Although Luke Brown spends most of his time on the courts and studying for his exams, he likes to use his downtime to play a melody on the guitar. When I asked him, “What are you most passionate about in life and why?” he laughed and looked back at the instrument peaking out in the corner. “The Guitar” he said, and once I got him speaking, he wrote his own story.

Names like Van Halen, Guns and Roses, ACDC, and Nickel Back, all bring to mind one particular sound, Rock’n Roll. The screeching noise of the electric guitar, scratching into the silence has always pondered the mind of Luke, “It’s like an ear worm you can’t get out of your head,” so it inspired him to play it out of himself. Two years ago, he bought himself an acoustic guitar, looked up the instructions on YouTube, and he was off. Songs like “Welcome Home Sanatarium”, “Justice For All” and “Master of Puppets” by Metallica, he learned through watching videos. However, it was a specific song by Van Halen that would be held accountable for the ongoing music career for Luke, “Eruption.”

“I want to be able to be able to play that solo, to have that satisfaction of being able to play my idols song would be pretty cool,” he said.

And through the calluses, hard practicing for 30 minutes every day, and tireless repetition of YouTube videos and guitar playing, Luke has one message for everyone in all walks of life, “Don’t give up.” He explained to me, through out his music career this experience has trained him to set his goals high and to keep working at his visions. Whether you play guitar or have to overcome any challenge, take it from Luke when he offer simple, yet powerful advice, “Don’t give up.”