Challengers

I finally got around to getting some new guitar music. I am sub par at transcribing songs myself so I scour the internet to find people who do it for me. To them and their musical ears I am grateful.
One of the songs that I decided to try is a personal favorite, “Challengers” by The New Pornographers. At first glance (and first listen) it isn’t a challenging tune; four or five chords in repetition. No picking patterns, no alt tunings, a song that looks straightforward on paper. Cake walk. But the first time I tried to play it was a total disaster. Turns out the strumming, timing and chord changes were more bizarre than I had considered and I stumbled around them like a drunkard in a fun house.
Frustrated and embarrassed even as I had attempted it alone, I put it up for another day.
I pulled it down again last night and decided to take another look at it, this time to consciously think about the song itself and not just the familiarity of the chords and words. To actually take the pieces that seemed so straightforward and let them work out what they are together. It sounds obvious but it isn’t what I was doing or how I often approach things.
I’ve been playing guitar since I was 15 but I plateaued about five years ago. I haven’t done much to get any better; I’ve stayed at a level of comfortable status quo. I can get by. I haven’t challenged myself to be stretched, to reach for new thoughts or progressions and so when one comes along that will challenge me, I very often put it off or dismiss it for an easier version.
So after some thought I tried to be deliberate in my strumming. I started slow. I didn’t event try to sing; I hummed. I restarted and restarted. And slowly I got all the pieces.

"Another vision of us we are the challengers of the unknown..."