This past weekend, after some breakfast at Denny's (OH YEAH, CLASSY), I decided to stop by the place I bought my piano. I've been getting a bit frustrated with my piano lately - there's a piece I'm working on, but the tones keep getting muddied pretty horribly. I didn't know if it was me, or the piano.

The guy who was working recognized me and was cool with me just playing around on some of the pianos. I picked a Steinway & Sons baby grand ... and oh my dear lord. How glorious. The expression ... the sounds ... so precise! I always knew the piano I bought wasn't a good one (a placeholder), but I didn't realize how horrible it was until I played on a real piano.

Of course, the baby grand's list price was $29,000 (which is almost double my car!). There goes ever getting that thing...

After playing for a bit, the owner came by and we started talking. 

Apparently, they have a performance hall with a 9 ft concert grand. And the owner told me I could come by anytime (as long as the hall wasn't rented) and practice on it. Awesome! I got a real palpable sense of excitement from it - plus I felt really honored he would let me play on a piano that costs more than my dream car of the moment (Audi R8). Random acts of kindness rule!

So ever since then (there was actually a performance in the hall, so I couldnt play), I've been itching to go back there and play on the concert grand (cross my finger that it's available this weekend!). It's been more than ten years since I played on a concert grand ... I can vaguely remember being overwhelmed by the power of the concert grands.

I came back that day and just spent the whole day practicing - if I'm going to play on that thing, I'm going to make sure I don't sound like total ass.

So, I'm going to plug the place, just cause they're fantastic people: http://pianosd.com/