Thursday 29 November 2012

Meeting my Prime Hobby

Music is part of everybody's life even to people who say they don't her music(movies etc). My experience with it has been always been there right from the time i was born. I always used to listen to the radio while i was getting ready for my school, i was mostly inclined towards the peppier and faster ones.My parent's used to love the melodious and bluesy one's, which i didn't understand why they did ( But i used to hum the melodious ones more than the peppier ones which i remember now :D ). Classical is way out of picture even now, i tried many times but never found the connection with it.
Since i studied in a missionary school there was a church in the premises, so we used to hear the keyboard. Even then i never really like the soaring choir type godly songs.We had teachers who were Christians, so they used to bring in some really old pop English cassettes which they heard in their childhood days, for the school functions & activities. Soon enough as we grew up my friends started playing stuff off Micheal Jackson, Westlife, Boyzone & Backstreet Boys. I will confess, i used to love them, the sheer audio quality & the imported boxed cover's amazed me.
The first time i heard something anthemic was 'The Final Countdown' and that was when i understood something so slow and loud enough could enable you to enjoy so much. It left me wanting for more but sadly i didn't know one who could give me that, which left me on a path for self exploration.On this path, is when for a school function, a bunch of students were selecting songs to dance/sing (I don't remember exactly) is when i heard three songs Summer of '69, we will rock you and It's my Life, i didn't know what band it was nor what the lyrics were but man was i glad i overheard them. But later i don't know under which circumstances, but i got to know the name etc of the songs i heard. The Rock seeds were sown here (i think so). My parent's sent me for a few summer's to this organization called as YMCA where they used teach multiple stuff/activities. There was a teacher over there who used to teach keyboard and guitar, so i went to him and he told me to first try out both the instruments and then tell him which one i liked to continue. Any guess's ? it was the keyboard because i was not able to produce any sound and my finger's were bleeding (not literally) with the guitar. Later on i did continue the keyboard but Board Exams, Entrance exams etc came in to my life so i had to leave it wherever it was.
Once i came out of school my life shifted gears, but never did i stop listening to varied styles of music whether it was a friend suggesting me to check out a song or trying to randomly search the internet/college LAN for new music. During the time in college i even came across or heard several bands as a spectator from far away playing those wholesome songs with just their guitars and drum set, but never did i once think i would be playing one(instrument). It all started in my third year when my friend/Senior Naren used to hangout with us introduced me to this guy called as Vidhaat Raman. I knew him before just from other people ( since he was talked about a lot for his guitar playing abilities in our college) and also saw him play some gig's in our college. He was naren's room partner and he was always either practicing with his guitar (on headphones) or sleeping or just away from his room. So when i met him we talked a bit of this and that, then i asked him if he could just play something on his guitar and then he said that he was not that good but could play a little. I thought he was being humble or a liar or arrogant but then he started playing, maybe because I've never seen a guitar played so close and profusely loud & beautiful. I asked him to play some numbers which i knew and that's when it hit me, i wanted to play what he was playing.But again i thought "it looks so difficult", i even asked him if he could teach me(he said he would try to) and also gave me some confidence in picking one but it never really took off. My friend Naga Shiva Kumar who was interested like me in playing guitar told me that i could join with him in learning one as he just started going to these seniors,vidhaat and some of my friends/classmates who could play guitar. But soon i gave up because man it was bleeding, paining and aching like hell.My friend naga continued while i left it, but sooner than later i stated seeing my friend improving right in front of my eyes. That left me an lasting impression that learning guitar just needs patience and perseverance. I wanted to learn immediately but our semester break and internship in 4th year 1st semester came as an hindrance to meet my seniors or naga to learn. I bought myself a guitar and practiced without a guide during the break, there was no improvement and i was the same guy still trying to hold a chord together. But this time i was determined to learn, so in the final semester another friend of mine named Raj Kiran who learnt with naga offered me teach, so from then on i caught this bug called Guitar which is now my prime hobby.




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