An Introduction

Hello and welcome to my first post for the Jazzmaster Journal. I don't claim to be the master of anything, especially jazz. Instead, my seafoam green Jazzmaster is the namesake for this blog. I will write about all sorts of things that fascinate me in the day-to-day pursuit of guitar music, from new things I learn to stories about the people I play with; quirky guitars and musicians I come across on Craigslist to what it's like finding gigs in Charleston's music scene. I hope to make this music journal an amusing and helpful site for anyone interested in the life of an aspiring musician or the guitar in general.

Pete Townshend wielding a Jazzy

Here's my background in brief:
I am a 25 year-old living in my birth city of Charleston, South Carolina. My formal music education is minimal, consisting of a few years of piano lessons and some guitar lessons here and there. I have learned the guitar mostly by trial and error, emphasis on error! My first band was a power-chord punk band where the journey of learning my way up the fretboard really began. Without knowing much theory other than the major and pentatonic scale shapes, the goal at this point was to remember what single notes and diads sounded ok over a D5 and then wail away as frantically and as fast as possible. Technical prowess to be witnessed indeed!!

Over the next 10 years I learned more harmony and theory from listening to the Beatles than any teacher। Actually, I was lucky that a talented saxophonist taught my friends and me a great deal in my high school jazz band class. The real lesson there was that I didn't have to play every note in every chord in a rapid-changing tune at 160 bpm! In all those developmental experiences (and every day is a "developmental experience"), through the absurdity and unpleasant sounds, there were small nuggets of knowledge to be had. I will try to share them all with you, but know that any lesson I may offer was a lesson I learned the hard way!

Nels Cline = THE MAN!!!

In recent years I have dabbled in alt-country, jazz, more straight-forward rock, and my own "weird music." The highlight of my short career was opening for the legendary Leon Russell last Valentine's Day. More about that another day.

I will also discuss my gear in a later post but here is a picture of my favourite guitar, my Thinskin '62 Jazzmaster Reissue:

Thanks for tuning in to my first post. Now tune up and go play!