Yikes... What am I to say.
Music
Well, guitaristicly speaking, I have been playing for quite a while.
To be more precise, I'd have to say I've been playing around 26
years begining at the age of 16. I'm extremely fortunate to be able
to say that for the later 20 years I've been able to make a living
in the music business teaching and playing guitar. If you understand
the dynamics of the music business I believe I can safely say this
is no small feat.
Begining at 16, I received guitar
lessons from two local teachers in the Redlands area. My first guitar
teacher was Jim Walker. Not only was Jim a great player and teacher,
he was adept in figuring out songs from listening to them on the
fly. I'll never forget the first time I saw Jim figure out a song
right in front of me. Not only was this inconceivable to me based
upon what I knew but it left a mark upon me forever having me ponder
what made music tick. Next, I studied with Colgan Bryan at a music
store in Redlands known as Caleb's Guitar. Colgan was great at figuring
out and transcribing songs. Based upon watching Colgan work I was
able to get a better grasp on figuring out and transcribing songs
which helped lead to the development of my musical ear.
Alrighty, I am 18 now and off to
college. I attended the University of Redlands for the entire duration
of my undergraduate degree. I received a Bachelor of Arts in Music
and a minor in Business. Believe it or not, I started off as an
Engineering major, shifted my major to Business, then as my passion
for music kept growing, I "evolved" into the music department.
This is where I met and studied under Jody Fisher. Boy was this
ever a treat. I cannot say enough to express the gratitude I have
for studying under Jody. His methodology in teaching and manner
in which he plays changed me forever. Without fear, I could say
I wanted to teach and play guitar for the rest of my life.
Now out of college, I landed my
first teaching job at Alta Loma Music. Then, as dreams come true,
I was asked to teach at Caleb's Guitar in Redlands. This was the
gig of a lifetime for me at that time. Because of
that, I taught out of Caleb's Guitar exclusively for seven years.
However, in order to expand business opportunities, I merged my
business into Music Lessons Central from the time Music Lessons
Central began.
Not only was I teaching guitar after
I graduated from college but I played in a variety of casual band
settings, performed solo jazz guitar gigs and played in what I considered
to be an excellent rock band called Hattrick. Check out my photos
section for some fun Hattrick pics. :) I also taught for the National
Guitar Workshop for 13 years teaching their advanced rock courses
at a variety of their locations throught the U.S. and Canada. I
have performed live with well known rock guitarists such as John
Petrucci, Paul Gilbert and Alex Skolnik. I have also taught for
Guitar Workshop Plus in Canada for a couple of years.
My favorite part about music is
composition and arranging. There's nothing more thrilling than manipulating
a music system to express your personal thoughts, feelings, and
ideas. I have written proximately 60-70 songs, mostly instrumental,
for the guitar, bass, and drums. In addition, I have arranged a
variety of traditional jazz standards into something a little more,
(how shall one put it) "high energy". :)
Finally, after completeing law school
(I'll talk about later) I plan to get back into playing in another
rock 'n roll band and record and write more music. Man, I miss playing
live and recording music something fierce.
Equipment:
Ibanez Universe 7 String Guitar
Mesa Boogie Triaxis
Mesa Boogie Simul-Class 2:90
TC Electronic G-Force
Sonar Producer |
