Hey there! I've been playing and teaching full time professionally since 1989. But actually, I started guitar when I was 13 back in 1976. Yep... that's right... it was the mid 70's and the music was groovin and rockin and rollin hard!! Great time for a young guitarist to be influenced by some of the great artists of that era such as Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Jeff Beck, Rush, The Dixie Dregs, The Jackson 5, Pink Floyd, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Deep Purple, Yes, ELP, Elton John, Heart, Linda Ronstadt, The Allman Brothers, The Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, Frank Zappa... and the list goes on!! Of course, the influences didn't stop with the 70's. As I came of age in the 80's I discovered jazz and classical music and the many masters of those genres as well. People like Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Chic Corea, John Mclaughlin, Ralph Towner, Segovia, Paco De Lucia etc.. I've played with jazz big bands as well as small ensembles, solo guitar, rock bands, pop r&b bands, reggae, funk, soul, you name it, I've probably played it at some point. I've done session work as well as a motion picture sound track.