Ever since I was a child, I was already exposed to music. Having a band within the family, my dad playing ever since he was a teenager and my mom being a singer, a former choir member is the reason for all of this.
Maybe the reason why I have such a diverse playlist because of how much music I was exposed to. My dad would sometimes play Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, Weezer, Coldplay and many more bands. Then my mom would play Cranberries and on Sundays our grandpa would have a radio station he would always listen to.
Early years
I started being attached to music just by dancing, I’m not that great at it but I can learn moves quickly probably because of the innate rhythm that I got. I danced in most of my childhood, sometimes even in our family gatherings and school events.
When I was around 5th grade, I joined the choir in our church and stayed there for almost 4-5 years. This is where I learned the value of harmony. I'm an alto and I usually sing different notes with the original tune. I must say that there is nothing more fulfilling than making 4 voices blend together and come out into this nice masterpiece.
High school
Upon reaching high school, I wanted to learn guitar because I feel like girls who play guitars are so cool. I started with easy songs, mainly the ones with G-D-Em-C chord progression, by this time I’d cry over bar chords so much.
My 4th year of high school came or 10th grade for most of you. My classmates and I decided to build a band. We were choosing the members and we had a dilemma. Most of us know how to play the guitar but no one knows how to play the bass guitar.
My dad is a bassist for most of his bands, so I volunteered to learn the bass in a span of 2 weeks. Learning the bass is not as hard as learning the guitar, probably because I have the basic knowledge for it but the thing is, bass strings are way much thicker than guitar strings.
We would always practice for hours and sometimes it'd make my fingers bleed. After all of the effort and constant studio trips after every class, fortunately we were the champions for that school year.
We sang Breakeven by The Script and Safe and Sound by Taylor Swift but I rearranged it in a more rock-ish feel. We turned up the tempo, heavily relied on the bass and the drums to make constant beat drops and the amazing lead guitar solo for Safe and Sound made it possible for us.
Since we are the champions, we were given a task that will happen for the first time in our school. We were assigned to compose a song for our graduation song which was nerve-wracking. We mostly did the lyrics and asked my dad to help with the instruments and melody and it turned out way much better than we ever expected. Up until now, when we get along, we would play this song or sing it out, this is really a nostalgic moment for us.
College
Most of my college days, I rarely touched my guitar or any other musical instruments because things at school are quite busy but when I do, I’d play for hours. Mainly I cover some songs and learn a new song. Sometimes, I bring my guitar to school and just jam along with my classmates but not much because the hassle of bringing my guitar is too much.
I’ve also been playing as part of the worship band in our church when there is a lack of band members because usually I'm on the documentation team. Sometimes I play the guitar, bass, beatbox or sometimes even lead the worship. Probably because of the lack of manpower, I’ll just be assigned a task that no one can do for the meantime. I’ve been arranging songs too whenever we play. Even with our concerts or usual worship we try to make the song our own.
Present
Recently, I don’t play as much, mainly because of Covid. The thing that makes me pick up my guitar is for a performance most of the time. But I still listen to songs everyday, it feels like I can’t really survive this world without it.
I just sit in my room, turn up music that matches my mood or sometimes go and listen to some indie ones. I miss concerts to be honest, it just feels sad that when I have the ability to buy concert tickets with my own money, there’s no more concerts to watch.
I just realized that music has been a huge part of my life, it provides one of the basic foundations of my identity. I wish I could grab my guitar and sing with a crowd again, but for now I’ll just keep singing to Octy.
See you around!
I think I need to join Octy and be part of your audience. I have always wanted to learn how to play the guitar but I have been lazy and haven't taken serious steps to learn it. I have always found guitars to be so cool. I love music. I feel music speaks and I love how we lose our emotions to it while absorbing it in.