LIKE SON, LIKE FATHER
Taking music lessons can be a real family affair
As a teen, Scott Ford briefly dreamed of being a musician.
He bought a guitar, hoping to figure out the riffs to some of his favourite Metallica tunes.
“I think I learned the beginning of Enter Sandman and that was about it,” chuckles Scott, 38. “I never had the dedication to it.”
His son Connor, on the other hand, is the definition of commitment. He first developed a penchant for drums when he mastered Rock Band, the video game, as a three-year-old. After a few years of lessons in Morinville, he enrolled at Backbeat, a music school on Whyte Avenue. Not only does he take one-on-one classes with a teacher, he joined one of Backbeat’s bands, Pain in the Class, to learn how to rock out with other musicians.
“The teachers are really nice and the whole place is about rock music ,” says Connor, 12, who is also taking guitar lessons and wants to pick up the bass, too.
Inspired by his son, Scott signed up at Backbeat last year.
“Every Wednesday, we hop in the truck and drive on over to our lessons. It’s a shared interest, which is pretty cool. My dad and I had hockey and to this day, I still remember going to games with him. I’m definitely hoping the same thing will happen when Connor is 38. He’ll be sitting in his living room, thinking back to his dad attempting to play guitar.”
Scott has since learned how to play songs by Arctic Monkeys, Queens of the Stone Age, Jack White, Pearl Jam and, of course, Metallica. Enter Sandman? Nope. “For Whom The Bell Tolls,” smiles Scott, who now owns four electric guitars and one acoustic. (He still has his original axe, but he doesn’t like playing it.)
He’s also performed onstage with his son. The Fords, accompanied by their teachers, played Queens of the Stone Age’s speedy rock number, Little Sister, at a Backbeat show last June.
A few months later, they played Jack White’s blues-rock explosion, Lazaretto, at the school’s Christmas concert.
“I get so nervous in front of people,” says Scott, who works as a maintenance planner at Shell’s Scotford Manufacturing Centre northeast of Edmonton.
“I can’t even play a guitar in a guitar store without freaking out. And Connor’s just cool.
“He’s cool. It’s been interesting because Connor is so far ahead of me. Like LIGHT-YEARS. We were practising today and he told me: ‘You’ve got to keep up with the drums.’ And I’m trying. He’s like a metronome. Unreal.”
Despite his nerves, Scott cherishes every moment he gets to perform with his son. “Our first song we played together, the show happened to be on Father’s Day, so that was amazing. I know for me ... I’ll never, ever, ever forget that awesome experience.
“As a kid, I know I dreamt about being able to get up onstage and play. But it’s a lot cooler to get up on stage and actually play with my son.”
The Fords aren’t the only fatherson students at Backbeat.
Mike Seed and his two sons are some of the latest. Erick, 12, has been studying piano for years, but only enrolled in Backbeat’s solo and band lessons six months ago. He plays keyboards with Control Angel, a group of five young musicians who made their stage debut at Backbeat in March. His favourite movie? School of Rock, of course, starring Jack Black as a teacher who enters his Grade 4 students in a battle-of-the-bands competition.
“I want to get famous, earn a truckload of money, get a Wikipedia article,” says Erick. “Get a website, make some CDs.”
Mike, 50, started taking guitar lessons a few months later. At first, he thought it would be a good way to pass the time while Erick was taking rock band lessons on Saturday afternoons. “I started playing guitar at Erick’s age and never took any lessons,” he says.
Mike admits he isn’t the most conscientious student — he doesn’t practise between lessons — but he appreciates what he’s getting out of his weekly classes. At first, he told his teacher he wanted to be able to play Stevie Ray Vaughan tunes. Mike quickly realized he had to aim lower. “He’s been teaching me a whole wide variety of little bits — like The Doors and The Who. He showed me one chord part in Crazy Train that I’ve been playing wrong for 40 years. “
About a month ago, Mike’s youngest son Parker, 7, joined Backbeat. He’s learning to play the drums.
It’s too early to sow the seeds for a family band — Erick isn’t keen on the idea and mom Nadine has yet to be talked into taking lessons — but the Seeds love talking about music or going to concerts/musicals together. They recently attended the Broadway version of School of Rock in New York.
“It’s just like a mental release — like yoga or meditation …,” adds Mike, who works as a portfolio manager. “It’s a good escape.”