Who are we?

Snags

@TheOtherDennis Ha! Fair cop, although I was going for a mash-up of Tenacious D and Devo, both slightly mangled to better fit the context.

It's art, darling

slacker

Chris. This will be very long...

One day in school in 1976 at the age of 14 being the only person in my family with no musical ability I was handed a guitar. I stuggled with the basic chords and when the lessons finished so did I.

In 1978 a friend lent me an Eko acoustic probably with a view to selling it to me. Having no money it went back at the end of the summer holidays.

Late 79 now working, I bought an acoustic and a cheap electric. I mainly played the acoustic until I got asked to form a band. On bass. I played bass in various failed bands during the 80s as well as learning acoustic and inherited an ovation custom balladeer which I still have and play most weeks.

I played a lot of gigs on bass for a singer songwriter in the late 80s. I played for another one in the early 90s and we did some good gigs mainly church youth groups, parties and a priso.

I played bass in two churches from 86 to 04. I had also picked up electric guitar again and decided that's what I wanted to do.

In 1997 I got my first serious electric guitar ahem rig. A Tex mex strat ts10 and a Korg ac15.

I struggled to learn the electric and got into harmony central where I interacted with like minded people.I started buying expensive pedals in 2000. Around this time I formed slacker as a one man studio project with a Tascam 244. I managed to persuade some friends for me and we played one gig a year until implosion in 04.

By  2004 I was playing guitar in slacker and bass in church, a youth choir, a covers band and depping for another. In July I broke my leg and was hospitalised. My covers band leader had hid how Ill he was and a mutual friend told me he had died of cancer.

I sold all my bass gear and spent the rest of 04, most of 05 and half of 06, playing electric guitar during spells of not working, in hospital or working part time. I was part of the harmony central get togethers and made some  good friends. They were as obsessed with pedals as I was and we bought sold shared and borrowed a lot of cool stuff.

In 06 I was asked to play guitar in church and did so until 13. In 07 I formed an improv jam band with two friends from harmony central, we were CS Muscated and Zhivago. We added another person in 08, did some covers gigs in 12 and petered out in 15. In still friends with them.

In that period I bought and sold a serious amount of gear.In 13 I joined and left a covers start up. Same again in 15. I also started to play acoustic in a small c of e church. 

Having not played electric for a while having played bass and upright bass in the covers version of the h.c. band and never found a right fit covers band I formed my own. I had a drummer through out 2016 and we jammed in the ahem music room with a Roland kit. Around this time I went to the Quad jam. 

I was seriously out of my depth and was shown a lot of patience and kindness. I don't like singling out people because its unfair on the others who were really good to me. But Big Jon did so much for my fragile ego in just one day. He encouraged me to play. He also custom made a lesson to teach me how to play over changes. This is after about 7 hours of singing and playing,

I found out yesterday that Jon had passed and didn't feel that I could post on the tribute thread so late. So the above paragraph is my tribute to a kind, generous and humble guy, who was a great musician.

I didt go to other jams until the water rats. I thoroughly enjoyed this day and again not wanting to single out anyone from a bunch of serously talented  players and more importantly great people here are some standouts...

I was astounded at how much Mark Blagdon and Ed/Darth81
Had improved their playing and singing in about a year. I was impressed with Broccos determination to overcome nerves and play a blinder on the cars track. I was also impressed with Munkee making me believe he was a seasoned band player on his first time out. 

Apologies for the gushing comments but in context I'm a borderline misanthrope so high praise indeed to all who attended quad and water rats,

Which gave me the confidence to form a covers band in 2018 which is now on hold due to Covid 19 which hopefully will be a very short chapter and not the last one. Stay in, safe and healthy.

thomasross20

Great thread (love "Tommy working the docks" lol....)

I'm Thomas. I'm 35 now and started when I was maybe 15 or so. I remember it vividly. I came home from school one day and the last half of "Sweet Child O' Mine" was playing on VH1 Classic. I was struck first by the music and second by the "rock" visual. Up until that point I had been a big gamer but literally the next day I got a £30 Argos nylon acoustic and haven't touched a game since. We weren't rich, so it took me a whole year to save up for my first electric (Yamaha Pacifica). In that time I'd picked and and ditched drums (too loud for our house) and started on classical but that didn't last long. Throughout my playing years I've been maybe 70% electric, 30% acoustic (other way round now!).

I've been on these forums for two decades. Intermusic / thecollective, musicradar, thefretboard. I used to take part in the online recording challenges which gave me about 50+ song ideas from which I picked in order to form part of an album I said I've been making for over a decade (other track ideas came from fretmeister, mentioned below). It will be disappointing to those who are good at mixing/mastering but the songs are musical and born out of pure passion, so I hope at least some like it. It was at one of these forum events (GASFEST) that I met @fretmeister - we played a song together on stage and decided we'd do an album! The next GASFEST event, we played one of our songs. The forum events have been great because you're all a great bunch of guys and it's amazing to get together to do something musical. We really should do more. I met @Guitar_Slinger and co multiple times over the years - even got the chance to work at IGF with him twice and meet Paul Gilbert etc. I even got my pic in Guitarist magazine one time (pic of me at GASFEST), which was cool. 

I'd say I'm a bedroom guitarist who has done a little bit of the band thing. Predominantly electric (I wanted to be the BEST in my youth and played for untold hours) but now switching to acoustic. It doesn't come naturally to me. Maybe I'd be better off doing something that DOES come naturally. But I love it and I work at it - anything worthwhile in life usually takes passion and perseverance. I am sometimes quoted as saying that if you play an instrument... you must be an ok person, because you HAVE to do it for the love of it. If you want to get into a band then it's tough to find a group of people who gel and will practice - gigs can be few and far in-between and not pay well, finishing up late and playing to punters who are drunk and only half-listening. Yep - you've got to do it for the love. I tried jazz and flemanco briefly, but realised they're a life's study and I plain prefer pop, rock and acoustic. I learned my theory. Re playing I've done a lot of bedroom playing, I attended the forum events, I'm writing an album, I've recently started doing more Youtube videos and I'm planning to maybe gig an acoustic set. I find acoustic to be a more complete "package" as opposed to electric, for which you really need a band. For this reason I've been taking singing lessons, but it's not my forte. Still, I'm trying! I also joined a band for 2-3 years, which was a really awesome time - but don't know if I could go through that effort again. I left around the time my wife was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Most people here know the story. My life hasn't been the same since (it was the best 10 years of my life), but I do not want to be one of those guys that stops playing for 10 years only to pick it up again later down the line and regret the lost years, so I'm trying to keep going with it. Link to my YoutTube, if interested: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYoGHPYFdUk9lqxrhc1h_6Q

During all this time I was lucky to get into uni as my grades suffered due to so much guitar playing. However I got into engineering and flourished - got a second degree and I'm now in a high position with a great company designing integrated circuits for automotive applications. It helps fund whatever I need, but I've never been a gear-head. Sometimes I get GAS pangs but I'm 100% a player and not a collector. All of this stuff going on in my life (especially work) genuinely has pushed back the "release" of this album I keep talking about, but since my wife's death, I've been working hard on it when I get the chance - it will be a life's achievement for me and no joke. I was up 6:30am this morning specifically to alter a guitar track on one. It's about getting up and just doing it. Not procrastinating. Not just talking about it then watching TV or going out socialising. I've always had this drive to at least try and achieve things in life which is probably why my social life is a bit hit and miss, as I'm constantly trying to be a more efficient person and get things done to the best of my abilities. I love waking up the next day and thinking "I actually did something worthwhile last night." 

So short-medium term goals for me are to release my album, do more YouTube videos and get better with the acoustic + singing thing. Music is one of the most important things in my life. It can be a solitary endeavour, though... which is why a social & musical forum like this is such a great thing. And why the meet-ups are even better. You get the social side but with musical people who you've been chatting to for years on a screen!

the_jaffa

Cookiemonster said:

the_jaffa said:ths

Cookiemonster said:

the_jaffa said:

I'm Matt,

In 1989 at the tender age of 14 I heard the Stone Roses for the first time and things changed. I went from dancing about with a tennis racket as a faux guitar to actually wanting to learn to play one so I could be as cool as John Squire.

I picked up my little sister's 3/4 nylon strung acoustic and started trying to work stuff out. I didn't even know how to tune a guitar so everything was on one string to start with. I "borrowed" a book from the school library that I still have and started to learn a bit more. Things like tuning, the pentatonic scale shape and how 12 bar blues work before getting a Hondo Les Paul copy for Christmas 1990.

From here I tried to learn more and listen to stuff to try to figure things out before starting a bit of a band in 6th Form. We played one gig in the bass player's living room for his brother's 18th birthday and that was it.

After that I flirted with a number of local bands but never went anywhere and before too long I was resigned to playing at home. I had a few lessons for a bit but they weren't great.

When I moved to University at 26 and from my own house into a student room guitars were not really playing big part of my life and were a big thing I could leave behind and save space. Eventually I sold my stuff off and that was that.

Fast forward to 2012 and somewhere I stumbled across Squier releasing their VM Jaguars and as I had always wanted a Jag after seeing John Squire with his (although I subsequently found out more about this) I went to buy one. Except I actually preferred the Jazzmaster and bought one of them instead. Plan was to just get that and twiddle really but ended up buying a Vox VT20+ too.

Anyway, through that I found myself really enjoying playing again and with the internet now being a thing started learning way more about playing, gear and music. Ended up going to a couple of jam nights and eventually got up enough courage to play at my local blues jam doing some improvs and some covers.

From there, my Squire obsession has developed and I now have a Gretsch Country Gent and a pink Strat, I've built my own copy of his Jaguar hybrid thing and am currently trying to build a replica of his splatter painted Hofner. I've got a silver face Vibrolux (should really be a Twin) and a pedalboard that pretty closely resembles his 89 set up. I regularly get to act out my homages at a local jam night and have even done a couple of proper gigs.

I'm far from amazing at the guitar, I lack any originality and I struggle on but I enjoy it and it's a fantastic distraction from real life. Once my kids are little bit older I will hopefully get something more proper going as a band which might even be a tribute band. Who knows.

Do you have photos of the Squire Jag ? Also what pedals are you using for his sound ?

@Cookiemonster ;
 
There's a thread from my new guitar day here:

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/83655/ngd-custom-build-jaguar-strat-hybrid-inspired-by-john-squires-original/p1

There's pics in there and a link to the build thread too.

Pedals wise, the main ones are a Fuzzface, TS9, CS9, BF2 and a DF2 (although that is pretty niche and only really for the feedback bits at the start of Standing Here). The main extra addition and pretty important to the overall sound is an Alesis Midiverb 2.

This is so cool. Love it. And what a great job you did on this.

 I thought I remembered it being a bass body or something on Squires is that right..

Thanks for the tips on the pedals, I think if I can see some cheaper boss pedals for sale I will try and get some of these. I have not had that many Boss pedals before, just DD3, Blues Driver and ME50

There’s a common misconception that the body was a Jazz Bass body but it was actually a Jaguar/Strat hybrid. I think it comes from a Jazz being the closest regular body around but if you look you’ll see it’s not right. The horns aren’t the right shape or proportion. 

TheOtherDennis

Snags said:

It's art, darling

TheOtherDennis

thomasross20 said:

 It doesn't come naturally to me.

Kin ell, you had me fooled, mate! I was there that first Gasfest and though I've never been a fan of the GnR tune you played, I instantly recognised how well you played it.

You can't have been more than about 16 or so at the time, surely? And you're not a 'natural'? Fuck me. How far off being a natural must I be????

aguirre

Hi, just entered my 60's. Like many on here I've had a very diverse musical history. I bought my first electric, a Japanese SG bass copy as a teenager with the proceeds from insurance money following a car crash. That stayed with me until I bought a Yamaha SB35, which I played in my first decent band, active in the late 70's Sheffield post punk scene. I drifted into mostly acoustic playing and following a head injury playing football with work mates, as part of my therapy, started lessons with a great player and teacher, Keith Hinchliffe ( a fine exponent of ragtime, blues and Carolan-celtic music.) I continued picking and strumming at home until I joined a couple of cover bands in my 50's.
  In the meantime, I'd been a highland bagpiper since a teenager (it was enroute to a rehearsal before a trip to play in Europe that I'd been in the car crash.) I still play the pipes, also scottish smallpipes with a set made by Colin Ross of Whitley Bay, the renowned Northumbrian pipemaker. My piping has taken me all over Europe and recently played in commemorations for the centenary of the Easter Rising in Dublin, the Battle of the Somme, the liberation of Beauvais and played on Sword Beach and at Pegasus Bridge at the official ceremonies last year. I also play in a folk group attached to the pipe band; I have a McIlroy acoustic and a tenor mandola made by Gary Nava
  My kids have all been musical and taken advantage of my varied collection. One of my lads is a great electric blues player. My daughter has used a number of my basses and guitars, including that early Yamaha bass which is now hers. She's played in a number of bands, including the Moonlandingz, Fat White Family and currently Working Mens Club.
 A quick Hi to Mark at Ashbourne.

thomasross20

TheOtherDennis said:

thomasross20 said:

 It doesn't come naturally to me.

Kin ell, you had me fooled, mate! I was there that first Gasfest and though I've never been a fan of the GnR tune you played, I instantly recognised how well you played it.

You can't have been more than about 16 or so at the time, surely? And you're not a 'natural'? Fuck me. How far off being a natural must I be????

Aw thank you, Dennis! I hope you're doing ok. I miss those GASFEST days - I look forward to more similar events in future. Maybe when I've cleared out a backlog of stuff in my life I can see about a Scottish-type event... we can get some whisky

rlw

Hi, I'm Richard

I fell in love with guitars and guitar music in the early sixties and discovered the blues at the same time.  I actually learned violin and then did the RCM exams up to age 11 then gave up on playing music.

My dad was a big fan of the crooners and when I changed schools and had to give up the violin he encouraged me to take up any instrument I liked, except the guitar.  Pop was a fad and wouldn't last long, not like Sinatra or Crosby, so he said. 

So I left it, as the only thing I wanted to play was guitar.  Briefly, I had a battered accoustic that my first wife bought to learn Leonard Cohen songs on, and I learned to play shuffles in open A and E, but that was it.

Following a traumatic burglary which made me look at what I was doing with my life, I bought an Epi dot from Macaris and, at the age of 62, started to learn seriously.

And bugger me, it's hard isn't it.  Not enough time, not enough talent, old brain and old hands all conspire to make playing the things bloody hard.

Five and a half years on, I've been through a string of guitars and have already sold some I should have kept forever.  The nicest Strat - a Highway 1; the nicest Tele - a blue Baja: a lovely PRS CE24 and, believe it or not, a 2015 Les Paul Standard.

And I should never have sold that Blue Flowers Princeton...............

With the lockdown, I've got a bit more time so I'll see what gives but I'm pretty disappointed with my progress over the years so I'll be using the time to see whether I persist or just give up.

Musically, my faves are EC, BB, Robert Johnson, Hank Williams, Bob Wills and Joni Mitchell. And Joe Ely.

Fez

Martin the nick name Fez comes from an instructor in the apprentice school who said I looked like a ferret the name stuck but got abbreviated.
I am 60 now so early influences were the Beatles and other beat groups of the era. 

One end of term somewhere round 72 a lad brought his electric guitar in and asked the teacher if he could set up and play. This teacher was really cool and could play so he played Ghost riders in the sky. Around this time Slade and Trex were all happening so guitar was cool and I had to get in on this. I got a cheap acoustic and had some folk lessons which got me going. Then I went to another more pop guy who wasn't that great. Then I was lucky enough to some lessons with Eric Haydock from the Hollies. 
I know I wasn't a great player but I am bloody minded so I just kept playing.

Played in a couple of reasonable metal bands in the late 80s early 90s. Got married 88 kids in the early nineties still played at home even jammed a bit.

98 changed job and by 99 moved the family from Stockport to Crawley West Sussex. Played in church for about 6yrs the formed Borrowed Time and we are still going 10yrs on. 

I love live music and playing live with a band is the best fun you can have with your clothes on.

Mainly a strat man but also have a Gordon Smith an epi Les Paul and a PRS SE amps are Marshall, Blackstar and Jet City.

This forum has been great and I like to think of the members as friends.

MtB

Being a child of the early 60’s I’ve always loved guitar based music, and more specifically rock music. Growing up, I often 
thought about playing guitar, but it was never more than a passing thought.

I first picked up a guitar when I was 40 years old. I was visiting friends, and they had a Strat copy lying around. I was shown how to play a few basic chords. I was hooked!

My first guitar was bought in 2001, an Encore strat copy. It was set up poorly from new. I took it to Coda Music (then in Luton) and their tech set it up properly. I then played it a lot, and to this day I haven’t touched the setup on it! I keep it as a reminder of where I started.

Since then I’ve owned 50+ guitars, 20 amps (6 of which I’ve built), and have made 50 odd drive/distortion/fuzz/effects pedals.

I booked a guitar lesson once, but when I arrived at the tutor’s house I was met with “Oh, really sorry mate but I’ve just agreed to dep tonight for a mate’s band, so I can’t do the lesson.” And since then I’ve just muddled my way along using books.

 In various places of work over the years I’ve had conversations with colleagues and been surprised at the number of bedroom guitarist there are out there. And it was one such conversation that led to a jam session with a couple of friends from work. We did this once every couple of months over a period of about 4 years – until it got a bit boring.

Fast forward 4 years to 2015, another workplace and another chance conversation about guitar playing, and I'm in a 5 piece band - 3 guitars, bass and drums. And it’s been like this for 5 years now. As someone earlier in this thread commented, it’s not a serious band but we meet up once or twice a month for a studio jam. We play songs that we all like, we have a laugh, we share our lives and we share music, and that’s enough for me.

I also took part in the Water Rats session in 2019, and met a load of great guys, and would like to do that again if possible, once this pandemic is over.

p90fool

chris78 said:

p90fool said:

Then lived in Paris and Cologne for a while before moving back to Wales to start building choppers out of old Brit bikes and then mainly Harleys. Threw the Strat under the bed for eight years and stopped playing completely. 

I know this is a guitar forum but you can’t possibly post that and not throw a couple of bike shots in

Haha ok @chris78 , here are three pics of me from the 1980s and one of my current silly bikes.

thomasross20

Super cool!!

WiresDreamDisasters

I'm Drew. I've worked in music software since 2008. I've been at the same company since I first started, starting off as a tech support and QA bod, then becoming the QA manager, then technical support manager got added to that, and now I'm a full-time audio engineer, content developer, and product owner. Product owner means I hold the reins in terms of product direction and that's a role that will be expanding for me over the coming year or so.

Alongside all that I've been in the same band since 2008 too. Our website is www.bridgedisaster.co.uk - I bleat on about us every chance I get. We've had some small successes, and some great gigs over the gigs, with album sales and merch and what not, but fundamentally this band has cost me a lot of money over the years, lol.

I love music. I love playing guitar, bass, drums. I love singing and playing keyboards too. I have several ambient albums out there in the world, one which I actually made £90 off (w00h000!!) and managed to buy a KFC with the proceeds.

I started making glitch, idm, trance, house, and drum and bass in my bedroom as a 14 year old. I religiously bought Future Music and Computer Music, and absorbed as much information as I could. I miss those years.

I moved to London in 2004 to study for a BA in Sonic Arts at Middlesex University. I spent a lot of time smoking weed and learning guitar. 

This shit is basically what I live for. But it's getting harder and harder to keep my head clear enough to truly focus and love and appreciate it. I need a holiday.

Hattigol

This did make me chuckle.....did it really happen by chance? 

http://imgur.com/gallery/PycV4UV

thegummy

WiresDreamDisasters said:

I love music. I love playing guitar, bass, drums. I love singing and playing keyboards too. I have several ambient albums out there in the world, one which I actually made £90 off (w00h000!!) and managed to buy a KFC with the proceeds.

Which branch did you choose to buy?

WiresDreamDisasters

thegummy said:

WiresDreamDisasters said:

I love music. I love playing guitar, bass, drums. I love singing and playing keyboards too. I have several ambient albums out there in the world, one which I actually made £90 off (w00h000!!) and managed to buy a KFC with the proceeds.

Which branch did you choose to buy?

Kentucky Fried Cat in Wood Green.

thegummy

WiresDreamDisasters said:

thegummy said:

WiresDreamDisasters said:

I love music. I love playing guitar, bass, drums. I love singing and playing keyboards too. I have several ambient albums out there in the world, one which I actually made £90 off (w00h000!!) and managed to buy a KFC with the proceeds.

Which branch did you choose to buy?

Kentucky Fried Cat in Wood Green.

Good place - big fan of their zinger meower burger 

DrJazzTap

I'm Dave, I'm turning 40 this year, I've been playing since I was 13. Started off playing violin then moved onto classical guitar, then I wanted to play Nirvana etc

After seconday school I went to college to do a Btec in pop music. I couldnt quite figure out how to move the music thing onwards afterwards and university debt scared the shit out of me. I wanted a secure stable income (if such a thing exists). I then spent 12 years working for a fleet company, and went off and did odds and sods in admin (metal industry/catering equipment) afterwards. 

I audtioned for a few covers bands (but changed my mind after I had an offer). I've always wanted to play my own music (not because I think it's epic or anything like that, purely as a creative outlet). About 15 years ago I formed a 8 piece hip hop/funk band we played a few gigs in the south west etc. That sparked off my guitar playing interest again. The guitar for me has always been a hobby pursuit, despite friends telling me I should be doing it for a living etc etc. I always felt it was like the kid who is good at football.

I was in a particularly toxic relationship for a number of years, she prohibited me from playing in bands or doing anything that wasn't involved with her. I ended up quitting Kung Fu and I sold the vast majority of my guitar gear to keep her happy/pay for everything. In the end I had blown all of my savings.

After that episode had passed, I went a bit crazy and ended up buying a shed load of guitars. My partner now is incredibly supportive and is one of the people telling me I should be doing something music wise.

Around two years ago I meet up with all my old band mates (first time we had seen each other in 10 years). We agreed to definitely meet up and do something (even if it was just jamming in a practice room).

A few months back the bassist noted that we had met up.....13 months ago and he had booked a practice room. Since about September/October last year we have been trying to meet up every two weeks to work on original material.

The best thing about it all, is being reminded how inconsequential guitar gear is to non guitarists. I asked after the first couple of practices whether or not the PRS sounded better than the Strat. The drummer and bassist couldn't really give a shit. 

This corona virus lockdown has taught me that when this is all over, I do need to get out and join some more bands and go out and enjoy life a bit more. I don't need any more guitars, I don't lust after anything i could do with a new guitar amp. A rockerverb is on the horizon once this is over.