Ever since I can remember, I've played piano. I don't ever remember not being able to play, but when a boy gets into his teenage years, playing piano isn't exactly "cool", so I started playing the same instrument as the rest of the boys my age: guitar. I was a spotty 13-year-old with thick glasses, ginger hair and freckles, but now I had a guitar, I had a shot with the ladies… well, that was the plan.
The following year, my confidence grew and I set up a band. I had dreams of being in the next Queen, or AC/DC; guitar solos, big hair and a smoke machine. Instead, three spotty teenagers came together, and dared each other to ask the prettiest girl in our school year to be our singer. We were going to be huge!
Needless to say, that band fizzled out. At the age of 16, I joined a blues and jazz band and being a good 40 years younger than everybody else in the band, made me the eye candy. My rock-star dreams were slowly coming true.
The next phase in my musical life, was the inevitable heavy metal band. Though that lasted literally four days before a massive argument, so I'll move on.
These days I play guitar in a classic rock band, which quite frankly, is brilliant. Again, I am the junior of the band by 17 years, but having been very much into rock music all my life, and having some experience in blues, I am able to stand next to them and keep up with the standard that they set. We cover anything from ZZ Top to Kaiser Chiefs, and I love it. Performing every other week at an open mic night, we are considered the "headline act" and if nothing else, we all have fun.
Music is my passion and I'm gaining more and more experience by the day.
Have any of you ever played in a band, or been to gig? Leave a comment below to share your story.
Find out more about free time.