Alyssa Day is a Jackson guitar artist taking metal to the next level. From an early age, Alyssa always loved metal, regardless of the naysayers. She continued to pursue her passion and now has over 120,000 followers on her social media. When she’s not working on music, she teaches guitar and uses her platform to inspire and empower metal’s next generation of female guitarists.
In this interview with Diversity Editor Gabby Guitar, Day explores the importance of setting boundaries between work and passion, and finding your own sound.
So what drove you to play? how did you start?
I must have been 5 or so. My uncle had his 12-string vintage Martin he was playing guitar. It wasn’t impressive, but I was interested in learning about the development of the guitar sound.It was about 7 o’clock when I asked her mom for a guitar, and she got it for Christmas. . It was a terrible guitar, but I’m glad I started.
It ignites your passion for the guitar and opens the door to learning guitar. How did you learn to play? Are you self-taught or did you have a teacher teach you?
Yeah, when I was a kid, very young, I started taking lessons when I was 8 or so, but I didn’t like that teacher, so that doesn’t count (laughs). But I remember trying to teach myself a few things. My family gave me these guitar books and these theory books. And liking a small child was so overwhelming and difficult to understand. This is too much. “
But I spent a lot of time trying to figure things out in my room. I was very repetitive, and repetition is important in learning. Of course it helps to have someone more experienced guide you, but it takes the time and space to absorb everything and understand what’s going on and how to make them sound good on a detailed level. It is essential to have
You mentioned an important principle of life. It’s about having a space to study and reflect alone. Female musicians often have to learn the art of being alone in a male-dominated industry. Did you
That’s a very insightful question. I never even articulated the idea, but it is so true. It’s also something I didn’t know others had gone through. After all, I always felt like I had to be alone and do everything myself. But it is essential. Feeling like you have to prove yourself strengthens your character. Being a female guitarist in metal isn’t the worst thing. Despite the difficulties that come with it, it’s pretty empowering. It can be difficult to earn people’s respect quickly. But having to go out alone and win people’s respect really strengthens your character.
Metal guitar is a very unique genre. It often requires a lot of technical skills. What made you start playing metal? Did you start out that way, or did you progress through different genres?
I don’t know what was going on when I was a kid, but I jumped right into metal and always loved it. . So did the children at school. i was cheated All the preppy kids said I was goth and worshiped Satan and said, “Hey, I like Pantera.” That’s why I said it was a silly genre that everyone liked, I don’t know what it was, but I’ve always liked heavy, technical music.
Music, Instrumental What is your approach to creating progressive metal music? Tell us a little bit about your tone and what you are drawn to.
These are great questions. I was thinking about the first part of your frequently asked question recently. How do you create new sounds that people have never heard of, like Steve Vai? How is that possible? I liked that kind of music, so I used to want to be something different from myself. Things caught me off guard and came out of nowhere, but now it’s like the gut. It’s easy to get so caught up in making nonsense that it’s different that sometimes you just don’t connect with it. I overused the word balance, but there is balance there. It shouldn’t be so predictable, it shouldn’t be the kind of thing you’ve heard a thousand times. But if you are true to yourself, you will have a kind of unique perspective on things as you create something that is an amalgamation of all these different things that you love and absorb.
There are so many different ones, and mixing them all together creates something unique. So when it comes to the process of writing songs, I try not to get too immersed in distant sounds or try to be something that doesn’t feel like me or makes me feel less strong. I’m one of those people who thinks a lot of tone comes down to hands. It may sound cheesy, but I sing through my guitar.
It’s like a vocalist trapped in a guitarist’s body because he can’t sing. So I try to be as vocal as I can through it. If that makes sense, I hope the way I play notes is unique enough to create my unique sound.
Moving on to education, why is education, and more specifically music education, important to you? Is there the level of education required for people looking to enter the music industry?
Of course, when it comes to the importance of education, young people must be equipped with the tools they need to succeed in life. We need to foster an environment that encourages children to think critically, solve problems and be exposed to different perspectives. Music is a great way to explore all this. Especially for children who feel disenfranchised from the barren learning environment typical of today’s school system. It’s very engaging and teaches you how to troubleshoot technical issues with playing an instrument, managing frustration, and many other things. In fact, I know I would have been a completely different person if I hadn’t discovered music when I was younger.
Today, I feel that people almost equate music education with knowledge of music theory. In my opinion, you don’t need knowledge of music theory to make a career in music. Some people have excellent ears and can brand themselves so effectively that they can get around learning music theory or studying music in the traditional academic sense. , I feel that continually educating myself is the key to not becoming stagnant musically. . To summarize my point, I do not believe that a traditional musical education is necessary for a musical career, but continuous learning is essential for musical growth.
Is it important for children to learn different aspects of music education from an early age?
It is very important to consider and study all the different aspects of music. Of course, the younger the better. When it comes to things I wish I had learned when I was younger, the list is huge. It’s hard to choose because I wanted to focus more on training my ears, practicing my technique, and more.
Why is access to general and specific music education important for underrepresented communities?
This is such a great question. I said earlier that we must give young people the tools they need to succeed, but financial success is not the only goal. I mean navigating adulthood with confidence, developing skills, navigating personal and professional relationships, and instilling resilience. Having similar opportunities as much as possible is something most people would agree on and I think we should strive to do much more than we currently do. It can be a gateway to learning and pursuing skills to the extreme. I know it was for me We need to boost underserved and underrepresented communities as much as we can. If many of the children living in these areas had access to musical instruments and musical education (or, for that matter, tools to explore their interests in any subject), how many of them would Who knows if you can have a lucrative career… a field of choice.
Alyssa Day’s latest single “Dread and Dream” is available on all streaming platforms.
~ by guitarists Gabby, Jennale Adams and Fayola Waithe
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