My Guitar Journey

Originally attracted to classical guitar, I was a finger-picker from the beginning. Pieces such as Malagueña and Romance de Amour were amongst the first musical works that I learned. Then, on my thirteenth birthday, my oldest brother gave me Al Petteway’s guitar book, “Celtic Blues and Beyond”. Although far too advanced for me at the time, I became intoxicated by his playing and his mix of blues, Celtic, and country styles. This combination proved influential in my later musical journey as I eventually moved into Old-time on the banjo, Irish on the fiddle, and delta-blues on the guitar. Over the next decade I would learn each piece in the book. Of course, I also studied 90’s alternative rock chords to try and impress my friends and to play the songs that I listened to on the radio.

During high school I took lessons with jazz guitarist Tom Conley (performance name is MAST). From him I learned how to practice, the importance of scales and theory, and how to go slow to go fast. He introduced me to the playing of B.B. King and Stevie Ray Vaughan. (I vividly remember listening to B.B. King’s “Best of” album and thinking that I’d never listen to anything other than the blues again.)