Abhishek Mittal

My story?

I was born and brought up in Meerut, and being from a not so western culturally exposed city, I found it difficult to find a teacher that would show me the secrets to playing the guitar in a way that it sounded like I was playing and not someone else.

I joined guitar classes and learnt under my school music teacher who taught me to a decent level where I could play Bollywood tunes, strum and sing. But i wanted to dive deeper.

And i felt that depth the first time i heard Nothing Else Matters by Metallica. Good Heavens! It blew me away because I had never heard a sound so magical come out of the guitar like that.

I was excited to learn that tune and went to him with the hope that he could teach me but what he did for me made all the difference in my life.

He was honest enough to tell me that he did not have the skills to teach me and told me to go to Delhi so i could be exposed to much more music and much more guitar driven music.

I was and am till date curious to learn more and more about the guitar and I am always looking for self improvement.

I used to commute every weekend to Delhi in the local buses. I was really looking forward to Saturdays because I would learn so much and have a kind of happiness that i did not get while studying in school.

I was too young to understand this then but now i do and music chose me.

Later in 2014, I got into Hansraj College in Delhi University through ECA in Music, where most of my learning happened. It was like a music college i was going to! Being an Eco Hons student (still dont know why i took Eco out of all the subjects) i felt like part of a rat race and felt so suffocated in that atmosphere.

I rarely attended classes (got lucky because my college did not have a minimum attendance for ECA students) and i was mostly hanging out with my society which brought me so much happiness because i was always surrounded by music.

I always, wanted to be a rocker, and i got lucky because my college band- Hansraj Projekt, happened to be one of the best bands in the college music scene in India.

We traveled so much, won a lot of college fests and composed so much music that taught me the art of composition and songwriting.

It was in my college days, when a friend of mine asked me something about music and I explained to him drawing a parallel to life.

It was this very moment, when my society president made me realise that i am good at explaining things.

And then i did not stop, i wanted to teach because it brought another kind of happiness as i felt that i was working towards something bigger than myself.

On my low days, i find hope in the fact that I have been able to contribute to the well being of someone else by teaching them skills about the guitar and bringing them closer to seeing their inner beauty.

And that is something which i now plan to share with the rest of the world.

How Happy Notes was formed?

The story of Happy Notes came from the unknown. Why do i say that? Because I had no idea that I would start a startup that teaches guitar. Forget that, I did not even know I wanted to get into teaching in the first place. But life gave me opportunities to teach and I realized that a student is the mirror and I would teach them like I would teach myself.

I was known by the name of Happy in college because I had a smiling face and later on my then student Prabhash who is now my manager, suggested me that since I had a natural inclination towards teaching and found it extremely therapeutic, i should scale it and do something big starting by having my own startup.

Starting with just 4 students back in the year 2016 as the start, we have now taught over 1000 students all across the world and have conducted multiple workshops, the student showcase concert for Happy Notes and India’s first guitar retreat.