Dad Learns to Play Guitar So He Can Play Songs For His Newborn Baby

September 22, 2020

A new dad who has gone viral for playing music for his baby recently shared an endearing story behind the gesture that many have found to be sweet and adorable.

Learning from the heart: According to James Huang (@JamesofA11trades), his newborn baby rekindled his desire to play guitar, a passion he first developed when his wife Twinkle (@Twinklytwinks) became pregnant with their first child. While many of the new parents are busy “baby-proofing” their residence with Best stair gates and many others, this new couple thrives to entertain their newborn.

Huang says he began learning to play guitar so he could play songs for their first baby. However, he stopped after they lost the child from a miscarriage.
“The sheer excitement of even having a baby prompted me to want to pick up guitar so that I could play for our new little member of the family,” he tells NextShark in an interview. “Unfortunately, we lost our first child to a miscarriage in the summer of 2018, and at that time I lost my inspiration with music because the loss was so hard for us mentally and emotionally, and physically for Twinkle. The whole experience was a lot more traumatic than we would have ever imagined.”
Huang decided to pick up the guitar once more when Twinkle got pregnant again.
“When we found out we were finally pregnant with Jahaan (@dear.jahaan) in October 2019, I found my desire to pick up guitar again while dreaming about singing to our baby,” he shared.
The enamored dad chose Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love” because it was the song that popped into his head while staring into his baby’s big beautiful eyes.
“For this song, it took me about two months to understand the chords and figure out a finger-picking version — it was actually very memorable for me as well since in the first few months we had Jahaan home after his 9-week NICU stay (during COVID no less),” he shared.
Huang recalled how he would practice guitar outside while rocking Jahaan in a little swing.
“Those were some of the best moments I’ll never forget. I was learning to be a new dad while also picking up a new instrument, so I see the two things as very interconnected and close to my heart.”

Sharing the love: When Huang shared videos of him singing to their beloved child, he wanted to let people know the importance of being present in the moment with friends and family.

“It’s so easy to get distracted by everything happening around the world and allowing that to mentally take a toll and detach from them as well as our community, but it is so important right now that we are all there for each other more than ever,” he explained.
In sharing clips of him trying to learn a new instrument, he also wanted to highlight the beauty in imperfection.
“We have a tendency to post only things that are perfect online, which can sometimes create such pressure and a lack of self-confidence. I posted this video with the message to Jahaan to know that it’s not about showing only perfection,” he noted.
Jahaan’s story became viral soon after Instagram account @goodnews_movement shared a video of Huang playing for Jahaan.
Based on the overwhelmingly positive feedback online, it appears his loving gesture has struck a chord with viewers.
“The sheer outpouring of love has been incredibly humbling. I’m not one to showboat, and so it took a lot of days for me to work up the courage to post myself singing, especially as a beginner at guitar,” he shared.
“Our favorite comments have been around people discovering that Jahaan was a NICU baby and sharing their experiences, as well as people saying they needed this in all the darkness that we’re experiencing this year. The idea that we were able to even bring a glimmer of happiness and love this year has been overwhelming for me.”

Feature Image via jamesofa11trades and twinklytwinks

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