MY PATH TO MUSIC

I always heard stories about how I grew up accustomed to bands older than me, and one memorable story was when my father would blast his favorite rock bands even when I was still sheltered in my mother's womb. Growing up, I was raised on a daily dose of Green Day and Nirvana until I loved them more than any other sound I heard on the radio.

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It wasn't hard to grow fond of music from the 90's since I heard them on my dad's lips every time he'd hum a song. He had a myriad of cassette tapes, from Original Philippine Music to records by Oasis, The Misfits, and the likes. One particular time, while we were rummaging through old bins and drawers of my dad's stuff, I saw his collection of cassette tapes and got excited. I appreciated little things like this. I sorted them out, arranged them by alphabet, and began picking out some of the albums I already recognized, and some that my dad had suggested. He lent me a walkman that he owned way back even before I existed. Being accustomed to music players that let users play music with ease, it was very refreshing to experience flipping the cassette tape over once one side had been played. I carried that walkman with me everywhere until the batteries eventually ran out. Truth be told, I never got the energy to get new batteries for that gadget again.

Finger Eleven
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The TV shows my dad watched also influenced my taste in music. We're all familiar with WWE since we basically grew up with it. The show featured intro songs for the wrestlers, and I found Kane's especially catchy. I searched it up and discovered Finger Eleven, the band that wrote Kane's intro song, Slow Chemical. From there on out, I discovered bands like Our Lady Peace, Faith No More, and it branched out from there. One time, my dad left a particular song playing on our computer. I liked it right from the first chord. My dad asked me to guess the title, so I looked at the song playing when he left and saw that it was "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Green Day. And that was basically the moment I really fell in love with rock.

As far as I can tell, my dad really played a huge part in molding me into the person I am today. He was the person who put an electric guitar in my hands and the very same person who guided my fingers to make an E chord. It was the very first chord I ever learned since it's the easiest out of the seven chords. My dad taught me a pattern that never left my head. I used to practice that pattern every day until I perfected it. I was proud to perfect the very first pattern I ever learned. This feeling pushed me to pursue playing the guitar. Combined with my love for rock, it wasn't hard to search for inspiration on the internet. Before I ever knew the existence of guitar tabs, I learned songs by ear and by watching various covers on YouTube. This meant that I had to write down the positioning of the fingers on the fret board and make very unorganized arrows pointing to where I have to place my fingers next. I went on like this for a week before my dad introduced me to the wonderful emporium of Musar, where my musical journey really began. At first, I was very timid and hated the idea of being taught and restricted to what I wanted to do. But then I realized that the teacher assigned to me was very different from the rest. He didn't teach me all the dull stuff I already knew--he went straight ahead to teaching me tablature of his favorite songs. At first, I found them hard. But then I eventually got used to Pink Floyd until I was ready to take it to the stage. What made my musical experience more inspirational was the fact that although my teacher was planning to retire, he didn't. Just for me. He turned down all of his incoming students to focus on other priorities, but I was an exception. He'd travel all the way from Tuba, Benguet to Baguio just to teach me. And that humbled me very much. He saw something in me and thought that I was worth his time.

Needless to say, it pushed me even further beyond the nonexistent limit that I thought was there.

My very first time performing in front of a crowd was held in the year 2013. That was the moment I finally discovered the meaning of euphoria.

Being on stage was amazing. Despite the fact that I was a shy girl, none of that came across my mind the moment I began strumming my guitar. I was free. I was pursuing my passion, and a whole crowd was there to witness it.

After that, I tried learning more songs. I tried gaining more experience by playing in high school proms and such. But of course, there was a time that I lost interest in everything I once loved.

I guess it was normal for that to happen. Right now, I'm rebuilding my path towards music. It crumbled down throughout the years, but I'm persistent on returning back on the road.

Everyone has a story regarding how they discovered the great manifesto. This was mine.