Tribute to Volbeat #2: My First Electric Guitar

I still remember the first time I stepped on a Stage . It was in a very popular sector of my hometown Caracas, which is called Catia (How many times before this big event, I went with my mother to buy fish where the famous chicho, who was with his white truck selling fish fresh and seafood, in this large and busy sector, what time those!).

I was around 16 years old, if I remember correctly; and I had what was my first Electric Guitar: A Yamaha EG112 black color with white pickguard, and also a Multi Effects Zoom, Model 606 in silver color. I had everything I needed to rock!

One of the streets of the Catia sector

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My Yamaha EG112 : It was one of these guitars that came in a combo, which consisted of an amplifier, a strap, a peg winder, a tuner, a bag with 5 picks of the same thickness but of different colors, a set of strings, a cable and a soft bag; all of the same brand. It was a December 23 that I bought with my father, the one who became my partner for many years; we went to one of the most famous stores in my city (who would think that many years later I would work in one of them).

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I started working at the age of 13 with my father, selling dried fruit in 2 of the most popular popular markets here in Caracas. I worked on weekends because from Monday to Friday I had to fulfill my school obligations. I remember that on Fridays I was very excited (and after a certain time, with some laziness, since I was a little sleepy at that time, hehehe) of waiting for my father at 5:30 a.m. and then he called me with a whistle that was heard in all my neighborhood, I run and down the stairs of my home to meet him and go to our precious work.

Old Market of Chacao (Much of my childhood I lived in its corridors)
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The "assemble" of the store for the sale of all our delicacies was a puzzle full of boxes and sacks, which we had to exhibit with care so that all the customers could observe in a pleasant way the raw material for his desserts. I learned from this moment the value of things and that not everything came from "blowing and making bottles" . As I mentioned in previous posts, my parents was divorces since I was very small, but that was not an excuse for my father apart from make a great friendship with my mother and to take care in every sense of me.

Over here you can see my father on a "common" day at work. Always smiling. I was super excited by a Canon camera that he had gave me. And I took pictures of everything. (Dad say Cheeese, hahaha)

That's why I never pass need; I received my first allowance at the age of 11, but at some point after giving that taste of buying "with my money" whatever I wanted, I wanted more. My father's response after i asking for an allowance increase was: -Do you want more money? Come and work with me and you will earn your own money. Of course, I do not want you to neglect your studies for any reason. You will only come on weekends and in the month of December you will work from Monday to Monday.-

Here I share with you my dear readers a photo when I was in 2nd grade, it is not exactly how old I was when I started working, but I wanted you to see how a good student I was (Look at that face of angel, hahaha)

And so I did, in my first month I earned more than triple what my father gave me as an allowance, imagine an 11 year old kid receiving 10% of the sale of the day. I didn´t know what to do, and I'm sure, I made the best decision at that age: Give everything to my Mother! From then on, my mother managed the money that I earned with my work, from this moment and I began to help economically in my house. (Habit that I still fulfill fully, ask to @erikatassoni, hahaha)

After almost a year of work and in the month of December working from Monday to Monday, I was able to collect half of the cost of the guitar combo; my father gave me the other half. As soon as I entered the store, the first thing I saw was a Olympic White Fender Stratocaster Standard, with maple neck . I was impressed with the beauty of such instrument, but it cost twice as much as my battle combo was.

Seeing my eyes of Puss in Boots in the movie Shrek, my father told me: If we buy this, we will not have more money for the amplifier and all the accessories that you will need. With a great pain in the chest and tears in the eyes (nahh I'm exaggerating, hahaha) I decided for the recommendation of my father and the seller of the store (Which then strangely would be the first boss that would have in this famous stores franchise).

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As soon as we left the store, my father told me: - Son, remember that we still have to buy merchandise for tomorrow (that day was very, very productive and almost half of the merchandise was sold), so we go to your mom's house to leave the combo and then we go out . The "fever" that I had was not normal, but I had to fulfill with my duty.

When I arrived at my house, began what it’s now my life, from opening the box to plugging the guitar in the amplifier and giving my first strum on this magical instrument, it was an unforgettable experience. The next day my mother wakes me up and tells me with a voice of concern and a certain emotion: - Son you fell asleep with the guitar! - I was lying on my bed with my faithful companion in the chest, rumbling in all my room the feedback produced by the pickups. What a beautiful moment, when i was going to imagine that this would be all my days of what I decided as my profession: Being a guitarist.

In this photo I was about 15 years old, look at how the force of Rock "flowed in me", hahaha

After reading infinities of magazines about the electric guitar by the "rejection" of all those who played this beautiful instrument in my neighborhood, I joined a band integrated with some of them, which I admired a lot. It was a band made up of 4 young people from 16 to 17 years old and a "old man" of 35 years, who with their wise advice took us to polish our chords and melodies. How to forget this "old man" who would show me one of my first songs: The House Of The Rising Sun.

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If you ever read these lines, thank you Master for your advice, love and friendship in this world of Rock & Roll, a big hug Pomponio!

Our songs talked about social protest, love, heartbreak, darkness, death and all the "Darkness" of the moment. We considered ourselves a Black Melodic Metal band with influences from Trash and even Heavy Rock. It should be noted that this band had already been in the musical field for some time, my entry to it was after certain changes in change of members and style.

With them I had that first taste to Headbanging, the furor and adrenaline that gives the stage and the cries of emotion, blows, bites and others in what we call here "La olla" ( Mosh, Death Wall) . Here in a moment of silence I raised my right hand and I received that emotion and rage in the form of an ovation, full of what it was for us to Rock in a big way.

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After certain changes and musical and even personal differences I can´t continue in what was the band that drove that thirst for applause and to share my music in any corner of my city. Because of this after a time of studying my instrument more deeply, I decided to form my first Neoclassical Heavy Metal band: SilveRain.

It was almost a titanic task to find the musicians I wanted for my big project, especially the voice I was listening in my head for each of the riffs I had composed, that voice was a very high range for a man. And one of the conditions I had was that, that all the members were men (this is not a macho thing or something like that, only that in the previous band the frontman of the band was female, which in turn was the other guitarist's girlfriend, you don’t believe the fights of that couple. Every weekend was, if you did well this solo part, or you did the right riff here ... It was almost a nightmare) so that everything flowed in a simpler way.

After months of spreading the word, I found the bassist who was a great friend; almost from childhood, but which had nothing to do with the style of the band, so I didn´t have it in mind from the beginning; since he liked it and had a band of Hardcore Punk and I always had the idea, that one thing don’t go well with the other; I was very wrong because the arranger touch that this member printed to the band was unique.

For a friend of another friend I found the keyboard player who I knew him in one of the events I had with my previous band, I remember seeing him with his leather jacket, with a folder of records of different genres and with his 5.4 ft of "angry and evil" . It was always the chihuahua of the band. Hehehe! He didn´t have the size for all that rage.

I met the drummer for the member that cost me the most to find, but which I always had at my side, as I commented in one of my previous posts, I worked for a long time in a musical studio, and this GREAT singer was visiting the next studio, chatting with the manager (who was and is one of my great friends and teachers). I always saw him in a simple and humble way to chat with the musicians who visited the studio, until one day he had to rehearse with a band of versions. I remember they were rehearsing Pull me Under from one of my favorite bands of all time: Dream Theater . And I was paralyzed, this "pana"; (buddy) reached all the notes I had for a long time in my head when I composed my riffs. And I said: He's the guy!