One of the greatest feelings I have ever experienced is entering that trance-like state while playing guitar and forgetting about all my stresses, fears, and troubles. In that moment, the only thing that matters to me is my guitar and the music. In that moment, all my energy is being put through my arm, the pick, the strings, and the guitar. Goosebumps appear on my skin and my heart beats a little faster. My mind slows down and my fingers speed up. Music has the ability to completely change both my emotional and physiological state in a matter of seconds, and I find that both beautiful and intriguing. Music has changed my life since I picked up the guitar, and it will continue to change my life.

When I got my first electric guitar for my birthday, I knew I was in love. The sounds that came from my tiny Fender amplifier rang in my ears and struck deep into my heart. I'd spend hours on the electric, playing as many riffs as I could until someone in my house told me to shut up. But guitar truly became a part of me when I began to play the blues. The great Jimi Hendrix once said "Blues is easy to play but hard to feel". I quickly learned this, realizing that no matter how many blues licks I learned and played, none of that mattered if I did not reach deep and pull each note out of my heart. I had to truly feel what I played if I wanted to make someone listen to me. When I play guitar, I play not only for the audience, but for myself, to truly make me happy and feel a moment of ecstasy.

Music has immense power. There is no denying that fact. Music brings people together, it tells a story, and it heals faster than any medicine(still go to the doctor, don't listen to music after breaking a leg, go to the hospital). During the slave era, the African American slaves would sing African spirituals in order to keep their spirits up, and these songs brought these people together and allowed them to survive. Music can heal a broken spirit and fix their heart; the blues is a prime example of this. The Blues in its early days was pioneered by figures such as Robert Johnson, Son House, Willie Brown, and others. They sung songs about feeling bad because of how a woman left them. However, they weren't singing it to be sad. They sung about their troubles in a satirical manner, to shine a light on the darkest parts of their lives and laugh at them. That's what the Blues is about. It is about laughing at the sad parts of your life and forgetting about why you were blue in the first place. It's as if those artists were a couple of guys at a bar sharing their sob stories but not crying or feeling bad about them. Another thing about the Blues is that when you play them, your troubles go away. Buddy Guy, one of the best Blues guitarists today, said that "The funny thing about the blues is you play 'em cause you got 'em, but when you play 'em, you lose 'em".

Music is also a love language, as two people are more likely to fall in love while listening to Frank Sinatra's "Fly Me To The Moon" than if they weren't listening to anything. If you want to truly communicate your feelings to someone and are too nervous to say that you have feelings for them, music is the perfect way to hint at this. Sending them a playlist with countless love songs is just as obvious as telling them straight to their face. Or better yet, play them a song if you know an instrument. Music is the language of love, along with food. My own experience of this was listening to The Rolling Stones "She's A Rainbow" and immediately thinking of my girlfriend and cracking a smile.

Music changes lives, and can affect one in so many ways. Don't take music for granted, as it can heal you or bring you closer to that person you're swooning over.