content: As a teenager I took guitar lessons from a septuagenarian Korean War veteran. Most of the songs he taught me with hadn't been on the radio for more than three decades, and were not the type of music I was interested in at all. So I would go to lessons and play songs from The Ventures and Merle Haggard and Chet Atkins and John Denver, then come home and practice with Zeppelin and Soundgarden. But guess what? He knew how to play. He'd been doing it for over fifty years, and he was a terrific teacher. Luckily even at 13 years old I was at least mature enough to recognize that and stick with him. We got to be really close, and most every time I pick up a guitar to play now some twenty years later I still think of him fondly and the debt of gratitude I owe him. He died of cancer a few years ago, I often wish I could go back and do a better job of thanking him for what he gave me.