I watched The Beatles first American performance on The Ed Sullivan Show, and had my first guitar 2 weeks later. I took instruction from a teacher. It taught me what NOT to do for my students. I wanted to play George Harrison guitar parts. He sent me home with a songbook so I could practice a song called ‘The Old Gray Goose’. I didn't go back. That is when I took on the attitude of a musical explorer and determined I would learn everything possible from every source I could find. After that I...
I watched The Beatles first American performance on The Ed Sullivan Show, and had my first guitar 2 weeks later. I took instruction from a teacher. It taught me what NOT to do for my students. I wanted to play George Harrison guitar parts. He sent me home with a songbook so I could practice a song called ‘The Old Gray Goose’. I didn't go back. That is when I took on the attitude of a musical explorer and determined I would learn everything possible from every source I could find. After that I was either band leader or a member of 18 different bands, from; rock, to R&B, to Blues, Funk, and jazz. That caused me to incorporate a lot of those styles, plus Spanish, Latin, and classical musical influences in my writing.
I have copyrighted over 150 songs over the years, and, with my bands, opened for some of the most popular world class bands, like the Byrds, Poco, Doctor Hook, Pure Prairie League, and others. All in all, my experiences, instrumentally, musically, and professionally have given me the insight needed to provide a new guitar student with the best, intuitively taught and learned, tools and techniques, so they can become great players quickly. There is of course, a basic framework in regard to learning how to adapt in any musical environment, i.e., understanding what is necessary to play from chord charts, etc. Leo Kottke is the best guitarist I have ever known. I used to love asking big name musicians one question; ‘What is the most important thing to you?’ I got every answer you could imagine, from, ‘my kids’, to ‘party, party, party’, to ‘making sure the management has the next tour and album lined up’. However, Leo’s answer has always stuck with me and so, I took it for my own. He said, ‘To get better and better at the guitar every single day’, and at the time he was considered one of the best guitar players in the world and already had 15 albums produced! You never know where your talent might take you, and I would like nothing better than to help that effort all I can! Contact me!
