How long have you been playing guitar?
since september of 2000. not long.
Do you remember the first song you learned?
willingly? it was...Like Clay by LaRue. but the first song i actually learned was "rockin robin", selected by my guitar teacher. just a little history for you, and i can change the subject because...its my web site =) i taught myself for 6 months, and then got a teacher. after 5 months i realized i was learning nothing and i was actually teaching her, so then i went back to teaching myself. i'm not even joking. i remember one lesson when she looked at the guitar book and said "i don't understand what we're supposed to do. do you?" and i think that was my last lesson. i learned nothing from her, so i consider myself self-taught.
Do you remember the first chord you learned?
C. i remember because it was my 16th birthday. i was bored and i, for some reason, remembered my dad had some guitars in his closet. and i said "hey dad, i'm bored, i want to play with one of those." and he said "ok." so he tuned up one, and i took it to my room and he also gave me a chord book. and i played C. and my fingers really hurt after that because it was hard, and so i quit. and then 6 months later, september of 2000, i made him give it to me again and i never gave it back. until he took it back, because he got me my own. =)
What made you decide to learn the guitar?
well, i dont really know. i just really love music, and i wanted to let it out. or something. i wanted to play some sort of instrument, and bagpipes were out of the question because i didnt have any idea where to find anyone to teach me how to play that. or a bagpipe for that matter.
What kind of guitar(s) do you own?
i'm so glad i asked. i learned how to play on pedro. a 6-string acoustic gibson, my dad says he got that in either the late 60's or early 70's and it has this really cool brown case. kind of looked like some kind of animal skin. and then for my 18th birthday my parents totally surprised me and got me my very own...chico. he's a 6-string acoustic MARTIN. wow, nice guitar. and he lives in a black case with a furry green inside. pretty chico. i thought i was getting him for a graduation present, but then my parents totally surprised me. they told me to go into their bedroom, i'm like "cool, a nice case for the guitar i get for graduation." and then i opened it and there was a guitar inside.
i love telling that story.
What is your favorite guitar brand?
well for acoustic i LOVE taylors and martins. especially mine. and for electric i like fenders and ibanez.
Do you play any other instruments?
i took piano lessons for 4 and a half years when i was little. i know enough to be able to play if i want to. i just dont want to. actually that's not totally true. there are times when i want to play something pretty. but instead i just gaze longingly at the keyboard, wishing i could. i know basic stuff. but i don't remember enough to just sit down and play a song.
and my friend chris taught me a new beat every time we were around drums my senior year of high school. but now i'm at college and i don't have any drummer friends to teach me. which is really sad because drums are a lot of fun. really fun.
Do you have any advice for beginner guitarists?
yeah. dont rush. when people first start learning they want to know how to play everything at once, so they rush and dont learn the basics. if you just start out slow with some basic chords and theory, you'll be a better player. if you start out learning songs, its my opinion based on observing others, that you wont be as good as someone who started out learning basic stuff first. and by slow...its not really that slow. you can learn basic stuff pretty quickly, and be playing almost anything you want before you know it.
Favorite Song to play:
i'm not really sure. i'm trying to learn some pretty switchfoot songs right now. let that be enough. lovely. and also some of the really cool praise songs i hear in nashville. mmm.
Favorite Guitarist:
there are a bunch of good ones. SHANE BARNARD. me. you. if i could have just one lesson from shane barnard...wow. maybe that's not a good idea. i'd probably spend the whole lesson saying "do that again shane!" and i'd never actually learn anything.
Musical Influences:
none really. i listen to everything but country. and i like to play anything i listen to.
Musical Inspiration:
i get song ideas from everything. just sitting around thinking about weird stuff. and Jeeeeesus. you know, i've never actually finished a song. i always get halfway through and decide it's no good. just call me perfectionist.
Random comments?
Yeah.
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