I was fourteen years old when I was watching the Grammy’s in my basement. I noticed a band which I had heard a few songs from. they played a couple songs including there most recognizable, “lonely boy” and that’s when I first thought that I would make music, that I will one day play in front of people and listen to a crowd cheer for me, maybe even get a few Grammy’s along the way. When listening to speeches of the artists who had won Grammy’s, there was a similar theme in quite a few of the speeches. That theme was “if you work hard your dreams can come true.” or something to the same effect. Most likely, you have heard something similar to this. so I took this to heart, and with my six months of guitar training, put my nose to the grindstone and started to work. Through out the years I had many different inspirations, from the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, The Black Keys, to more modern artists like Frank Ocean, Kanye West, Post Malone, Khalid, and many other artists. Every artist is usually inspired through some kind of art of past musicians, for instance the Beatles were heavily influenced by Bob Dylan and Chuck Barry, and every artist always had someone they looked up to. it is a necessary step to find what artists you like as well as the genre’s that you like and want to incorporate into your own style.

If you play an instrument, are a avid fan of music, write, or produce music, chances are you have already thought about some artists that you are inspired by. If you play a instrument, maybe it is someone who also plays that instrument on a master level (for me, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn among others.) or someone who’s music you have connected to in the past. Even though many of you most likely have artists you look up to, it is always important to branch out. While in high school, I resisted the new wave of music as much as physically possible, with a few modern bands and songs slowly growing on me, I realized that the world that I once though “lacked talent” and though music after the year 2000 for the most part wasn’t worth the equipment it was made on. But the biggest break though I had so far in my music career was that was completely wrong. even though the song may be made on a computer, it was just as good as many songs throughout history. so remember, always look for inspiration, don’t tie yourself down to one genre, to one instrument or to one style. explore options and you will surprise yourself with how much content is out there that will inspire you. It will help you incorporate more sounds into your music and broaden your horizons.