Browsing across Instagram, you’re able to find cute cats, funny videos, and daily news. Among the news and funny reels, you can also find musicians and aspiring musicians posting their performances and practices. 

Two of a Tune

Being in the same band as your sibling can be rather chaotic, but for sophomore Layla Gutierrez and senior Armando Gutierrez, it’s quite the opposite. Glancing at their Instagram band account, @hopelesssamaritanband, it’s filled with the band playing at shows and group skits. 

Within a year’s time, the account has gained 282 followers with 13 posts and gains the attention of 10 thousand views a month. 

Having been inspired by other bands, they felt that social media would be the right place to reach broader audiences rather than going door to door and begging people to listen to their music. “I’ve seen other bands do it, so I feel it’s more normal to follow suit than to stray away and put posters up,” Armando said. “But yeah, I feel like a lot of other bands.”

Although he played guitar for roughly five years when he was younger, Armando moved on to playing the bass guitar and has 2 years of experience now. Layla on the other hand, has been playing guitar since middle school, for almost 6 years now, and has been singing for 3 years.

“I had a really big interest in music and I had some friends who wanted to join me,” Layla said. “So we started to make music together with software and stuff; and I’ve always wanted to start a band.”

Uploading a first post can make people feel anxious about other’s opinions on it. Armando describes this experience as fun at first because he didn’t care if he played well or not, but feels like it is harder now. “It was easier at first because you don’t care what people think of you and now it’s a little harder because you kind of have to impress people,” Armando said. 

Layla was surprised at the new attention her band gained and enjoyed the feeling of people listening to music they created. “I was really surprised by the amount of attention it was getting from people who weren’t just my family and friends,” Layla said. “I’ve always wanted other people to hear my music and stuff too.”

Despite not having a Spotify, Layla’s band got the attention of another local band, Rehash, and was able to play at their show. “We’ve been like a fan of them for a long time and we finally got a sort of gig with them,” Layla said. “My brother said that one of the band members was interested in doing something with us.” Other than that gig, they have also played at local places such as: The Bearded Bean, Artists Ink, and Heirloom Pizza.

While still being considered a “small band”, Layla has been the most recognized at school out of the two. “Because I play bass, I’m kind of just in the background, but my sister has gotten recognized a couple of times,” Armando said. “They’re like, ‘Oh yeah, the girl from the band.’ I kind of just sit there and play.”

As graduation nears, Armando will be going off to college but will take his bass along. Although it will be harder to practice because of distance, Armando looks forward to driving back on weekends for practice and performances. “I feel like we’re improving more, so it’s more fun to play when you’re playing better instead of when you’re not playing as well,” Armando said. 

When it comes to advice for other aspiring musicians, Layla had some words of wisdom. “Try to learn new things even if you’re scared about it,” she said. “If you stick with one thing and don’t really try other things with the guitar, you won’t really learn much.” 

 “I’d probably say to learn music theory because without it, you won’t know how to play anything,” Armando said. “You can’t make anything on your own without learning music theory.”

Finding the Rhythm

Senior Leonardo Mariscal-Zarate (@lmz_831) first started his account to add his friends, but slowly turned it into a place where he could upload photos and videos which has gained him 354 followers with 98 posts and averages 25.6k views. 

Although he wasn’t inspired to upload his practices, he felt that it would help him improve and be able to hear his improvement; using his account as a sort of memorabilia.

“My account doesn’t mean anything to me,” Mariscal said. “It’s more about all the people that I have met through it and all the fun memories that it holds that makes it worth something to me.”

When he first started posting, he felt awkward and cringey because he didn’t have a lot of followers. He has received a lot of feedback from other creators saying his work sounds good. “A lot of people tell me that my playing sounds good, but I think I have a lot to improve,” Mariscal said. However, he feels like he has a lot of room for improvement. “I’d say [I’m] not a beginner, maybe like intermediate; in the middle,” Mariscal said. “I like to practice beforehand, but if I don’t, it could be pretty hard since I slow down and it sounds choppy.”

Other than performing with friends and winning first place at the school talent show, Mariscal does not have performances in-front of groups of people. He enjoys going outdoors to play his acoustic guitar because of the better ambiance and sound he’s able to get out of it. 

But he doesn’t let a lack of performances stop him from being recognized, even if it’s not his guitar videos but rather his other content. “I think only a handful of people recognized me because of [the] guitar,” he said. “But most of them are people that have already known me beforehand.”

His account has led to him meeting a lot of new people, including band members from an indie rock band, Late Night Drive Home. “I met the lead guitarist, who gave me one of their picks and signed it for me, as well as the rest of the band members,” Mariscal said. “I got to make small talk because I play the guitar, so that worked out. I think in most of the concerts that I’ve gone to, they’re more inclined to talk to me due to the fact they know that I could play the guitar, which is something that we have in common.”

With graduation creeping closer, Mariscal plans on going to UC Santa Cruz. He also plans on continuing to create videos and will also continue to upload videos of his progress playing guitar. 

“It’s for sure a slow start,” he said. “There might be times where you get stuck or when you think you just sound really bad, but as long as you actually have a passion towards it, I think you’ll do okay later on. It just comes naturally at some point.”

Art of Frequency and Frame

While looking at junior Giovanni Guerrero’s Instagram account, @dby.astro, you’ll find various videography and sports photography posts. 

What stands out from his posts however are his music covers; specifically regional Mexican music, or Corridos.  

Having built a community of 211 followers with 66 posts, it’s no surprise that he’s capable of catching the attention of 2,000 views monthly. 

Being influenced by his older brother when he was in third grade, Guerrero grew up with a love for music production. 

He was inclined to learn an instrument and play his own melodies. “I really liked the way I could use guitars for beats, which was what I was producing at the time so I felt the need to learn the guitar,” Guerrero said. “I felt the desire to learn the guitar because of how much I implemented it into my own music.”

Guerrero bought his first guitar in eighth grade after learning quite a bit of music theory from his band classes in middle school. He didn’t dedicate much time into it until his sophomore year in high school when he got the 12 string guitar. 

“I started my account to be able to demonstrate my music production abilities,” he said. “As well as my performing abilities because those are talents that I have worked on for multiple years; I’m very proud of that and I want to demonstrate that to the world as well as establishing a sort of portfolio to display my talents.”

When it came to posting his music, he was a little leery. “I knew just how hateful people could be, but the idea of uploading content wasn’t something foreign to me,” he said. “Although I was nervous at first, ultimately, I was excited to be able to share my talents and I felt proud that I was finally putting light on talent that only those close to me saw.”

Guerrero looks forward to continuing his music journey, hoping to be able to pursue music production and music performance as a career and make it his full-time job someday. With university being a big step in people’s lives, he hopes to balance his electrical engineering major with his music path. Although guitar can be rather difficult at times, he does not look forward to stopping anytime soon. “I’ve dedicated about half my life to music production,” he said. “Music is my number one passion and something I won’t ever not love doing.”

By continuing to post videography shorts and music production, Guerrero has given his platform a variety of different content with occasional cover uploads. 

Even now, his goal is to build connections and create a career out of his platform which is something he has always wanted to do, and he has some advice for people who want to do the same. “I would tell them, other musicians, to keep practicing even when it feels like you’re not making any progress,” Guerrero said. “Consistency is key and the only way to get better at the guitar is by playing the guitar.”