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Guitars4Vets offers avenue for healing for combat veterans




Damon Williams Jr., left, a naval veteran, graduated from the Guitars4Vets program and was instructed by Patrick McGuire, right, a guitar instructor with and Nashville chapter coordinator for Guitars4Vets.COURTESY PATRICK MCGUIRE/mainstreet-nashville

Damon Williams Jr., left, a naval veteran, graduated from the Guitars4Vets program and was instructed by Patrick McGuire, right, a guitar instructor with and Nashville chapter coordinator for Guitars4Vets.COURTESY PATRICK MCGUIRE/mainstreet-nashville

Veterans are combating post traumatic stress disorder through the smooth strumming of guitar strings.

Guitars4Vets, a group which serves veterans, gives the program participants 10 free one-hour private music lessons and loans a guitar to them for the duration of the lessons.

The organization was started in 2007 in Wisconsin by Patrick Nettesheim, who then opened a Nashville chapter in 2016.

Nettesheim had a student named Dan Van Buskirk who was a Vietnam-era Marine. Van Buskirk expressed how much the music was helping him with his symptoms of combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder.

The two decided to set up guitar lessons for veterans at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Milwaukee, and the success of it led the duo to establish Guitars4Vets, which currently has 120 chapters nationwide and has gifted more than 4,000 guitars and 40,000 lessons to veterans.

Guitars4Vets partners with the Veteran’s Administration through the recreational therapy department.

When finished with the program, participants receive a new guitar, capo, picks, music books, bag, tuner, stand and other accessories. After the 10 lessons are done, graduates can participate in weekly jam sessions with other graduates and guitar teachers.

Patrick McGuire has worked as the Nashville chapter coordinator and an instructor with the program since 2017. He has seen firsthand the therapeutic power of music in the lives of the program participants.

“I think it’s amazing,” McGuire said. “I think the very fact that learning the guitar is such a difficult thing, it requires a lot of their focus, and it pulls them away, at least momentarily, from some of their difficulties. At least that’s how it’s been described to me. The goal is to help them recover.”

Damon Williams Jr. is a naval veteran, Nashville resident and student of McGuire’s in Guitars4Vets. Williams always enjoyed writing lyrics and singing.

When he received physical therapy four years ago for nerve damage in his right hand, he saw an advertisement for Guitars4Vets on an electronic bulletin board at the VA hospital.

Williams realized guitar lessons would be a good way to exercise and maintain dexterity of his hand in a way that traditional exercises would not. He soon found the lessons provided benefits beyond the physical.

“It was the dual benefit of something to focus on, something to keep your mind from wandering,” he said. “You have to be present in the moment when you’re playing the guitar. Music always stills the mind, but as I was playing, it gives your mind a focus. That way, it isn’t racing off in a million other places.”

Guitars4Vets is rewarding for both the participants and instructors alike.

“This is really what it’s about,” McGuire said. “Half of it is about learning to play the guitar, but the other half is about the positive human interaction, connection and healing. We don’t need to know necessarily what they’re dealing with, but the power of music will do it.”

The program even proved to be a respite during the pandemic.

“During this quarantine period, at least for me, it’s been a lifesaver, and I got a chance to learn a lot, because I spent a great deal of that time. Instead of being in my own head, I’ve spent it on guitar. Just playing a chord sometimes feels like a great accomplishment. You have a mission, still,” Williams said.

All of the program instructors are volunteers. The cost for a veteran to participate in the program is $200.

For more information about how to donate, volunteer or receive guitar lessons, visit guitars4vets.org or call 855-G4V-HERO.

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