my musical life story - drsoda
34 and counting
Guess if I look right back, I have to blame my mother (like norman bates, but less 'stabby') - at a very early age, I was exposed to pink floyd, black sabbath (dio era, she wasn't too keen on ozzy), david bowie, jeff wayne's war of the worlds musical, beatles.. i was put on a path that would never identify with the mainstream of the early 80's.
My first cassette i bought with my own money was angel dust (faith no more), and I was listening to worn out dubbed versions of master of puppets and appetite for destruction, when i read in an old guitar mag that kirk hammett was classically trained and that's what influenced his legato solos and composition. I asked for a classical guitar, and for that birthday, got my first guitar (nylon no-brander, still have it and play it all the time). I had no concept of tuning, no lessons, and quickly grew frustrated at my lack of progress.
Then nirvana appears, and everyone can play guitar, gone were the technical runs of satriani and pre-black album metallica, it seemed if you had some basic idea and an electric with at least two or three strings, you could bash out a hit.
I was inspired again, worked at a local music shop (work experience), and bought my first electric, a "Legend" pack, which, for $100, gave me a worn black copy of a copy strat, and an amp that if turned above 2 farted so loud it would scare the dog out of the room. of course, i was in grunge heaven.
I locked myself in the bathroom, amp on the floor and me standing up on the toilet seat, and cranked that amp and guitar until the amp speaker gave up. again, i had no clue about 'tuning' or 'changing strings' - and, disappointed that my electric sound had died, put the steel strings from that guitar onto my nylon.
I moved out of home, sold the amp and electric for about $10, and my nylon had a wicked concave bend on the neck. the action was really high so i tried slide, which sounded like two cats fighting. the guitar went into the cupboard. the first cd I bought was the downward spiral - which up to that post-grunge era of sound, was the first time i'd really identified to music. another 8 years came and went. i eventually moved home and moved again, and, in doing so, found a rather beaten nylon string. having a better appreciation of guitar, i sought knowledge on restoration, so i could bring it back to life.
I found a friend who put me on the path, cleaned it up, took the dead cat collar off the neck (literally, guess it was a grunge thing), and tenderly put some nylons back on. it could play. it tuned it, it sounded right. i played to songs, the classical sounding parts of early metallica, it sounded right. tool's lateralus was on my rotation, and the nylon wasn't keeping up, drop d on a classical sounded kind of weird.
I bought a slash signature epiphone les paul and a marshall vs100 valvestate, with a zoom 505, and found tool. i found nine inch nails. i found the pixies. i found reel big fish, type o negative, cradle of filth, cream, led zepplin, jane's addiction, jimi hendrix, rammstein, soundgarden. and then.. i went to europe for 3 months, and sold the lot to fund the trip (still regret it). awesome trip though, with my soon to be wife - swear at one point going through germany i saw the griswalds.
The nylon came out, but i never got the heart back. i played haphazardly, new family life now getting in the way, work commitments, friends, dramas - money meant guitar was a luxury item, not a necessity, and the idea of owning another electric fell away. the bug never went away though - the internet kept showing me great new bands - post-kyuss memories led to QOTSA, a perfect circle, with teeth era NIN, everything radiohead and more, and with that, some of the kid's stuff making a re-appearance, satriani, vai, clapton, 30th anniversery war of the worlds, david gilmour.
I bought a second hand '92 ibanez and fender FM25 amp, and was happy - for a bit. years of playing the nylon meant the close quarters thin wizard neck was very cramped, and the stock pick ups too thin sounding. begin real education. martin koch and dan erlewine became my teachers, as did many luthiers from forums and emg wiring diagrams. maybe I could buy a bigger neck. maybe I could buy better pickups. the modding bug had me.
Modern day - the mods performed on the ibanez in the end lead to an awesome sounding guitar, but i couldn't resolve the tiny neck issue. I sold it, the Fender FM25 amp and bought a coveted Fender '87 Ultra (with lace sensors), and Line 6 HD75 with cab. The effects on board the amp sounded very digital, and I was reading about tube sound and analog - I bought a bunch of effects pedals, ran out of cashola, thought, hey, this couldn't be too hard, and put my (IT) expertise to electronic engineering and design - making some of my own pedals, and pedal board. While I was doing that - downloading 100's of hours worth of blues, jazz, death metal, flamenco, heavy metal, classical and classic rock tutorial videos from the 'net, learning about home recording, ableton live, guitar rig, throwing myself into anything and everything I can about every aspect of guitar.
I still don't play enough, but I'm finding more time every day. Still no formal lessons, everything I know has been trial and error - to me, the slowest, albiet most detailed way to learn. I have never played in a band. When I feel ready, i'll take the step - After everything though - I'm not losing hold of my (almost) life long obsession again.
