Artist description 5'9 190lbs Blonde Hair Blue Eyes Last seen wearing jeans and a T-Shirt, known to associate with unsavory charecters in the California area.

Music Style Instrumental Rock

Musical Influences Mozart to Beetles to Van Halen to Pantera to everything I come into contact with.

Similar Artists Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai

Artist History I was born on November 9th 1972. While growing up I was constantly surrounded by music. My mother played piano and organ and gave lessons on both. At a very young age I was given piano lessons but was less than enthusiastic about pursuing the instrument. I became extremely bored with learning the basics and playing songs like Mary had a Little Lamb, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star etc. etc. I went through the lesson books at one a week and usually by the time I played for a few weeks I would give up. The next musical endeavor would be the saxophone, which I seemed to be pretty good at, but again the instrument failed to keep my interest and, depite a great teacher with an incredible background, after about 6 months I gave that up too. By the time I reached the age of 12 my musical taste ran to Heavy Metal and I admired bands like Van Halen, Motley Crue, Ratt, W.A.S.P. and Twisted Sister. That was when I decided that the time was right for me to try out a new instrument, the guitar. My first guitar was an odd-shaped Peavey, which was, of course, the coolest thing ever. Over the next two years I would take lessons from a jazz guitarist, a blues guitarist and the guy all my friends went to. I learned quickly and absorbed everything my teachers had to teach but eventually they ran out of material and wasn't being taught what I really wanted to learn... I wanted to make my own music. Finally my last teacher, unable to help me with my ultimate goal referred me to another teacher. Of course, I had little faith in teachers at that point, being 14 and all so I taught myself by ear for awhile, reluctant to be disappointed by another teacher until a friend of mine turned me on to the incredible guitar playing of Yngwie Malmsteen. Up to that point I had been able to imitate every other guitar player I heard so Yngwie gave me a real challenge. I tried to figure out some of the passages on my own but I couldn't pull off anything except for the slower licks. I needed a teacher. Finally I called the number my last teacher had given me. The first thing I asked the teacher was, "can you teach me how to play like Yngwie?" He answer was a disappointing "no." He told me that wasn't the style of music that he was into but he know someone that could teach me exactly what I wanted to learn, a guy who could take my meager skills and talent to the next level. His name was Bill Decker. At my first lesson Bill played a simple rhythm and asked me to play to it. I did and he then asked me what I wanted to learn. I told him I wanted to play like Yngwie and he responded with "so you want to learn speed picking and sweep arpeggios huh?" I said "sweep what?" I had never heard of a sweep arpeggio and knew nothing about speed picking. Bill showed me some exercises on speed picking and then showed me an A minor arpeggio. I went home and practiced these two new things until my fingers bled. I returned to Bill the next week and played the drill and the arpeggio for him and felt proud at the reaction he gave me. He simply said "that is phenomenal! I can't believe you picked that up so quick!" I stayed with Bill for the next three years and he taught me everything I wanted to learn. I was constantly drilled on scales and was given a sheet of scale formulas that I deciphered with a passion. At the same time all this was happening my life at home was less than a happy one. Whenever my mother and step-father engaged in another of their constant arguments I would simply go to my room, crank up my amp and play for hours on end. Music was my escape from what was a mental hell for me. Most of my weekends were devoted to my music. I remember often times on weekend days I would lock myself in my room at about nine in the morning and only leave to go to the bathroom. By the time I was done playing it would be ten at night and I would wonder where the day went. I went on like this for years. At the age of sixteen my guitar teacher entered me into a guitar competition that was open to those who were considered the best in the Bay Area. I was the youngest kid there and although my I had a huge ego about my guitar playing prowess, I was doubtful about competing against guys twice my age. There was a large panel of judges that ranged from radio staion dj's to recording studio managers and music store owners. I was scheduled to play dead last and heard some incredible guitar playing as I waited. I went up in the face of a sea of smirking faces, as nervous as I have ever been and played my solo. At the end of my solo the sea of smirks had become an ocean of smiling faces shouting for more. The M.C. came back with the judges results and told the raucus crowd that there was a tie and that they would have the opportunity to hear some more guitar playing. I was really excited that I would be able to play for the audience again and volunteered to play first in the play-off. While I was backstage I got a lot of advice form fellow players in the competition and decided that I needed to play something slower and more melodic to really accent my abilities. I started off with a slow Bach melody that I often played when I was down. The audience and judges seemed to be pretty into it, and I really wanted to stick the ending so I dug around in my bag of tricks and played a thunderous array of lightening fast runs and arpeggios with one hand. When I left the stage to the audience was roaring. When I passed my 28-year-old competitor on his way out all he said was, "you're not going to make this easy are you?" I just grinned. When it was all said and done I won the contest and collected my five hundred dollar prize. That was the highlight of my musical pursuits. From there it all seemed to go downhill. I was offered a spot in a band that had a contract with MCA Records. Unfortunately they practiced an hour away from where I lived so I was unable to join the band. I had also been talking with a producer was initially interested in signing me to a deal on an independent label but backed out. So I said screw it and went on to play football and engage in normal teenager social activities with my peers that didn't allow for much time to do anything with my music. I would play my guitar once in awhile as a leisure activity and did little with my ablilities until recently. I recently bought a computer and a couple of programs that allow me to make up my own music and even burn my own CD's. I don't know if this will ever turn into anything more than a hobby for me but to be honest I could care less as long as I am able to create my true passion... MUSIC. Though I am still not up to the technical level that I once was it is slowly coming back to me as I learn how to use my new toys. I guess the rest of my story will write itself with time...

Group Members Me myself and I.

Instruments Guitar, Bass Guitar

Albums Auspicious Instrumentals

Location Sacramento, CA - USA

Copyright notice. All material on MP3.com is protected by copyright law and by international treaties. You may download this material and make reasonable number of copies of this material only for your own personal use. You may not otherwise reproduce, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, or create derivative works of this material, unless authorized by the appropriate copyright owner(s).