Skillful Strumming by Olive

Skillful Strumming by Olive - April 2026 Scholarship Essay

In the next few years, I hope to master guitar skills. I started playing in August 2025, and I don’t have too much time to play it between sports, theater, and choir. With the time I have had, I feel like I’ve learned quickly. There’re some chords I can’t play just because my fingers aren’t used to it, but I hope to accomplish all the basic chords plus some extras in the future.

I love music in general, whether it’s playing or listening to it. Developing this new guitar skill won’t just satisfy me; it will allow me to play with others. I’d love to play with friends and for worship team. Guitar is an easier instrument to pick up, unlike piano (which not a lot of people have lying around) or a violin- both of which are instruments I already know how to play. I've tried both the acoustic and the electric. I really like playing the electric guitar because I like the rock'n'roll sound more than just an acoustic guitar. A lot of my friends play guitar, and sometimes when we have a hangout, there's a guitar involved and they'll just pick it up and start playing a song. This really inspired me to start playing. Even if I'm not on a worship team or in some sort of band, I would like to play it for my own joy. I definitely will spend more time on it during the summer since I won't have any school work, and my skills will definitely improve. Hopefully I get to bring it to college (if my dorm room has space) and grow in skill there too.