You couldn’t not like someone who liked the guitar. – Stephen King
Today’s the day to pick up that guitar sitting in your closet and start to learn how to play it. February 11 is National Guitar Day, and if you believe the horror master, the six-string is the way to win people over.
Johnson Music, at 340 Pleasant Street (across from Hannaford), can help you with the lessons. Mike and Maureen Johnson have operated the shop since 2004. Mike retired from his job as a dispatcher/patrolman for the Tyngsboro Police Department so he could run the store full time, and Maureen, a music teacher in Dracut Public Schools for 31 years, retired three years later.
“We had nothing but the building when we bought it, but we built up the business,” Mike says.
Mike teaches guitar and piano. Maureen – “the musical brains” of the operation, according to Mike – teaches flute, trumpet, sax, clarinet and more. She received a Master’s degree in music from UMass Lowell.
Mike has loved music his entire life, working part time as a DJ for weddings and other occasions while he was with the Tyngsboro Police. One of his star pupils is a Vietnam vet who decided to take up the guitar later in life. Mike is also a published author, having written two private-eye mysteries.
“All my life I was a guitar player and I played piano,” Mike says. “I can also teach basic violin. I mean, music is music. It’s reading notes.”
Johnson Music also sells and repairs musical instruments and accessories. Visit Johnson-music.net, call 978-454-0055 or email johnsonmusic340@gmail.net.