From the 1950s to the early 2000s, rock ‘n’ roll was the most popular genre of music across all age groups. The kids liked it, the parents did, even the grandparents did (some of them).
It wasn’t until the mainstream started to gravitate towards hip-hop, pop, and other genres of music, that the youth started to listen to other stuff aside from rock. Rock ‘n’ roll slowly developed a reputation of being nothing more than “dad music” across the majority of the modern youth, but not everyone feels this way.
One of the modern rock stars I had the pleasure of speaking with about this, was one Will Albers. Will Albers, a senior, is a mostly quiet, intelligent, and empathetic man, but when he has a guitar in his hand, he seems to turn into an entirely different person.
Albers: “I started playing guitar in seventh grade. I had seen a YouTube video titled “guitar licks that you think are hard but aren’t,” and it showed me that doing these impressive things were achievable to the average person.”
Q: I asked him what his favorite thing about playing guitar was.
Albers: “The best thing about playing is being able to express emotions that I couldn’t by any other means. It can take you to places in your mind you didn’t know were there.”
Q: I also then asked him how he stayed consistent with playing when he had an initial lack of skill.
Albers: It just brought him “pure enjoyment” and there was little annoyance with his developing skill, because he was having fun.
Q: Since Will has been playing for over five years, he has developed his skill a lot. I asked him about when he became confident with his playing.
Albers: Roughly a year ago when he started to take guitar and music entirely seriously.
Q: I asked him to name some influences that got him into guitar, and influence his playing style, and he replied back with a lengthy response.
Albers: “Stevie Ray Vaughan, B.B. King, John Mayer, Albert King, Buddy Holly, Albert Collins, Kirk Hammett, Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix, Francisco Tarrega, Robert Johnson, Santana, Goree Carter and Kurt Cobain.”
If you can play stuff fast, people are like ‘woah!’ Then after that you can play what you want.
— Will Albers (12)
Q: Now that he told me he feels confident in his playing, I asked the question that everyone wants to know, “is he in a band?”
Albers: “Yes, I play with my band, we are called ‘The Bags.’ The name came from us putting the first letter of our last names together to make a word. It’s a big joy of mine to play with them.”
Q: I also spoke with the bass player of “The Bags,” Sophie Stafford, and I asked her a few questions regarding Will. “What is playing with Will like?”
Stafford: “Playing with Will is a very entertaining experience. The way he plays his guitar makes me stop and watch at times due to the amount of emotion that you can feel coming from him when he plays.”
Q: “Do you think there is a particular part of guitar or music that Will excels at?”
Stafford: “I feel that Will specializes in playing bluesy music. He gets so energetic and seems like he prefers playing blues over other genres. You can really see his talent when he lets himself go and truly gets into the moment with his guitar.”
Q: I was personally curious, so I asked him what his favorite genre to play was.
Albers: “Blues and very early rock.”
Q: “If you weren’t playing guitar, what would you be doing?”
Albers: “Either crying, philosophizing, or reading more psychology.”
Q: “How have you benefited from playing guitar?”
Albers: “My mental health is better. I have a way of expressing my emotions, which isn’t screaming or crying. I get to play and make music I love, and it’s also a gateway to meet very great people.”
I then asked him the final real question that everyone wants to know.
Q: “Do you plan on pursuing music in the future?”
Albers: “Maybe. You’ll either see me as a pilot or see me dressed as a blues man playing guitar for a crowded bar.”
