Today I bought a guitar.
I started playing summer ’09. I wanted to be able to sing at Open Mic Night and not be dependent on anyone else to accompany me. At first I picked up my step-dad’s guitar, but a few days later he took me to the music store, we sat down as I tried different instruments, and then I bought myself Luna. I over drew from my checking account and had to move funds over from savings, and I panicked. I had been playing guitar for mere days. What if it was a passing fancy? What if I played for a few weeks and then lost interest?
I resolved to be ready to play two or three songs at the end of a two week period. I played until I had blisters. And I performed when I said I would despite everyone’s well founded doubts. I’ve been playing ever since.
The music store is going out of business. I’m home for spring break, and today I walked back in to the store, again accompanied by my step-dad, and I found an instrument and brought it home. This instrument will fill some different needs–It’s still acoustic but it will let me plug it into an amp for performances. It’s bigger, heavier. A different sound. I’m going to have to find a name for it sometime soon as Yamaha is not acceptable. It wasn’t terribly expensive, given their going out of business sale and the fact that this not a Stradivarius of guitars, but it wasn’t cheap either.
And I realized as I got it home, that I just payed for an instrument what I was hesitant, maybe even unwilling, to pay for a new laptop.
Both purchases, a new laptop and a new guitar, fall into the category of non-vital spending. It is not as though I could not play guitar without buying this instrument, as I already have Luna and she’s a sweetie. I probably won’t even take this new instrument back to school with me, as there isn’t much space in my dorm room and Luna suites my guitar needs at school perfectly. Similarly, choosing not to buy a new laptop doesn’t prevent me from doing all the things I need computers for: I can get into labs at school and Mom has graciously given me her old laptop and purchased herself a new computer.
So why have I purchased a guitar and not a laptop?
One factor is the projected lifespan of the different products. If I take good care of this guitar, I can still be using it 10, 20 years from now. Though I still have a 7 year old laptop that I use on occasion, it is unlikely that a computer will last me as long as a guitar will.
On the other hand, laptops are so pervasive in our society. We use them for everything. I’m online dozens of times every day, I communicate using my computer, I write papers and stories, scan artwork, update my webcomic, listen to itunes, watch movies. And all a guitar does is let me play music. Not buying a laptop, I sacrificed speed, a working sound system and my computer independence. But I’ll spend that same money on a guitar?
Yes. I just did.
I like to think that what it all boils down to is values. Which do I care about more: Instant access to facebook and the ability to watch youtube videos anytime at all, or the ability to share my music with an audience?
I chose music.