Well, I guess it started in August of.......06. My friend had just gotten Guitar Hero, and despite my musical taste (which at that time was rap and hip-hop), I was fairly interested in playing it. Within a half hour I could pass Iron Man on medium. I was pretty happy.
When I got home that day, I found out that my brother had gotten Guitar Hero, which I was very happy about. Within a few weeks I was playing expert. I was pretty proud of myself, especially later, when I would finally beat the expert career.
The main point about all this is that after picking up Guitar Hero, I started listening to rock. It wasn't that my musical tastes had really changed, it was just that I used to listen to what was cool, and what made me look popular. Unfortunately, in this day and age the popular music is rap, but hopefully that will change. It wasn't that I never disliked rock, it was just that I had never been turned onto it. After Guitar Hero, I changed. And I wasn't quite finished changing.
That Christmas was when I got my Ibanez and Guitar Hero Two. Having only touched my mom's acoustic guitar a few times, and not really knowing what to do, I immediately went online and found this site! I looked up some of the music that I liked, none of which I could actually play (My first song, though it took me a few months, was actually Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day). So I put that down, and started playing Guitar Hero Two. Within a week, I had passed the expert career (I would continue on to five star every song in the game including all the bonus songs, which I am fairly proud of.)
At this point, my tastes had completely changed. I had completely wiped rap off the face of my music library, and thought that the only way to approach the rap genre and anything that sounded remotely like that genre, was with a deep sense of distaste. I thought that, 'Hey, I love rock now, rap blows, end of story, no exceptions. Beastie Boys and RATM also blow, because they sound like rap. Any other rap-like band blows, because rap sucks.' Ya...........................
So, here we are now, December 2007. I've changed some more since then. My guitar playing has vastly improved. I recently just learned how to do the solo to Stairway To Heaven, which took me a while to comprehend. I can now play the whole song at almost full speed. The solo is still kinda slow, but I can play it. I think that's an accomplishment for any guitar player that's only been playing a year.
Along with Stairway, I can now successfully play Breaking Benjamin, Three Days Grace, Seether, Green Day, Sum 41, Bullet For My Valentine (kinda), and many other songs/artists.
In September I experience one of the most amazing events of my life. I got to go to my first concert, which was Seether, Breaking Benjamin, and Three Days Grace. Needless to say, I was inspired (now, this didn't quite top the Bruce Springstein concert my friends got to go to in November, but still, awesome show).
I also got Guitar Hero Three. Woot! I have five starred every normal tier song on expert (except for Raining Blood), have five starred all the co-op only songs on expert, and have five starred most of the bonus songs. I also have passed Through The Fire And Flames on expert (boy, that took a while.....).
But the main thing is I've come to accept rap. I mean, I don't like it any more, and I don't listen to it at all, but I'm not constantly giving myself the mind set that anyone that listens to rap is screwed up and should listen to rock and rap is the worst and all that stuff. It's now more of a, 'Well, ya, I don't like rap, and I'll voice my opinion about it, but the people that listen to it aren't stupid, rap is music, if that's what they listen to that's fine. I mean, it's their loss, but I respect their music tastes.' In hindsight, the only reason I really said that I hated rap and stuff was probably because I still kinda liked it. I just wanted to distance myself from it. And now that I have, I look back and say, 'Well, it's not that bad.' With this acceptance I have come to accept rap-like bands. I now will listen to the Beastie Boys and Rage Against The Machine (RATM, for those of you slow on the uptake), because their style actually isn't that bad, it's just different. And for anyone out there that does think that rap should have never existed, I'm not holding it against you, but it really isn't as bad as you might think it is.
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TheInfringement's blogs, last updated : December 12, 2007
