The first time I picked up the guitar I was 9 years old. My uncle played locally with my grandpa’s band, and I heard them play and let me just say, I was hooked.
One day I was at my uncle’s house and he asked if I wanted to go to his room and learn a song. This was barely weeks after I had gotten my first guitar. At first I had absolutely no idea what I was doing and it was just a sound that annoyed my parents for hours. But we went upstairs to his “guitar room”, also known as his man-cave, and I remember he took out a guitar for me to play. The instant I had it in my lap, I just got this electrifying feeling, something telling me that this is what I wanted to do as a serious hobby.
I remember the first song he taught was Smoke On The Water, by Deep Purple. I look back on it and laugh because it’s one of the easiest songs to play and at the time It was like the hardest thing I’d ever done. To this date he is to blame for me always having an urge to want to crank it up and play all day long.
As the years progressed, my guitar took a beating. Every single day I was playing that thing. The guitar was a beginner guitar, not too good of quality but enough to get by without breaking the first day I had it. It was all black, pretty light, and played pretty well. I can’t get over the feeling it gave me when I finally learned some songs and knew the basics of playing it. The feeling was just pure joy and in a way it comforted me. Everybody has that one knack for something they love; mine is guitar.
A few years later, I turned 12. This was one of the happiest days of my life; The day I got my new Epiphone Les Paul. These are really nice guitars that are both expensive and my favorite guitar to play ever. My dad said he was going to leave for work that friday morning and we all said goodbye. At this time I’m getting ready for school and had opened some cards from my family. I’m in another room and over hear him say he forgot his keys. The next thing I know he is holding the guitar and I immediately snatch it from him. I can’t believe I finally had my prized possession.
That night all I did was play it. I couldn’t stop.
As time went on I learned more and more songs and I got to the point where I had it all down and was ready to start further with it. A kid named Dylan Kingery went to my elementary school and played guitar and drums. One day we decided that we should jam and just play together, and that eventually lead to playing the 6th grade talent show. We both had never done anything like it and were both really nervous. We decided we would do the song Crazy Train, by Ozzy Osbourne, because we both thought it was unreal and the audience would love it.
We nailed it. After that day, we both decided to pursue music and we hung out a lot more and to this day we are really good friends.
I’m glad I stuck to guitar because it turned out to be better than I expected and has made me who I am today. I made a new friend, have impressed myself, and It has given me something that is just an awesome hobby to me. I don’t know where I’d be without it and I think It’s the best thing to do in the world.