Mr. Dycus: A True Guitar Hero
Calloway County is fortunate to have a class that guides students through basic guitar, as not many schools have guitar classes.
Mr. Dycus, our very own guitar and choir teacher here at CCHS, has a long history with guitar. When he was little, his dad bought him a ukulele. Since Mr. Dycus’s father only knew four chords to teach his young protegee, Mr. Dycus found a book with more chords and began to teach himself the skill. This enabled the young student to dig deeper into the world of music and explore more chords. At age 12, young Mr. Dycus requested and received a guitar for Christmas from his parents.
With a new guitar and a yearning to learn as much as he could about it, Mr. Dycus taught himself to play his new guitar by using a book and by performing by ear. An avid lover of pop music, young Mr. Dycus experimented by ear until he got the chords right.
From a young age, though, Mr. Dycus did not wish to be a lead guitarist like others. He wanted to have the guitar accompany his voice while singing. Over time, the guitar became a way of expressing himself through the years. This is still true of the teacher today. To Mr. Dycus, “Music is a way of conveying my feelings.” Those who have the pleasure of working with Mr. Dycus would agree. He truly uses music as a way to express his emotions. Students for generations have been blessed by his gift.
Mr. Dycus’s guitar class started in 1999 when the Kentucky State Legislator passed a law that all students must take a HAVPA (History and Appreciation of the Visual and Performing Arts) class to graduate. Originally, the class was about music appreciation. Mr. Dycus, teacher of the music appreciation class, initially had some problems with the class. Some students were in the class that simply did not want to be in there, but they needed the credits.
Mr. Dycus began hearing about guitar classes in other schools, and he asked for funding to start a class at Calloway County High School. After the information was circulated, he had 117 students wanting to sign up, not for music appreciation but for guitar. To this day, Mr. Dycus welcomes students to guitar class and usually has full classes of young protegees.
Words cannot accurately express the amazing gift of Mr. Dycus. We are all so grateful for his ability to inspire others and his willingness to provide a class students can be passionate about. For those who have the desire to learn guitar, Mr. Dycus has one quote to keep in mind, which is “Be goal oriented.”
