house.” I said. “Alright I’ll be there” he responded. We said our goodbyes and hung up. I raced home after that to configure the basement into a “jam room” as we call it. During this modification my phone rang. I answered the call, it was Chris. “Hey dude, what’s up?” I asked. “Do you think you could write lyrics up, Heather just called and said she wanted to sing something?” “Yea sure no problem man.” I said with assurance. As I hung up the phone I instantly started to think of what I could write lyrics about. Then it hit me, like a ton of bricks……. I had just recently gone through a terrible break up with the girl I had planned on proposing to on Christmas Eve which would’ve been our one year anniversary. That situation was my inspiration for the lyrics. That night as I fell asleep I had nightmares about the break up. Not exactly a good way to wake up for band practice. That night as we had met up for coffee before band practice I was feeling better about the situation. So we proceeded to go to practice. Once it was over the first thing that came out of our mouths was. “Dang that was rough.” “Oh well it was our first practice it shouldn’t be perfect.” Evan said as he leaned back in his chair. “Good point dude, I know we can do this though.” Chris said with enthusiasm. Chris had always been the one to pick me up since we had been friends. “Your right man, Not to bad for a first practice.” I said half tired. “Let’s hit it again tomorrow.” As we parted ways, the lyrics rang in my head. The chorus seemed to have burn a permanent place in my brain. “Your hazel eyes lit up my world, then blew out the flame, I’ll never be the same, without your hazel eyes.” It wouldn’t stop running through my mind……. As the months had gone on we had gotten a lot better, being able to run through the song smoothly with few rough spots. I had lost a lot of sleep over the song. It seemed to haunt me. I wasn’t exactly over her yet, so it hasn’t helping. But I decided to push through it because it was a great song. Another month had passed and we finally had the song down perfect, with more songs being written. My mind had hatched an idea and I decided to bring it up at the next practice. Hey guys!” I said with some excitement as we took a break.” What do you all think about playing a show?” Chris choked on his drink.  “Dude do you think we’re ready for that!?”  He asked trying to recover from choking. “Yea I do, we got the song down pat!” I said. “Evan what do you think?” Evan pondered the question for a couple of seconds that seemed to actually be an eternity. “Yea I’m up for it!” he said excitedly. Truth was I had already set up the show at my church. I told them we would play December 20^th at my church, which was a week from the day I told them. So we had invitations sent out to most of our friends and family members and I put up posters around the church. “Second Heartbeat LIVE December 20^th. Second Heartbeat was our band name which refers to everyone makes mistakes but they should be given a second chance to make things right with what they did wrong. I was never given my second chance with my ex. So as the week rolled by it grew colder and colder, So many days had gone by as me and Chris had first discussed forming the band. We were now a seasoned group of musicians ready to take on our first show. Finally that Sunday had rolled around. Once again I hadn’t slept much from excitement, the daunting task ahead and the haunting memory of my ex still looming over me like a storm cloud. We all met up at my house to load up the equipment, guitars, drums, and amps, into my truck. As we piled into the cab of the truck I remember thinking. Do we have everything? Do I remember what my parts are? Obviously my face was showing that I was worried because Chris grabbed my shoulder and goes “It’ll be fine bro, we can do this song in our sleep.” Your right.” I said with some relief. “Thanks bud.”   As we pulled into the desolate parking lot I was becoming more anxious by the minute. I was ready to play. We had to play three separate shows for three separate services. “This shouldn’t be too bad” I thought trying to calm myself. “I hope.” We walked into the sanctuary to set up our equipment. I was going over the lighting with the guy at the church that does the sound and technology part. I gave him the lyrics to put on the projector screen. We did our sound check and tuned up our instruments, everything was running smoothly. The service was about to begin. We went and hid in the back room because we wanted to surprise people. As the service went on I was sweating with anticipation. I heard my Preacher then say, “And now our special music.” I heard the lights go out. The loud distinctive click of the light switch seemed to have echoed. I could hear whispers. We all looked at each other and nodded. Chris walked out the door first followed by me Evan and then Heather. As soon as I walked over the threshold I hit the opening power chord. As we finished that showing people gave us a standing ovation. Some old people probably couldn’t hear us. But either was we nailed the song with bravado and guts. It couldn’t have gone any better. The Second showing was the same way; it ended in a standing ovation. I was feeling like I was on top of the world. We hadn’t missed a note we flowed like a professional band. Our third and final show came up. Once again I heard the click of the lights and the whispers. I took a deep breath as I followed Chris out the door. I hit the power chord with more confidence than usual. I was feeling good about this. The song was flowing great this was probably our best performance yet. I was shredding through the song like a real rock star giving a visual performance as I played. I was ending the near the end of the second chorus line about to hit the solo when I looked up to see the sanctuary doors opening I didn’t think anything of it. I stood up on my box to do my solo when I finally saw why the doors where opening. My ex girlfriend had just entered the sanctuary. I lost all focus I felt like everything had vanished and it was just me and her in the room. I regained my composure and started the solo trying my best to concentrate. I was nailing it. I told myself I had to do it perfectly so I wouldn’t look stupid. I had to focus. The lyrics had come back into the song Your hazel eyes lit up my world, then blew out the flame, I’ll never be the same, without your hazel eyes.”  I felt like my stomach was in my throat. We ended the song the strongest out of the three showings. Evan hit our dual solo perfectly and Chris destroyed a drum fill. We did it, we made it through the song. As we excited the sanctuary Evan goes, “Ethan you ok?” “I saw who came in.” Yea I’m fine bro, or I will be at least.” I said my voice shaking. Just then I Heard the Minister say let’s give it up one more time for Second Heartbeat. We looked at each other and walked out of the room. We bowed as we came out. I then got up on stage with my guitar still strapped around me, and gave the explanation of the song and why I wrote it. I saw her just looking at me. We then went out of the room. I felt like I had gotten over so many things in that five to six minute period. I was finally a rock star.

 

 

 

 

 

    I tell you this story to tell you about my inspiration for playing guitar. His name Syn Gates he is a Guitar God. I play with his style but a lot of differences.