I was inpired by my father’s playing of the Beatles’ classic ’Norwegian Wood’ on guitar in my family’s kitchen early into my 3rd grade year. Guitar was too much a handful for me, so the folks went up in the attic and fetched me a baritone ukelele, which is basically a really big ukelele, or, if you like, a small guitar minus the bass ’E’ and ’A’ strings...plus it had nylon strings, making it easy to play! They learned me a slew of Beatles songs on that little axe.By the time I was nearing the end of my 4th grade year, I was so stricken with ’electric-guitaritus’ that I could scarcely think straight. We found one with an amp at Nashville Music co. in Green Hills for around $130.00, and it was decided that if I mowed lawns all summer long, I’d probably be able to afford it. It wasn’t very nice, but to me it was beautiful...sunburst finish with cutaways (horns, I called them). My Aunt Sheila sent me a Beatles Complete book of easy guitar arrangements of all their songs (which I still have and use to this day). A couple of years later, as I had nearly ’mastered’ this entire book, my guitar developed a short in its input jack and ceased to work...and I quit playing.This wasn’t too much a problem for me as I had another passion...guns. So I developed those skills by killing defenseless animals, digging foxholes, and generally preparing for our inevitable showdown with Communist Russia and China. I garnered some significant survival skills, but truth be told, I wish I’d spent that time playing scales, arpeggios, and chords instead.(Whew!...Are you as bored and tired of reading this as I am of writing it?...if not, then check back soon, as I will be adding much more, as time and energy avail themselves.)A couple of years past and I found myself glued to the fledgling MTV (which made short work of totally rotting my brain) and my exposure to Rush sealed the deal...I was going to resume my love affair with the guitar. I tried to cop moves and licks I was seeing in regular rotation on MTV, much of which was to no avail...like INXS’ ’The One Thing’...there’s some time I wish I could have back. I did manage to figure out the minimalist guitar solo on Madness’ ’Our House’ and a good portion of Dexy’s Midnight Runners’ ’Come on Eileen’
Another year past and whilst attending summer camp, I was cabinmates with a really good guitarist whose name now escapes me. This was a faith-based camp and I’ll never forget the plug being pulled on this guy twice during the commencement talent show...once during Van Halen’s ’Runnin’ With the Devil’ and again during Pat Benatar’s ’Hell is for Children’. This guy turned me on to a crude form of guitar tablature that enabled me to quickly learn three Rush solos that I’d previously only dreamed of being able to play...i.e. pretending to while gooning in the mirror with a tennis raquet.With this accomplishment under my belt, I began to feel pretty sure of myself and was lulled into believing that I just might be exceptional as a guitarist...until the day came when a fellow member of Seven Hills coaxed me into leaving the premises to go watch a friend rehearse with a band he was putting together...As we approached this ’casa de rehearsal’, I could hear this deafening roar coming through its walls. We entered and with a nod of acknowledgement from the guitarist, we pulled up a chair and proceeded to watch him and a drummer throw down on the rest of their song- a blues based rock anthem ad infinitum...I kid you not, it was so loud that the lights in the house were flashing with each crack of the snare.»-(¯..v..¯)-» Design your MySpace with MyLook «-(¯..v..¯)-«
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