I'm Leo Milner, AKA: Mojo Zap.
The guitar did not come to me easy. I learned how to play the organ at church and was good at it, it seemed easy to me. I was also born with a voice, could sing well and had a lyrical mind, so I learned to write songs. The guitar was hard for me to learn. I was not a natural. I'm a lefty and decided to just play the guitar totally backwards and not change the strings around, like Albert king the great Bluesman did. I played day and night for about two years reading every guitar book I could get my hands on. Then I met a guy named Kenny and he was a good guitar player who had a band that played on Friday nights at the skating rink. He would see me out back behind my house under an old oak tree playing my guitar. He told me he would teach me some tricks if I would write some of my songs for his band. At 13 years old I was wrighting my first songs for a real band!!!
It was the 60's and even as a kid I was outspoken and in tune with social issues. I quickly evolved into a folk singer, songwriter and guitarist. I wrote songs about social injustice and started playing in coffee houses and at festivals. I never thought about it, it just all just happened naturally and I developed a folowing without even trying or knowing. I had switched over to playing mostly the acoustic guitar and my music was simple, but had a good sound and my song's were about real life so people related to my music and I became very popular.
I stayed on that path for almost ten years. I had finished a stay in the service and a degree by now and new door's opened up so I moved to Maryland. I started to meet a whole new class of musicians now. Jazz guitarists, fussion guitarists, metal guitarists and on and on. I was taken back by all these hot shot, fast playing, guitar slinger types who were all out in battle to be the king of the hill. It reminded me a lot of the shoot out at an old west movie.
This new mentality and exposure to all these new hot shot guitar slingers threw me into a real reclusive life for a while. I decided to study every guitar style of every famous guitar player I could find. I spent almost three years, day and night, learning the styles of all the famous fast and flashy guitar players. After all that study and pratice I found that I was not well equiped for the guitar slinger club. I was by no means the best or the fastest guy on the block. I decided to try and infuse as much of what I had learned into my playing and create a new sound that was a bridge between all the styles at my speed, and with my own unique feel and texture and style. What I ended up with was a style that brought rock, blues and folk together in a way that I feel is true to myself.
Over the years I've developed a line of my own guitars I build from time to time for myself as well as others. If you want to talk about music or guitars write me anytime. Some people who I feel have had a great influence on my music and playing are: Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton, Albert King, Robin Trower, Paul Clark, just to name a few. I want to thank them for giving me and the world their own gift of music.
Peace
Leo
