My First Guitar

"Go Big or Go Home" - because double the strings is double the fun.

When I was in high school, my sister Jane had a Yamaha 6-string guitar. She taught me my first few guitar chords. We listened carefully to a variety of folk musicians on our parents' stereo, learning to play by ear by lifting the needle off and on the vinyl records over and over again.

I was a senior at Ames High when I got my own guitar. Determined to "go big or go home," I purchased a Yamaha 12-string with the money I earned as a checkout girl at Hy-Vee. I had my eye on the Yamaha 12-string at Eschbachs for quite a long time and had been saving every penny from my part-time job. "Even though a 12-string guitar is harder to play and more difficult to tune than a 6-string, I was determined to have that full, rich sound. After I discovered open tunings, which Joni Mitchell is famous for, it changed everything and made playing much easier."

I purchased my Yamaha at the Eschbach Music House, owned by Walter Bertram Eschbach and his wife, Kathryn. The store was located on the west end of Main Street in Ames, Iowa. Kathryn and Walter met when she began working there after serving in the Navy. They later married and owned and operated the store for 40 years.

In my memory, the Eschbach Music House had the charm and homeyness of the Matuschek & Company store from the movie The Shop Around the Corner. Instead of selling luggage and cigarette cases that played Ochi Chërnye, the Eschbachs sold pianos, guitars, musical instruments of all kinds, sheet music, lesson books, and even had a booth where you could listen to vinyl records.

It was back in the day when Main Street was always bustling with activity—the hub of retail commerce and home to Younkers, Woolworths, J.C. Penney Co., Emerhoff's Shoe Store, Olives, Bobbie Rogers, Bledsoe's, The Apothecary Shop, The Christian Bookstore, The Collegian Theater, and many more. The Eschbach Music House was in good company.

Occasionally, I brought my Yamaha 12-string to school so I could sit in the stairwell and play it during my lunch break—the echo was superb.

That Yamaha was with me at my very first gig at Papa Juan’s Mexican Restaurant, where the blender was loud, the diners were even louder, and the train whistle always seemed to play interference right in the middle of my song. She was also with me when I wrote Like a Dandelion, Little Boys, and other songs.

She’s retired now but still in my possession. Her neck has pulled away from her body twice, and I finally decided to stop making the same repair. Now, I own a beautiful Stonebridge 12-string, and she plays like a dream. She even has a built-in pickup that doesn’t rely on batteries—you just plug her in, charge her up, and you’re ready to roll.

An original song titled Little Boys, played on my Yamaha 12-string acoustic guitar.