Learnin' To Jam Like A Pro

[Casey Pryor]

{Clickey link to see a pretty picture}

It was a mild day in the park, mid-afternoon, and Casey had found the perfect spot under a not to big tree to practice her music. Her counselor had told her she needed a few more electives, and one in the arts or music would be best since Casey had like one other of those and that was it. Not that it was Casey's fault she had been on a strict beeline down her degree sheet. Well it was her fault, but she liked having it all mapped out in front of her and she'd forgotten that she had to do some choosing of electives to fill out her requirements. So now here she sat in the park, a classic light brown guitar sitting in a black case next to her. Her friend Riley played, which is what gave Casey the idea to sign up for beginning guitar, knowing that her friend would most likely be happy to help her out and knowing how good Riley was, Casey was hoping to soak up some natural talent. 

Casey had arrived about an hour early, to find her current spot, and practice a fast paced piece of music. The teacher had told Casey she had picked up on everything really well so far, but when it came to pushing herself she didn't excel. Which miffed Casey cause she knew none of her other teachers would say that about her. But she also wasn't much of an instrument player. Most of the time she had to much energy to sit still for long, so she avoided it. Of course if she could learn to walk and play...but she didn't have the coordination for that at the moment. So the teacher gave Casey an intermediate sheet of music yesterday and told her to she'd be graded on how well she did by the end of next week. Ugh. Casey glanced at her watch and saw that Riley would be showing up any time. 'Good, let the soaking up begin,' she thought as she went back to trying not to mangle the new piece she was given.

[Riley Forrester]

Her, a teacher? Riley had been pretty surprised to get the call from Casey to help her out with some music assignment having to do with guitars. But the punky girl had said yes even though she wasn't sure how good of a teacher she'd make. Good or not, it would be nice to see Casey again and catch up a bit on things. So Riley hopped on her motor cycle and headed down to the park to meet one of her good buddies.

Once she wandered in, she quickly found Casey and grinned walking up and giving her little trademark two-fingered salute to the girl. "Yo Case! Long time no see!" Riley said with a lopsided smiled as she plopped herself down next to the girl, checking out the sheet she had. "So this is the big bad music assignment, huh?" She teased with a grin, glancing up at the girl and then back at the sheet. Witches Hill huh? Interesting. Riley thought, scratching her chin.

"Well now, hows about you give it a go so I can see how far you've come huh?"

[Casey Pryor]

Casey put the guitar down gently, though she felt like throwing it at how frustrated she was. Why did she have to PUSH herself to a greater level? It's not like she was ever gonna do anything with music and she wasn't sure she'd ever feel confident enough to want to play in front of other people so who knew if she'd even keep up the skill. Though, it did give her another excuse to spend time with her friend Riley, not that she needed excuses of course, but still.

Hearing her name called from a familiar voice Casey looked up with a big grin and waved wildly. "Rileyyy, hi," she said, leaning over and giving her friend a small hug after she'd sat down. "You're right, its been too long. Work and school have a way of making that happen," she grumbled. Speaking of school, Riley was right to work. She sighed and grimaced. "All work and no play. Don't tell me you've gotten boring," she teased the other girl.

She picked up the guitar again and settled it in the correct position and sat a bit straighter. She started the piece, able to play through the first line of music smoothly, having played it over and over so much. It was during the second line of the piece where things seemed to get a bit trickier. She didn't know if she was just over thinking it or if her fingers just didn't have the coordination. 

She managed to play through the whole song, and was a bit surprised that she was actually better then when she first got the piece. Apparently practicing really did help. Maybe she should put more hours into it. There was definitely work to be done though and she hoped her friend would have some tips or know why she seemed to start stumbling and messing up. She relaxed her arms and looked over at Riley. "So, what ya think? Am I a rock star or what?"

[Riley Forrester]

Riley grinned and returned he hug firmly, glad to see one of her friends. "You're right there. Work's no fun. Ruins everything." She decided with a chuckle, letting go and looking back at the music curiously. Casey's comment had the girl glancing back at her and smirking with a raised eyebrow. "Me? Boring? Casey you hurt me so." Riley said dramatically, putting a hand to her heart. "I just want to try helping before we head out for food or something and completely forget why I'm here." Riley explained. She knew for a fact that would happen and Riley would forget to help out her friend.

Which is why she listened intently now as Casey played, noting how it sounded and how the girl grew a bit more hesitant with the second line. It wasn't terrible, but definitely noticeable. Once Casey finished and asked her question, Riley smirked and pat her on the shoulder. "You already rock Case." She said matter-of-factly. "However you've just got to get more confident with the second line. You sort of freeze up because you obviously don't know it as well as the first one. You can just try practicing that one by itself for a few times until you feel good with it, and then try doing them both. Practice really does help here to be honest. I had to practice basically every day to get where I am. Not saying you've got to be like me, but that's really it. Everything else seems perfectly fine"