The Place I Want To Be
For me, music is all about emotions.
It’s a vehicle that allows me to share with you what I feel, and at the same time it’s a way to connect with myself.
It’s hard to put into words, because it’s a very deep feeling.
But I can explain it with an example.
Think of something you love to do.
Something that you are really passionate about, even if you don’t know exactly why.
Something that, when you do it, you think: “This is the place I want to be”.
Surely there is something like that, right?
For me, it’s music.
Love And Fear
I fell in love with music when I was 9 years old.
When my father started teaching me how to play popular songs from Paraguay on the guitar.
It was amazing to me that something so beautiful could be created just with your hands.
And I had that feeling throughout my childhood and my adolescence.
Even though, like most teenagers, I didn’t see things very clearly.
I felt that I loved music, and that I would love to dedicate myself completely to it, but there were things that held me back.
First, my family wanted me to study something “profitable”.
Nor did we have financial resources for me to dedicate myself 100% to music.
And finally, I myself was afraid that being a girl in Paraguay I would have few opportunities to make a career as a professional musician.
When Love Turns Into Passion
Still, I followed my instinct and at the age of 15 I signed up for the School of Rock in Paraguay.
I didn’t have an electric guitar, so I started with my dad’s Paraguayan guitar.
It was a bit weird going to the School of Rock with a Paraguayan guitar, but I didn’t care.
I was happy anyway.
Because all I wanted was to play.
Although at that time I did not have much time to practice, because I was still studying in High School.
But I still spent all my free time to become a good guitarist one day.
In the end, I got one of the cheapest electric guitars.
But for me it was the best guitar in the world!
I was 16 years old, and I told my Rock School teacher that I wanted to listen to guitar specific music.
And my teacher gave me an album to listen to.
It was the G3 of Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Eric Johnson.
I remember coming home super excited.
I turned off all the lights, put on the album and lay down next to the speaker.
And I listened to the whole album.
And what I felt was galactic.
The love I felt for music turned into a passion that completely invaded me.
And there I felt, very deeply, that this was what I wanted to do with my life.
Because when love turns into passion, nothing can stop you.
Or so I thought…
My Worst Enemy
Because fear can be your worst enemy.
And it can hold you back from your dreams.
No matter how passionate you are.
I realized very soon.
When I was 18 years old, about to graduate from High School, my mother told me that I had to study for a university degree.
And, again, the fear of not being able to develop a career as a professional musician came back.
So I enrolled in the University of Chemistry.
I passed my exams and spent the whole day studying.
I had no time for anything else.
I remember one day I was studying hard, a math subject, and I saw my guitar next to my bed.
And I said, “Let’s play a little.”
And I played until I fell asleep.
The next day I couldn’t take it anymore and I told my mom that I was going to be a professional guitarist.
No matter what happened.
Facing Challenges
When I made the firm decision to be a professional musician, the real challenges began.
At first, my environment did not support me.
I don’t blame them though, because they were just as scared as I was.
They were afraid that I wouldn’t do the right thing and waste my life.
And no one wants that for their loved ones.
But it was still hard to start without that support.
I also felt that fear.
The difference was that I was already convinced that music was my way.
And I was 100% determined to follow it.
Despite the fear and all the challenges.
Because challenges were just beginning.
Low Income And A Lot Of Work
Next challenge was the economic.
I wanted to hire a good teacher to learn well.
But I come from a humble family.
My father was a plumber and my mother had a little shop.
So they had no money to pay for it.
And I wasn’t good enough to be able to work as a professional musician yet either.
So I had to work on other things.
I worked as a hostess in a children’s birthday party place, for 2.50 USD per hour.
I also worked making photocopies in a bookstore, 7 days a week.
I practically lived there.
Then I was a photography assistant, a makeup artist, I worked helping my mom in the store…
Anything that would help me get some money to pay for my classes!
It was a tough time.
Because I only had time to practice after working all day.
And that made it very difficult for me to move forward.
Dealing With Insecurity
One of the hardest challenges for me to overcome was my own insecurity.
I was very shy.
I always turned my amp down to the minimum so I wouldn’t be heard too much during guitar lessons.
And at concerts, I was scared to death of playing in front of people.
I knew that if I didn’t overcome that insecurity I would never become a professional guitarist.
So I decided to study and practice very hard to become more confident.
I spent years studying music theory, choir, music theory, harmony, jazz, music history…
And, above all, guitar. Both classical and electric.
I had very good teachers.
And step by step I felt more and more confident when playing.
Although I have to admit that I had another great help in overcoming insecurity.
And that help was sports.
Starting to train helped me a lot with discipline and self-confidence.
In the end, insecurity is something that affects all sides of our lives.
And sport is one of the things that has helped me the most to overcome it.
Playing For Two Drunk Guys
For several years I got into many group projects.
They all failed.
There was hardly any audience.
And I never made a dime.
I played for free.
And I paid for dinner, parking, rehearsal place, equipment…
There were only expenses.
Still I did.
Because it was what I loved.
But there is always a limit.
And I perfectly remember mine with those projects.
One day the show was delayed, and my dad came to pick me up in the car.
When he arrived, we were playing.
And there were only two drunk guys in the audience.
And, when we got back in the car, he told me:
“Loi, do you really prepare so much, and get ready, and go to the hairdresser, and work to buy the equipment, and practice so hard… for that? for playing for two drunk guys?
And then I had another crisis.
Because I felt that, if I continued like this, I was never going to have a career as a professional guitarist.
When You Don’t Give Up
I believe that there is one thing that is above everything if you want to make your dreams come true.
And that thing is not giving up.
Because challenges can’t beat you if you don’t give up.
And that’s what I did.
I kept fighting, despite all the challenges.
I never gave up.
And, little by little, things started to get better.
My environment started to support me when they saw that music was really my passion.
I managed to overcome insecurity by studying and practicing a lot. And thanks to sports.
I kept playing in bands, until I got recruited to play in a Big Band, with one of the best singers in Paraguay.
I made my own band, Bloody Mary, with which we began to have a larger audience than with previous projects.
I even got a contract to play for a long season in Qatar.
I was already making enough money as a musician to live on it.
It seemed that my career as a professional guitarist was finally going to start.
But fate had other plans…
Starting From Scratch Again
When it seemed that everything was going to take off, the pandemic began.
All shows were canceled.
And also was my contract to play in Qatar.
At that moment I felt that all my effort was falling apart.
The lockdown was very hard.
Not being able to go out to see my loved ones, or train, made me feel depressed.
Luckily, although I got COVID 2 times, I did not have serious consequences.
But it was still a hard time.
When all the shows were canceled, I lost my income again.
And, just like many people at that time, I had to start from scratch again.
Serendipity
“The fact of finding interesting or valuable things by chance”
That is the definition of serendipity.
And that is exactly what happened to me as a result of COVID.
When all my plans were canceled, I thought I could teach guitar online to earn some money.
And that’s where the magic began.
I had students who were very excited when they came to play.
Even in those hard times of confinement, music was like an oasis where they felt good.
A refuge in which they could connect with their emotions and forget for a moment about the hard situation we were going through.
Then I also started to share more music on social media.
And I realized that it had a similar effect.
I discovered that music has enormous potential to help people feel better in those difficult times.
And being a part of that made me feel really good.
For many years I was 100% focused on studying and practicing just to be a better guitarist.
To improve my technique and my knowledge.
But in the years of the pandemic, I discovered that what makes me really happy is sharing my music with you.
And being able to be part of something that helps you feel better.
Even if it’s just a little bit.
That is my true purpose.
And I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to make it happen.
What 's Next?
When you are clear about your purpose, it is easier to define your next steps.
Now I’m working on several projects.
All 100% aligned with the purpose of sharing my music with you.
The first one is my first album.
The Journey.
And I am very excited to invite you to the launch.
I’ll be live sharing with you all the experiences I’ve had since I was just a little girl dreaming about playing guitar, till now.
And how all those experiences have been transformed into the songs of this album.
It’s been a long way.
With many failures, and some wins, that have made me the musician that I’m today.
Will you join me on the journey?
I hope so!
Kisses & Rock n’ Roll.
Loi.
The Place I Want To Be
For me, music is all about emotions.
It’s a vehicle that allows me to share with you what I feel, and at the same time it’s a way to connect with myself.
It’s hard to put into words, because it’s a very deep feeling.
But I can explain it with an example.
Think of something you love to do.
Something that you are passionate about, even if you don’t know exactly why.
Something that, when you do it, you think: “This is the place I want to be”.
Surely there is something like that, right?
For me, it’s music.
Love And Fear
I fell in love with music when I was 9 years old.
When my father started teaching me how to play popular songs from Paraguay on the guitar.
It was amazing to me that something so beautiful could be created just with your hands.
And I had that feeling throughout my childhood and my adolescence.
Even though, like most adolescents, I didn’t see things very clearly.
I felt that I loved music, and that I would love to dedicate myself completely to it, but there were things that held me back.
First, my family wanted me to study something “profitable”.
Nor did we have financial resources for me to dedicate myself 100% to music.
And finally, I myself was afraid that being a girl in Paraguay I would have few opportunities to make a career as a professional musician.
When Love Turns Into Passion
Still, I followed my instinct and at the age of 15 I signed up for the School of Rock in Paraguay.
I didn’t have an electric guitar, so I started with my dad’s Paraguayan guitar.
It was a bit weird going to the School of Rock with a Paraguayan guitar, but I didn’t care.
I was happy anyway.
Because all I wanted was to play.
Although at that time I did not have much time to practice, because I was still studying in High School.
But I still spent all my free time to become a good guitarist one day.
In the end, I got one of the cheapest electric guitars.
But for me it was the best guitar in the world!
I was 16 years old, and I told my Rock School teacher that I wanted to listen to guitar specific music.
And my teacher gave me an album to listen to.
It was the G3 of Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Eric Johnson.
I remember coming home super excited.
I turned off all the lights, put on the album and lay down next to the speaker.
And I listened to the whole album.
And what I felt was galactic.
The love I felt for music turned into a passion that completely invaded me.
And there I felt, very deeply, that this was what I wanted to do with my life.
Because when love turns into passion, nothing can stop you.
Or so I thought…
My Worst Enemy
Because fear can be your worst enemy.
And it can hold you back from your dreams.
No matter how passionate you are.
I realized very soon.
When I was 18 years old, about to graduate from High School, my mother told me that I had to study for a university degree.
And, again, the fear of not being able to develop a career as a professional musician came back.
So I enrolled in the University of Chemistry.
I passed my exams and spent the whole day studying.
I had no time for anything else.
I remember one day I was studying hard, a math subject, and I saw my guitar next to my bed.
And I said, “Let’s play a little.”
And I played until I fell asleep.
The next day I couldn’t take it anymore and I told my mom that I was going to be a professional guitarist.
No matter what happened.
Facing Challenges
When I made the firm decision to be a professional musician, the real challenges began.
At first, my environment did not support me.
I don’t blame them though, because they were just as scared as I was.
They were afraid that I wouldn’t do the right thing and waste my life.
And no one wants that for their loved ones.
But it was still hard to start without that support.
I also felt that fear.
The difference was that I was already convinced that music was my way.
And I was 100% determined to follow it.
Despite the fear and all the challenges.
Because challenges were just beginning.
Low Income And A Lot Of Work
Next challenge was the economic.
I wanted to hire a good teacher to learn well.
But I come from a humble family.
My father was a plumber and my mother had a little shop.
So they had no money to pay for it.
And I wasn’t good enough to be able to work as a professional musician yet either.
So I had to work on other things.
I worked as a hostess in a children’s birthday party place, for 2.50 USD per hour.
I also worked making photocopies in a bookstore, 7 days a week.
I practically lived there.
Then I was a photography assistant, a makeup artist, I worked helping my mom in the store…
Anything that would help me get some money to pay for my classes!
It was a tough time.
Because I only had time to practice after working all day.
And that made it very difficult for me to move forward.
Dealing With Insecurity
One of the hardest challenges for me to overcome was my own insecurity.
I was very shy.
I always turned my amp down to the minimum so I wouldn’t be heard too much during guitar lessons.
And at concerts, I was scared to death of playing in front of people.
I knew that if I didn’t overcome that insecurity I would never become a professional guitarist.
So I decided to study and practice very hard to become more confident.
I spent years studying music theory, choir, music theory, harmony, jazz, music history…
And, above all, guitar. Both classical and electric.
I had very good teachers.
And step by step I felt more and more confident when playing.
Although I have to admit that I had another great help in overcoming insecurity.
And that help was sports.
Starting to train helped me a lot with discipline and self-confidence.
In the end, insecurity is something that affects all sides of our lives.
And sport is one of the things that has helped me the most to overcome it.
Playing For Two Drunk Guys
For several years I got into many group projects.
They all failed.
There was hardly any audience.
And I never made a dime.
I played for free.
And I paid for dinner, parking, rehearsal place, equipment…
There were only expenses.
Still I did.
Because it was what I loved.
But there is always a limit.
And I perfectly remember mine with those projects.
One day the show was delayed, and my dad came to pick me up in the car.
When he arrived, we were playing.
And there were only two drunk guys in the audience.
And, when we got back in the car, he told me:
“Loi, do you really prepare so much, and get ready, and go to the hairdresser, and work to buy the equipment, and practice so hard… for that? for playing for two drunk guys?
And then I had another crisis.
Because I felt that, if I continued like this, I was never going to have a career as a professional guitarist.
When You Don’t Give Up
I believe that there is one thing that is above everything if you want to make your dreams come true.
And that thing is not giving up.
Because challenges can’t beat you if you don’t give up.
And that’s what I did.
I kept fighting, despite all the challenges.
I never gave up.
And, little by little, things started to get better.
My environment started to support me when they saw that music was really my passion.
I managed to overcome insecurity by studying and practicing a lot. And thanks to sports.
I kept playing in bands, until I got recruited to play in a Big Band, with one of the best singers in Paraguay.
I made my own band, Bloody Mary, with which we began to have a larger audience than with previous projects.
I even got a contract to play for a long season in Qatar.
I was already making enough money as a musician to live on it.
It seemed that my career as a professional guitarist was finally going to start.
But fate had other plans…
Starting From Scratch Again
When it seemed that everything was going to take off, the pandemic began.
All shows were canceled.
And also was my contract to play in Qatar.
At that moment I felt that all my effort was falling apart.
The lockdown was very hard.
Not being able to go out to see my loved ones, or train, made me feel depressed.
Luckily, although I got COVID 2 times, I did not have serious consequences.
But it was still a hard time.
When all the shows were canceled, I lost my income again.
And, just like many people at that time, I had to start from scratch again.
Serendipity
“The fact of finding interesting or valuable things by chance”
That is the definition of serendipity.
And that is exactly what happened to me as a result of COVID.
When all my plans were canceled, I thought I could teach guitar online to earn some money.
And that’s where the magic began.
I had students who were very excited when they came to play.
Even in those hard times of confinement, music was like an oasis where they felt good.
A refuge in which they could connect with their emotions and forget for a moment about the hard situation we were going through.
Then I also started to share more music on social media.
And I realized that it had a similar effect.
I discovered that music has enormous potential to help people feel better in those difficult times.
And being a part of that made me feel really good.
For many years I was 100% focused on studying and practicing just to be a better guitarist.
To improve my technique and my knowledge.
But in the years of the pandemic, I discovered that what makes me really happy is sharing my music with you.
And being able to be part of something that helps you feel better.
Even if it’s just a little bit.
That is my true purpose.
And I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to make it happen.
What 's Next?
When you are clear about your purpose, it is easier to define your next steps.
Now I’m working on several projects.
All 100% aligned with the purpose of sharing my music with you.
The first one is my first album.
The Journey.
And I am very excited to invite you to the launch.
I’ll be live sharing with you all the experiences I’ve had since I was just a little girl dreaming about playing guitar, till now.
And how all those experiences have been transformed into the songs of this album.
It’s been a long way.
With many failures, and some wins, that have made me the musician that I’m today.
Will you join me on the journey?
I hope so!
Kisses & Rock n’ Roll.
Loi.
Will you join me on The Journey?
