Playing Right, Guitars Not Guns Class Graduates

Editor's Note: This is part of a series of stories about local youth-centered programs in Watsonville that work to give kids and young adults skills to succeed. Patch is focusing on these positive efforts in the wake of gang violence that claimed the life of a Watsonville High freshman and injured a second teenage boy earlier this month.

On a recent evening, 11 kids took to the Gene Hoularis and Waldo Rodriguez Youth Center (GHWR) stage—guitars in-hand—and played three songs for family, friends and their teachers. Eight weeks prior, none of them knew how to hold a pick or arrange their fingers on the fret board.

The advancement from total novice to competent and confident beginning player came about through the Guitars Not Guns program.

A national non-profit organization operating in Watsonville since 2004, Guitars Not Guns reaches out to underserved and at-risk youth to provide them with the opportunity to learn music and engage in a positive activity at no cost to the participants or their families.

“I have found out music is a gateway to reach young people,” said Richard Salazar, Santa Cruz County Guitars Not Guns Director. “We’ve served a lot of young people—young people who are doing great in school and have great family backgrounds but we’ve also served a lot of at-risk youth and underserved low-income families with a lot of stuff going on in their lives and emotional baggage. It is a challenge and that is really what our target is, to help young people find ways to channel all that energy that could go sideways and turn it into music.”

Classes last eight weeks, have eight to 12 students and two to three instructors, all volunteers. Students with guitars can use their own but the program provides most students with guitars. Students who successfully complete the course receive not only a graduation certificate—they get to keep their guitar.

“Continuing to play is a really important thing to take from the class,” said Eugene Bragado, a recreation specialist at GHWR Youth Center and one of this class’s instructors.

While Bragado has been involved with the program for several years, this was his first time leading the class. Watching his students’ development and bringing them together was a rewarding experience for him.

“At first they’re all pretty shy and I was just trying to break them out of their shell and get them more outspoken and more motivated into the music,” said Bragado. “I look forward to teaching the next class.”

That next class—orchestrated through the city's —will come sometime in 2012 but when exactly depends on fundraising and donations to the program to buy more guitars.

“The guitars mean a class,” said Salazar. “We realized if we could find a way to buy good quality guitars new, it really encourages the young people obviously. They’ve got something that’s a good quality instrument that’s going to help them to learn faster.”

The guitar not only means a class but also an opportunity and for some students such as those in foster homes, it’s something to call their own.

“When foster kids leave a home just about the only thing they have is a guitar and their clothes,” said Salazar.

Check out some of the other stories about local programs:

• Jovenes Saños