Music

Piano first, by classical training. Everything else by accident.

Piano came first. I was five, and it was classical. Twelve years in, I've cleared 5 of 9 exams toward a Visharadh. The remaining four are still ahead. Western crept in alongside classical, and I've been trying to close the gap between what I hear and what I can play ever since.

Guitar was my brother's idea. Technically. He picked it up, his notes were lying around the house, the guitar was always there. I borrowed both. That's how it works sometimes.

Drums showed up in high school. The music room had a kit. My dad played octopad. The two facts are related.

This section is for covers I've learned and occasionally recorded. The notes next to each one are honest.

Covers

2024

Gravity

— John MayerGuitar

Learned this during a week when I couldn't write a single useful line of code. Sometimes that's how it goes.

Comptine d'un autre été

— Yann TiersenPiano

From Amélie. Deceptively simple — the difficulty is making it feel inevitable rather than mechanical.

2023

Something in the Way

— NirvanaGuitar

The MTV Unplugged version. Very quiet. Very different from how most people imagine this song.

Landslide

— Fleetwood MacGuitar

Still working on the fingerpicking. Probably will be for a while. That's fine.

2022

River Flows in You

— YirumaPiano

This was the piece that got me back into piano after years away. A cliché choice. Worth it.

Blackbird

— The BeatlesGuitar

Paul McCartney wrote this using a Bach counterpoint exercise. I think about that every time I play it.

2020

Khel Mandala

— Ajay AtulOctopad

Recorded during the lockdowns. Dad sang, my brother played piano, I had the octopad, and my mother was the best videographer any of us could have asked for.

Neele Neele Ambar Par

— Kishore KumarPiano

Another lockdown family recording. Dad sang, my brother played guitar, I was on piano, and my mother held the camera again.

If you play something and want to compare notes (literally), feel free to reach out. mihir.nikam1@gmail.com