What's Your Community?

        Playing guitar is a community. Guitarists are a community united and bound through the music and melodies in which they weave. They form their own community as individuals when they write and rehearse on their own, BUT, together they form a large community of passionate individuals who wish to share their sounds and spread the joy of music. The most basic interests and values among this group are that they all love music and wish to pursue that above just listening it. To be a guitar player you need to be dedicated, artistic (it is a way of art and life afterall), always striving to improve and most importantly you have to have the HEART to back all of that up. Although there's many needs and qualities shared among these people there is also many differences in this group that works strongly against the cohesion of the group as a whole. For one, musical preferences vary greatly. I for one like post-hardcore-esque music, therefore, that is what I choose to play, but many people also within the same community frown upon that particular genre (especially the "screamo" A.K.A. the screaming vocals). From this, many artists divide up into smaller groups within this whole guitar community, basing themselves on genre, which is a major dividing "line in the sand" in which few dare to cross. So the largest tensions and difficulties the guitar playing community faces is the "genre-separation." Also in case you're wondering, acoustic and electric guitars don't really cause much issue among the community.
        If I had to say how I fit into this particular group, I would easily reply that I play guitar, therefore making me a member of this community I suppose. I've been playing guitar almost 7 years now and from the moment I picked up my first guitar (acoustic) I knew this was the thing for me. I love this community and it's definitely one I will always want to be a part of because it's so freeing and creative and lets you support your fellow musicians while being supported yourself. It's like a kind of kin-ness shared between you and your fellow guitarists, similar to that of being on a football team among teammates knowing you have their backs while they've got yours..