Good morning everybody:
At the outset, thanks to everyone who took the time to respond to my introduction. I appreciated your warm regards and as I previously mentioned, I suspect that I'm going to enjoy posting here from time to time as well as reading the other posts. You all seem like a great bunch.
At the risk of appearing to blaspheme (I'm a Catholic so I'll confess this Sunday), I suspect I know how some of the disciples must of felt when they first heard / seen Jesus. I don't mean to imply that Joe " walks on water, but after hearing and seeing him, I feel like I've seen the future of blues guitar - Joe Bonnamassa. It reminds me of that famous quote that somebody made when they first saw Springsteen back in the early 70's - something to the effect of " I've seen the future of rock and roll and it's name is Springsteen".
I don't know if it's common practice here to throw out abit of who you are - if so, let me leave you with this.
I currently live in Toronto by way of Los Angeles (where I grew up after my family emigrated to the United States at the age of 6 from Scotland). I'm married to an incredible lady -Pamela (who's a few years younger than me) - and believe it or not, I became a father for the first time at age 50 ( you wouldn't believe the number of comments I get when I'm walking my young 18 month-old son, Brandon, in his stroller that resemble " there's a proud grandfather" or "your grandson is a very good looking boy" :>)
When I was about 10, I saw the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan show and that started my love affair with guitars. About 43 years later, I now own about 11 or 12 guitars (a couple of Fender Strats, a Gibson ES-335, Fender Telecaster, Gibson Les Paul Custom and a few acoustic / classical / 12 string guitars as well) and my love for the instrument is as strong today as it was when I was a young boy. .
I think it's inevitable that my young son, Brandon, is also going to be a player as well in view of the fact that there seems to be guitars strewn about the house and he's always doodling around with them. And I suspect that his early musical tastes are going to be significantly influenced by the cd's he hears of mine (primarily blues - SRV / Clapton, the Kings (Albert, BB and Freddie) Buddy Guy / etc / etc / etc.)
Throughly my life, I've heard and seen many / most of my favorite blues and rock guitar players and with only two exceptions, they all inspried me to want to go home and practice more and try and get better. However, when I saw Stevie Ray Vaughan at the El Mocambo in Toronto ( I was at the club where they made the DVD that night), I literally wanted to go home and destroy all of my guitars and take up the tuba, for example. He was that good and I just had this "sense" that I could never get anywhere close to this guy in ability.
And when I heard Joe the other night for the first time, it was deju vu all over again as Yogi Berra once said. I again wanted to destroy my guitars ( that would have made my wife very, very happy..:>)
Only 2 players have ever had that effect on me.
I don't know if Joe ever reads the comments on these boards. If he does, I would be very interested in knowing if he felt the guitar came 'easy" for him.
Let me explain what I mean.
When I was growing up in southern California, I played alot of baseball. I always loved the game and it came very easy for me. By the time I was in high school, I was being scouted by professional clubs (the Cincinnati Reds offered me a contract to play in their minor league system). I never found it hard - hitting .300 and fielding and running just came naturally to me.
However, playing the guitar has been a constant uphill struggle for me from day one. I love it and can spend hours playing it when I have the chance, but it NEVER came easy for me. If I'm away from it for a week or so, when I pick it up, it's as if I'm a new player picking it up for the first time. Today, I can play relatively fast (nowhere near as fast or clean as Joe - I can hear a lick and sit down and within a short while I can figure out how it was done - but it's NEVER easy.
But watching Joe play, like all of the greats, he just makes it look effortless. In fact, it just seems to "flow" out of him. When I'm soling over a blues rhythm track, for example, I'm always having to thing - "OK, which lick do I play now". But with Joe, there doesn't seem to be that thought process going on - it just seems to flow out of him. It's as if he has this big reservoir of blues licks / styles in him and he can draw on it at will. It's hard to describe.
When I hear comments about Joe playing SRV, for example, note for note when he was just a small boy, I get the feeling that it came easy for him. Of course, he practiced hour after hour each and every day for many many years to get as good as he is, but I'd love to hear how his early years on the guitar went. I'm sure it helped having a father who was involved with guitars and who listened to the "right" music, but ultimately, it came down to Joe - he's the one who had to endure the sore fingers in the beginning / the frustration when you feel you're not progressing or have hit a wall and your forward progress has plateaued and you feel as if you're not going to get better / etc.
Anyways, I'm rambling now and my first post is starting to resemble "War and Peace" in length.
I'd love to hear more about the backgrounds of the regulars here and your stories about your musiccal interests / lives / etc.
Thanks again, everybody, for the warm welcome.
Any problem you can't solve with a good guitar, is either, unsolvable or isn't a problem.
Mark
....now im to old and just playing for fun and wish all others ....
