Joel Priesz- 7th Grader
May 1, 2020
Joel Priesz, is a 12 year old student at Rio Norte. He loves the guitar and he thinks it’s fun and exciting. He’s a Dodgers fan, and he plays baseball as his other hobby. When not playing baseball, he plays the guitar. He has a twin sister that encourages him to try again even when he fails. He says “I love her for that”. He’s currently a 7th grader, and he’s loving Rio Norte so far despite the fact that he is staying home. He said “Guitar is my life”. He clearly has a strong passion for music, and especially the guitar.
Q: What made you want to play the guitar?
A: “I was always interested in music, and I thought guitars were cool, and I like listening to famous people play them. I just thought guitars were awesome and if I wanted to play music then this is how I wanted to do it.”
Q: Do you have an idol? And if you do, why do you look up to them?
A: “Probably the group of people that I look up to in music is The Beatles. They play awesome music, and I love trying and learning to play songs that they played.”
Q: Why the guitar instead of any other instrument?
A: “The Guitar is an awesome and beautiful instrument. You can play different styles of music with it and playing it is just magical!”
Q: Do you have any advice for people who are starting on the guitar?
A: “When starting guitar my fingers hurt a lot because they hadn’t gotten calluses yet. I also got bored a lot quickly to be honest, but I just committed and then I overcame the struggles and was able to play fun songs, and then guitar got a lot more awesome and enjoyable!”
Q: What’s your favorite song to play on the guitar?
A: “This is a hard question to answer because I have played many awesome songs since I started playing. I narrowed my list down to 3 songs. Space Oddity by David Bowie, Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin, and finally, Here Comes The Sun by The Beatles.”
Q: How many songs can you play on the guitar?
A: “I can play a lot of songs on guitar! About 30 songs, they are all wonderful, I enjoy them all. One thing I wish was that I didn’t have so many papers. My room is littered with guitar papers from old songs and current ones.”
Q: How much time do you spend playing the guitar each day?
A: “I set a goal for myself when I got my first guitar to practice it for 30 minutes a day. Sometimes I get bored playing the same 5 measures over, and over again but I still enjoy my guitars and reap the reward of my work.”
Q: What do you like about the guitar?
A: “I like how (in the case of an electric guitar), it’s formable like clay. You can change its tone and it’s volume. I like to think that the guitar is singing. It can change it’s “voice” from an old country singer to a heavy metal rock and roll queen. In the case of an acoustic guitar, I like how it is beautiful yet classic. It can be used as a bold instrument, and I love the sounds it can make.”
Q: Why do you play the guitar, is it your dream?
A: “I play the guitar more of a hobby then in a hope to become a guitarist someday. I play it and love it as a hobby, but I don’t think I would want it as a job in the music industry. It’s not my dream to become a professional guitarist, but a hope to become as good as a professional guitarist.”
