first thing that popped into my head was...no actually that was the second thing... ok the first thing was 'quitting a band is always unfortunate', the second thing was 'there is metal without the shredding' (I dislike shredding)

actually after reading your story it sounds rather good, you had fun, you learned tons of stuff and you made clear what is not your style of music!

as Ricky B here said, you'll find new peepz! we'll never leave you!