#MyEpicMusicStory Contest

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Six years after my first tantrum as a toddler over an electric guitar at a shop window, I used a year’s worth of allowance to buy my first electric. A Rockwood by Hohner ST-style guitat. Seven years after that, I was gifted with my first good guitar, an Epiphone SG G-400 Goth, and started actually taking this music stuff seriously and started practicing every day. Eleven years after that, I saw Chuck Berry in concert and was sure I made the right decision, struggling to be a working musician. Five years after *that*, I sold all of my gear, moved to Europe, thinking of just having a quiet life in a small town, and maybe even giving up the struggle of the music business.

Then I saw Patti Smith live in Brussels, and all the frustration with the profession went out the window, giving way to eagerness, newfound passion, and sheer will to once again do what I have loved since before I can remember. Starting out again after some time away made me feel like meeting an old friend. And even now, as I am fighting to get back into shape, all I can feel is happiness and bliss. The first lick I’ve played correctly, with all the feeling I could muster gave me sparkle in my eyes.

It will be hard, it might not lead anywhere grand, and it will certainly cost a lot of time, energy and money. But there’s no way I’ll give up the rush of making art from random noises again.

#ThePowerOfMusic #MyEpicMusicStory

> Adonai,
This is truly beautiful. It was really touching. Thanks so much for sharing it with us. Nor will I ever give up that rush! Best, //Joe

I was 11, my parents were divorcing. There were fighting day and night and the weight of the fights always fell on me to try to reconcile or to exchange messages between them. Some months before then, my family not having the money to afford a sax, which was my dream instument, gave me a cheap guitar, which afterwards I got to exchangs for a cheap bass. Suring the divorce time, which lasted almost a year of daily fights and discussion, I found my way to cope with the stress, sadness and all the feelings that I had to process alone: playing the bass. At least once a day I would lock my self in the room and just play, play, play, eventhough I had just few months pf studying it. I felt my feelings were trown into the air through the sound of the bass; I could see them better that way, and could answer to those feelings with other notes. Music became my force, my therapy. I found in it the strength and refuge I needed to overcome that period.
After that, I got a tattoo as a thank you to music (a bass clef) to make me survive turbulent times. Up to this day, 20 years later, music is still my source of energy, still not able to afford the sax, the bass is my best refuge. I don’t get a monetary living out of music, but I get my heart beating because of it.

> ah and yes:
#ThePowerOfMusic #MyEpicMusicStory

> Nicholas, thank you so much for sharing your story. Very touching. The simple act of expressing yourself when the need is strongest really helps to get through the toughest of times. Keep on playing man. //Joe

My very first instrument was the violin, indeed I loved this instrument for classical music then 2 years after I made a new friend who played the guitar. That instilled a new passion in me. Or course, at first it was a nylon guitar. Later I became interested in rock/metal music and I needed an electric guitar as learning riffs on a nylon guitar was kinda hard but that really developed my ear. Indeed I was lazy learning tablatures but yet I found it fun to listen and try to repeat the section I just heard. Years passed by and I became better at guitar, being able to improvise my own stuffs. However, equipments and guitars cost a lot, certainly in Mauritius. My 2 first electric guitars was good but the action high. Yet I guess when I watch people buying a very good guitar as a first and find it difficult to play, I think that maybe if the action of my guitars was low, it wouldn’t have forced me to put much more effort – effort which have built my hand muscles. Indeed I’m still trying to upgrade everytime so that I can achieve my own sound, and the well-known artists surely have awesome gears which cost a lot. Besides, my country is so small that we don’t even have concerts/masterclass from well-known artists, that would have been so cool. I certainly hope that one day I would be able to go to a concert and maybe meet someone 🙂
Music as such has been beneficial specially in my depressing stage but also as a way to express myself since I tend to be shy in public. Anyway, I hope that one day I could produce my own album or EP.

#ThePowerOfMusic #MyEpicMusicStory

> Hi Darryl!
Thanks for sharing your story with us. I really hope that you can one day be surrounded by music, concerts, musicians and nice gear. I believe it can happen if you truly believe in the power of music. Wishing you all the best in your future, //Joe

I was always a shy kid. I couldn’t stand and talk in front of other people. School theater? Nightmare! Oral exam? Cold sweats. This rather unfortunate situation lasted untill my late teens! I could’t even order a pizza witout stuttering…A truly hopeless case.

Then I found music. Guitar to be specific. I honed my shredding skills in my bedroom, as probably all other young adepts do. Some of my friends also got into playing, so we jammed together. Word of mouth spread around, and lo and behold I got invited to play in a band. A real band playing shows!

Wait…Shows? In front of people? LITERALLY in the spotlight?

This is when I decided to change my life. I was done with being shy. I knew I’m good, and this was what I always dreamt to do. I joined the band, learnt the songs and prepared to my first show ever.

I can’t really pinpoint the feeling before going on stage that day. It was like being in a dream, but also feeling powerful, brave and excited to do something amazing.
The show was a huge success, especially for me personally. I really started believing in myslelf that day. That and many other shows down the line taught me to be brave and to always face my challenges head on.

15 years later, I have a successful career and a great life. Even though I’m not a professional musician, I know that if I didn’t pick up the guitar many years ago, I wouldn’t be where I am now. Music made me who I am today.

#ThePowerOfMusic #MyEpicStory

> #MyEpicMusicStory 🙂

> Sebastian, truly amazing. And I’m sure this has been the case for many people, maybe without them even knowing. Music making brings out a lot of positive thinking and courage in our lives, even if it’s subconscious. Thanks a lot for sharing, we really enjoyed your story. //Joe

#ThePowerOfMusic #MyEpicMusicStory

My piano teacher said to me quietly when I was 12 years old, “do you have any hobbies”? I excitedly told her that I loved horse riding, and had just bought my own horse. She then said cuttingly, ” perhaps you should spend more time horse riding, as I think that your mom should save her money on your piano lessons”!!
I was determined that my own children should not be squashed so badly by a music tutor, so got them to teach themselves instruments, with the advice from musician friends. The eldest three are all brilliant guitarists, and all 3 could make you cry with joy at their vocals. The middle one has gone on to study music in uni. They have bought music back onto my life:)

> Margaret, thank you so much for sharing your story. My heart sank when I read what your music tutor told you. Some people don’t understand how a message like that can alter one’s life. I’m so glad that the power of music brought music back into your life through your kids. Thanks for giving hope and motivation to other parents and parents-to-be. //Joe

Friday night, at the local club, my girfriend was there listening music and texting me like we always do because I was a lot of time in another country. To surprinse her, I talk with the manager to let me do a gig in that night, wearing a mask…. When I played my set, she wrotes me : ” I want to go home, this dj is a junk!” I was trully dissapointed! When I go outside to catch her, he was very happy and tells me : “I know you’re music more then you!” soo…. Music is powerful than love sometime.

> Toma, thanks for sharing your story, very clever surprise for your girlfriend! Haha. Love and music go hand in hand! All the best, //Joe

It’s no exaggeration to say that music saved my life. I come from a background where I was taught never to make noise. I would be thrown into a wall, screamed at, choked, told I was a monster, and never should have been born. I was a child, and it went on for years.

When I got to university I joined a choir and everything changed. The director of the choir gave me the chance to sing my favourite song ‘God Bless The Child’ completely a Capella in our university’s ancient music hall, in front of hundreds of people. They all heard me. For the first time in my life I made noise and didn’t suffer for it. No mic, no nothing, and I filled that whole hall with the entirety of my soul.

In that moment, music changed my life. I finished my degree in music, put in a hell of a lot of work, and I’ve been a professional noise maker (vocalist) ever since.

> oh and of course, #thepowerofmusic #myepicmusicstory

> Paula, your story really touched me. Thanks for sharing. It’s amazing that music has given you not only a career but a sense of dignity and self-esteem that was taken away from you as a child. I’m sure your singing is something beautiful and far from “noise”, and that you affected the people who heard you in positive ways. Best of luck in your singing career. //Joe

#ThePowerOfMusic #MyEpicMusicStory

Ever since I was young the only kind of music I was hearing in the house was metal and rock. And today I’m very proud to be a metalhead thanks to my parents. My childhood wasn’t great at all beacause of my classmates. They always thought that I was a freak only because I wear almost all the time spiked boots, spiked bracelets, chains all over my jeans, battlejackets, large rings and so on. But I went over and left nothing to stay in my way. My motto: Live the life to the fullest now and stop worrying about anything. Fuck the rules. Fuck the establishment. I have nothing to lose. Thats what metal music thought me and I’m proud about that.
But the story doesn’t end here.
This year on 2 August I went to Rockstadt Extreme Fest and I had the most epic experience in my entire life. My friends and I did crowdsurfing on pallets,once we put gas mask on the face, we were crying Marco beacuse almost all the times other foreigners that were at least 400m of us to respond with Polo. We brought our electric guitars andf all sorts of intruments and started to play any song that we knew.
The most funny thing was that we were singing, before a concert, this:

An elephant was dangling
On a spider’s web
And because it didn’t break down,
They got another elephant in.

Two elephants were dangling
On a spider’s web
And because it didn’t break down,
They got another elephant in.

Three elephants were dangling
On a spider’s web
And because it didn’t break down,
They got another elephant in.

Four( five, six, seven, eight, nine ) elephants

And what was more funny is that 80 or maybe 100 metalheads joined us and they were singing too.
And the most epic part of all this festival was that the singer from Powerwolf came with the flag of my country and wore it during his performance.
One of the best parts were that if you were hungry or thirsty and you had no money you could ask anybody and you undoubteedly received that thing. I love the fact that the metalheads help other people even if they know each other or not. We are like a big family spreaded all over the world that is united trough this music genre and its message.

> Hi Karina!
Thanks so much for sharing your story! What an amazing insider view of the life of a metal head. It’s amazing how music creates these tight communities of people, people who have only met through the music! And it’s great to read that there is so much trust and kindness within these communities.
Wishing you all the best, //Joe

When I was a teenager I used to ride my bike and listen to music through my mp3. Once I had a crash with a car… The only thing that I could do for several minutes was to stay down and keep listening to music. I remember that because in some way I think that music saved me from something really horrible. When I was a little girl and started playing music I was thinking that music is what I believe in, that if I was listening to music or if I was playing music nothing would ever harm me and at that crash it seems that it did save me.

> Hello Rafailia,
Wow, what an epic story, I hope that you recovered fully from the accident. I can relate to your story (and many others can too, I’m sure). I also had a bicycle accident and in the ambulance I told the driver to please turn the music up! He did and it took the pain away 🙂
Music does make us invincible!
Best, //Joe

An instrument and a song can save a life. It has saved mine more than once. In the late 70s when I was around thirteen I found myself homeless and living on the streets. Winter in Colorado is a tough time to be outside and there weren’t a lot of options for a kid in my situation back then. so I played for anyone who would walk by. They didn’t call it busking back then. It wasn’t really done in that part of the country so I had to keep moving. But it made me enough to pay for a little food and a couple of hours in a warm diner. Music has always been the thing I went to. It’s my confidant and my consoler, a tool for the cathartic and cataclysmic. It has saved my life and still does. Maybe it has even helped me help others, who knows? It is good, and it’s contagious and that is something that we all need.
#ThePowerOfMusic #MyEpicMusicStory

> Hi Monte! Wow, truly incredible. I’m sorry you had to go through those rough times, but thank God music was there to help you get through them. I agree with you, music’s power lies in the fact that it’s a good thing that is contagious. Beautifully said!
I hope you’re still playing daily and wish you all the best, //Joe

10 Years ago I managed to convince all of my band mates to leave our country, Italy, and move to Sweden so that we could finally have the chance to play around for real.

We shipped 30 boxes full of our equipment using our last savings and moved permanently to Gothenburg, Sweden.

After a few months living in Sweden my brother , still living in Italy , met a girl from Seattle and decided to move to U.S.A. so that they could be together.

Unfortunately, after one year, while we were preparing the release of our first album in the new home land, my brother called from Seattle and told me that had got a terrible cancer.

A transplant surgery that could save his life had been booked; exactly on the same day of our gig, where we would release our first album which we had work for one year.

I told him: “ Brother, I could fly there with mom, dad and our sis but I really think I could give you all the strength I can, by playing this gig.”

I was scared. But I prayed that night. I played my gig with a shirt that said “brother you can do it”. It was a magical night. I cried on stage and ran backstage to call my parents who at the same time were waiting in Seattle somewhere in a post surgery room of a hospital.

My brother had made it. He had a chance to come out of the cancer.

Months went and my brother made it, I always felt like I should have kept playing and following my dream, for him. All of my next songs talked about him, all of my gigs I felt like I played them for him.

He had a very difficult post chemio and after 2 years it unfortunately led to the divorce from what meanwhile became his wife.

He called me one day : “Bro, I ve got into drugs, I don’t know how to come out of it, I can’t stop”.
It was heavy drugs.

I told him that for every day he kept using drugs I would have stopped playing music, and stopped following my dream.

After a few months, where I didn’t play any longer, my brother left Seattle and everything he had there, and moved permanently to Gothenburg, Sweden, into my apartment.

Now I don’t play so much music anymore, neither I have so many gigs. I don’t have so much time, I can finally hang out with my brother.

#ThePowerOfMusic #MyEpicMusicStory

> Hi Claudio, what a truly touching story you shared with us. I must admit I had to make an effort to not tear up. You are a great brother, you and the power of music saved your brother’s life. And what a sacrifice you made, now you don’t play as much but family comes first. Thanks again for sharing! Wishing you and your bro all the best, //Joe

Hopefully I’m just begining of story that my son will tell to all of You!
Because of me he will have all the tools for music that I didn’t when I grew up. To become better musician than I will ever be.

#ThePowerOfMusic #MyEpicMusicStory

> Hi Dairis! Thanks so much for your post. Wow, what a great father you are, music is the best gift one can give. I hope your son gets into it and makes you proud. And don’t forget, for yourself, it’s never too late to be a great musician.
Take care, //Joe

I was bullied alot when i was a kid and in my school they decided to can the student help (becuse of money) so there was no real help and nobody could do anything about it. I was not a happy camper at this point and so when it came to choose a ”gymnasium” (im from sweden but i guess its like highschool) i desided to study to work with cars (not super creative but thats about What i could do with my grades). When i started there things got worse becuse i liked music. I sang and played the guitar and occasionaly wrote My own songs. My classmates did not think that it was a good passtime and gave me a real hard time about it and that went on for two years.
Then one day i was asked by a friend to play something i had written so i played a verse and a chorus and they liked it and that was an amazing feeling. After that the friend asked me several times to change my education from cars to music and i though that i cant do that its only one year left on this program its to late to change now. But them asking me made me think and the idea stuck in my head so at the begining of the last year of that program i told everybody that im gonna switch! And they thought i was crazy and maybe i was but i wanted to make music so i told the student counselor what i wanted to do, he looked at his computer and told me that there was one spot left in the music program but if i where to take it i would have to redo the entire program i would start from zero again. That night i did the most spontain least prosessed and best desition i have ever made and said yes to the spot on the program (my parents did not like this desition). After i started that program everything changed and i was no longer bullied i had loads of friends and now i am on my secound year on my way to a degree in composition happier than ever.

#ThePowerOfMusic #MyEpicMusicStory>

> Sebastian! Thanks for sharing your story with us! It really made me happy, your decision is an example for everyone to follow what they truly feel is right. You felt it and you went for it and it will surely lead you to good places. Wishing you all the best in your composition program and beyond! //Joe

Oops #ThePowerOfMusic #MyEpicMusicStory

So 10 years ago when I was just started secondary school, I was and still am a huge metal fan, as a result I didn’t have a whole lot of friends I could connect with musically in school. Anyway one day there was a charity gig in the local fair ground with bands of all musical genres and ages. I went with a few friends from school who were not impressed and insisted on leaving early as we were leaving one of the younger bands started to play a badly rehearsed rendition of Metallica’s for whom the bell tolls. I immediately turned back into the fair ground just to hear these guys finish their set, afterwards I met up with them and we instantly clicked. I started to hang with them all the time and also started to jam with them from time to time eventually forming a garage band. Ten years on those guys are now my best friends and whilst we have gone our separate ways in life when we do get a chance to catch up we immediately revert to our giddy teenage selves and reminisce about the various gigs we played and went to. So to make a long story short #ThePowerOfMusic gave me some of the best friends I could ask for and some of the best memories too. #MyEpicMusicStory

> Kelan, your story is truly epic, friendship is one of the greatest things in life and you got it through another great phenomenon: music. Making music with people creates a really strong bond so I’m sure these are friends for life. Thanks for sharing! Best, //Joe

The story takes place 10 years ago, when I was 13 years old.
I’d been learning guitar for a 2 years on and off, but it didn’t grab me as I didn’t like what I was playing and I didn’t have any idol musicians to inspire me.
That night i had fallen asleep with the TV on and was awakened by the blistering sound of a guitar. Metallica’s live show “Binge and Purge” from ’89 was on.
I was amazed by the raw power of the riffs and lightning fast guitars. I had never seen anything like that.
After that I started trying to learn Metallica’s songs on my classical guitar.
Forward to now, I play guitar and synthesizers in a band, about to put out a record and enjoying every bit of it.
All of this thanks to that night.

The story takes place 10 years ago, when I was 13 years old.
I’d been learning guitar for a 2 years on and off, but it didn’t grab me as I didn’t like what I was playing and I didn’t have any idol musicians to inspire me.
That night i had fallen asleep with the TV on and was awakened by the blistering sound of a guitar. Metallica’s live show “Binge and Purge” from ’89 was on.
I was amazed by the raw power of the riffs and lightning fast guitars. I had never seen anything like that.
After that I started trying to learn Metallica’s songs on my classical guitar.
Forward to now, I play guitar and synthesizers in a band, about to put out a record and enjoying every bit of it.
All of this thanks to that night.
#ThePowerOfMusic #MyEpicMusicStory

> Hello Klejd! Thanks a lot for sharing your story! It’s amazing how music can creep up on us at just the right moment (even in our sleep)! I’m glad it captured you and that you continue to rock on! Best, //Joe

Back in 2006, my sister had a stroke with only 9 years old, when so was in the ER, I had to leave the hospital with my uncle, he connect my ipod to the radio, it was in shuffle mode, and the first song that came out was I don’t want a miss a thing by Aerosmith, and in that moment I realise that I had to came back to the hospital to see my sister. We turn around and when we arrived I had the chance to enter and see my sister, and the first thing she asked me, even under the effect of the anesthesia was if I could lend her the ipod, to hear that song, In that moment I knew that I need start playing guitar to one day sing that song to her

> #MyEpicMusicStory #ThePowerOfMusic

> Wow Rafael, what a touching story! Thanks so much for sharing. The timing and the coincidence are unbelievable, I’m sure your sister was really happy to see that you returned to see her. Have you played the song for her since then on the guitar?
All the best, //Joe

After much thought I have decided not to enter with a story of my own, but that of my best friend, making winning the competition (figuratively speaking) a surprise gift for him.
My best friend, who I always thought I knew starting from 5th 6th grade of Basic School (but later on gotten to know, we were destined to be friends from birth), who is an amazing man, although he was a wacky and quite akward kid- teenager, has introduced me to who I am today when we srarted knowing each other better.
He (for the sake of repetition, let’s call him “Mr. X) and I created our first band, that seperated before our first gig, we have always dreamt of becoming a band and opening a rock/ metal themed bar in our home town. We never stopped rocking, and we still do to this day.
Sadly nearly 7 year ago, Mr. X has been diagnosed with a rare kidney desease. He has fallen into depression and having him study in another town, and only meeting once or twice a week, did not help the fact at all. Half a year ago he has found out he will need a kidney transplant. Luckily his mother’s kidney was a nearly perfect fit. Yet knowing he had a slight chance that his mother will not live after this operation he has fallen even deeper into depression.
Fast farward to today, Mr. X is recovering after and operation that took an unexpected turn a few times, medical errors if you will, having to live in a prison like room to recover with no indication of time and space for 7 days straight, no contact with those behind the walls, and not even knowing if his mother survived. Through all this time and mental and physical suffering he had only music, and those who are close to him mental support.
Up to this day we still reminiscent of those days, and treat ourselves to a therapy of music all the time.

#ThePowerOfMusic #MyEpicMusicStory

> Hello Mr. Viking! Thanks a lot for sharing this story with us, very powerful, music can help us get through anything! I hope your friend, and his mother, are in good health now and that you can all enjoy music together. Take care, //Joe

In 2007 I auditioned with my band for a major record label in Chicago. We all loved to drink and use drugs and my recreational abuse was slowly turning into a bad habit. We took the audition seriously and agreed it would be best to try out sober. The record label didn’t sign us and we chalked it up to us not being intoxicated during our 4 song performance for 10 guys in suits. We broke up out of frustration with one another, and I went on for the longest time with feelings of worthlessness, as if I wasn’t good enough.

Fast forward 8 years and I married my german wife and decided to relocate to Germany, the perfect place for someone with a drinking problem. I continued to songwrite and improve my singing and guitar skills, and eventually joined a band here in germany on the trumpet, my first instrument from school band.

Playing with them was a blast and they too, loved to consume drugs and alcohol. My addiction was always somewhat of an apparent weight on my shoulders, but when I realized I was more excited to use than to practice/play shows, I knew something was seriously wrong. My habits worsened and in turn my relationship with my wife to the point where she bought me a plane ticket and flew me back home to New York. I stayed with my sister and her husband and kids. I had a choice: call old friends and fall further down the rabbit hole, or get my life back together. I decided to get help, and spent the next 3 months in New York sobering up. My brother in law owns an Ibanez acoustic, beat to hell with strings as old as I am(I’m 31, but still).
Tough days of getting used to sober life, or my first 4th of July sober since being 15, that guitar was there for me and I took advantage. My view of the fretboard started to change, almost becoming clearer and my songwriting just the same. I wrote and recorded songs using garage band and the microphone built into mac desktops(which isn’t in any sense optimal) but I was creating something for the first time that was REAL. Pure, unadultered creativity. During that time I experienced my first concert sober. Al Dimeola in Niagara Falls(I’m a metalhead, but that was just filthy how good it was). Going to a concert usually was more about where to pregame, how to sneak substances into the venue, etc. But being able to remember the setlist the next day, noticing the slight nuances Al could squeeze into an improvised solo and noticing the mic setup on the overheads made me fall in love with music all over again. I was once again, hooked.

My relationship with my wife slowly improved to the point that I made my way back to germany, where I made my first purchases to build a small home studio(It still boggles my mind what can be done with a laptop these days as far as music production goes). I write this story here 3+ years sober, my wife and dog sitting next to me and still creating and enjoying music daily, to the fullest. I don’t play in any bands and have declined offers to join bands, because I am happy where I am. Having a getaway in my apartment where I can write and escape(positively, of course) is a dream come true. And yea, maybe I don’t play shows with fans singing the words back at me, 3 million hits on youtube or a tourbus waiting to take whisk me away to the next sold out venue. But I am happy and grateful where I am.

This is part of an “epic story” blog and ironically in my studio, I had a framed poster with 3 words: Do Epic Shit. After writing songs and being so happy after hearing the mastered versions, or showing my wife before having dinner what I had worked on that day, I realized how it had all come to be. I crossed out the ‘Epic Shit’ and wrote in, ‘The Right Thing.

Do The Right Thing and your life, relationships, and even music will become a thousand times better.

#ThePowerOfMusic #MyEpicMusicStory

> Frank! Wow, what an epic story indeed! Isn’t it amazing how music can turn your life around and help you reassess what’s important in life? Thanks so much for sharing. Being happy with reality and with what you have is the Right Thing To Do. Thanks for teaching us this today. Wishing you all the best in you music creation and family life. All the best, //Joe

Like the vast majority of kids in this antique era (2007), I discovered bands and developed a passion for electric guitar and rock music by entertaining my whole neighbourhood from blasting and playing Guitar Hero!

I must have been 10 or something at the time, and the latest version had just came out. I think I really must have pissed my dad at the time by asking him approximatively 750.000 times if He could buy me this game… I was willing to pay him back for the next 30 years if it was necessary! As a kid I didn’t have any idea about the consequences and the value of things and sentences like “it’s too expensive” sounded just like torture to me. I just wanted to know what it was like to have an audience in front of you and controlling them with this sort of magic musical wand called a guitar!

What I didn’t know was that my father wasn’t as rich as I thought He was. But “devoted” surely described him the best. He was a construction worker and tried to offer us a decent life. He also played guitar in a band and all I wanted to do was to make him proud! To become a true rockstar! He saved enough money to offer me this Game and also a ticket to stardom!

My journey began. While other kids loved watching cartoons I binge watched Tenacious D, while they were playing Cops vs. Burglers in the streets I dressed up with a tie and mimiced Angus Young and Ace Frehley alone in my room thinking I was an alien and that nobody wanted to be friend with me friend apart from those gods on my screen. I had the time of my life learning all their moves and all with the gear every beginner begins with: A crappy Ibanez RG and a Marshall MG!!!

I really didn’t care. Cause with this instrument in my hands, which is accurately called an axe, I could beat anybody! It was MY excalibur!

The next thing I knew the year later, my mum offered me guitar lessons. And 10 years of sweating and learning later, here I am all grown up, finally having pubes, and playing in a real band! Touring small and big venues, writing my own songs, living the dream I had when I was a child and being taken seriously while doing so. Even if it means playing for free in front of 20 people, which include my mother in the audience… I still don’t care, because I know sooner or later I’ll be fighting the devil playing Cliffs of Dover like I did in my videogame!

The truth is, Music really lifted me up. It is truly the most powerful art. It gives you strenght and energy like nothing else in this world. It’s everywhere, in the good when you wanna dance, in the bad when you wanna cry. Connecting you with your memories and people all over the world. It has offered me passion, hope, my girlfriend, my best friends, a target, a dream to catch and to reach, such love, creativity, work, devotion, money etc … But most importantly a real goal, a meaning to my life.
There is no such incredible feeling as being on stage and for an hour or two, feeling like you’re the king of the World and that nothing could stop you!

#ThePowerOfMusic #MyEpicMusicStory

> Hi Boris,
Thanks a lot for sharing your epic story with me and the community! You are right, music is the most powerful and uplifting art, and thanks to your hard-working father for getting you into it through Guitar Hero. I hope your music making and performing continues strongly and that your musical goals guide you through life. Best, //Joe

#ThePowerOfMusic #MyEpicMusicStory

Epic is the word to describe my very first visit to the Musikhaus Thomann, back in January 2014. It was not about going there to buy an instrument. It was about the experience of visiting the one place that I knew for sure that would open my creative mind wide.

Just right after walking in, I felt this vibe of positivity and creation.
I saw amazing instruments in every department and I was listening to music from everyone in there that tested a piece of gear. Simple spontaneous little pieces of creation that gave me that spark I needed to ignite my creativity fire.

After a while, I found myself drooling over this giant wall of guitars and amps. And then I spotted my “target”: an Ibanez RG 7 string guitar. I took it to the test booth and started messing with some Korn riffs. From that moment, my mind stuck in this guitar. And eventually, after a few months of cash saving, I finally bought the instrument.

Through the time, this guitar has been proven to be the best outlet for my stress, in the most creative way possible. Moreover, I realised how much I loved to play live and write music with this guitar. So, fast forward in 2018, I am playing rythm guitar in a band and we are about to hit the road in 2019.

These goals seemed so distant to me, but after that visit in Musikhaus Thomann, every step I made took me closer to this deep passion, that I never even knew it existed in the first place: Writing and Playing Music. After that visit, I embraced music in my life, and it gave me new perspective. So,

Thank you, Thomann!!

> Hi Dimitris!
Thanks so much for your epic story! We are so glad to be part of it, I’m glad you found music or it found you 🙂 This makes us truly happy. Keep on rockin’! //Joe

Once upon a time i was born in Serbia. People here go to school as in the rest of the world, but when they graduate from collage, it is almost impossible to find a job in the profession. I’m a graduate teacher, and i’m trained to work in kindergarten. Ofcourse, i coild never get that job. If i could, oh… it would be wonderful… i could earn 350 Euros per month. I’m one of thoese guys who ia daily watching online music instrument stores and dreaming of next piece of gear for months and months of work must pass to be reached. I play with a cover band for 13 years in clubs and weddings, and 5 years ago i started my private guitar school. Music is my passion, and guitar is saving my life every month. Yes, i work for 350 euros for month, but this story is not about complaining. This story is about life full of joy and how music can make it beautiful. Even the most expensive musical equipment is worth far less than the pleasure it gives, if the music is your life.

> Wow Nenad, your story is truly epic. Making a living from music is not easy, often it doesn’t pay much but you’re right, the joy it brings makes life easier. We’re glad you’re making it happen this way. Wishing you all the best in your musical career. //Joe

I stumbled across a band called frightened rabbit I was going through he’ll in my life 99 percent of it was not my fault the other 1 I will say in a moment. But Scott Hutchinson lirycs helped me but not in till the end when he took his own life this year. I struggled with alcohol that’s the 1% I’m coming through it but it’s hard. Music has made me realise you don’t need to be alone and you are not the only one help other love life love each other xx

> Hi James,
Thanks for sharing your story of struggle and of trying to come through it. Yes, the death of Scott Hutchison was really sad news, but remember that his lyrics live on to help us all. You are never alone James, let the music tell you that. Wishing you joy and a successful recovery from your alcohol period and from your problems. Take care, //Joe

Music is my best friend, and my number # 1 guitar is my buddy 28 years and counting.
Ever since I bought my Japan Strato back in the Easter of 1990, she is always there for me at all the milestones of my life, both highs and lows.
Being a rather problem child at my early teens (due to parents getting a divorce), music provided me a way to ease my pain, to express my feelings with a purity while avoiding the painfull words, also it kept me away from troubles -and at the suburd I was living back then, the traps were plenty.
Gave me a motivation to study, and studying -the process- gave me the discpline and the concistency of effort. Two elements absolutely necessary in order to achieve anything in life. As soon as I realised that no matter what you want to achieve, those are the means to get it, I become more focused at whatever I did (being music, sports or computer programming – you name it).
But that’s the least of what music did/ does for me. You realise at some point that there is no end for studying or enjoying music. Music is Limitless, Knowledge is limitless and you accept the fact that you don’t, nor you ll ever know it all, hear it all. You learn to enjoy the moment and to appreciate it, you learn to be thankfull that you have the means (for me a guitar and a pick) to let it all go and do some wonderfull sonical mind journeys… to get lost in the music. If you believe in God, music sometimes take the form of a crystal clean prayer
Music is also a healer, you grow up and you split up, or lose people you loved and hearing or writing a song will make you cry, but then you ll feel a lot better and as time goes by ready to go on.
Music is joy, the good times are always better with loud music. Harmony, Inner Peace, Clarity of thoughts, there are so many things that music gives back to us.

#ThePowerOfMusic #MyEpicMusicStory

> Hi Yannis, thanks so much for sharing your epic story with us. It’s amazing how much knowledge and wisdom music has given you. What great lessons learned about discipline and consistent effort! You’re absolutely right.
Thanks again and we wish you all the luck and joy in your music and life. //Joe

Today music is one of the most important things in my life. It can bring tears to my eyes in mere seconds or it can lift my spirits in even the worst of days. I just can’t imagine a life without it.

It wasn’t always like that though.

Even as a small child I could feel intense emotions when I would listen to music, but I had no desire to become a musician. My parents however, though that I could benefit from being part of a children’s choir. Looking back, while it was most certainly good for me, I really hated it at the time. This led to me having mixed feelings about music. On one hand I was addicted to the emotions that could be transmitted through music, on the other hand I couldn’t help but think about how I hated my time in the choir, so after quitting the choir, I had no intention to continue singing.

But slowly over the years I started feeling the urge to sing again. The only thing that held me back was the thought that it was too late. I was already well in my 20s and thought there was no point anymore. Until one day that urge to sing again became so strong, that I thought “What do I have to lose? Why not just do it?”.

So I started taking singing classes. Then I started practicing guitar. Now hardly a day goes by that I don’t practice. I’ve even recently started studying the piano and now my dream is to become an excellent music writer. I want my emotions to reach people, the way I was impacted by many great artists.

What music has done for me is give me a goal I can fully strive for; one that I can wholeheartedly look forward to every day when I practice.

My story is far from over, but it is #ThePowerOfMusic that got me on this path and will surely make #MyEpicMusicStory truly epic!

> Hi Thomas,
I can totally relate to your story, thanks for sharing it! It is never too late to start or learn anything, those doubts often arise but we simply need to brush them aside. It’s really amazing how the power of music has changed the course of your life and I’m sure that it will continue improving your daily life as life goes on. All the best, //Joe

One of my earliest memories is connected to my father’s record collection and our first acoustic guitar. Even as a 3 year old kid I was fascinated with the logo from “Dark side of the moon”, I can tell by heart every tracklist from Led Zeppelin albums, and could even remember all the scratches on our old guitar. The moment when I truly decided to become a guitar player was when I heard and saw Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Leave my litle girl alone” from the Austin city concert (1989). Stevie’s combination of raw power and pure feeling was out of this world – nothing could ever compare with that. So as a 12 year old kid I decided to save money and buy myself electric guitar and amp. It took me 2 years to buy my first instrument and small Vox amp. Over the years my guitar became the part of me, the extension of my body. I could’t even go on vacation withouth it. But somwhere on the way I got really dissapointed because I couldn’t find anyone who felt
same way I did. Everyone just wanted to “jam”, find girls and drink, drink, drink. So 2 years ago I gave up my dream and sold most of my equipment. I was devastated, I don’t want to say that my life lost the meaning, but the level of joy was really, really low. Although I have a beautiful girlfriend, great family and friends, there was a big hole in my heart.
BUT, couple of months ago I applied for the job. The biggest record label in my country was looking for a music editor and they chose me! It helped a lot to be around musicians, instruments and music studios and I started to play again. It felt amazing, I was never that productive, I’m working on my first album and already have couple of great musicians to help me make it the best it could be. To sum this up – music was always one of the most important things in my life. When I gave up, it find the way to get back to into my life. Years and years of listening, playing, watching, all the sweat and pain was not in vain (oh, the rhyyyme!). I owe everything to music, it pays my bills, it fills my heart with joy (the kind of joy that only it can produce), and I’m better person because of it. I didn’t have intention to write this much, guess this is my “thank you” letter to music. I’m happy I could share it with you!

Peace!

#ThePowerOfMusic #MyEpicMusicStory

> Hi Domagoj! Thanks a lot for sharing your story, I can relate to many things, especially to feeling like the only one in my circle being serious about music and then later working in music 🙂 It’s true that music doesn’t give up on us, if we give up on it it will find us again in the end. Wishing you the best of luck in your musical career and creation. //Joe

We had a gig at a demo bands festival which had an unusual start time and we had to be there at 10am. I just came out of a night shift and haven’t slept for more than 24 hours at the time. We were scheduled to hit the stage around 5 pm and we had nothing to do but to sit and wait. And yes, there was free beer for the bands. I didn’t miss that chance and I had quite a few. By the time we were scheduled to play I was completely wasted from lack od sleep and beer. It was a rainy day and the whole gig took place outside which made the whole stage very slippery. I was warned by the band members not to do anything stupid (because I can do stupid stuff sometimes) as I may get injured and/or brake something. At the end of our last song I did exactly that: I wanted to jump off of a monitor, slipped off and fell off of the stage and directly onto my Mexican Strat. I was okay, but the guitar was almost completely destroyed. We won second prize and the guitar was repaired thanks to that money…

> #thepowerofmusic #myepicmusicstory

> Hello Stevan!
Hahaha, thanks for your epic story, pretty funny and wow, that stunt on stage must have been entertaining for the audience. Glad you were OK. That’s how it goes sometimes, music will provide the money for you too keep on making more music 🙂 All the best, //Joe

#ThePowerOfMusic #MyEpicMusicStory
It is genetic, but I won’t give up.
I have been making music since i was about 13 years old.
I remeber I created melodies in my mama’s phone, an old phone that had an menu
that lets you create ringtones for your phone.
I had a happy childhood but my life started to run on a bad way!
Trust me, everything is psychological!
Things started to get worse on my mind.
I had a lot of stress I did not know why.
But there is also more bad than this.
I started to take not care of music no more, the music that i loved so much and i created every day, 3 beats per studio session or more maybe.
I was talented.
Also i started to take drugs, like maruiana beacuse the stress and depression was running me but this was totally wrong.
Mariuana contributed for bad even that for the moment made me feel good.
One day, my mama sent me to a psicolog. But for my bad luck she didnt gaved me an answer and directed me to an psychiatrist.
The psychiatrist didnt told me anything but i was diagnosed with “scizpphrenia”.
And this knew only my family, me not!
They was telling me that I was anemic.
I used to take 7 different medicines everyday. But they were usual vitamines.
Everyday I used to fight with depression, body fatigue, voices on my head, hallucination, disability to act and all that and I was not reactiong to this.
I was very sick.
The only thing that made me feel good and relaxed was Music.
For my good luck, at that time i reunited with an old friend, a rapper and we decidet to start working for an EP.
He wanted something special for his EP, different music from what i was making until then.
I started to make music again even that I was fighting the things that i said, the depression, body fatigue, voces on my head,
hallucination ,disability to act etc.
The only thing that I had was my musical ear.
I started to make music everyday and that was making me feel very good.
Beacuse I was searching for that, things that made me feel good and I was not finding that in anything except music.
Day by day things started to get better and better and my psychological condition was getting better significantly.
Music made me feel good!
I started to get better because there was a beautiful and confortable place when I was making music.
From my disability to act I started to pronounce with music only.
The medicines I was taking, as i said was just usual vitamines. I was getting better from music that I was making, my conection with music.
Music was like my best friend that was understanding me totally.
Also Music made me quit drugs!
Everything started to take a good way.
Things was getting better.
I was feeling better.
I earned self confidence and my mind started to be clearer.
Today after 3 years of diagnostication I take only a hald of a medicine and soon I will use nothing.
Music! Is Music that changed my life.
I dont use mariuana no more. I just sit on my home studio all day and i create music by the way i feel.
I dont know what to say but music helped me on my badest situation of all my life until now.
Now im happy and I smile.
I dont know nothing elese but this 3 things.
Scizophrenia is a terrible mental illnes, everything is is psychological and Music is just awesome!!!

> Rexhino!
Thanks a lot for sharing your epic story with us, I believe you when you say that everything is psychological. The mind has a powerful effect on everything in our lives, I can relate to your stress problems that came out of nowhere. And marijuana is just a very temporary break from that stress but it makes things worse overall. I’m very happy to hear that music came at the right time to help you quit drugs and get your mind back in order. I’m wishing you all the luck with your recordings and with your new life led by music. Take care, //Joe

I was born in a house full of music; guitars playing, voices singing, records spinning, and even the birds were in on it. Outside the air was alive with voices, the river cheerfully bubbling, the trees swaying to it all. I remember seeing my father with a guitar in his hands, playing the handful of songs he always played. Always the same songs, yet somehow different every time. While he strummed his eyes looked elsewhere, out to the secret place where music carries people, as he rocked back and forth, trance-like. I watched and listened in wonder, the sheer magic of music pouring out of someone, it seeped into the four corners of my being, calling me to join. 

And so I began: practicing frantically in secret, strumming too hard, breaking strings, grinding picks down to rounded nubs. Guitars were scarred by my imprecise attacks, badly tuned strings moaned atonally, chords were muted, buzzy, and butchered, but I persisted. 

One day, I was ready. I sat down next to my father, waited for the right moment, and dove into the song with him. My chord changes were sloppy and my rhythm was unpredictable, but I had made it, finally able to see what my father saw: that secret place of music. However imperfect they were, the sounds were being coaxed from the guitar by my own hands, and it changed everything. What it might have sounded like to an outside listener, I’ll never know, but from that day onward I was always chasing the music.

Years passed, I grew older, I learned more and more, I moved, I played in bands, moved again, I played in clubs, I played alone in tiny apartments, and before I knew it twenty years had come and gone. I followed the music from a small town in New England, through the cities of the USA, to London, and further still. When my father grew ill, far too young, and couldn’t play anymore, he took his last two picks out of his wallet and gave them to me. When he couldn’t speak any more, I sat by his bed and played him songs that he had shown me.

And today, I am still chasing the music, and I will continue. Always seeking that elusive place that is only visible when we’re lost in sounds, where the past and the future are inseparably blurred together, and nothing is ever completely lost or held on to.

#thepowerofmusheic #myepicmusicstory

> Bram,
Wow, thank you for sharing your touching story, it was also very eloquently written, you are talented with words. I love the way you describe how music takes us to “where the past and the future are inseparably blurred together, and nothing is ever completely lost or held on to”. Beautiful and very true. I’m sorry to hear about your father, I’m sure you are with him every time you play music, you are transported to the best of times. Thanks for participating in the contest and I’m wishing you the best of luck. //Joe

I got into music only earlier this year. For my birthday I received an Ukulele from my friend as a joke present, as we had joked about us starting a band before christmas and I would play ukulele. In feburary I was given an odd shaped box and there it was, my uke. I was suprised she actually bought it. I doubt I would have learned to play if it wasn’t for my boyfriend. He adores music and not a day goes by without him picking up his guitar or tapping out a tune on the piano, so I decided I would learn a song for him and ended up loving it. I play most days now and duet with my boyfriend but he has to slow down so I can keep up ? but I love how happy he looks when we play together or when I show him new things I’ve learnt. I’m currently learning some guitar and really enjoying it. Music is a wonderful addition to anyones life and it’s never to late to learn how to play!
Happy strumming!
#thepowerofmusic #myepicmusicstory

> Nicola, thanks for sharing your epic story, I’m glad your friend followed through with her/his decision to buy you that uke! Music is that perfect addition to anyone’s life, like you said, it’s like salt to food! Hope you and your boyfriend continue to play, if you keep at it he won’t have to slow down for you, I’m sure you’ll get there. Best, //Joe

Back when I was in high school I really liked one girl. She was recording cover videos for youtube in her spare time and had an amazing voice. Since I played the guitar, I decided to invite her to one rehersal and see if we could become acoustic duo. Luckily, she sad yes and we started to practice for our first gig. Now, 7 years later, we have dozens of gigs, 1 reward from the state championship and some beautiful moments behind us. Withouth the music I would probably never have the guts to approach her, but now we live together and I’m about to ask her to merry me. 🙂

#thepowerofmusheic #myepicmusicstory

> Hi Dom! Wow, amazing! Music gives us courage, it’s true. Good to hear that you approached her and that it has taken you both this far!! Wishing you both all the best! <3 //Joe

I remember myself when I was only 7, listening some pop/rock playlists on my sisters discman while jumping on the bed and dancing in front of the mirror pretending like I was having my own concert in a big concert hall. Back then I had a little keyboard, which I later replaced with a grand digital piano as I started taking music lessons in local music school. Singing was and today is, my true love. Some people say love goes through the stomach, but in my case, love goes through the music. After my 21th birthday, I started singing in acoustic duet and – just like that – I didn’t had to pretend like I was having a concert anymore, I had one almost every weekend!
Oh, and about love…the first song we played together when we met was Ready for love by Bad Company. No_words_needed.

🙂

#ThePowerOfMusic #MyEpicMusicStory

> Hi Ivana,
What a great story of a dreamer on a “bed stage” to a real stage performer every weekend! Very happy that the power of music took you this far! Thanks a lot for sharing your story with us and I’m wishing you all the best! //Joe

I started as a “low economy kid/guy” living in an environment not really connected with modernity/ contemporaneity and neither with music culture or a sense of present and evolution, and that lasted very very long, and because of the place I live in, I had no chance to make real my dream about going abroad and meet more open minded people and acquire and share more knowledge/music and heart with like-minded people I admit I had difficulties to find in my surrounding for decades.
But since the beginning music has always been, along with my determination and heart, the gateway to occasionally make that real. Thanks to music I had the chance to meet other musicians, sound designers and artists, except for very few around my area, the most at the beginning online, and after, some of them for real in their own countries, and thanks to that, during years I wen to to UK, Germany, Poland and around north Italy. Nowadays I still make it and breathe music everyday and that took me out, very often, from a “real life” (which at the end of the day you get to understand is not so real…) made of any sort of difficulties and depression, involving the area and many people around, to build a “more real” world/life made of freedom, heart, ego-less power, without borders defined by geography, culture or gender, and nowadays I have even some virtual friends (since they live quite far from me, in other countries) which once I only had the chance to admire as professionals, while now I can speak with and share and learn from very often. All this done by music since day one (not listing here how many of them had the chance to speak with or even meet in person). This still motivates me and keep me going and changed even my personality in a positive way (and of course empowered my music making and helped me in evolving, growing up, becoming more independent from the “outside”, and of course learning new stuff about music, sounds and art productions) and you get to learn there is something which connected all of us which flows through music and energy.
#ThePowerOfMusic #MyEpicMusicStory

> Hi Diego!
Thanks so much for sharing you epic story with us. It’s amazing how you managed to change your uninspiring environment into one that is full of music and positivity! You really followed your dream and didn’t give up. I like the way you put it: music builds a “more real world/life made of freedom, heart, ego-less power, without borders defined by geography, culture or gender”. I’m sure a lot of people can relate to this! Thanks again for reminding us that this is what the Power of Music is!
Best, //Joe

====================================================

You feel that rhythm and beat in your heart,
And every riff in your head up to the night…
And when you suffer, and no one can see,
Only those moments with music help you to live…

You have a friendship with those who you play with,
as with brothers and sister you happen to miss…

No mather what music, mather the notes.
Mather the feeling, your rhythm and soul…
You take these notes to another dimension,
To easy your anger or show that you love…

Embed your notes in the air with the sound.
You craft your music, you mend you heart…
You show your love, love will come back
With message that you mend another heart…

====================================================

I just happen to see this contest 2 hours ago, and I said I had to writing something. This is my first ever text/lyrics/etc of this kind and it is very close to my heart. Music helped my enormously, although I don’t have enough time to spend as I would like. I love to create something and I had to do this. Thank you, if you stopped-by and read.