Well, my turn, I guess.

My name is Benny and I live in Portland, Maine (US) which doesn’t have a great music scene yet still seems to be very hard to crack into & be accepted by. Lots of metal and prog/indie stuff. I am more into the (gasp!) jam band scene myself, with my influences including but not limited to (and in no particular order):

the Grateful Dead/Jerry Garcia/Bob Weir/Phil Lesh, Phish/Trey Anastasio, the String Cheese Incident, Pink Floyd, Ween, Bob Marley, Talking Heads, Keller Williams, Steely Dan, Disco Biscuits, Taj Mahal, Beastie Boys, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, Dire Straits/Mark Knopfler, Jimi Henrdix, Wilco, Rusted Root, Allman Brothers, Peter Frampton, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Miles Davis, Johnny Cash, Django Reinhardt, Chick Correa, Neil Young, Herbie Hancock, Jim Morrison & The Doors, John Foggerty, David Grisman, Santana, Stevie Wonder, Tom Petty, Traffic, Steve Winwood, Velvet Underground, Merl Saunders, Pantera, Metallica, Rev. Gary Davis, Merl Haggard, Guns n’ Roses, Michael Jackson, Robert Hunter, Richard Corson, Railroad Earth, Paul Johnson, Grand Funk Railroad, My Morning Jacket, The Who, The Band, Marco Bennevento & Joe Russo…..ok that’s enough for now. Sorry about that. I got a lil’ carried away.

Anyways, I am 27, have been playing for almost 7 years, and playing lead for about a year and a half. That is what I am trying to get better at lately – learning theory, gaining more dexterity in my fingers, and just trying to grasp the concept of music as a whole so not only can I better understand it, but that I may better communicate through it.

I taught myself how to play via (what else?) the internet. I bought my first guitar for $75 (an electric Ibanez…not sure of the model, but I still have it), and spent the next 2 years logging onto chord & tab sites teaching myself how to play. When I first could play a barre chord I thought I had conquered the world. I miss that feeling, because it happens at such a more frequent pace when you’re beginning than it does as you grow into the instrument, but I keep striving for it because it’s a beautiful thing.

Shortly thereafter my now-fiance bought me an Ovation acoustic w/ a built in pup; an ok guitar for my first acoustic. I still plan on upgrading that eventually. Since then I have purchased a Fender Tele (mexican), a Fender Strat (american), a Dean Evo (made in Czech. Rep., the thing weighs a metric ton and sounds great) that I currently use as my back-up guitar, and my current axe is a Gibson SG, which I friggin’ LOVE. Such a great tone, and feels soooo good in my hands.

As some of you know, I am having a custom made arch-top hollowbody made in the likes of a Paul Languedoc model (Paul was Phish’s soundman and made Trey’s 3 guitars that he’s used with Phish since ’89ish). Delivery is set for about a month….I am truly excited about getting this.

I’ll post pics of my guitars and gear this week if I remember to get the camera out. You can find a list of my gear about half-way down this page: https://www.guitarsite.com/hotlicks/viewtopic.php?t=3630&start=10

To wrap up this novel, I am currently in a cover band that plays a lot of the music by the folks mentioned above. I have been in a couple of original projects but for whatever reason they didn’t last. I still write, record, & sometimes perform my originals. You can check out some of my original stuff here (I am singing & playing lead in all 4 songs, thought that is not me you first hear making announcements in the beginning):

http://www.myspace.com/benjaminmstclair

or at the link below this post for the cover band.

Definitely. Most accomplished players I’ve known charge $20/half hour, so $15 is a good rate, as long as the teacher knows what he’s doing.

But honestly, I wouldn’t waste your lseeon money on learning barre chords; I’d save that money for when you want to delve into theory, modes, scales, etc.

Burning Down The House – Talking Heads

[quote=”lee_UK”]i thought this was going to wrangle on for months.
[/quote]
so did i, but i’m kind of dissapointed it’s over; it was fun to check everyday & see peoples answers.

got any other trivia?

You know, I don’t find Tom Petty a “great” guitarist….I’d say he’s a great songwriter and entertainer (at least as far as putting out records), but I don’t put him near the top in terms of ability, IMHO.

And another thing – after never seeing him live, I was pretty psyched to see Petty, been wanting to see him for a while. Bought tickets off a dude on craigslist this summer to see him & Trey Anastasio, only to cancel the order because I realized seeing the show wasn’t worth $80/ticket and money was tight at the time. Am I glad I did.

I was rewarded (or so I thought) in October when I went out to the Vegoose Festival in Las Vegas and Petty was headlining. I thought “great, now I finally get to see him!”

Well you know what? I was pretty dissapointed. Seemed like every song ended with the “big rock n’ roll ending”….and I mean EVERY SONG, not just the encore. You know…..lots of strumming, cymbal crashes, and lights flashing at the end……Petty looking towards the crowd, pointing to the front row, back row, side rows, you, you you!…..thank you thank you……..then pointing to the band, back to the crowd, making a big “to-do” about nothing, and then the big cresendo ending…..POW! It was kind of pathetic. The other thing that dissapointed me was that all the songs were exactly like I’ve heard them on the radio, and maybe that’s what he’s going for, but I would’ve like to see a little improv, a little jamming and what not. But nope, everything was pretty standard, pretty staight forward, and I left after 6 songs. Glad I didn’t pay the $160 to bring my fiance and I to the show that summer, I’ll tell you.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.