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I'm a multi-instrumentalist, and I play many styles of music. I've been playing guitar since I was fifteen, and I first started messing around with one when I was five years old, so I've been playing for 22 years. I started out playing the electric guitar and bass in a couple of garage rock bands when I was in high school.

Ever since my Dad gave me Leo Kottke's Armadillo Album CD for X-mas in 2001, I've been influenced a lot by fingerstyle guitar, and crafted my skills in fingerpicking guitar. In addition to rock and fusion rock, I love to play fingerstyle guitar music now, and I'm a big fan of many guitarists in this genre. Some of my compositions in this genre are solo fingerstyle guitar, and some are accompanied by guitar leads and mandolin. I play all the instruments in my recordings, some of which are improvisational performances.

One thing that I have figured out over the years about music, is that it doesn't necessarily always have to be written ahead of time. Why? Because actually, the music is Already There. It's an open language that you can speak freely with your voice or any instrument that you spend enough time learning to master. If you spend time practicing pre-written music, you will learn a lot from it, and be inspired and trained by it. But it's also important to practice speaking the language of music freely, because when you do, you will master it. Musicians should practice both pre-written music and improvisation together.

Music is indeed Already There. It's like a beautiful set of Wind Chimes just hanging there, waiting for the wind to blow. In this world, the Wind Chimes are everywhere. Being a musician is like The Wind.

For those of you who are curious, I have a very small but effective collection of guitars. They're not really expensive, but rather, modern, mid-priced instruments that have been set-up very well for fingerstyle playing. Many guitarists will agree that, in addition to talent, one of the main things that makes a guitar play and sound great, is how it is set up in the instrument shop. When you buy a guitar, regardless of how much it costs, you should always take it to an experienced guitar luthier to have it set up properly for your particular playing style.

The Six-String guitar I use is a Taylor 614CE with maple back and sides. I use Laurence Juber True Medium GHS strings on my six-string acoustic. The string gauges on the Juber strings have been cleverly modified so that they still retain the excellent tone of a medium gauge set, while lightening the three problem strings for fingerstyle agility. I highly recommend these strings to everybody! The 12-string guitar I use is a Taylor 455CE. I use 11 Gauge Thomastik Infeld strings on it which have a great, wonderful tone, because of the fact that they're heavier than standard 12-string sets, and the guitar has been set up for it. I also use a mid-priced Japanese George Benson Signature Series Ibanez Jazz Guitar for lead and rhythm playing. I string this guitar with George Benson signature series Thomastik Infeld 13 gauge flatwound strings. This guitar truly has an authentic George Benson sound. I also play a 60th anniversary Fender Deluxe Stratocaster using Texas wound single coil pickups and a humbucker at the bridge. I use Gibson 11 gauge Brite Wires strings on the Strat. I occasionally use a Michael Kelly mandolin with medium gauge GHS strings, and a Gibson Hound Dog Dobro (reissue) with Laurence Juber True Medium GHS strings. I also want to make mention of my Hohner DM700S acoustic six-string guitar that I use frequently. This guitar is made in the USA, and it is one of the best and most affordable guitars I have. I recommend this guitar to anybody looking to buy an acoustic guitar who is on a budget, or even not.