About Me

Yikes... What am I to say.

Music

Well, guitaristicly speaking, I have been playing for quite a while. To be more precise, I'd have to say I've been playing around 26 years begining at the age of 16. I'm extremely fortunate to be able to say that for the later 20 years I've been able to make a living in the music business teaching and playing guitar. If you understand the dynamics of the music business I believe I can safely say this is no small feat.

Begining at 16, I received guitar lessons from two local teachers in the Redlands area. My first guitar teacher was Jim Walker. Not only was Jim a great player and teacher, he was adept in figuring out songs from listening to them on the fly. I'll never forget the first time I saw Jim figure out a song right in front of me. Not only was this inconceivable to me based upon what I knew but it left a mark upon me forever having me ponder what made music tick. Next, I studied with Colgan Bryan at a music store in Redlands known as Caleb's Guitar. Colgan was great at figuring out and transcribing songs. Based upon watching Colgan work I was able to get a better grasp on figuring out and transcribing songs which helped lead to the development of my musical ear.

Alrighty, I am 18 now and off to college. I attended the University of Redlands for the entire duration of my undergraduate degree. I received a Bachelor of Arts in Music and a minor in Business. Believe it or not, I started off as an Engineering major, shifted my major to Business, then as my passion for music kept growing, I "evolved" into the music department. This is where I met and studied under Jody Fisher. Boy was this ever a treat. I cannot say enough to express the gratitude I have for studying under Jody. His methodology in teaching and manner in which he plays changed me forever. Without fear, I could say I wanted to teach and play guitar for the rest of my life.

Now out of college, I landed my first teaching job at Alta Loma Music. Then, as dreams come true, I was asked to teach at Caleb's Guitar in Redlands. This was the gig of a lifetime for me at that time. Because of that, I taught out of Caleb's Guitar exclusively for seven years. However, in order to expand business opportunities, I merged my business into Music Lessons Central from the time Music Lessons Central began.

Not only was I teaching guitar after I graduated from college but I played in a variety of casual band settings, performed solo jazz guitar gigs and played in what I considered to be an excellent rock band called Hattrick. Check out my photos section for some fun Hattrick pics. :) I also taught for the National Guitar Workshop for 13 years teaching their advanced rock courses at a variety of their locations throught the U.S. and Canada. I have performed live with well known rock guitarists such as John Petrucci, Paul Gilbert and Alex Skolnik. I have also taught for Guitar Workshop Plus in Canada for a couple of years.

My favorite part about music is composition and arranging. There's nothing more thrilling than manipulating a music system to express your personal thoughts, feelings, and ideas. I have written proximately 60-70 songs, mostly instrumental, for the guitar, bass, and drums. In addition, I have arranged a variety of traditional jazz standards into something a little more, (how shall one put it) "high energy". :)

Finally, after completeing law school (I'll talk about later) I plan to get back into playing in another rock 'n roll band and record and write more music. Man, I miss playing live and recording music something fierce.

Equipment:


Computer Programming and Web Development

In regards to computer programming and web develpment I am self-trained. How this area of my life came about is that I purchased a computer with the intention of recording music benefitting from the unlimited restraints of a digital audio workstation (DAW). Well, I got connected to the internet for the first time via modem (what a whacky sound that was) and became instantly hooked. I started getting videos (yes VHS back then), books and anything I could get my hands on in regards to the topic. It was common for me to spend 10-15 hours a day in front of the screen researching, developing apps and experimenting with technology. I don't know how many times I had to format my computer due to "tinkering" with my operating system wondering what this or that did. LOL What helped perpetuate my interest was that I primarily developed applications around areas of interest to me primarily in the area of audio. Such apps included a web application which allowed users to construct their own custom audio playlists, content management systems for online audio libraries and CD/DVD burning applications for Windows operating systems. These were all a lot of fun as well as quite challenging to build. After becoming fundamentally competent as a programmer I started to accepting clients whose needs ranged from a mere web presence to companies which required custom online content management systems.

So there you have it. If you're interestsed in hiring me as a developer, consultant or just have general inquiries, please contact me at my contact page.

So what can I say about the school of hard knocks in regards to computer programming and web development? It's a long road but you never forget the lessons learned.


Law

What the heck's up with this law stuff? Well, for the past 3 1/2 years I have been enrolled in law school at California Southern Law School with the intent of becoming an attorney. I am presently begining my last semester and will be taking the California State Bar in July of 2010. There has been no experience so great as to compare to my experience in law school. I have been challenged mentally, emotionally and physically greater than any experience that has come to pass before me. I started as ignorant as any beginner would be in the area of the law however I leave with a sense of accomplishment and fullfilment like no other. As a consequence of this endeavor, I plan to contribute my abilities in areas which will benefit individuals and society as a whole and hopefully inspire others to put forth their full effort in accepting new, inspiring or doubt encumbered challenges that may come before them.

Possible new legislation to put before our legislature... No taxes for classically trained musicians. What do you think? :)