First of all I want to make clear that the URL for this site, MasterGuitarists.com, is about Guitarists (plural) i.e. YOU, and not about ME.  A "master guitarist" is someone who can play the sounds they hear inside them.  Whether those sounds are complex jazz or a simple 3 chord song really makes no difference.  If you can play what you are hearing, then it's mission accomplished.

I recieved a $5 guitar from the Army PX in Ft. Rucker, Alabama for Christmas in 1969.  I was hooked from that moment on.  I mowed lawns that summer to acquire the funds to buy a $20 Hi-Lo electric guitar and a $25 Hi-Lo amp.  I rode my bike - with my guitar slung across my shoulder - to an old Army barracks in which an old chain smoking white haired lady taught about 8 of kids how to play some chords.  BTW, if anyone happens to know the name of that chain smoking old woman, I sure would like to know.

I spent a few years learning the songs of Simon & Garfunkel, Jim Croce, John Denver, Neil Young, CSN&Y, and a few pop tunes before venturing into the world of Blues, Texas Swing, Bluegrass, and Celtic music.  I picked up mandolin, then fiddle, then Dobro, then banjo, and finally piano. I also took a few lessons with jazz guitarist Jim Wells and Wilbur Savidge (who had recorded a Chet Atkins instructional album), and I had no idea how those lessons would start me down a path that would lead me to a lifetime of serious guitar study.

After a stint with an aerospace gig, I jumped into music full time playing first in a rock band up in Lake Tahoe, then in a country band in Texas (the movie Urban Cowboy had just been released and dance halls were springing up all over Texas).  During this time I was able to get a fair amount of study in at North Texas State University where I studied Jazz Guitar under Jack Petersen and Classical Guitar under Mike Harris.  I also learned a vast amount of jazz theory from Dan Haerle and Rich Matteson.  During these years if I was awake I was either practicing, gigging, or studying music.