As of a very young age I was brought up with guitars and guitar music. My dad always had Black Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix, the Kinks, Animals, Daddy Cool, T-Rex Deep Purple and the Beatles to name a few cranked in the home and car. My dad also played and sung in a band when he was a young lad so there was always a guitar lying around somewhere, I remember hearing my dad play 'House of the rising sun' consequently inspiring me to try my hand at it too. Needless to say being 8 and trying to pay a full size dreadnaught acoustic proved to be difficult but with my fathers patient guidance I was able to play this song by 9.
I started to listen to Micheal Jackson, Prince, Van Halen and others, these stuck out as they all had big flashy guitar solo's, Eddie Van Halen's solo on 'Beat It', Prince's awesome solo and the end of 'Lets go Crazy' and of course the forever famous 'Eruption' by Eddie Van Halen. It took a few years before I got any of those down.
Starting high school I went to saxophone and through my teacher Andrew Sugg I was introduced to roots blues and jazz, I was horrified in my first lesson he asked me to 'blow over a couple bars of a 12 bar blues' the world of improvisation was revealed to me there and I never looked back. I did in this time teach myself to play the flute and clarinet but I never really bonded with these instruments.
Leaving high school I started t really focus on guitar, I was unable to find a teacher I connected with so I wrote my own exercises and after a few years and many hours a day practice I found I was able to do a lot more than most other guitarists I knew.
I then started the long road of playing in bands and m experiences were pretty common, started playing covers of music I liked while trying to mix in originals then learnt the 2 don't mix so I separated myself from covers focusing on originals. I had bands fail, some do well and learnt a lot on the way.
Going into professional cover bands was a new experience, lots of people, lots of money and lots of gigs, a big surprise for someone that had been in original bands playing to 1-2 people for sometimes $5 to share between 4 people!
Went to study jazz performance at University for 7 years and once again learnt a lot, this was the first time I had regular teachers, thanks to John Awe and Mike Bevan.
Finishing University lead me to teaching music to all ages which was another challenge and learning curve, let me tell you that just because you can play doesn't mean you can teach!
After many years of bands going up and down, traveling, breaking charts on local and national radio stations and winning awards it was obvious I had the fortune of working with many talented musicians (special thanks to Guillaume Vetu and Ken Cooke) but I grew tired of bands breaking up for silly reasons beyond my control just when we were getting somewhere, I then made a choice to try and learn how to sing, boy was I in for a surprise, this was the hardest thing I even learnt how to do and I'm still working on it but I was able to get some good experience singing in bands, doing some local and regional gigs but ultimately the purpose was for me to be able to gig solo both with covers and my own songs which I am now doing and finding very satisfying.
I now teach at Unley High School and take on a limited number of private students, I am currently building an online resource for guitarists all over the world www.thezenofguitar.com I will also have a book to accompany this as well called 'The Zen Of Guitar' A book dedicated to the real technique of guitar, how to relax while playing and a lot of tips that I've never seen in any other books. Achievements include, winning 2 awards, 'Best new band 2000', 'Most popular band 2000', Being offered gigs and plaing around the world in places such as Dubai, Japan, France and the United States, having students play their own show around Australia and the world as well as winning their own awards.
Now I would describe the style I am attempting to master to be acoustic loungey pieces, sometimes lazy sometimes more upbeat with a little flavour of all the styles I have picked up over the years including jazz, flamenco, rock and blues.
If you would like to hear more of my music please visit these 2 myspaces, for my solo cover tunes click here
www.myspace.com/johnnysunburst
and for one of my old bands tunes click
www.myspace.com/digitmus
. Contact me through pablosolo4@gmail.com for lessons, I can do them in person or online through IChat or Skype.
Thanks for taking to time to read about me, I wish you all the best!
I play Maton, Cole Clark, Gibson and Fender Guitars with Ernie Ball and D'Addario Strings.. I use Fender and Roland Amps.
I get all my repair and maitenence work done at SALVI'S FINE GUITARS to contact this store call 84438272 add 08 for out of SA and +61 international, checkout Salvi's myspace here
http://www.myspace.com/salviguitars
MY TOP FRIENDS ARE SOME OF MY FAVORITE ARTIST AND BIGGEST INFLUENCES, I WILL ROTATE AND CHANGE THEM ACCORDINGLY, PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO CHECK SOME OF THEM OUT.
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace."
Hi everybody, We've finally moved the repair workshop from Jamaica Street to Otago Street in Glasgow's West End. We'll be open for business again on the 21st of June. Check the website for more details.Thanks for all the support,
yo yo m.r. sir. Yes ndeed we should pour insults into his mouth like syrup and make him swallow...SWALLOW! I am but a lowly fetishist. Well I should say we...as we are partners in crime now. If I help you do these gastly things can I have some dinner too...possibl on the same night....with you guys.....hanging out.....doing stuff....like each other...not in a gay way.....
I am having a gig at The Wheatsheaf Hotel on Sunday the 11th of May at 4:30pm-7:30pm $10DC. Joining me on this fine evening of Music will be Mal Webb and The Laura Hill Band. Would love to see you there :)
