Soren Mattson

My idea of having a guitarist for this important event, in which I was laying my mother to rest, was quite simple. All I wanted was for a guitarist to play tears in heaven while I sang it and POSSIBLY wearing a stetson hat. ( my mother loved the song and Clint Eastwood).

When I did have a conversation with Soren, he was always pleasant. He assured that he would be able to do the job. In our initial conversation he said he would be able to send me a personal video of him playing the song. Because I never received it, I did reach out trying to get a practice or a video of him playing the song all to get no reply. Soren wasn’t the best communicator. I sent him a YouTube video of how I wanted the song played, hoping this would make it a little easier for him, and for me, being as though we couldn’t practice together. When we did speak, He assured me he would be able to play the song like the video I provided to him. Soren suggested that I study the YouTube video being that he was going to play the song matching that video. I studied the song believing him when he said he would play the song exactly like the YouTube video sent to him.
Soren wasn’t responding to text or Gigsalad messages in a timely fashion and I know this was 3 days before the special day. I was anxious to find out whether or not, he would learn the song because there were always periods that lacked communication. So Without blowing up his phone or messages, I trusted he would come through for my special event, because $169 wasn’t cheap. Also, I felt confident in His abilities to play the song being that he was a guitarist and exuded the confidence based on our limited conversations.

Sadly, this part of my event didn’t go so well. It wasn’t Soren’s fault that we were ahead of schedule and we had to wait for him to arrive. My disappointment in Soren displayed in his abilities to play the song. He used the acoustic guitar as I instructed however, even standing close to him, I wasn’t able to hear him play at all. He played too soft and very faint; seemingly due to not really knowing the song as well as he should have.

What Soren played, didn’t match exactly, what I learned in the YouTube video. His plunking said song throw me off as I had no idea what he was playing and it caused me to skip a whole verse. I was humiliated and concluded the song.
Soren’s willingness to help me out during this time earned an A+ however, the effort that he put into learning the song or even communication with me earned him a D.