Making Life More Musical: Jack Galloway

Freshman Jack Galloway was put into guitar lessons a couple years ago but quickly found out that he prefers to teach himself. He has been playing guitar for three years now.  

When it comes to Galloway, teaching himself is better because he can go at his own pace and learn what he wants to independently. He teaches himself using tab, the app he uses is called Songster. He said one of the biggest benefits of teaching yourself rather than going to lessons is it’s a lot more independent, and also very helpful if you struggle when people tell you what to do. 

When talking about the future of his music career he mentions, “I think I would like to start a band someday.”

Galloway is a self-taught musician and it’s one of his biggest passions. Some of his biggest inspirations are Alice In Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell, Jimmy Hendrix, and Eric Clapton.

Galloway can play guitar, drums and dabbles in piano. He loves spending most of his free time playing. “I can’t even sit next to an instrument without playing it,” he stated.

Galloway’s good friend Keena Boschert actively supports Galloway by listening when needed and supporting every move he makes with his music career. Boschert and Galloway have been friends since seventh grade.

“I know he listens to a lot of older music, and it’s definitely a reflection of his personality.” Boschert noted, “When you look at him you can just tell what type of music he listens to.”

When asked why Galloway began playing musical instruments so quickly, his response was “because I love music and it honestly would make me seem kinda cool.”

Another reason Galloway is so passionate about music is because he loves the idea of playing the same songs and instruments of the artists he looks up to.

He expressed, “I think it’s just cool to sound the same as people you look up to.” 

When it comes to Galloway, it’s obvious that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. His dad also plays guitar. His mom’s side of the family has multiple bands that get local gigs, and his step mom played flute in high school. His uncle is in three bands and gets local gigs. Galloway’s dad supports him by playing tunes with him, and they listen to music together.

Galloway 100% encourages people to pick up an instrument. He mentions, “Obviously it’s fun to do, it can also be stressful sometimes, but it’s great to have as a leisure activity.”

Learning an instrument can be very stressful, but after a certain point it becomes more stress relieving. But there are still those days when you can’t play anything right, and it’s just super frustrating.

“I’ve actually broken a guitar string doing that,” Galloway stated.