TJ's music

Bio:

Hi, My names TJ. Im 25 and now a freelance guitarist. I hope you take a few moments to listen to my music. I've been working on a 2nd album, but concentrating more on a few side projects at the moment. I love meeting new people so anyone's welcome here. Anyway, hope you like the music. Most of its improvisation because I love improvising, its the best way to express yourself through an instrument. Give me loads of comments about it, I even except criticism so don’t hold back, lol.

Anyway….Here’s a little info about me, just in case you were wondering.

I started playing guitar after I saw both the Bill & Ted movies, hearing 'God gave rock n roll' by Kiss at the end of the second film was what made me want to pick up a guitar.

My dad was my first guitar teacher, as he had been playing classical guitar since he was young and I used to watch him play until one day I asked if I could have ago. My dad taught me for 5 months and then at Christmas I was given my first electric guitar, it was a black Jim Harley. I was aged 9, and had started having guitar lessons with a guy from Kidsgrove, where I learned mostly about blues and a band called 'The Shadows' but also popular music from the early 90s. 4 years later I decided to start my guitar grades with Rock School, however, my teacher was unable to teach them to me so I had to find a second teacher who lived in Crewe (Jason Wooley). I was now having lesson with two guitar teachers but after a year I left the first teacher because I just wanted to concentrate on my guitar grades.

When I was in high school I performed by myself in front of over 400 people with a backing track, I played 2 pieces by The Shadows and I did this at 2 different concerts. After the second concert my guitar teacher (who now works at the school) and my high school music teacher asked me if I wanted to play lead guitar in a new instrumental band the school was putting together, this band performed 3 times playing pieces by 'The Shadows' and some pieces the teacher had wrote.

After High School I attended Burslem music college in Stoke-on-Trent, I was there for 3 years and I met another guitar teacher who worked for the college (Steve Jones), I was back to having 2 guitar teachers which helped me improve a lot and it was cool because the college guitar teacher was free. In college I was in several bands playing 13 gigs over the 3 years and I met lots of different musicians who each influenced me in different ways, working with that many different musicians really helped me in some areas of my playing, sometimes forcing me to learn things I normally wouldn’t have bothered with, like country music. I was still working on my grades in and out of college and I passed every grade first time and in 2005 I passed my grade 8 with distinction. When I left college I went back to having one teacher, however this teacher left just a month later because I had completed all my guitar grades. I then spent most of my time improvising over all sorts of music including Iron Maiden, Guns 'n' Roses and Santana.

3 months after I finished college I started attending Salford University. Here i was in several bands over 4 years. I had two more guitar teachers, who both taught me lots about sight reading and improved my chord knowledge. During my time here i met alot of cool musicians and made a few great friends who i would love to write music with in the future.

So, 17 years after starting, this is where i am.

In the big bad world, starting out as a professional musician. My main plan is to build up a professional recording studio with a few practise rooms, here i will record a proper album and also hire the studio to local bands and students.

Thats me, get in touch if you wanna know more or need me for anything.

One last thing for all the guitarists out there, keep these two things in mind, Firstly, always treat your guitar the same way you would treat your girlfriend, with total respect, look after it ok. And secondly, always remember, it's not how many notes you play, it's how you play them that matters.


Take care everyone

Member Since:

April 03, 2006

Members:

TJ - Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar and Synth