You are on page 1of 5

Class Assignment 1

An Instrument of Love

_____________________________ English 2 (ENGL 0205)

Joshua Chua Shu Min 0313572

An Instrument of Love Please pick a tool to write on for your first class assignment My unpretentious mind immediately went blank when our English lecturer threw forward that mind-boggling question to us. At that moment, I was at the state of anxiety. Therefore, I took a deep breath and continue thinking of simple tools that I can write on. Tools such as chainsaw, G-clamp and measuring tape began to appear in my mind. However, I did not pick any of those tools as I just cant think on how to describe them even though they are simple tools. My eyes suddenly set upon the guitar that was placed at the corner of the room.

Why not choose a guitar as my tool to write on since I always use it during my leisure time? So, I walked towards the corner of the room and picked up the guitar that was placed on the guitar. Looking closely, I noticed that the guitar has curves like a mannequin, awaiting clothes to be put on it as it is brownish yellow in colour with idiosyncratic ornaments on it. The guitar has a long neck even though it is just a musical instrument. It has six strings in total and six metal nuts like structure on the top, exactly three on each side. These nuts with strings entwined together determine the pitch of the guitar. Besides that, there are also three thin plastics that hold the guitar strings perfectly in place as the guitar. One at the top and the other two below. When I took a closer look at the rectangular plastics, I noticed that they are already yellowish white in colour as it is already a seven years old guitar. My eyes began to observe closer at the top of the neck and the brand name Yamaha is printed in crystal white. As my eyes went down towards the neck, there are 20 frets all

together and white dots at the third, fifth, seventh, ninth and twelfth frets. Furthermore, there is a round hole on the center of the guitar . When I glanced to the left side, there is a piece of black plastic next to the hole with a black and white colour circular design encircling the center hole.

The neck of the guitar is silky, soft just like a teddy bear that I used to have when I was a toddler. When I picked up the guitar, my imagination suddenly went wild and I conceptualized the guitar as my chubby little cousin, Brydon as both of them were about the same weight. I realized that there isnt any unique design on it as it was only covered with shining brown formica. Besides that, I roughly saw a black figure that falls upon the back of the guitar guessing it was my reflection since there is no one else in the room beside me. When my fingers touched it, it felt smooth. Moreover, It also looks glossy too. As I observed closely, I was aware that there were a few minute scratch marks at the back of it. Maybe it was scratched when I dropped my guitar on the parquet flooring a few years back when I left it on top of the bed. As I caressed the side of the guitar and slowly felt all around, it was smooth like the face of a new born baby.

After a while, my observations began to slow down so I went out to have a stroll by the beach and start to picture my guitar in my perplexed mind. When I was walking along the coastline I began to hear roaring thunderous sound from the ocean waves. At the spur of the moment, I remembered that Ive only used two out of my five senses. When I reached home, I began to knock the body of the guitar. A dum sound is produced each time when I thumped on

it. I did the same thing at the back of the guitar and I sensed that the dum sound produced at the front was clearer compared to the back. This was maybe because of the center hole at the front that acts as an obstacle which enables the sound wave to diffract and produce an unwavering sound. Without noticing, I had that perception that the body of the guitar can also be turned into another instrument that works like a drum. After that, I continued my investigation by strumming the first string starting from the left using my bare hands. The pitch increases accordingly as I proceeded strumming from the first string to the sixth string. This is most probably because of the thickness of the string. While strumming, I found out that the diameter of the string increases consistently from the left-hand corner to the right-hand corner. When I applied a bigger force on the string, the reverberation is louder and clearer.

As my mind wondered on what to write on, my eyes promptly focused on my wallet that was left on the study table. Without procrastinating, I instantly took out my yellow guitar pick and began struming all the strings one by one once more. After strumming, I made a conclusion that strumming using a guitar pick is way better because it produces a sound that is better in quality compared to when I used my naked fingers. Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, TI, Do that was the tune that churned out when I placed my finger from the first fret and slowly pulled it to the second until the 20th fret. I reiterated the same process for the rest of the strings.

Always make sure that you use all of your five senses when you are carrying out an experiment , that is what my Biology teacher, Miss. Lucy would always remind the students each time when we were carrying out an science experiment. The tongue and nose are the two sensory organs that I have yet to use. Without vacillating, my nose went closer and closer to the guitar with a slow motion thinking that it would smell because I often used it after sports. When I had a good sniff, I noticed that the guitar still smells just the way it is. Before I submit my essay before 11.59pm, I roughly look through the criteria once again and I perceived that I missed out a point. I quickly took up the guitar and fondled it to feel what is the temperature like. It felt cooling as the air-conditioner was on.

Music brings life to the soul. When I am going through a hard time, as I strum my guitar, it comforts and consoles me. As I continue strumming and singing along, it lives me out from my sadness. This is why I called my one and only guitar that has been by my side for the past seven years the instrument of love.

You might also like