14
PEOPLE
don young Guitar builder By Ruth Starr
“C’mon son,” Don Young’s father said to him. “We’ll go to the music store and trade the trumpet you don’t like for a guitar.” Don was 11 years old at the time. His family always had music in the house. His Mom, who came from a musical family, played the piano. While his Dad enjoyed listening to records that ranged from classical music to country-western, guitar music was always Don’s favorite. He would hop on his bike, ride to the library and get records he could listen to at home. He took lessons on the guitar but was discouraged with the lessons. At age fourteen he put his guitar down and didn’t play for two years. Browsing around in a hippy music shop, he heard a record playing with a performer named Black Ace on the guitar. Ordering the record for $2.25, he couldn’t wait for it to arrive. Black Ace played a lap steel guitar, which has the strings raised up. Instead of playing by pressing down with fingers of left hand to make chords, the left hand uses a steel slide bar that slides along the strings. The right hand either uses a pick or fingers to play the melody or chords.
M A Y
2015
Journal PLUS