We caught up with the brilliant and insightful John Rockstar a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

John, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

After I got my first guitar at age 13, my parents signed me up for guitar lessons at a music store the town over. I spent almost every Thursday at 5:30 p.m. with my guitar teacher throughout my time in high school, learning scales, chords, arpeggios, and occasionally, songs. On top of that, I would look up guitar tabs online for any songs I was interested in at the moment to play along with and try to sound like my favorite bands.

One thing I would have done to speed up my learning process was buy a capo sooner than I did. Using a capo opened up so many more songs for me to easily play and allowed me to explore more sounds and keys on the neck.

I would say consistency was the most essential skill during this time. Not so much consistently showing up to practice, but consistently practicing and enthusiastically pursuing ways to make myself better at playing chords and notes.

Obstacles that stood in the way of me learning more all stem from me being a teenager: Schoolwork always took precedent. I played A LOT of video games back then, too, which ate up a lot of my practicing time. And especially when you first start to learn an instrument, everything feels so difficult and foreign to learn. You wonder if you’re ever going to get “good” in any semblance of the word. But again, that’s where consistency and enthusiasm play a large factor in learning the craft.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a singer-songwriter who plays acoustic and electric guitar-based music in the style of artists like Tom Petty, Jimmy Buffett, Chris Stapleton, Jim Croce, John Prine, and the Traveling Wilburys. I have two albums out on streaming services and my third will be coming out later this year.

I got into playing music when I was a teenager, wanting to emulate the bands and artists I would hear in video games, during breaks in the action of sporting events, and in popular media. I’ll always remember this one day in particular when I was 12 or 13. There was this newspaper article talking about this local band playing at a nearby bar. I had no idea who they were or what they sounded like, but seeing that picture of them on-stage lit a fire in me. I said to myself “I want to do that,” and started looking into instruments. After deciding on a Dean VX electric guitar, the rest was history.

What sets me apart is I want to do things on my terms. For example, in the world of EPs and groups releasing singles every few months, I’m only interested in releasing full-length albums of music. I do this because when I was growing up, all the bands and artists that I enjoyed (mostly from the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s) released their music on vinyl records. This engrained a standard in my head that “a full piece of music is a 9-10 song collection that’s roughly 40 minutes.” While there’s no reason to stick to that other than my own choice, and I’m sure a few fans of mine would like for me to piecemeal my music out so they can hear new stuff sooner, to me, this will always be a passion project. I’m not interested in making billions of dollars, signing a record deal, or becoming a worldwide superstar. If any of that happens, great. Awesome. I would be humbled if someone thinks that highly of my music. But that’s not my M.O. To me, saying “I released <blank> albums of music” is an accomplishment I feel proud of and a number I want to continue to grow so long as I write what I consider to be great music coupled with the passion to keep making it.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

As a naturally shy, quiet, and introverted person, writing and playing music has been something of an outlet of expression for me. Through music and songwriting, I have an avenue to share what I think sounds cool and interesting in terms of riffs, licks, and lyrics. Seeing my completed work on streaming services fills me with an immense amount of joy and pride that I was able to take these ideas in my head and (through the help of my producer) put it together in a listenable, enjoyable package.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

At this point in 2023, my goal is simply to continue making records that I think sound cool and are worth releasing. There have been times where I’ve been racking my brain for new material, but nothing would come from these work sessions, making me put my guitar down in frustration and discouragement. But after a few weeks of not thinking about writing, a random thought would pop into my head, spur an idea, and then things would start to roll like a snowball turning into an avalanche on a mountain.

Then there’s various projects that I think would be cool to bring to fruition. Concept albums, theme albums, holiday albums. I have all of these ideas in my head in various states of development. The goal of one day putting them together into a satisfying package really drives me on most days.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnrockstarmusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johnrockstarmusic
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/IAmJohnRockstar
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5iOQjROzvI9IlLmAlDdkGA/featured

Image Credits
Tyler Brettnacher