Music was always an important part of my life.
As a kid, learned how to play keyboards. I started taking lessons from a really cool teacher. I was really good at it, so my parents replaced my small toy-grade synthesizer with 80 keys sized Yamaha PSR 280. However, as puberty kicked in the whole lesson-taking thing felt boring for me (everything was boring in puberty), so I just quit taking the lessons. That was very, very unfortunate, but I guess I was just too young to understand music and the songs my teacher was teaching me (The Beatles, for instance).
A couple of years later, I started playing my Yamaha keyboard again. My right hand was still flexible and skilled and I could still play with it very well. My left hand, however, was already rusty and it was only good for bass lines. I never fixed this issue with my left hand (I never practiced enough) and I still don’t play the synthesizer/piano properly.
So I was playing what I could and how I could. But I quickly got bored playing the old stuff. So this time I wanted to play music I also enjoy listening (not that I didn’t enjoy The Beatles). I set my Yamaha to sound #31 (the overdrive guitar sound) and I started playing some rock riffs. So, just like that, without any tabs, chords or notes, I managed to pull off the riff from the song Money For Nothing by Dire Straits. I played it on the wrong scale, but I hit all the tones perfectly. This was a big confidence boost for me, as I proved to myself that I can actually play the instrument and that I do understand music (to some very basic level, at least).
After that, I started listening to Linkin Park. The Meteora just came out and my brother bought the CD. Awesome album. Since my Yamaha PSR 280 had the ability to record up to 5 tracks, I started recording LP songs on my synthesizer. Guitars, bass, drums, and vocals (using some instrument). This was so cool for me back then. But then, I popped the question – what if I start singing instead of playing the vocals? That’s when I realized two things:
- I suck at singing
- Chester Bennington is the best vocalist in the Milky Way Galaxy (well, no it should say was the best – R.I.P. Chester)
The second point was just a fact. The first one, however, had room for improvement.
So, I started digging. Forums, YouTube videos, blogs, books… I wanted to learn how to sing. And, actually, this is where I am today. Still learning. Still improving. But I think I sound much better now. I am still not entirely happy with my voice (and I still cannot sing what Chester could). I even had a few songs covers on my YouTube channel, but I think I will make them private, as I am not happy with them either.
Some time had passed, and somehow (naturally) a group of friends (and family members) and I started… something… like a band. We are more like a group of people who share the same “qualities”:
- we play some instrument
- we like music
- we all love beer
- we all suck at playing music
This crazy group of people is my band and I really like playing with them in our rental garage. We are all still improving and our goal is to have some gigs where we would play preferably rock songs. So far we had one gig and it was actually really good. If only more than 3 people came to that bar to listen to us… ?
This is basically my music story. What I will do in the future is, either another adding some content here on bymatej.com or I will actually make a website for my band. The goal is to have recorded covers of songs and maybe even some videos too. Currently, my band does not have a functional website.
There is nothing more left to write, except – Stay tuned! ?