I started listening to Rock, Pop, Disco and Funk on the radio in the early '70's. My older cousins were heavily into Led Zeppelin, Yes, The Beatles, Queen and Pink Floyd. My parents listened to Gospel so there was that influence too. Around 8 to 9 years of age I really began leaning heavily towards Progressive Rock and Guitar driven music. It wasn't until hearing "Eruption" that I started playing guitar at age 11.
I have always been a huge movie buff since I was very young, and so I've aways had a fascination with Film Score. In 1975 when Jaws came out and then Star Wars in 1977, I would daydream of being a Film Composer while I sat in class not listening to the teacher. I would watch her movements and mannerisms and make up music in my head as she talked. She would then call on me and I would just smile and say, "huh." ;) So Film Composers like John Williams, Howard Shore, James Newton Howard, Danny Elfman and others have had a Major, and Minor, influence on me.
At the start of the 1990's I just wasn't into the Grunge style so I began branching out to New Age artists like Kitaro, Yanni, and Jonn Serrie, as well as Smooth Jazz artists like Craig Chaquico, The Rippingtons and Spyro Gyra. I had already been a big fan of Tangerine Dream since the early '80's with their "Exit" album, but this was a time of expanding my horizons from just metal, rock and guitar oriented music.
Then in 1992 I heard "Pull Me Under" by Dream Theater on the radio and my life changed! Finally a band and, more importantly for me, a guitarist that really personified a style of music that was flowing in my veins as well. I then learned that Steve Morse had a strong influence on John and so I then got into his playing. Unbeknownst to me, I somehow missed him in the '80's.???
Rush, Yes, Dream Theater and Tangerine Dream remain today as my all time favorite bands. All of the Guitarists and Bands listed below I love and I am grateful for their inspiration and influence on my playing.
Rush and Alex Lifeson -1976, Yes -1976, Boston -1977, Edward Van Halen -1978, David Gilmour -1979, Phil Keaggy - 1979, Neal Schon -1980, Judas Priest -1980, Al Di Meola -1980, Scorpions -1980, Styx -1981, Iron Maiden -1981, Tangerine Dream -1981, Randy Rhoads -1981, Def Leppard -1981, George Lynch -1982, Toto -1982, Metallica -1983, Vivian Campbell -1983, Yngwie Malmsteen -1983, Queensryche -1983, Accept -1984, Joe Satriani -1986, Steve Vai -1986, Tony MacAlpine -1987, Stevie Ray Vaughan -1987, Eric Johnson -1990, Kitaro -1990, Yanni -1990, Jonn Serrie -1991, John Petrucci -1992, Steve Morse -1993
Whether I was singing along with commercials during Saturday morning cartoons or American Bandstand with Dick Clark, with whatever Top 40 song was on the radio with Casey Kasem, watching Roy Clark and Johnny Cash on Hee Haw on Saturday nights and learning about pickin', grinnin' and cleavage, or coming home from school to lip sync in the mirror to the Bee Gees, Chic, Elton John or Barry Manilow in my platform shoes and bellbottoms, I have always loved music for as long as I can remember. By age 10 I was totally into Rush at the time, and I couldn't decide between wanting to play drums, bass or guitar. They were all so amazing!
One Sunday evening when I was 11 I was at church for choir practice and in runs my best friend exclaiming, "You've got to hear this Greg!" He hit play on the simple cassette machine and out came an "Eruption" of sound that literally changed my life in that moment. I had shivers for the entire performance and I had never even heard of Edward Van Halen before. Sitting on the altar at the front of that church that night and hearing that guitar solo was truly a spiritual experience. I knew right there that I had to play guitar.
In 1993 I moved to Hollywood California to attend Guitar Institute (GIT). When I arrived there I was told that financial aid would not cover all my tuition so I was unable to register and begin classes. This devastated me, so after the L.A. riots, the fires, the mudslides and finally the huge earthquake on January 17, 1994 at 4:32 AM, I came back home in a state of complete hopelessness. I sold all of my guitars, my bass and my keyboards and flushed my dreams into oblivion. I became very angry and depressed, and a victim's mentality dominated my thoughts and attitude.
One day in 1998 I was over at a friend's house, and he was showing me a black Gibson ES 335, semi-hollow body jazz guitar, that his grandfather had given him. I picked it up and played on it for a little while. Afterward he said that I was really in my "element" as he put it. I had barely played at all in 4 years. That really stuck with me and reaffirmed what was already in my heart; that I am a musician.
From 1994 - 2004, I only picked up a guitar on rare occasion either at the music store or over at a friends house, and every time I did my heart yearned and ached for it, like a long lost love. My son was born in 2002, and he became my inspiration to start playing guitar again. In January 2005, after a 10 year hiatus from playing, I bought a cheap guitar and enrolled in college. Soon afterward I got my hands on my dream machine, the Parker Fly Mojo, which inspired me further in my playing like never before.
Today, life is good. I have a beautiful son, and I'm also currently working on my first CD, "Fly to the Land of Z", which will be released Summer 2009. (see blog)
All of this experience has taught me a whole lot about life and about myself, but one of the main things is this. Never give up on your dream or passion. One day you'll find yourself pursuing it again so you might as well make up your mind NOW that you're just going to do it.
"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." ~ Thomas Jefferson
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SCREENING AT LA SHORTS FILM FESTIVAL JULY 27 Check out the trailer for WE LOVE YOU the upcoming DOCUMENTARY about the RAINBOW GATHERINGS or www.weloveyoufilm.com
Hey Greg, thank you for your kind words! Good luck for your album in work, I see that you have an impressive list of guest musicians. Sounds great!
Cheers Jonas _____________________________ Instrumental rock guitar album out now - Melodic progressive metal guitar for fans of John Petrucci, Joe Satriani and Steve Vai. Listen to all the 12 songs on CDBaby: http://cdbaby.com/cd/tamasjonas
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hi! iam wolfgang the guitarist of dreamscape. we should learn to be the best persons we can be and our world will change. i try. but it's not as easy as playing guitar in a high class band...
H. Jackson Brown: Good character is more to be praised than outstanding talent. Most talents are, to some extent, a gift. Good character, by contrast, is not given to us. We have to build it, piece by piece -- by thought, choice, courage, and determination.
kind regards! DREAMSCAPE (progressive metal from germany) (new cd november 2009! - buy or let die!)
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