"The blues ain't nothin' but a good man feelin' bad, thinkin' 'bout the woman he was once with". This simple quote from the movie Crossroads(1986) pretty much sums up the sentiment behind the blues: a man or woman sitting on their back porch or dusty bar with a six string singing about the man or woman that they were once with. And the thing is, it's a common sentiment that most people can relate to; everyone falls in love and everyone experiences heartbreak. I've had my fair share of heartbreak and bad luck, but one thing that always kept me afloat was playing the blues.

My journey with the blues only began two years ago. I wanted to listen to the famous guitarist Eric Clapton, so I looked him up and saw his jaw dropping performance of "Have You Ever Loved A Woman" and immediately fell in love with the blues. I soon fell down the blues rabbit hole and ended up watching videos of another blues guitarist, Lightnin' Hopkins. I had already been playing guitar before, but the blues threw a wrench into my desired learning outcomes of playing AC/DC and Metallica.

Soon I was studying videos of Buddy Guy and Stevie Ray Vaughan, learning every lick they played and imitating their bends and riffs. Never did I feel so fulfilled. I felt as though learning the blues connected me to each of these guitarists, as if I was woven into the fabric that was the blues. Each lick blew through space and time, connecting me to these guitarists and placing them right there in my room, right next to me watching me play their songs. My luck in romance wasn't all that great, but nights of feeling lonely soon turned into nights where I'd bang on my guitar, making it produce sounds only found after I dug deep into my emotions. The funny thing was, playing the blues got rid of my blues.

When all else fails, the blues always has my back when I need it the most. When I'm down on my luck, I'll always have my six string to play blues on.