It was brand new, straight from the most gorgeous showcase of the shop. The desire of owning one had long kindled his musical instincts, only to be bogged down by his inability to pick up guts and ask his father for the money. The family situation wasn't ideal - his mum's cancer treatment chiselled away $220 every month from the $950 pension his father drew as a retired bank officer. His sister, separated from her husband, undertook odd cleaning jobs at Brooklyn households adding a measly $40 a week to the family earnings.
And there he was, a dropout, still only 21. He'd defied education and taken up playing the instrument when he turned 19, learning chords on and off and currently was no more a professional than a two-month old novice at the National Academy on 74th Street.
He was looking at an Ibanez. This one boasted of a JS neck, a signature of the master himself, Joe Satriani. He'd seen him play at sonic speeds, his fingers moving over the rosewood board with stunning ease negating the complicacy of the notes. Picturing himself playing Lynyrd Skynyrd's most famous number yet, he marvelled at the thought of all the girls swooning over the breathtaking five minute solo towards the end. Freebird. He'd probably give up playing if he could pull this one off somewhere in the best part of the next twenty years. It's a long shot, he told himself.
Catching sight of another wannabe on a Gibson in the acoustics room, he pointed at the Ibanez, paid $5 for the trial and waited outside for his ten minute slot, scanning his brain for possible tunes to experiment with. The solos from Dance of Death and Blood Brothers, Love Story, the Godfather theme, the first few notes of Nothing Else Matters and Wish you were here, Wherever you will go by The Calling, Superman by Five for fighting....
Shutting the door behind him he proceeded to plug the instrument and sat down. Resting the curve of the Ibanez on his thigh, he brought his right arm around the basswood body, took up the plectrum and strummed. Delight. Yes, this was a JS100 and not a Gibson Les Paul or a Fender Stratocaster, but that wasn't going to make him think two ways about playing the first ever tune he'd learned...
E E E E E E E E
B B B B B B B B
C# C# C# C# C# C# C# C#
A A A A A A A A…
So simple, just eight notes on one string, and eight notes on the other and yet so delightful. And so significant that you couldn’t imagine The Edge playing With Or Without You with any other base note…
And he continued to play it over and over again till the end of his allotted time.
