We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Felipe Valdivia . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Felipe below.
Hi Felipe , thanks for joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
My story starts in Chile I am originally from Santiago, Chile. My music career started in 2nd grade. In schools in Chile, they teach music to all the kids, just playing songs and reading some basic music just to have fun, I started with the flute, Like everyone else and I knew that there was something different with me, the other kids wouldn’t pay attention to the class or didn’t care about learning the songs, but for me, that music class was everything I practiced at home until perfection, I always remember the compliments from my teachers and family members I was always playing songs for them.
Years went by and I kept playing flute until I was around 9 years old one of my music teachers started the class of that year with a guitar, I’ve seen the guitar before and I knew how it sounded my grandpa had one at his house and I would always noodle around with it! he knew how to play the basic chords and sometimes he would sing some easy folklore for me, but that day when I saw my teacher with the guitar changed everything I wanted to sound like that I wanted to learn that instrument, the flute wasn’t enough anymore, so I learned the song quick that we needed to learn in the flute and I told my teacher that I already knew the song in flute and that if he could teach me the song in the guitar, he laughed at first but after he saw that I was serious he said of course.
So he showed me some basic chords just an E minor and A Major, first chords that every beginner guitar player start with and my fingers were on fire they hurt they didn’t move how they were supposed to and it was frustrating but every time that I could make those notes sound the right way I would feel great about it. Sadly his guitar was set up for advanced players with steel strings and it was a big guitar for me anyways making the learning process slow and not ideal, so he stopped showing me things in the guitar and I had to go back to the flute, but I didn’t forget about it I waited the whole year to ask for a guitar for Christmas my qualifications weren’t great but they weren’t bad either so that year I found under the Christmas tree my first acoustic guitar, its summer in chile for Christmas so I bought some songbooks to learn chords and play some songs but I got bored super quick, at that time we didn’t have the internet at home and we didn’t really have money to go somewhere to get internet and learn guitar, so I played the same 10 basic songs over and over and I just didn’t know how to advance so my guitar started getting dusty pretty quick. But miracles happened and at the end of that summer I got in contact with one of my friends from school he was the younger of two brothers and his brother played bass, he had internet and he’s been practicing with his brother all summer I had no idea so I invited him to my house one day and he saw my guitar and he was OMG I Can play look!! the first riff was stairway to heaven my mouth dropped to the floor, he is an amazing friend cause he started showing me right away how to play it as well, after that day he came back with a folder full of songs printed for me he taught me how to read tablatures and from that moment I would never leave guitar ever again.
Years went by and when I was in high school my passion for guitar was so big that I was practicing almost 6 hours a day I would breathe and eat guitar and music, it was so much that my qualification were horrible, I Was trying to get my first electric guitar but there was no way that I could get one I didn’t have the money and my qualifications were horrible they almost had to hold me back cause it was really bad. But I would play guitar every morning for my grandma she used to live with us and she loved it, she would always tell me that she used to know how to play piano, she would sit outside with me and listen to me play and practice all morning, she knew about my electric guitar dream… so one day she went to my mom and told her I am going to the mall can I take Felipe with me? My mom knew right away she saw my grandma’s face and she said if you buy that guitar for him I will be really mad his qualifications are horrible… So we left for the mall and as soon as we enter my grandma said go to the music section and choose a guitar, I looked at her and I was like really? and she said yes!!
I knew she didn’t have a lot of money with her and I didn’t want her to put anything in her Credit card so I went to the guitar section and I choose the cheaper electric guitar that I could find, she asked me.. do you need an amplifier right and I told her no, I didn’t want her to spend more money on me one part of me felt that I didn’t deserve it due to my qualifications.
That’s when my journey started once I got that electric guitar nobody could get me out of it, I started playing in my first band it was a tribute to System of a down, we would practice every day and soon enough we were one of the best tributes in the city, my first show was in front of around 100 people and I loved it! it was an addiction I wanted to keep playing for people but I Wasn’t 100% happy even tho I loved the band I wanted more I was writing my own songs and lyrics and I wanted to express my feelings playing my own music, so after a year gigging with this tribute band, I decided to leave I had met different people seeking the same than me and we became really close friends, so we started a project an original project I was leading the band singing and playing guitar I wasn’t the best singer but I wanted to try it I wanted to get better at it we wrote 7 songs and played few covers we started gigging around mostly house parties and school events, until we got the opportunity to record our first EP, that was the best day of my life I realize that I loved spending time in the studio as much as I loved playing live it was a full week of work and I really like it! we kept gigging around for at least 2 more years until it was time to go to college and the band dissolved.
Studying music was expensive so even tho I got into the university that I wanted in the career that I wanted I couldn’t study that because we didn’t have the money so I just went for computer science it was something random but that I liked too, I didn’t really play that much those years just with friends and house parties nothing serious, at the end of my career is when I met my wife Christina she is from Minnesota and we decided to move to this state and country. Thats when my love for music came back the music scene its great here so after 2 years I bought my first guitar and amplifier again, I started looking for bands and I started practicing again, I was slower than before but everything was coming back super fast, I finally found what is called a variaty band so just covers and play one venue every night 3 hrs setlist 30 min rest time, it felt amazing to get into stage again, I was extra nervous I didn’t remember ever feeling this way, when I was younger I was sure of myself and I didn’t care about anything but now it was different, we played for a full year until covid hit and the band dissolved and I had the same problem than before covers dont make me happy I was writting again my own songs so I decided to start my own band HardRock called RestlessMob it took me almost a year to find the right musicians its hard when you dont have any connections but I made it we’ve been together for almost a year now and wrote 10 songs at least and we keep writing more we are fully book until June and even tho we are still trying to make some money from this we love what we do and we hope that we can get big at some point but for now we are step by step getting more people interested in our shows selling merch, and getting our website updated, I am also on instagram trying to position myself as a session player and touring guitarist I love rock but I also love music in general I like playing pop, country and different genres so I would love to start contributing in others people music.
That’s how I got hired as a guitarist for a band from California called, The Sometimes Island, they are great guys and their music is amazing right now while I write this, I am getting ready to go on tour with them!
Felipe , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I am a passionate guitar player I loved guitar since I listened to and saw it for the first time just when I was a kid, and I’m super proud of myself cause even tho I didn’t have an internet connection when I was growing up to try to learn guitar, I kept trying never thought about quitting and I was lucky enough to have friends and people around me that helped me and encourage me to continue that way I taught myself everything that I know now in guitar and I am still learning and teaching myself new scales, new chords and new ways to play and feel the guitar in different ways.
What set me apart from others is my perseverance a lot of people told me to give up and that I would not achieve anything with music or guitar in specific but my love for guitar is bigger I could also say that every note that I play I feel it deep in my soul I don’t play notes just because they sound good, it’s hard to explain but it’s my language, I m not a native in English but I am native in guitar and it helps me to express my bad days, my good days my angry days it help me to show who really I am without actually talking.
Right now I am following my dreams and I quit my full-time job to be a touring musician, happy because I got my first tour schedule with a band called The Sometimes Island, we are gonna hit the West and East coast so is gonna be a fun and full of challenges trip!
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect as a guitar player and musician, in general, is seeing the people enjoying the songs that you are playing, seeing the fans and audience having fun, jumping around, and being 100% themselves without any worries or stress is what keep me going, it gives me energy and hopes that what I am doing is the right thing!
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
One of the most important things is to support them in their live shows! pay for that cover because every cent helps us to keep doing what we love the most! buy that T-Shirt and if you don’t have money to go to the show or buy some merch, share the social media with your friends and family members you never know who is watching out there, and with the right connections you can make a huge difference!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.philvofficial.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/philvguitarist/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/philvguitarist
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fevaldivia/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/FeValdiviaA
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1hdHbkVhRaG8JU477WeZGA