I have intense and varied interests in Music. I like everything from Scottish folk music to Heavy Metal, with an emphasis on classic rock in-between. I also play music.
 
    I started playing trumpet in sixth grade. I did well, skipping intermediate band and going straight from beginners to advanced. I continued on into High School, where I was in both concert and marching bands. I did well with trumpet, had a great time, and highly endorse it. But the music which most people know me for is guitar.
 
    I started guitar about when I started High School. My Dad had bought a classical acoustic guitar while he was in the Army. He never learned to play it, but said that if I learned how to, it was mine. Some of my friends in Scouts played, so I decided to play some.
    I spent up until my sophomore year mostly just picking things out on my own. Then, during my sophomore year, I got turned onto the Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel... by my Dad's record collection . Then my High School got an internet connection, which I was the first person registered to use, and I was always on it getting lyrics.
    I got a few lyrics sheets which had the chords over the words. I started fiddling around with chords. First I learned the chords to "Carolina on my Mind", and then another song, and then another... until I knew lots of chords.
    At this point, my family had an internet connection. I was getting tabs & chords off the internet as fast as I could, and learning a lot. I put them into notebooks. Now I have about ten three ring binders FULL. I started fingerpicking and improving greatly.
    By my junior year, people who knew anything about me knew that I played guitar. I got involved in Drama, and when they found out I could play, they marked me for it. I transcribed and played guitar accompaniment for some of my Drama friends as they sang a farewell song at their senior awards ceremony.
    My senior year I was given the part of the band for "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". I sat at the corner of the stage for 45 minutes putting out a constant stream of music from my head. Fingerpicking, chords.... I brought my guitar to school just about everyday that year, always lugging all my heavy notebooks along.
    During bombthreats I would play. I joined a band (now Blank Mask, formerly Joe, Russ and the Funmakers) and we'd play. During certain classes I would play. During lunch I would play.... People knew me for guitar.
    Now I'm at college. I don't get as much time to play as I would like, but I do keep up with it, and am a regular at dorm talent shows and such. I got a very fine electric guitar as my graduation present, and I enjoy it greatly. The Band still gets together when we can, but we're rarely in town at the same time. We played a gig at the Brewery in Raleigh. That was good. I doubt I'll ever make a mint with guitar, but I will enjoy it for the rest of my life.
    Would you like to see some links to some good music sites?

    How about some good music related pictures?
           Tom Petty
           The Byrds
           The Byrds again
           The Tannahill Weavers
           John Lennon
           Bob Dylan

Would you like to scamper back to my Hobbies?
                                                  or my A&E?