Guitar Moves with Keith Richards: “There’s Two Sides to Every Story” Reflective Paper

In this interview, Matt Sweeney speaks with Keith Richards about his life experiences with the guitar; how he was introduced to it, what motivated him to continue to learn, how he got better and so on. Richards explains his romance with the guitar, how his fingers and hands need to have the same pace and passion as his heart does. He compares the hands to two separate sides of a story, going on to describe the kind of communication and compatibility that the two hands must work along in order to create a beautifully told story.

Throughout the episode, Richards shares many stories of his career through music, from his working with her celebrities to his own creative processes. He reminisces about the first time he ever picked up a guitar, how his grandfather teased him about not being able to reach it, challenged him in being eager learn and stunned him with a melodic rendition of a Spanish ballad. At one point, he reflects on several times that he was lucky enough to work with The Rolling Stones and Mick Jagger, complimenting their expertise and sensible mannerisms, elaborating on the pleasure of working with such icons. In all of his nostalgic references, Richards quite closely represents the way that humans remember things, in which emotion is a major factor. Studies actually show that people are more likely to remember certain events or memories from points of their life, the more that strong emotions are connected to it. For example, most people don’t remember many parts of their younger childhood, however, we all have those select few memories that seem to unreasonably stick out more than others. An occurrence at a birthday party or a regular Sunday at church; the first time you ever broke a bone or saw a scary movie. Some sort of emotion either triggers or is evoked by a certain memory. I think that Richards extreme enjoyment of his life in music, specifically with his guitar, is noted by his accurate attention to detail to any moments in his life that were major stepping stones or bench marks in his career.