Me and Music

I love music period. When i was a kid my eldest brother who spearheaded a local band playing traditional Malay music used to invite all his band members over to our house to practice music and Malay dances every weekend. The village folks would come over for free shows and it was a big thing then. He was very good with violin with 8th grade qualification in London Music School and wrote many songs which some of it end up being played on local radio station. My other brother who was good with a Clarinet was the band member too.

Me? Well, i was around ten then, was a mere spectator impressed by the whole show and started to be interested in playing guitar. The problem was they would not let me touch the guitar cause they worried i would ruin it. Well, i touched it, played it anyway when they were out of the house. That was the start of my love affair with a guitar. I bought my first cheap guitar when i was 12 years old without telling my mother because i used my savings which was hard to come by. My daily allowance was saved in order to buy guitar strings and songbooks to improve my skills.

The biggest influence on me when i was growing up were the Shadows, Beattles and Bee Gees. Then came Eric Clapton(mr Slowhand), Mark Knofpler of Dire Straits with its clean sound and Joe Satriani who plays fast jazz/rock tunes. Mark Knofpler has the biggest influence on my picking style. At one point i was crazy about Edwward Van Halen that i marked my Stratocaster guitar with stripes just like his guitar. Of course i could not play like him...duh! I also like country music with its strumming and picking technics like John Denver and the Eagles. I am still working on my lead for Hotel California song. The other day a new friend of mine suggested that i listen to Johnny Cash songs, she is so sweet. Well, i did listen to a few Johnny Cash songs when i was growing up my dear.

Jazz? Well, that was my food every friday afternoon in the Student Union, University of Miami. There is nothing like live jazz concert, it is awesome. I went to watch Stanley Jordan live concert, wow, he can play guitar with both hands equivalent to the whole band! Wish i could play the tapping technic like that. Some people are just gifted, of course with a lot practice.

Nowadays, i diversify the music i listen to like Sarah Mclachlan, Laura Fygi, Savage Garden, Oasis, U2, but one type of music if you can call it music, that i hate the most is rap music! I think it is an anti-music which some might not agree. Well, to each his own.