Faith in Action: Free guitars, lessons in music and faith for kids
TAMPA - If you've ever tried to learn to play guitar, you know it takes some tough fingertips and a lot of patience. A Tampa man has gotten hundreds of kids strumming in just a matter of hours. The guitars and the lessons – totally free.
It started with one small camp. Today, it's grown into a ministry helping kids connect music with faith, giving them confidence to reach many more high notes on their own.
What do the songs Amazing Grace, Sweet Home Alabama and Blank Space have in common? They can all be played by little fingers with just a few chords.
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"They can play lots of songs with just that one finger shape, and it gets them excited and play. ‘Yeah, let me learn more. Let me learn more,’" said Gary Brosch, the director of No Fret Guitar Camp.
In a matter of days, Brosch gives kids the gift of a lifetime: No frets, no strings attached.
"Music is just a powerful thing. It talks to our soul," Brosch said.
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When he retired, Brosch volunteered on mission trips around the world, sometimes packing guitars to teach kids along the way.
"The following year, my wife and I were talking about, what mission do we do?" Brosch said. "She said, 'why don't you go to the inner city and teach kids guitar?'"
And so began No Fret Guitar Camp, inspired by the Bible verse in Matthew 6:25, "do not worry." The first camp in 2018 in Tampa had six children. It consisted of 10 hours of free lessons with free guitars, paid for with Brosch's retirement fund.
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He held three camps the first year, eight camps the second year, and last summer, the 501c3 ministry reached its 1,000th student with camps in 18 states, the Dominican Republic and Ireland.
"These are acoustic electric guitars, so they're really a high quality guitar," Brosch said. "We're fortunate to have Cort helping us out with that."
These camps, held at churches, are volunteer-run, usually spanning two hours a day, over five days, focused on underserved teens.
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"We show them an E chord, which is just three fingers like this, and we tell them to keep these fingers like that and slide it up here like this, and then keep them exactly like that, and slide it up here like this," Brosch explained. "And with that, you can do an E and A and B."
It's like guitar boot camp. Basic chords get kids strumming right away. Once they're hooked, then they can go back and learn the essentials like sharps, flats, scales and theory.
Some go on to play with worship groups.
"I think that it's amazing I can learn to do so many things in just one week," said Layni.
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Layni even wrote her own song during camp.
Time and time again, Brosch has seen how a simple guitar, a few lessons and a lot of faith can change a child's tune.
"It's really made a difference in their life that they're now more outgoing, they have more pride, they have a way to deal with stress and anxiety," Brosch said.
"I never would've thought I'd learn everything I learned in one week, and I love it," one student said.
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It takes a lot of work and even more fundraising. But, stories like that remind Brosch and his volunteers that what they do is truly striking a chord.
"I see the kids, their excitement, the joy in their face, knowing what it's doing for them, and I mean, I get hair standing up on my arm. It is so exciting," Brosch said.
No Fret Guitar Camp has 300 guitars ready to go for this summer's camps. They'll be offering 50 camps, six kids each. They already have about 30 churches signed up so far. So, there's plenty of room for more at any church, any denomination.
If you know some kids who'd like to learn, or if you would like to get involved, you can find their information at www.nofretguitarcamp.org.
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