A brief introduction
Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 8:55 pm
Hello everyone, blues man here. I hail from the states. I've been playing guitar for about 4 years now, focusing on the blues for 3. About a year into my guitar-learning adventure I still hadn't found my direction, and didn't know what to start learning, or how to do much of anything besides pluck a few notes. Then my father gave me his Clapton Unplugged CD, and I listened to it for about 2 weeks almost non stop. After seeing how much I enjoyed it, he gave me all of his old blues cassette tapes, which introduced me to the likes of BB, Howlin' Wolf (and of course Hubert Sumlin and Willie Dixon along with it), as well as Little Walter, Lead Belly, Muddy, Albert King. He got me hooked on SRV, too.
After my father had given me some direction to go in, and introduced to me to my new love, the blues, I set off learning from the greats by ear, as I was determined not to take lessons out of fear that I would become some teacher's "product", and be taught with books instead of my own ears and brain. I dug around on my own and was greatly influenced by Clapton (especially his days with The Yardbirds and Mayall, and some of his cuts with Cream). I also discovered Rory Gallagher, Hendrix, Freddie King, Albert Collins, Robert Johnson, and numerous others, all influencing me along the way.
So fast forward to now, and I've learned a few things, and my playing can be considered music instead of loud noise, but I believe I'll always have much more to learn and improve upon. My first post was over in the BT section under Althrax's D minor track, and someone asked me about my gear, so here goes. An '08 Les Paul studio, VOX valvetronix amp, Ernie Ball wah pedal (hardly ever use), Ibanez tube screamer pedal (once again, rarely used), and I tend to go with 9-42 strings of varying brands. I also have a Strat copy I put together, and an old Takamine acoustic.
And here are two pics of my girl, Chocolate, usually kept polished with Love Potion #9 guitar polish so she smells as good as she looks.
The natural wood grain of the guitar is beautiful and unique, plus I can't stand most of Gibson's LP finishes. Most of them look cheezy and over-the-top in my opinion. My best regards to everyone, and I hope to get to know everyone and make some new friends!
After my father had given me some direction to go in, and introduced to me to my new love, the blues, I set off learning from the greats by ear, as I was determined not to take lessons out of fear that I would become some teacher's "product", and be taught with books instead of my own ears and brain. I dug around on my own and was greatly influenced by Clapton (especially his days with The Yardbirds and Mayall, and some of his cuts with Cream). I also discovered Rory Gallagher, Hendrix, Freddie King, Albert Collins, Robert Johnson, and numerous others, all influencing me along the way.
So fast forward to now, and I've learned a few things, and my playing can be considered music instead of loud noise, but I believe I'll always have much more to learn and improve upon. My first post was over in the BT section under Althrax's D minor track, and someone asked me about my gear, so here goes. An '08 Les Paul studio, VOX valvetronix amp, Ernie Ball wah pedal (hardly ever use), Ibanez tube screamer pedal (once again, rarely used), and I tend to go with 9-42 strings of varying brands. I also have a Strat copy I put together, and an old Takamine acoustic.
And here are two pics of my girl, Chocolate, usually kept polished with Love Potion #9 guitar polish so she smells as good as she looks.
The natural wood grain of the guitar is beautiful and unique, plus I can't stand most of Gibson's LP finishes. Most of them look cheezy and over-the-top in my opinion. My best regards to everyone, and I hope to get to know everyone and make some new friends!
to 
here) and his losing his Mother unexpectedly the other day (which was a post to Gerd and everyone), this is my first post since LAST APRIL 
to another member! And that may not seem like such a big deal, but before I was "laid off (HA!) 
) about 1 1/2 years ago, I had been the idiot who couldn't stop typing, and not only had the most posts on here, but if the number of words in those posts had been counted, it would have caused a stack overflow in almost any computer!! 
I was even a Moderator until I pretty much disappeared (not from playing blues, but from NOT seriously posting in any forum). And before the change of forum software early last year (I think that's when it was) I used the name "Jim S" (not plain "Jim") but "Jim" turned out to be available after the new software was installed (I guess there once was a "Jim" under the old forum, who disappeared as well, but the name was taken and was unusable - but I love being able to grab my exact name, without any numbers after it, or even having to add the first letter of my last name, so I did - even though it reset my post count back to ZIPPO, and I was around so little by even then that I only had 18 posts as of last April 15th, the last time I had made any posts here before today. SEE HOW I CAN BABBLE ON and ON and.... 
) I'll post a picture of it. 
and also John Mayal's signature on the front, from when I saw him, in the last period when he was still with the Bluesbreakers, at the "Turning Point" in Piermont, NY state (named after one of Mayal's albums by that name, so he played there a lot). I also saw Hubert Sumlin and "Satan and Adam" there (if you haven't heard of them, they have a movie about them in the works, and they're great - just 2 of them - and with story unlike any I've heard before (Google on their name, and you'll learn a lot about a NY City "institute" (Harlem area) ). They have had many great bluesmen and musician's of every genre there over the years (I don't think EC played there though) and it's small and personal, with a good chance to chat with the performers before, and after they play, and also during any break(s) they may take.
I so hope he is able to get the support he needs at this very difficult time of his life. I lost my father 2 1/2 years ago, and THIS FORUM gave me more support and help than I got from anywhere else - and I MEAN that! [You guys here are all SO GREAT and I really apologize for having deserted you for so long!]