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If I Became a Professional Musician

Step 1: playing an instrument

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Every time I listen to , I feel like I want to become a professional musician. There’s something magical and mysterious about the sound of his instrument that makes me dream and want to make a living with my music. The problem is that I don’t play an instrument right now. That’s a big problem, isn’t it? Here’s what I’m thinking about on the eve of my 38th birthday.

The little house was at the end of a garden with a few trees and some grass. I can still see myself walking down the driveway with my guitar, followed by my father or mother, depending on the day. My guitar teacher, William Chabbey, a talented jazz guitarist as I write this, was waiting for me for my one-hour private lesson. It was the late ’90s, a time when cassette tapes had not yet gone out of style.

William would record the chord grids in front of me so I could work on my melodies and improvisations when I got home. One of the pieces I liked to improvise on was Beautiful Love, a 1931 jazz standard composed by Wayne King, Victor Young, and Egbert Van Alstyne and . Jim Hall was one of my favorite jazz guitarists, along with Pat Metheny. A warm, round…