Aaron

"A, B, D, G, B, C, A... Now play it back for me, Sarah."

I played the sequence of notes in slow succession, and then waited for his approval. He nodded his head and prompted me to play it again. I kept my eyes on the neck of the guitar in front of me. A, B, D, G, B, C, A. A, B, D, G, B, C, A. I memorized the tune and played it over and over again.

Aaron, my eldest brother, not only introduced me into how to play music on guitar, he taught me how to express myself in a short series of notes, no words required. It really helped me, because I've never been as good at talking as I am at writing, music, and drawing. I tend to get my point across in non-verbal ways, and it works for me.

It all started when I wrote down a short song and put a tune to it. I asked Aaron if he could play the tune for me, but he couldn't because he did not know the notes. And so, I decided I wanted to learn how to play guitar, that way my song, "While It Burns", would sound even better than when I sang it a cappella.

The lessons started with simple things like "A, B, C. A, B, C," and putting my hands on the strings, mimicking the movements, then having the movements paired with the letter and, eventually, getting a list of letters I would have to play.

I'm still not that good, and the only time I can beat Aaron at guitar is on the game "Guitar Hero," but he still made my life different with music. Aaron has done so much for me, and all that makes him my hero.