and now I just need to stick with it for a few more nights so I don’t forget how to play it.  My mind is already blanking on the chords for “The Rake Song” because I haven’t played it in a few days.

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, The Hazards of Love is a story told through a concept album.  It’s practically one long song that is broken up by the chapters of the story.  When I saw The Decemberists in concert a few weeks ago, the first half of the concert was the band playing The Hazards of Love in it’s entirety without stopping or taking a break, exactly as it’s presented on the album.  Now that I know how to play most of two songs, my mind start to dream of learning the rest of the tracks and then playing the entire album myself, just like the band did.  Alas, I need to be realistic.  This would be my largest musical endeavor by far and a challenge for many musicians with way more skills than me.  Also, it would take my hobby and turn it into something more than that.  At the very minimum, it would become my main hobby and be the focus of my free time for a few weeks.  As awesome as this idea sounds and as much as I enjoy playing guitar, I don’t want this particular hobby to rule over my free time.  I need some of that free time to begin developing an uncomfortable obsession with Hello Kitty.