How has music affected your life personally? How has it helped shape who you are?

[HawkPerception]

[Lliam]

Tremendously.
I was introduced to a wide variety of music from an early age and developed a great appreciation.
My grandfather loved music and watched all of the music programs on TV in the 1950s, '60s and 70s. Plus, he listened to music on the radio and bought records of songs he liked. He had a large record collection and introduced me to some really cool stuff.

I was 10 years old when the Beatles came to America. I loved their early music and decided that I wanted to learn guitar and be like George Harrison.

My dad bought me a cheap acoustic guitar when I was eleven and an engineer where he worked offered to give me some lessons. That guy turned out to be a tall, slender, black man with a cool goatee who was a flamenco master and could play style of guitar.
He taught me all the chords at the bottom of the neck, how to bar, and how to transition from one chord to another.
That was in 1965.

Music was changing rapidly during that period. Folk was popular. Then came psychedelic, electric folk and rock.
I started listening to Steppenwolf, The Doors, Cream, Hendrix, etc.

When I started high school in the fall of 1969, the hippie clique liked me because I could play popular folk songs about peace and love.

I went to my first rock concert in 1970. It was Black Sabbath opening for Grand Funk Railroad. I saw Uriah Heep open for Deep Purple. I saw bands like Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, the Who, the Stones, and Led Zep many times in auditoriums. I got hooked on progressive rock and hard rock.
I went to hundreds of concerts in the 1970s and saw every great band.

I started a garage band in 11th grade, playing rock music, doing lead guitar and singing lead vocals. It made me really popular.

I was known as a guitarist and played in bands up to my early 30s. Then I got busy with work and didn't play for 20 years.

My wife and I started attending a nondenominational Unitarian Universalist church in 2002, shortly after we moved to northern California. They needed some music but there were only a couple people who played - an acoustic guitarist, a jazz saxophonist, and an old lady who played piano.
I heard them and asked if I could join in. I was shy at first and my fingers had lost their muscle memory for shredding leads, but I could play.
Soon a bass player showed up and the pastor was asking us to play often. I started getting better and began creating arrangements to incorporate other musicians and vocalists with as many as nine people at times.
My own vocals were much better than they had been when I was young. I had learned to sing. I played a wide variety of music, both acoustic and electric.

The memories of songs of different genres I had picked up when I was a kid came in handy and I found that I could sing stuff that was before my time and wasn't cool when I was into rock.

By 2010, I had my own band again and was renting a rehearsal space in a studio. I had a really good bass player, an okay keyboardist and an amazing drummer. We did a few local gigs. People loved my vocals and I was pretty good at playing lead guitar.

It all came to an end in 2020 when the covid hysteria shut everything down.

[Lliam]

Thanks for the MHO, Hawk. :D

[HawkPerception]

I keep saying it to everyone, but y'all don't need to thank me for handing out MHO. I never say thanks. If I chose your opinion as MHO, it just means I liked your opinion the most. Simple as that 😅

[NathanDavis]

"it saved my life..."

that's the cliché thing to say, lol

but yes, kind of... instead of drugs, alcohol, dread, or any other self-destructive and harmful ways to deal or cope with things... I did channel a whole lot of issues through music

music lead me to introspection, which is the healthier way to isolate sometimes...

music was also like a catharsis... for the many things I went through and I didn't know how to deal with at the time, music was there to do its part, it did help a lot

music was also a way out... a way for me to let out, a lot of things I had bottled up inside, and also a way to face things as I should have, and I did...

music is one of those few things that can "capture" my brain waves... my mind is extremely hyper busy and convoluted at times, and that can cause me a lot of issues lol, if I just let it rampant but... music has a way to tame it all down...

music also turned things around... from being an escape to many things, it became a delight, a very VERY positive thing for me, and one of the things I really enjoy the most

and also, one of the best ways and things to share with people, anyone, everyone... well, most people are into some kind of music, and I've always liked to get to know them through their music as well

[Wuai201]

Thank God for music
When you find a song that hits, it's like thank you for saying the words I was afraid to express.
You said it better than I ever could
Then you find a community of people who feel the same way you do just from 1 song.
The greatest feeling you get is when someone gets you and supports you.
I think music allows you to be in that moment too. A sad song is a sad song because you can hear it in the beat with or without lyrics. If I was crying and someone walked up to me and asked why I was crying
I'd just hand them the earphone and they'll get it without me getting into my personal details.
Crying to music is more socially acceptable than crying because of a situation. That goes for any emotion and any genre

[thegreenyogi]

It's played a huge part in my life. Apart from it being a therapy for me something else happens when I listen to music. To keep it simple listening to music opens the gates to my inspiration and creativity. The more I listen the more the ideas I have come to life in my head and the more I am able to access the deepest depths of my mind to process whatever it is that needs to be processed.

[HawkPerception]

That's my vibe right now... It's actually putting me in a trance right now... Just discovered "Beyond Disdain" and it's really hitting. It's giving old 2000s alternative rock vibes... kinda like Linkin Park and Evanescence...

[thegreenyogi]

Yeah... it's amazing when the brain and music interact what actually happens.

[TonyMetal___1986]

Music was found in all my life, it's my way to express when i'm empty of words, plus it's an image of me that describes when i'm happy and when i'm sad, plus my music lived by my side and shifted through the decades, from the 80's till our present day, plus i'm familiar in music since the baroque, classical and romantic eras...

[Micheal6918]

Reflecting on good music helps you think well and shape your life towards achieving your dreams

[HawkPerception]

Yes but how did it affect you personally