Taking Life By the Guitar Strings—Local Amateur Musician Inspires Others to “Wanna Play” Music
For Anthony Salari, a 24 year-old guitar player from Bullhead City, Ariz., things are sounding pretty good. He recently won first place in an amateur musician contest on YouTube called Say You Wanna Play. The contest was developed by NAMM, the 108-year-old trade association of the international music products industry, to inspire people to share their love of music with other self-taught musicians. Anthony competed against other amateur musicians from across the nation and is a true inspiration to others thinking about pursuing their dream of making music.
NAMM created the Say You Wanna Play contest to encourage people who have always wanted to play an instrument or sing, but either stopped playing or never took the steps to start. In a recent 2008 Harris Poll, 35 percent of people said they didn’t think they had the natural talent to play and that prevents them from learning.
NAMM is out to prove them wrong.
“We wanted to encourage the many different amateur musicians out there to keep playing and hopefully motivate more people to pick up an instrument for the first time,” said Joe Lamond, president and CEO, NAMM. “Music has an amazing power to inspire and ignite passion in everyone; this contest shows everyone can make music, and it’s never too late to start.”
Anthony picked up a guitar for the first time a few short years ago. In his late teens, he decided making music would be a fun, creative outlet so he bought his first guitar as a Christmas gift to himself and started practicing. He has gone on to win the Say You Wanna Play contest, create a national fan base on MySpace, win a songwriting contest and has received funding to hit the recording studio.
“As soon as I picked up an instrument, my life changed,” he said. "Making music is the most instinctive and sincerest thing that I do. It is so pure. It’s become sort of like my own personal timeline. I can play a song and remember every feeling and where in my life I was at in that exact moment. It’s the scrapbook of my life.”
Thanks to local music products retailer, AJ’s Music and Vintage Guitars in Henderson, Nev., Anthony is now taking his very first lesson as part of his prize for the Say You Wanna Play contest. AJ’s Music and Vintage Guitars is excited to foster Salari’s talent with six weeks of free lessons.
Anthony’s lessons at AJ’s Music will pay off as he takes to the stage in front of the biggest names in the music products industry. In January, Anthony will travel with a friend to Anaheim, Calif., to perform at the NAMM Show, the largest music products trade show in the United States.
The contest is part of NAMM’s national Wanna Play? public awareness campaign created to communicate the benefits of playing music to people of all ages. For more information about the Wanna Play? campaign, visit www.wannaplaymusic.com.