I find it disturbing that society finds it normal for a woman to sport long hair, but frowns upon males who have them. Workplace etiquette and uniforms in major corporations need males to have their hair trimmed short and combed like Adolf Hitler, while all the women can wave their glorious locks all over our faces. What kind of bullshit are we dealing with here? I agree with disallowing of visible tattoos, generous amount of piercings or oddly-styled or coloured hair, but hair length should be no criteria for employment. As long a man doesn't look like a hobo carrying a weaver bird nest on his head, that particular part of his appearance should be ignored as much as the density of his 1-day stubble.
PS: This rant came to mind since I've been growing my hair for the past 7 months, and don't want to face any of this bullshit. Hopefully, since I am not planning to be a corporate sellout, but rather a scientist, nobody will question my dressing sense. In fact, I am supposed to forget brushing/shaving/personal hygiene for the sake of science. Hell yeah!
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Learning Guitar
It all started in January, when an acquaintance at the gym, who happened to share a passion and enthusiasm for similar styles and genres of music uttered a few words, although in jest, which would change a major part of our lives in the not-too-distant future. During a post-workout conversation, Nishant said "Let us jam sometime. You do the vocals, I'll play the guitar". That seemed like a silly idea, since I had no prior experience or talent whatsoever in performing extreme metal vocals, but I agreed to do so, since the whole thing started as a joke. The jam was scheduled for the Sunday that followed, so I prepared my throat and voice a day in advance. We had managed to find a drummer and a bassist within a week of the scheduled jamming date and were already a four-piece "band".
The day finally arrived when I thought I'd get to unleash my skills as a vocalist, that is, if I possessed any, even if in a dormant form. Sadly, the first jam was rather directionless. Nobody had the slightest clue to what we're supposed to do, and my incorrect vocal technique ruined my voice for one day. During the week that followed, I contracted tonsilitis (which had nothing to do with my vocal technique), which forced us to hunt for a new vocalist. Fortunately, I had been in contact with, and good friends with Ankit Sinha, who had been practicing extreme metal vocals for years. He soon replaced me as a permanent vocalist, owing to his better-suited style and much superior technique
In a week's time, the band adopted a more serious direction and started working on compositions, with me and other members providing a constant stream of ideas to the guitarists. Several lineup changes later, I was completely out of the picture, but still attended each and every jam session. This urged me to start learning a musical instrument. Being a riff-oriented listener, I decided that guitar is what I wanted to learn. Through several tryout sessions on my friend's guitar, I discovered that I actually find it the easiest and the most comfortable instrument to play.
Following several months of trying to coax and convince my father into buying me an electric guitar, I decided to work for a couple of months to collect enough money for it. After landing a suitable job that paid satisfactorily, I managed to earn enough to contribute to half of what I was about to spend. By the end of June, I ended up buying a Dean Deceiver X with Line 6 Spider IV amp.
After months of owning it, I finally decided to take up formal lessons. An experienced guitarist and friend was kind enough to offer me his knowledge and advice for free, and invited me for lessons twice every week. So far, this is my progress in my quest of becoming a competent guitarist.
The day finally arrived when I thought I'd get to unleash my skills as a vocalist, that is, if I possessed any, even if in a dormant form. Sadly, the first jam was rather directionless. Nobody had the slightest clue to what we're supposed to do, and my incorrect vocal technique ruined my voice for one day. During the week that followed, I contracted tonsilitis (which had nothing to do with my vocal technique), which forced us to hunt for a new vocalist. Fortunately, I had been in contact with, and good friends with Ankit Sinha, who had been practicing extreme metal vocals for years. He soon replaced me as a permanent vocalist, owing to his better-suited style and much superior technique
In a week's time, the band adopted a more serious direction and started working on compositions, with me and other members providing a constant stream of ideas to the guitarists. Several lineup changes later, I was completely out of the picture, but still attended each and every jam session. This urged me to start learning a musical instrument. Being a riff-oriented listener, I decided that guitar is what I wanted to learn. Through several tryout sessions on my friend's guitar, I discovered that I actually find it the easiest and the most comfortable instrument to play.
Following several months of trying to coax and convince my father into buying me an electric guitar, I decided to work for a couple of months to collect enough money for it. After landing a suitable job that paid satisfactorily, I managed to earn enough to contribute to half of what I was about to spend. By the end of June, I ended up buying a Dean Deceiver X with Line 6 Spider IV amp.
After months of owning it, I finally decided to take up formal lessons. An experienced guitarist and friend was kind enough to offer me his knowledge and advice for free, and invited me for lessons twice every week. So far, this is my progress in my quest of becoming a competent guitarist.
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