I believe everyone should have a stress reliever. There are many different ways to relieve stress. Some people use meditation to help with their stress. Some listen to music,others get really physical to relieve their stress. I relieve stress by playing my guitar. There is feeling a person gets when they can play a song by memory. That feeling just soothes me and calms my nerves. Now I’m not saying playing in front of a crowd doesn’t make me nervous. I try to calm my mind and think it’s just me sitting down and playing my guitar. I grew up going to church and listening to my uncle play the guitar while my dad sang the lyrics to gospel and bluegrass tunes. My dad always told me that playing guitar ran in the family, that it only skipped him. He’d tell me about how good my grandpa played guitar and that is why my uncle got so good playing.I first started playing guitar in the fifth grade. My music teacher taught the whole class the essential four chords to playing most songs; G, C, D, and E minor. At the start of the class I didn’t have my own guitar, so I borrowed my uncle’s guitar. His guitar was a acoustic Gibson Epiphone.It was a good starter guitar for learning how to play. I played that same guitar for three years, until one day my dad brought me home a guitar that he bought from one of his friend’s. This was how I got the very first guitar of my own. The first time I played the guitar in front of my church was a big deal. It was with my cousin Kylie and we played a song that our teacher, Mr. Beal taught us. We played “Silent Night” during the Christmas play. I was dressed in costume for the play. After playing a few lines the choir started singing, and then the rest of the church started singing. Once the whole church started singing it drowned out the guitar playing. It was hard for me to keep in beat of the song. I got behind a little and when we finished, I knew I messed up. But everyone in the church just started clapping and i just forgot about where I made a mistake. The second time that I played in front of the church was at a revival a few weeks ago. I played while my church youth group sang. We practiced the song for weeks. It was supposed to be both my uncle and I playing guitar but at last minute he couldn’t come; so I played my first solo act.Playing guitar has helped me become less stressed in public situations like for example, public speaking. The more people that are not stressed about public speaking in the world, the more people can talk to each other and learn. When people do not have stress, they are more happy and fun to be around. If everyone was always stressed out about things and worrying about things, no one would want to hangout with that person. That person would be called the “Debbie Downer”. Also called a Zombie. They would just pull them down with their negativity.One of the most influential guitar that i listen to is Doc Watson. He grew up blind. But that didn’t stop him. He uses a sort of picking style called “ Travis Picking”. Travis Picking involves using your thumb for the bass strings and the other fingers for rest. Doc only uses his index and thumb for this style, which is ten times harder.No one likes to be stressed out all the time. That is why I believe everyone should have a way to relieve their stress, no matter what the form might be. Through music, meditation, or being physical.