​Note-worthy Experiences Music Studio
F E A T U R E 
Interview with Yaman Akdogan

How old were you when you first learned to play an instrument? 
I started music with guitar when I was 11 years old. My brother was just getting a new computer as a present so it was time for him to give his old computer to me. Having a desktop computer in your house was a big thing in 1997! So I after spending some time with that computer I remember wanting to sell it and buy a nylon string guitar with that money. I remember how excited I was when I was just starting to go to the guitar class in 6th grade.

Which instruments do you play and do you have a favorite?
I play electric bass, upright bass and guitar. I love the sound of all these three instruments. Electric bass in my main instrument and that is the one that I usually perform with in so many different types of bands; jazz, pop, rock, r&b etc. I also play jazz gigs and musicals, pit orchestra gigs on upright bass. Since guitar was my instrument when I first started music, it’s always fun to play it.

What do you like most about teaching young musicians?
When working with young musicians, seeing how much energy they have for learning music and how excited they get when they learn a new song or a new musical information, inspire me to work hard to bring that level of energy that I had when I first started music twenty years ago at the age of 11. It’s always a joy and so much fun to work with young students because I believe that they also have so much stuff to teach you.
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How did you decide to become a professional musician?
I decided to become a professional musician a bit late when I was 21 years old. I was studying laboral economics at a college in Turkey and I wasn’t happy about my major. I was practicing a lot and already performing locally in my hometown, Izmir. So as music got more involved and serious in my life I decided to go for another undergrad, this time for music, but I wanted to complete my economics degree. While these thoughts were happening in my mind, two of my musician friends invited me to accompany them as a bass player for their auditions for Berklee College of Music in Athens, Greece. I got very excited and went with them to help them as an accompanist bass player for their auditions. After we did the auditions, the audition team liked my playing and invited me to take the audition for myself, I was shocked because I was just there to help my friends and I wasn’t applying to get into Berklee. I took the audition for myself, it went really well and 6 months later I got an email from the scholarship office saying that I was accepted at Berklee College of Music as a scholarship student. After that, I felt one more time that playing music is something that I want to do for life.

Learn more about our Guitar and Upright Bass teacher Yaman Akdogan in his Teacher Page.