About
Hey, I’m Don, I live in Seattle. I’m a happily married guy, 41 years old. I’ve been around a lot of different things in my life - well, more than some less than others. I work in the web / publishing business. I finally found a professional vocation that I think is going to stick for me.
Three times in my life, I attempted learning to play a guitar. First, when I was 19 and in the Air Force. I bought a lovely Fender Strat at Guitar Center. Hardcase included, about $300. I practiced a little bit, and early on those fucking barre chords were dropped in my lap. I gave it up.
Then, in 2003 I bought a used but cool Washburn guitar, H-S-H pickup configuration (that’s Humbucker at the bridge and neck and a Single coil in the middle.) All black. And I tried my best to replicate Black Sabbath. To slightly better results than my first attempt 16 years earlier. But, I wasn’t learning as quickly as I thought I should (playing a guitar is an exercise, not an intellectual concept to grasp I discovered later) and after a few months I gave it up again.
Then, in 2006, a good friend bought me Guitar Hero 2. I had so much fun … err, making music, sort of… that I fancied picking up the guitar yet again. I bought a few good books, a cheap $100 strat copy guitar, and I had patience this time. I decided that I would grow with my instrument. I would try to enjoy every session, that whatever music I made would be good. Because I made it.
I’ve progressed a fair amount. I enlisted the services of a mature guitar teacher in late Spring of 2008, and nearly every week for the rest of the year, my little fingers caught on more and more. I since bought another Les Paul copy Jay Turser tobacco sunburst guitar, and I can make some pretty good sounding music on my own, safely and happily in my little guitar sanctuary, our rennovated carport room. My ‘Orange Room’ is where my two Jay Turser guitars live, along with my pair of KRK G2 6 stereo monitors, old DoD FX-7 multi effects pedal, Crate RX30 amp, and newest addition to the group, Line6’s amazing JM4 Looper/Jam / Effects box.
