> > Stairway to Heaven is OK and all, but the only reason I like it much is because my dad used to play it on the guitar when I was growing up. He didn't know how to play many songs, but he can still play that one now even though he only plays once very few years (when I come home and get the guitar out and get him interested, usually).
> >
> > Don "Stairway to Heaven always conjures images of lazy evenings reading a book in the townhouse we lived in in Fort McMurray. Ah, memories..." Monkey
>
> What is it about Stairway to Heaven that makes every single person who has ever been in a ten-mile radius of a guitar CHRONICALLY NEED to learn to play it?
>
> I've done it myself. It was one of the first things I ever learned on the guitar, back when I was about 16 and still thought knowing how to play the guitar would make me instantly cool and socially sought-after.
>
> I like the piece a lot, but I absolutely sympathise with the guitar-shop owner in Terry Pratchett's book "Soul Music", who told his assistant to go down to the docks and hire a troll and tell him to stand in the corner and rip the head off the next person who came in and tried to play it.
>
> Brunnen-"it's just one of those things you HAVE to play, when you first get a guitar"G

I had to try and learn it simply because my dad knew it... But I TOTALLY know what you mean about EVERYONE having to know it. Your Pratchett comment reminded me of a scene from Wayne's World where Wayne is trying out some amazing guitar, and starts into Stairway, but the sales clerk stops him and points out a sign that says "NO Stairway to Heaven".

By the way, I never learned to play it. I started at it but gave up on it. Someday I'll learn it just so I can say I know it. Also, I feel it is a sufficiently complex piece that if I can play it, I will be well on my way to being able to play lots of other stuff... Maybe THAT's why everyone learns to play it or something...

Don "Interesting... Well, no, not really" Monkey