“OK.” She plugged in her guitar and joined Lucas in front of the music stand. She didn’t remember the individual names of the notes, but she remembered the names of the chords. Well, most of them. There simply wasn’t enough time to memorize everything in one night, and she spent her time last night making sure she knew how to play the song they worked on. So, instead of reading the music on the stand, she played the rhythm toDriventhat she learned yesterday.
Lucas nodded his head. “That’s great, but that’s not what’s on the music sheet.”
“Oh. I wasn’t reading it. I was just playing.”
He folded his arms, a small smile peeking from the corner of his mouth. “I thought I was teaching you to read music.”
“You are, but I need to learn how to play the song by ear first.”
He contemplated her answer. “All right. I never learned to play by ear. I’m classically trained.”
She tilted her head to the side, surprised and impressed. “You play classical music, too?”
He chuckled softly. “No. It means I learned theory. Tonal and chromatic harmony. Technique. I have a BA in music.”
“Oh.” She felt like an ass, although he was the one pointing out that he had a BA in music for the second time. “I can pick out some chords.” She wanted him to know that she at least learned a little from yesterday’s lesson. “Here’s a C major.” She pointed to it on the music sheet. “D. E.”
“That’s right. Can you play them?”
She felt her cheeks redden. Pointing out what the chords looked like was one thing, connecting them with the actual strings on the fret board was another.
He played them for her and she repeated them. Then he started talking about major scales, chord root notes, and how root notes work in forming guitar chords. At first she found it interesting, but as he continued to get deeper into his lecture, she dazed out. He gazed at her intently as he spoke, and his eyes blazed with excitement and adrenaline. He was getting off on music theory, which she found captivating. And a little amusing.
He suddenly stopped talking. “What’s so funny?”
Sindy pressed her lips together as soon as she realized that she had a silly smile on her face. “Sorry. It’s just that you were so animated.”
He furrowed his brow, clearly not as amused as she was.
Mason passed and slapped Lucas on the back. “I told you, man. You get so carried away when you talk about music theory. It’s comical. But boring as shit.”
“Music is not comical. Nor boring. It’s serious business.” He blew out a breath “Let’s take a five-minute break.”
Sindy worried she was being noncompliant, but she couldn’t help it. It wasn’t the first time she’d rebelled, nor the last. She reminded herself that Lucas had mountains of experience over her. And let’s not forget the BA from NYU he kept bragging about. “Do you read music?” she asked Mason, knowing drummers usually play by ear.
“Nah. Never had to. I can cover a song by hearing it once. I’ve been doing that since I was, like, 4.”
The men in this room were geniuses. She turned to look at Lucas who was on the other side of the studio talking to Tessa with a crease in his brow. Sindy got the feeling that he was complaining about her abstinence, and it worried her. She didn’t want to be perceived as a troublemaker. All she wanted to do was play, and she decided she would show him how good of a guitarist she was. “Let’s just play the song. All of us. I practiced all night, and I think I did really well.”
Lucas flew back to his spot. “Cool. That’s what I want to hear. I like your drive, Sindy. You may not be able to read music, but you sure as hell have initiative.”
Was that a dig? She couldn’t tell, but decided to let it slide, even though it festered in her belly.
The song started powerful. She hit every note, kept the timing and matched Lucas’ melody. He broke into a short solo and she added to it, finishing it off with her own little signature spin. She thought it sounded awesome, but Lucas snapped his head in her direction and narrowed his eyes. He took two steps toward her and unleashed a series of aggressive notes. She took it as a challenge and fired back her own creation. She saw the small smile stuck in the corner of his pursed lips, so she wailed out another solo, jutting her hips at him when she was done to punctuate the sound.
His mouth gaped for a second before he slapped it shut and turned his back to her. Returning to his side of the floor, he continued with the melody, and she accompanied him without further deviation.
When the song was over Tessa practically jumped up and down. “That was freaking awesome! That was exactly why we need a rhythm guitarist. I’m so sorry I fought you all these years, Lucas. It makes such a difference to have another guitarist in the band. That little dueling solo was perfect!”
It surprised Sindy that adding a rhythm guitarist was Lucas’ idea. He obviously enjoyed imparting his wisdom and showing off his knowledge by teaching her theory and how to read music, but apparently didn’t appreciate sharing the spotlight.
