Introducing Dante

Hello everyone,

I would like to start out by letting you know about my musical background.  My mother tried to learn to play the piano when I was 5 or 6 years old.  While she failed at it I would walk over to it and teach her how to play the songs that she was supposed to play so she enrolled me in lessons.  I stayed in lessons for a month or two but got bored with it because I was young and impatient and wanted to learn more songs than they would let me play.  Then I played violin for a year in elementary and moved on to band my last five years of school.  I played jazz trombone and marching trombone.  In concert I played the euphonium.

This was the extent of my musical schooling.  Nearing the end of high school my father bought a guitar for himself to learn to play and I started playing it in my spare time.  I joined the army when I was 18 and with my first pay check I bought an American standard Fender Stratocaster.  I have learned to play guitar the last 10 years by teaching myself.  I play by ear extremely well and have been told by many that I have a gift that not many have.  I if I can sing a song then I can play it on guitar.  I use tabs and guitar magazine to fill in the cracks on hard technical solos or unfamiliar diminished chords. 

My all time favorite guitar players are SRV, Joe Bonamassa, David Gilmore, and Jimmy Page.  I like all styles of music although I do have my eyes on the electric blues. 

As for my future I plan on improving my knowledge on music theory so I can improve on my improvisation.