My son Nathan has been taking guitar lessons as a part of his revolutionary project for a year and a half now. He’s getting very good. I bought him a used electric guitar at a yard sale. He loves it, and plays all the time.

A month ago he found a music catalog and spent hours learning about different kinds of guitars, and dreaming about having a better instrument. The catalog has gotten really worn.

Then Nathan discovered that the Gibson guitar company was running a contest with the grand prize, a $5,000 guitar, the Firebird X. I wondered, how could a guitar cost so much money?

Nathan tells me that guitars all have different sounds. Some have a country sound, some have a hard metal sound. They are so diverse that many musicians have to bring 5 or more guitars to their concerts.

The Firebird X is the only guitar that can completely change its sound. All you have to do is flip a switch. And it can tune itself to any key desired. That is pretty amazing.

Best Birthday Present

Well, Nathan talked of nothing else for a couple weeks. His birthday is coming up and he thought it would be the best present ever. I didn’t know how he would do it, but I told him to go for it. Of course, Mike was totally supportive.

Nathan went to work. He composed his own song and wrote his own lyrics. He created his own slide show and video to go with his song. The topic was “What revolution means to you.” He posted his completed video on YouTube and submitted it to Gibson.

Mike & I marveled how fast kids can learn to do things when they’re properly motivated. We both agreed that the project has been a wonderful one for Nathan. He did some recording in our neighbor’s home studio, he learned to make and edit sound with a slide show of pictures off the internet, and best of all, he created his own music and inspiring message with it.

Revolutionary Project

Here’s his video entitled, “Firebird Revolution (Quicktime).”

Nathan made it into a group of 15 finalists and finished 3rd for American entries. I’m thrilled that he came so close!

I’m most of all pleased that Nathan jumped at the opportunity and did the required work to qualify. And I can honestly say, his work is very original and from his heart. He did an excellent job and we will be getting him a new instrument ourselves.

I hope you’ll take 3 minutes to watch Nathan’s video, and the next time your child, relative or friend has big dreams, encourage them. Be a cheer leader.

We all need cheer leaders when doing great things.

UPDATE- Nathan didn’t win the contest, but HE CAME IN THIRD PLACE! We are so proud of him and feel he did an amazing job. We bought him a bass guitar for Christmas as a consolation prize. Way to go Nathan!