We're back with the 4th episode of the series "When Metal and I met"!
Now where were we? Oh that's right, we had stopped at just around the time when my 2nd year pre-university college was coming to an end. I've got to narrate a few incidents here. Around that time, my duty was to study 24/7 so that I'd able to get excellent scores no CET,AIEEE and IIT entrance exams. Well, all kidding aside, I did work pretty hard and man, it was worth it. So there was really no time for fun when you're a serious candidate competing to get into an IIT or an NIT. And the class that I was in, man, it was filled with people with enormous IQs. No kidding, they were dedicated and more so, very very intelligent. It was intimidating. So, we were sort of stuck in a mad race for glory and excellence. And consequently, the amount of work we had to put in was inhuman and abnormally large. So, somehow we had to bear with putting aside all the fun stuff and get on with studying like crazy mfs. So I did that, and things were going just fine (apart from the fact that I was drained of all fun). And in this short window of time, I lost a digicam and a cell phone and a lot of money. Not all at once (Boy, that would've sealed my fate). But one after the other. Man, that was absolutely fucking insane. I was so ridiculously devastated, and all I could feel is regret and anger. My dad didn't like it at all (you really can't blame him). My mom played more of a supportive role and you know, consoled me and stuff (man, she's the best; what would I do without her).But still, there was a pretty hot ball of rage manifested inside of my chest that I had to let go of. And sadly, I would lash out and throw all my anger at people. My friend Anirudh took a few verbal blows from me. My friend Abhiram got the worst of it. We fought so bad, we did not speak for another 8 months or so. Fuck, that was brutal. So anyway, with all of this shit in my head, I had to go on; I had to study well and stuff. I managed to do that, and by god's grace, I got a fairly decent score on my CET, not so much on AIEEE and IIT. And it was really sad for me that I didn't make it to the IITs. It felt like a big part of my life and desires had come to an abrupt and dismal end. So, it was misery after misery that kept piling up on my head, and it was getting to be a really fuckin' big burden (at this point, I feel that most of you with a similar experience would be able to connect with my story well).
So now what? I lost property, I lost glory, I lost my friends, I lost hope and worst of all, my self-esteem had hit rock bottom (it's an awful feeling, believe me; and to get rid of it, ain't that easy). The holidays had begun, and I was not very happy. We had a long holiday, something like 3 months. So I had no idea what I was going to do then. I had to sort of sit down and relax for a few days and get back to a small bit of reality.
Eventually, I figured, it's time to do something new. I loved music ever since I was a little boy, and I still did. So I thought, maybe I could do something more with music, other than just listening to it. So I went and bought an acoustic guitar. (Now that I mention it, I can't believe how ridiculously clichéd that sentence has become). I mean, back then there was a time when chicks thought that guitarists were cool. So it was sort of like a shortcut to getting laid or getting a girlfriend or something like that (but if you're thinking on the same lines, the shortest route would probably be money). Anyway, as you can tell, I was incredibly stupid and I had a skewed way of thinking and all that. But believe me, there comes a time in every frickin' guy's life when he thinks exactly on those very lines (if you don't believe me, you're in for a rude shock). So anyway, let's get back to the point.
I picked up the guitar, and I had no idea what to do with it, other than holding it and feeling awesome most of the time. But that came to an end very quickly. I decided to get on with actually learning how to play something on the guitar. So I watched a few basic video lessons on the net; stuff like up picking, down picking, alternate picking, e minor chord, etc. But then I came across a word called "shredding", and let me tell you, it blew my mind away. So when it comes to music, what does "shredding" mean? In simple words, playing an instrument incredibly fast. Not good enough? Alright, here's an illustration.
A Neoclassical shred by Rob Marcello
That should give you a heads up. So where was I? Yes, like I said, I saw someone shred on a guitar, and I was like OH MY GOD! I was a loss for words, and I said to myself, "There's no way I'm gonna be able to do that!". So I had my goals set pretty straight, learn how to strum a few chords and stop. So it took me a few months to learn how to pick well and play a few basic chords like E minor, C major and A minor.
After that, I thought I should learn how to play a few popular songs or rather, popular and simple songs. Started off with a couple of Nirvana songs, and Californication by Red hot chili peppers. Let me tell you, it was no piece of cake. My fingers was perpetually and constantly in pain, and the skin of my fingers got peeled off every time I played. It took me months at a stretch to be able to play just those songs.
So now, as I was thinking about all this, it suddenly hit me that you must be wondering; Had I become a metalhead yet? Well, strange enough, no I had not. I was still only into bands like Nirvana, Godsmack, Reveille, Trapt, etc. And I was only eager to learn how to be able to play songs like the ones I used to listen to. Metal had still not made it's presence. And the bands that I mentioned really just played rhythms, so I only took me a few more months to figure out how their songs were played. It was really fun to realize that I had slowly begun to learn something new and I was getting the hang of it. But certainly not enough to make me happy, considering the fact that my personal life was so disoriented and I was a careless klutz.
Fellow readers, I'm going to take a rain-check now. I think it's safe to say that I have just about started sharing some of my experiences with y'all. Do not be mistaken, this is just the beginning, and I don't intend to stop. I will be back with part 5 very soon.
Till then,
Stay tuned and stay metal!
It's bye bye for now.
Quote1: James Hetfield, Metallica: “If I hadn't had music in my life, it's quite possible I'd be dead and I'd much rather be alive.”
Quote2: James Hetfiled, Metallica: "Call it anarchy or whatever you want to; there's times when you wanna be able to do whatever the fuck you want and, y'know, life's always short, so why shouldn't you?"
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