About a month ago, my 13 year old son came to me and asked if he could learn to play an acoustic guitar piece by Andy McKee called "Drifting". At the time, he was primarily playing the electric guitar and had not really done much on the acoustic.

I listened to the original piece on Youtube and I actually laughed at my son and told him that the piece was very complex, with tricky two handed tapping and rhythmic slapping that was well beyond his current skill level on the instrument.

I actually told him to wait "another few years" until he gained more mastery over the guitar before he could even attempt to play that piece.

Well, he was undeterred, and went off to learn the piece by himself by watching Andy's video over and over, and also by following along with Andy's instructional videos on Youtube.

Well, not more than a month later, he actually got up in front of his middle school assembly of about 300 of his peers and played the piece in public.

I stood on the sidelines, my heart bursting with pride. I will never again make the mistake of underestimating either of my kids. They are capable of so much more than I *think* they can do.

Here is a video clip that his music teacher made at the performance. I actually am grateful that his teacher encouraged him to play this piece at assembly.