How I got back into playing music

I had recently picked up the guitar again. Those who've known me back in high school could've said that me and a guitar were inseperable. I had fallen madly over rock, punk, and metal music when I was 13 - listening to local bands like The Dawn, the Dead Ends, G. I. and the Idiots, Betrayed, and a few others; of foreign bands I got started on Guns N' Roses, Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, Megadeth, and Death Angel.

This was 1990-1991, and preceded the arrival of bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam. I was a metalhead first before I was taken in by the "grunge" acts of the early to mid-90s.

So it was 1991 when I (as a 14-year old sophomore) inexplicably brought my dad's little-used nylon string guitar to school. I did not know how to use it, but I carried it around as if I did. It wasn't until I met Miguel Ramirez (16-year old senior), who wanted to check out my guitar. And how did he!

He started playing Metallica songs, and I practically begged him to teach me. My classes wouldn't start until 10am, but I'd go to school before 7am just to catch him before his first class so he can teach me. And to his credit he was one of the most generous people and really taught me enough guitar chops for me to form a band of my own and even write my own music (in the following years).

I had stopped playing guitar seriously after a year in college (around 1996) especially since metal had gone so far out of fashion. I had met Miggy again a month ago quite randomly and serependipitously in a bookstore, and I was sharing to him this anime I had watched where there was this 14-year old kid meeting this 16-year old guitar player which led to his passion for rock music. It was too much of a coincidence. I had watched this anime Beck not expecting to be so profoundly moved by a boy's discovery of music and his picking up to learn the guitar.

Here's a sample:

Adblock

Adblock

Adblock

Koyuki was just this boring kid with a naive taste in music (God, I remember being a fan of Debbie Gibson and the New Kids on the Block around his age). After meeting Ryusuke who introduced him to the fictional band The Dying Breed, his life changed (much like how I discovered Guns N' Roses and Metallica). His growth in musical taste as well as some of his misadventures in learning guitar is so much like my own that I couldn't help but be inspired.

After this particular scene, I knew I was hooked:

Adblock

Adblock

Now I don't harbor dreams of being a rockstar, like Koyuki my musicianship is very poor. However, I do want to continue writing songs and I think this is a productive and fulfilling hobby. I think after a year of practicing my guitar playing will be somewhat listenable. In the mean time, I'll rock on!