Post by Jared Graas R4 on May 4, 2009 7:03:07 GMT -5
The middle of the short melody he was twirling on his guitar didn’t sound quite right. He wasn’t even precisely sure what was wrong in it – the pace matched the rest and the development was logical. But it just didn’t sound right. Jared frowned to himself as he twirled to the start again to patiently start working out whatever it actually was that was bothering him. It took six twirls of the same short tune with different modifications before Jared felt that he had hit the possible answer. Raise one of the tones by half a note and a minuscule pause after that and it would work. Playing the now improved bit of melody, Jared let a small smug smile glide over his face. It was still a truly short piece of melody, but he could already see the rest of it building itself up in the back of his mind. It would take a couple of days before it would turn out to be a song, but it would work out. Satisfied with that, Jared raised his eye only now to see his companion. He had heard someone approaching about five minutes ago, but at that moment he had been too occupied with fixing the small thriller of melody to bother to check who it was. Luckily the person had been graceful enough to remain silent and let him work out the problem.
So now Jared glanced up, prepared to be charming if need be. Not that charm would entirely work right now, seeing that he was wearing a ragged shirt with half of its buttons undone and a pair of jeans, which had holes in it not out of sense of fashion but out of simple age, and comfortable tank-boots. His hair was probably an uncombed mess, with the strands falling over his eyes however they pleased and he had been slouching on the floor of a random fourth floor corridor with just his head and shoulders propped somewhat higher against a wall. A genuine smile appeared on his face, however, when his eyes fell upon Layla standing almost shyly next to her. “Hey, pretty girl,” Jared greeted with a grin as he observed the girl, “One of those accords started bothering me sometime in the night so I figured I might as well build a short tune around it. And the tune will want a melody and a song to support. But you have to be honest with me here now. Do I look the part of a sensitive and disturbed and hard-working musician?” Jared wrinkled his nose at Layla as she laughed at him, even though he hardly minded it. He rather chose the moment to calmly observe the young girl, whom they had all became quite fond of. It was also thanks to this observation that he saw Layla’s attention straying more to his guitar than remaining on Jared himself. That made sense too in a way, because the guitar deserved more credit than Jared for the music he could make, but he had caught Layla gazing at his guitar before with something akin to desire somewhere in her eyes.
“You want to learn to play the guitar?” Jared ventured absently, smiling lightly at the startled look Layla sent her. “You’re good, kid, but my entire family is good too. And I have you beaten you at the length of practice of reading people.” Jared observed Layla for a moment as he considered. Layla was learning music already, he knew that much. But Ashlyn didn’t play – for whatever reason – the guitar, so she could hardly learn from her. Shifting his guitar off himself for a moment Jared climbed into a sitting position before kneeling on the ground. “Come here then,” Jared offered, gesturing for Layla to sit on the ground between his knees. Once the girl had settled into position, Jared lifted the guitar in her lap and tossed the leathery strap over her head. The guitar was a bit too big for her, but it would do for a brief skim of the surface for now. “Left hand up here. This one will play the melody. The other hand curves under the neck and covers the strings here for the base and accords. But before I show you how,” Jared guided, before turning his right hand so that Layla could see the calluses on his finger-tips. The girl traced one of the pads with its hardened skin and Jared smile lightly at the back of her head. “I have raw natural talent as well, but I wasn’t born with knowledge how to play. I’ve gotten these over years during practicing, even though by now I don’t really feel the pluck of the strings. But you will and I hardly want Damon skinning me for letting you get hurt,” Jared explained patiently, even as he ripped off a piece of his jeans near the whole at his knee. “Don’t tell Gabriel I did that,” Jared muttered before a quick charm and a transfiguration allowed him to present Layla with thin finger-protection gloves. Only after she had pulled them on, did Jared position his hands over hers and absently fixed the positioning of one.
“You’ve learned some from Ashlyn so you just have to see how the basics are divided here. You work them out with the strings. Here,” Jared commented, spending the following 45 minutes patiently explaining to the younger girl how to sound notes and accords. She didn’t get all of it. Jared would be surprised if she’d remember more than one off the top of her head, but judging by the way her eyes shone, Jared wasn’t sorry to spend his time in such a way. He himself had learned most by playing and figuring things out by trial and error before Mom had found him a proper tutor for a couple of years. It was the way he had learned so it was the only way he could really teach. So he slowly started to direct Layla’s finger over the tones and chords of an old and simple lullaby. Absently humming the words along with the tune – that was much slower due to the awkwardness of Layla when it came to playing with a guitar – Jared played the tune with her for three times, before shifting his fingers so that she would amble through the lullaby herself. It was slow and with a couple of wrong notes struck that brought a disapproving frown onto Layla’s face. “It wasn’t bad,” Jared stated, placing his thumb between Layla’s eyebrows and pushing upwards until the frown disappeared, “It wasn’t good either. But considering you have held a guitar for only about an hour, it most definitely wasn’t bad at all. Have a better grasp of the instruments I prefer now?”
So now Jared glanced up, prepared to be charming if need be. Not that charm would entirely work right now, seeing that he was wearing a ragged shirt with half of its buttons undone and a pair of jeans, which had holes in it not out of sense of fashion but out of simple age, and comfortable tank-boots. His hair was probably an uncombed mess, with the strands falling over his eyes however they pleased and he had been slouching on the floor of a random fourth floor corridor with just his head and shoulders propped somewhat higher against a wall. A genuine smile appeared on his face, however, when his eyes fell upon Layla standing almost shyly next to her. “Hey, pretty girl,” Jared greeted with a grin as he observed the girl, “One of those accords started bothering me sometime in the night so I figured I might as well build a short tune around it. And the tune will want a melody and a song to support. But you have to be honest with me here now. Do I look the part of a sensitive and disturbed and hard-working musician?” Jared wrinkled his nose at Layla as she laughed at him, even though he hardly minded it. He rather chose the moment to calmly observe the young girl, whom they had all became quite fond of. It was also thanks to this observation that he saw Layla’s attention straying more to his guitar than remaining on Jared himself. That made sense too in a way, because the guitar deserved more credit than Jared for the music he could make, but he had caught Layla gazing at his guitar before with something akin to desire somewhere in her eyes.
“You want to learn to play the guitar?” Jared ventured absently, smiling lightly at the startled look Layla sent her. “You’re good, kid, but my entire family is good too. And I have you beaten you at the length of practice of reading people.” Jared observed Layla for a moment as he considered. Layla was learning music already, he knew that much. But Ashlyn didn’t play – for whatever reason – the guitar, so she could hardly learn from her. Shifting his guitar off himself for a moment Jared climbed into a sitting position before kneeling on the ground. “Come here then,” Jared offered, gesturing for Layla to sit on the ground between his knees. Once the girl had settled into position, Jared lifted the guitar in her lap and tossed the leathery strap over her head. The guitar was a bit too big for her, but it would do for a brief skim of the surface for now. “Left hand up here. This one will play the melody. The other hand curves under the neck and covers the strings here for the base and accords. But before I show you how,” Jared guided, before turning his right hand so that Layla could see the calluses on his finger-tips. The girl traced one of the pads with its hardened skin and Jared smile lightly at the back of her head. “I have raw natural talent as well, but I wasn’t born with knowledge how to play. I’ve gotten these over years during practicing, even though by now I don’t really feel the pluck of the strings. But you will and I hardly want Damon skinning me for letting you get hurt,” Jared explained patiently, even as he ripped off a piece of his jeans near the whole at his knee. “Don’t tell Gabriel I did that,” Jared muttered before a quick charm and a transfiguration allowed him to present Layla with thin finger-protection gloves. Only after she had pulled them on, did Jared position his hands over hers and absently fixed the positioning of one.
“You’ve learned some from Ashlyn so you just have to see how the basics are divided here. You work them out with the strings. Here,” Jared commented, spending the following 45 minutes patiently explaining to the younger girl how to sound notes and accords. She didn’t get all of it. Jared would be surprised if she’d remember more than one off the top of her head, but judging by the way her eyes shone, Jared wasn’t sorry to spend his time in such a way. He himself had learned most by playing and figuring things out by trial and error before Mom had found him a proper tutor for a couple of years. It was the way he had learned so it was the only way he could really teach. So he slowly started to direct Layla’s finger over the tones and chords of an old and simple lullaby. Absently humming the words along with the tune – that was much slower due to the awkwardness of Layla when it came to playing with a guitar – Jared played the tune with her for three times, before shifting his fingers so that she would amble through the lullaby herself. It was slow and with a couple of wrong notes struck that brought a disapproving frown onto Layla’s face. “It wasn’t bad,” Jared stated, placing his thumb between Layla’s eyebrows and pushing upwards until the frown disappeared, “It wasn’t good either. But considering you have held a guitar for only about an hour, it most definitely wasn’t bad at all. Have a better grasp of the instruments I prefer now?”