Funky Father Friend

Imagine being a killer musician, being able to shred the guitar to any song that is played on the guitar. Imagine being able to just play a killer drum solo at any point in time. This is what Father Patrick Friend has been practicing for his entire life.
Father Friend has an interesting behind the scenes life. Many people didn’t know about him before this year that he plays music. A lot of people now know he plays music because of a video that the school released on Facebook, but most don’t know the backstory behind his music.
Father Friend started playing music when he was in first grade. He said, “My father told me when I was in first grade, ‘boy, you are going to take piano lessons,’ so I did.” His dad told him to play the piano because, as Father Friend said, “Music has always been a big part of my family. There was always some music playing around the house.”
His dad was into all sorts of music. Father Friend said, “My dad listened to mostly everything. He loved church music and hymns but he also loved funk songs like ‘Funky Cold Medina’ and ‘Brick House.’” Father Friend continued to take piano lessons from first to eighth grade. He stopped because he said, “I didn’t like the classical way she [Father Friend’s piano teacher] was teaching me.”
After quitting piano lessons, he had to pick a new instrument, he said, “I picked the guitar because I liked the way it sounded. I took lessons from a guy my freshman year at Catholic High, but I had to stop taking lessons from him because he joined a band. After I stopped taking lessons, I joined a band at Catholic and they all went to college in Fayetteville and called themselves Goose.”
The next step in his life was to go to the seminary, and as Mrs. Hartnedy said, “They encourage the seminarians to pick up an instrument while in the seminary.” So, Father Friend found a few people who listened and joined a new band in the seminary.
Father Friend has also inspired people to pick up an instrument for themselves, Mrs. Hartnedy said, “He helped my son, John Paul, to learn how to play guitar through a group at Christ the King called Team Jesus.” After he inspired John Paul to play guitar, Mrs. Hartnedy says, “John Paul joined a mariachi band.” And now that John Paul knows how to play guitar, he, Father Friend, and many other seminarians and priests played at a banquet held to support vocations in Arkansas. Trevor Luyet attended the banquet. He said, “Father Friend was very all over the place, and when they played the song ‘7 Nation Army,’ he was going crazy on the drums.”
Father Friend has some advice for students. He said, “If you want to be good at anything, not just music, you need to practice for at least 20 minutes every day.”

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