Arenlong Longkumer, a guitarist and composer from Mokokchung, began playing the instrument at the age of eleven when his father gave him his first miniature acoustic guitar.
He picked up tidbits of information from others while he was younger. After enrolling in a classical guitar courses in Shillong for a short while, the guitar master never looked back.
He later accomplished the following:
· Boss Guitar Maestro Contest India 2015
· Axes Power National Guitar Competition 2013
· Best guitarist Hornbill International Rock Contest 2013
· Winner of Strandberg Guitar Contest India 2020
· Third place Jack Gardiner Guitar Contest (International) 2020
· Recipient of TAFMA Excellence Award 2020
MTimes: What inspired you and made you want to learn guitar in the first place?
Aren: Music was always in the household growing up so even before I had a guitar I loved it. But the moment my dad bought me a small acoustic guitar, all I wanted to do was to be able to play the instrument.
MTimes: Where do you want your guitar skills to be a year from now?
Aren: Haven’t thought about that (never actually did) but I’d like to keep exploring the instrument and see what I can incorporate technique wise.
MTimes: What music gets you excited and why?
Aren: Generally any type of music…with or without guitars. There’s always new music to get excited by.
MTimes: If you could achieve anything you wished for with your guitar playing, what would it be?
Aren: Fluency with the fret board (which still seems farfetched).
MTimes: What’s one of the trickiest chord shapes you’ve learned so far and why?
Aren: As someone with no jazz background, I think I haven’t used weird chords that were tricky enough to hold. But I do love open chords and that’s a big part of my writing process. It’s great for melodies and carving out licks and phrases that I like to use.
MTimes: What three skills make a great guitar player?
Aren: It’s a fairly subjective question but if I have to pick three, it would be awareness (of other instruments within the song), dynamics and precision.
MTimes: How do you work on each of those three skills when you practice?
Aren: I think the best way is to listen to as many songs as possible and try and emulate them while you practice.
MTimes: Can you describe how you take care of your guitar?
Aren: Changing strings on time and cleaning the fret board often as I can.
MTimes: What has been the highlight of your career as a guitarist so far?
Aren: It’s been great so far. Got to know people, fortunate enough to be endorsed by Daddario, beyerdynamic and just happy that people listen to my music.
MTimes: If you could give someone considering learning guitar one tip or piece of advice that’s helped you the most, what would it be?
Aren: It might sound cliché but there really is no better advice than practice as much as you can. But make it enjoyable. That helped me a lot.