First Years With Music

Maybe this post is too personal for a public blog, but given that probably I'm the only motherfucker reading this: HERE WE GO.

I can't really remember exactly when I had my first personal encounter with Music. Probably it happen even before I was conceived. Anyway, the first thing that I can remember is playing a toy-guitar from my brother who got that for Christmas (I received a robot).

My conscious journey began at the age of 4 when I asked a friend of my mom to teach me to play the guitar. The most beautiful, kind, gentle, funny and smart woman I've ever known. She was my first inspiration (still is).

After being taught for several months my dad bought me an acoustic guitar. I remember taking it every day, practicing for hours. I even remember my parents sometimes had to take it away from me (I suppose it's harmful for a little boy to play guitar, maybe a gory/sexual/crude TV program/game could be more "suitable").

About that particular aspect, I have to say I really love when there's some little kid on TV playing either piano or violin or whatever, and they say that they study music since they're 5 years old, or some shit like that. And then they show their parents and they say "...yeah, we supported or son/daughter because we believed in them..." I can only think about my possible scenario at this point of my life if I had received the support from my parents.

I always was a sort of a rockstar in my mind.

I have very bad memories since the moment when my parents realized I wasn't fucking around with the guitar, that I was serious about that. They're many... many bad episodes, passing through my whole infancy and early youth. Even today I have problems related with music with my parents. Even today.

The root of all that has a name. One fucking name. RELIGION. The root of all the problems of my life. I'll expand on this later on.

But whatever, I'm here talking about music.

I spent all my early years in church. Most of the times against my will. But that brought me the possibility of interacting with a large number of "musicians" and I learning by practicing, both in my house and at church.

I began writing songs at the age of 8 with my little guitar and with my little voice. All those songs where about how cool God was (I didn't know any other "type" of music, you know), and to make my parents happy, maybe to win their consideration and approval.

So I spent all those years practicing the guitar basics over and over again. And after some years I advanced a lot compared with the rest of dudes from the church and that brought some consequences, both good and bad.

When you learn the music, you can open new grounds and new ways of doing the same the rest is doing (yes, music at an early age increase your creativity). Anyway, something that called my attention at that time was the framework of music. That can be modified depending on the circumstances, the style, the genre, the mood, the social-historic context, etc. And in this case, in church, the framework was (is) so little and tight and repetitive that when I tried to do "new stuff" everybody turned to me looking upset and I even received some comments like: "Don't play like that" That's the evil's way" "Restrain yourself and don't make us look more mediocre than we already are".

And given that I was a little kid I followed their advice. For years. Now, I can look behind and say: "Well, probably it helped me to practice the basics even more, so I had a more powerful musical foundations".

But one day Metal came into my life. In a Metallica "S&M" album form.

But that's another story.

Conclusion: Don't take shit from anybody. Listen to the advices, but do whatever it feels right.

That's it. Flatuleitor out.