My Middle School Years
Jonah Lancaster
Music
I play guitar as soon as I get home from school until I have to go to bed, and even then I play guitar until I actually fall asleep. I've only been playing for 8 months, but I practice so much that my friends envy how well I play guitar. My guitar teachers said I learn faster than all of their other students. I don't like to brag, but music is the only thing I'm good at.
Music is what I want to do with my life. It's what I love to do more than anything else, and if I have to participate in this pointless world of jobs and careers, that's what I'm going to do. In this presentation I'll describe my growth in music.
Quote
-Kurt Cobain
above: Kurt Cobain of Nirvana
Distortion
Advice Column
I want to learn guitar and bass. I don't have much experience with music, so which one should I take first?
From Conflicted
Dear Conflicted,
Go with guitar. Guitar and Bass are very similar. Once you learn notes on guitar, you can pick up a bass and do the same thing. If on guitar you know how to play a G Bar chord, you can play the top note (G) on bass. It may sound confusing, but it makes sense when you start to play.
My Musical Growth (Encyclopedia Entry)
In 6th grade I also picked up an interest for guitar. However, I didn't actually learn guitar until 8th grade.
In 7th grade, like I said, I learned drums. As I was learning to drum, I had joined a band as the lead singer. There I had picked up the interest for guitar. I had to play rhythm guitar on this one song, but I had no clue how to play. I went home and my dad taught me a power chord on his guitar, which if you didn't know, is by far the easiest thing to learn on guitar. Although, it did work on the song I needed to play. After that I stuck to singing for the rest of the year, and kept practicing drums at home. Then, I didn't touch a guitar for about another year.
In the 8th grade, I started to play guitar and bass. I learned guitar in September, specifically. I left my old music school and joined the Southlake School of Rock. In School of Rock, they have lessons for any instrument, and you get to join a band that plays certain songs. I took guitar lessons and joined Rage Against the Machine vs Red Hot Chili Peppers, where we played songs only by those bands. I played guitar and sang on a couple of songs. When that band ended I joined Sound City, where we played songs recorded at Sound City Studios. It was there that I began to play bass. In my lessons, my teacher taught me both guitar and bass.
When I started getting good, I hung out with my friend Baylee who played the drums and we jammed for a while at my house and at School of Rock. Then, we started a band. We included my friend Alex on bass and Baylee's friend Grant on rhythm guitar while I sang and played guitar. We named our band "Distortion." We play at local restaurants, venues, and parties. We cover other bands as well as write our own songs.
Summary of My Musical Growth (Comic Strip)
I Teach People Guitar (Text Conversation)
Advertisement For My Band (Classified Ad)
Top Ten Songs to Learn First On Guitar
9. Something in the Way by Nirvana
8. Guerrilla Radio by Rage Against the Machine
7. Angry Chair by Alice in Chains
6. Sliver by Nirvana
5. Know Your Enemy by Green Day
4. You're Gonna Go Far Kid
3. Otherside by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
2. Santeria by Sublime
1. Where Did You Sleep Last Night by Leadbelly