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My Story

The year was 2005 (or so). Having finished school for the week, my mind raced considering all the possibilities, "How should I spend the weekend?" I thought, "How should I spend my Friday?" Without hesitation, I called up my best friend and organized a sleepover. The phone call ended and I immediately began preparing for what was sure to be one for the books. I set up my PS2 with controllers, retrieved chairs from the other room, chose just the right chips to snack on, and Sunny D, lest we became parched. After all was said and done, my friend arrived, but this time with a surprise in his hand—a new game called "Guitar Hero." Needless to say, I fell in love with this game and not long after the experience I would buy my own copy of Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero 2. And after many hours of playing the game I couldn't help but find myself disappointed. "Why can't I play guitar?" I asked myself. This question soon turned into my first guitar lesson at the age of eight. Little did I know I would go on to perform my own music.

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Fast forward to 2011--high school. My interest in music had far from faded, considering my continuation of guitar playing as well as my newfound love: the trumpet. With the help of a great friend, with who I would remain friends for life, I fell in love with jazz music. Dizzy Gillespie, Lee Morgan, Stan Getz, Art Blakey, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk—you name them, I have probably heard of them. As such, I decided to join jazz band where I would take on the role as trumpet soloist. My playing of jazz music forever solidified a sense of style and free-moving rhythm which I modeled in my debut album Go. And along with the high school jazz band, I also joined choir, which proved to be a useful experience when I started writing original music.

To those who are just starting to learn to play the guitar: keep at it and you will surely be great! To those who are just learning to sing: keep a healthy technique and you will also become great! To those who are learning to be a singer/songwriter: don't give up; it will take much practice, but eventually you will succeed. For myself, the first song I learned to sing and play at the same time took at least a week—and even then it was poor. Training muscles can prove to be quite difficult, but eventually you get the hang of it. A few months after I did, I decided to try writing my first song. The song was titled "Don't Give Up (You're Almost There)" and it was written about a very somber subject: suicide. As a young teen, I couldn't help but notice the many news stories going around about young adults, around my age, ending their life because of life's hardships. All I could think about was how far they had yet to go, but they would never get the chance to experience it—it broke my heart. I wanted to write a song for these individuals, the ones who go through such stressful situations. I wanted to show them that even though life seemed bleak in their head, there will always be something to smile about; they were almost there, they just had to realize it. I don't know if this song will ever be released professionally (or unprofessionally), but it will forever hold a place in my heart.

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As for the rest of the story—that's for you to listen to.

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