The Good Gear

I bought the good guitar / Before I learned the chords / Spent three weeks reading reviews / Then three months reading more / I found a chair that suited me / A lamp with the perfect shade / Bought a little wooden stand / For the instrument I never played / I watched a guy in Oregon / Explain the proper way / To hold your wrist at thirty degrees / For forty-seven minutes straight / I bought a better tuner / Then a case to hold the case / Ordered strings in three different gauges / Just to find my favorite gauge / I joined a little forum / Where everybody knew their stuff / I posted once about my problem / Then never posted again / The hobby had a language / I learned enough to sound involved / If anybody asked me how it went / I'd say, I'm getting there / Maybe I liked getting ready / More than I liked the thing / There was comfort in the shopping / And the promise it would bring / For a while I could imagine / Someone patient, skilled and calm / Waking up on Saturday / And knowing what they wanted / I never became that person / But I liked him / The guitar is in the closet / The pedals are in a drawer / There's a course I paid for twice / Because I forgot I bought it before / The chair became a laundry chair / The lamp moved to the hall / My expensive little dream / Doesn't look so big at all / But sometimes when I pass it / I pick the guitar up / Play the three chords I remember / And that's enough / I still have the good gear / I just stopped pretending / It was going to make me good