An effective tour into dedication, expectations, delusions and rebirth. A very special book, which mixes a personal experience with the history and role of a very special instrument. A must read for every musician and for every learner. ( )

This was fine. Thought some of his prose was a bit over the top and his story was just not that terribly interesting. I get it, he was really good when he was a kid, one of the good players in college, and not a world class player as an adult. He's practicing again now. Good. He's probably still an excellent player despite the time off. ( )

Striving for your art, becoming disillusioned with it, and then rediscovering it later with different meaning.As a musician and programmer, this story resonated with me, but it also made me at risk of blowing a ton of money on more classical recordings. ( )

I hoped this book would be more than it turned out to be. Kurtz was a child guitar prodigy. He went on to study music at a renowned conservatory, but he abandoned the guitar and music not long after he graduated. He returned to the guitar a few years ago and uses the format of this book to discuss the pleasures of his return. I wished he had been more open about the whys and hows of his departure and his subsequent return to music. ( )

"When you play an instrument, and playing comes easily, playing is enough. But slowly, as you play more, what you hear outpaces your ability. This music beyond you, as you are, leads you on, and you ache to lay hold of it. You sit down, you look at your hands, you hold the instrument. You listen to the musicians you admire, who have this same equipment, hands and instruments. Then you look at your own hands again, and it doesn't seem possible. How do they do it? What you want to play shimmers ungraspable in the air, or in the hands of others. I think this is when your story as a musician begins. Playing, you begin to practice. And practice makes "perfect." Now you'll never play the way you wish you could. Now one lifetime is not enough. You'll never be finished practicing."

That says it all right there, that does.

I'll Never Forget The Day I Read A Book!