Where it all began for me.

I was about 12 years old when I fell in to the role as the bass player in my brother’s garage band. Not because I could play the bass, but purely because I was there and they needed a new bass player. It wasn’t long before my interests started to shift from bass to guitar. Hearing players like Slash further sparked my interest.

Then something happened that changed everything. I discovered players such as Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, Tony Iommi, Eric Clapton, Ritchie Blackmore, Randy Rhoads, SRV, David Gilmour, among others. This lite a fire inside of me, a passion like I’d never felt before. Even at such a young age I suddenly had a such a clear sense of direction for my life. these players were larger than life to me and what they did with the guitar literally rocked me to my core. I wanted to be a guitarist! To use it as a tool to express my rawest emotions and for my playing to spark emotion in others like the emotion and passion these great players have sparked in me.

My oldest brother taught me the basic major and minor scales (first position) and I hit the ground running. More of a crawl, but I had never wanted anything more. I played until my hands could do no more… then played some more. My parents would say “that guitar is attached your hip”. For about 8 months to a year I spent nearly all of spare time practicing and at 14 you have a lot of time. It was a struggle for my parents to get me to put the guitar down and come to dinner. I’d listen to albums and watch live footage of Hendrix at Woodstock and at the Fillmore East (Band of Gypsys), Led Zeppelin at Royal Albert Hall (1970), Madison Square Garden ‘73 & Earls Court ‘75, Grateful dead, Deep purple, Guns N’ Roses, Pink Floyd etc.. I’d watch these videos endlessly, with an unplugged, red Les Paul Special (that had been loaned to me) slung up, playing along with my heroes. I’d pick up all I could by ear and try to watch their hands when my ears weren’t enough. I was such a student of these players that my curiosity went beyond the sounds they were creating. I felt the need to dig deeper into what was behind it, who or what inspired them to play as they did and that led me straight to the blues. I remember going to the local library, which is mot a place you’d expect to find me because I’m not much of a reader, but I knew they had CD’s you could rent. So I’d go and rent every blues album I could find, lightnin’ Hopkins, Robert Johnson, Son House, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Howlin Wolf, B.B. king, Albert King… the list goes on. Needless to say, my kind was blown once again. This gave me a much deeper understanding of what I was hearing. The playing on these blues records has had I huge impact on my playing. In a way they are like vocabulary books for guitar and not just the guitar playing. The phrasing of the vocals are a wealth of inspiration on their own. To this day I still go back to these old blues records for inspiration and it never fails. 

A few years later as a Christmas gift a got my first guitar that I could truly call my own and boy was it one hell of a first guitar, a Gibson Les Paul Standard in Cherry Sunburst just like I’d watched Jimmy Page play a million times on video. Brought tears to my eyes. I was and still am so very grateful… and yes spoiled. My brother gave me his Sovtek MIG-50 and let me use his 4X12 kustom black tuck & roll cab. I gigged for several years with that rig. That Les Paul remained my #1 for many more years. I’ve bought and sold several Les Pauls and various other guitars since, but my standard will be with me forever. I play Strats more these days, but my Les Paul will always feel like home and inspire me to play at my best. Although I don’t get to play nearly as much as I use to, I still write and record music and it was this guitar that helped me realize my passion.