I’ve been asked several times by people who discover I’m new to the live music scene here in Virginia Beach, “Why are you out playing music right now in your life?”  It’s a great question, but what people are missing is I’ve been playing music “MOST” of my life, not just right now.  I became interested in music when I was about 12 or 13 years old.  What young boy wouldn’t like a rock band where the members dressed like some strange comic book characters, and the bass player spit blood and fire?  Yep, I’m talking about the band Kiss.  They caught my interest, and I lov ..read more

Writing songs is one of my many passions.  Am I any good?  I’m not sure, but I love doing it.  My process usually involves laying down a chord progression and then humming some kind of melody that flows with it.  Then I try and craft words that capture some transcendent human experience.  It may be about leaving everything behind, grabbing a guitar, and taking a train wherever it takes you.  It may be about that existential feeling of being unheard and unseen and hoping someone will just notice you.  The things I like to write about tend to fit into that cou ..read more

I’ve been keeping busy playing gigs and busking around the Hampton Roads area here in Virginia.  I love it, as I have said before, it’s like being reborn in the spirit of music!  The gigs I play at outdoor markets and the different craft breweries are great because I get some extra cash to fund my own vices, but I also get to be out there, and people can hear my music.  I get great compliments about my music selection and that’s important.  I know my place in the musical world; I’m not an amateur, but I am certainly not a technically precise vocally trained guitarist and s ..read more

“Guitar Strings” by AJ Montpetit/ CC0 1.0 I know I’m not sharing anything new my fellow guitar players haven’t heard before, but I’m amazed at the difference a guitar pick can make in the sound I get from the guitar. This is particularly evident when the guitar is amplified. I have two guitars I regularly use when I play gigs; the first is my workhorse, the Yamaha FSX800C and the other is my deep sounding Breedlove Discovery Concert CE. The Yamaha has the standard pre-amp without modification. I love the fact it has a bass, mid, and high eq on it and it’s really helpful when I play through my ..read more

I love playing the guitar. It’s therapeutic but also allows me to give something back to the people I interact with. I hope I provide a pleasant experience of sufficiently acceptable-sounding music that’s pleasing to the ear (Perhaps there are some who might think otherwise, but my experience has been mostly good)! Busking has been a fantastic experience that allows me to interact with so many different people about so many different aspects of playing the guitar. Some people just love to talk to you about playing in the street and doing performances in such a spontaneous and informal context ..read more

“Live concert“/ CC0 1.0 I had the pleasure of hanging out at Riley’s Pour House in Carnegie Pa when I was in Pittsburgh visiting family and friends.  Pittsburgh is a great town for live music and there are so many cool venues to visit and listen to great musicians perform.  I have an old friend connected to the local music community and he always finds a place for us to hang out and listen to live music.  It’s always great to talk about the things that make live music successful, and I love to listen to what it’s been like for him to play music for as long as he has in our homet ..read more

Since I rediscovered music at this point in my life, I’ve been trying to find ways to play for people.  For me, it’s not about the money, it’s not about getting famous, and it’s not about attracting the ladies, it’s merely about the music.  I play for the pure love of sharing music with people who may enjoy it.  I’m not a stellar musician, I’m an okay singer, but I love to entertain.  So, trying to find gigs is difficult.  There’s a great deal of competition and plenty of better musicians who attract the better venues.  I’ve enjoyed playing open mic nights, but e ..read more

When you’re re-engaging the music scene after about 38 years you really need to get some practice, confidence, and stage time to get into a groove where you feel you can hold your own. Not only am I starting over after 38 years, but I’m also doing it in a town where I know very few musicians. I played as a young man with guys in Pittsburgh Pa and if I were starting over again in that city I could lean on my old friends to tell me where to get gigs and who may be open to having me play with them. I am in Virginia Beach and I don’t know anyone. The best thing I have discovered for getting that ..read more

There is a humility that a solo guitar player needs to acquire if he or she is going to make it in the solo music business.  I have rediscovered the need for that humility as I started playing in different venues.  It’s particularly important to have that humility when playing small venues.  Why am I saying that?  Mostly because I’ve been reminded how very few people are actually listening to what I do when playing at cafés, small bars, or even outside venues where there is eating and drinking going on.  It’s important the reader understand what I said….  They ar ..read more

Sometimes you need to be reborn. Sometimes the music that’s been sitting inside you for years cries out so loudly you can’t ignore it. So, you pick up that guitar, dust it off, and strike the first chord. It’s a simple G chord, the one your voice matches nicely and one that starts the music of a million songs you’ve sung in the past. Your voice sounds weak, but somewhere inside those vocal cords a song from the past emerges. It feels like a part of you that was buried ten thousand miles under water has reached the crest of the surface and just took a long breath. Music is something a musician ..read more