By looking at Serge's influences, it's hard to believe that he had begun his musical journey by becoming interested in KISS. While an art student, his interest was in the study of anatomy for comic books, and was drawn to the fantasy aspects of KISS. When asked if he would like to join a band, he responded that he didn't know how to play an instrument, but did have a guitar that he had received from his grandfather that sat in the basement for 10 years. Little did he know that he would be spending much of his literal life practicing/playing guitar!Having started playing in 1977 at the late age of 17, he theorized that he needed to increase his practice schedule in order to make up for lost time. Within three years he was playing in the clubs of New York and New Jersey with the band Sweet Revenge. During this time period he also had the opportunity to do studio work and was hired to play in other bands for concerts.After Sweet Revenge, he embarked on his now "legendary" practice regime that would have him practicing from 12-16 hours a day. During this time he was fortunate to study with the fingerstyle genius Howard Morgen and started to break up his schedule into pick and fingerstyle segments. His determined approach and discipline created a strong buzz in the local guitar community as someone to be studying with. His teaching method contributed to many local musicians who would go onto bigger things. His students include many full time teachers, and performers who appear on Jay Leno, Howard Stern, MTV, major labels, movie soundtracks and other high profile venues.In the late 1980's he was playing in bands that were influenced by Mahavishnu Orchestra, Alan Holdsworth and Pat Metheny. This included stints where he was playing a Yamaha G-10 guitar synth in addition to his hollow body guitars.After hearing the Köln Concert by Keith Jarrett, he became interested in what he calls "pure improvisation". Sitting down and creating on the spot a musical piece - eschewing many of the standardized clichés of contemporary music. No longer limited by set chord changes and rhythms, he was free to pursue his ideas on the fly. Ever the perfectionist and never happy with the recording process, he strives to try and capture the magic moments that arise when everything falls in place while playing a contrapuntal piece.His main guitars are a 2000 Ramirez 2CWE and a 1978 Guild X175 arch top.He has the manuscript of one instructional book finished and is conceptualizing a second book that explains his approach to "pure improvisation".(Layout provided by Mike Industries .)
