I know three chords, believe it or not

Elvis was around eleven years old when he got his first guitar. I'm a lot older than that but have never played a single chord in my life. Until now.

Maybe it's some kind of midlife crisis thing, but I do want to learn how to play the guitar. So last week a good friend of mine who really knows her way around the instrument, patiently showed me a couple of chords on a guitar I've borrowed from my brother.

And, knowing my musical preferences, she then applied them to the song "Love Me." Because, as she told me, a lot of Elvis songs have only a few chords in them and are suitable for beginners. "It would have been harder had you been a fan of Deep Purple," she kidded.

After that first session my fingertips hurt like crazy. But that hasn't stopped me from playing those chords over and over again these last days and belting out the lyrics: "Treat me like a fool, treat me mean and cruel, but love me."

My wife laughs at me when my fingers slip and it sounds really awful, but I persist. "Beggin' on my knees, all I ask is please, please love me, oh yeah!"