Yes, this is me with my brown 1975 ES-335 stunning the crowd on amature night in Albany, NY circa 1997. Oddly, of the 35 years that I played guitar, this is the only photo I have of myself playing guitar. I gifted this particular guitar to Jeremy Douglas as well as my black 1990 ES-335. My daughter has my wine 1985 ES-335TD. The only other electric that I owned was a 1992 cream Fender Telecaster, but it was stolen at baggage claim in Montgomery, AL after flying home from a party at Alf's in Phoenix, AZ.
I loved the blues and I truely loved playing the guitar. It started when I was 11 and I received an acoustic guitar for my birthday. I learned some chords and how to play "Billy Boy" before diving into "Innagaddadavida" and "Sunshine of Your Love". I had a lot of frustration with that guitar, mostly because I didn't know anyone else that played. My brother, Carl, had a guitar and he could play "Classical Gas" on it. So, I got the sheet music and transcribed it to tabular and tried to get it down. At about 15, I picked up a classical guitar, which was just in time to learn Led Zepplin's "Stairway to Heaven". That I could do. At Carnegie-Mellon, we would meet up in Schenley Park and play - maybe 10 to 15 of us - guitars, bongos, flutes, saxes, you name it. It was music for music's sake. I played with a couple of friends at one frat - mainly the Doors Morrison Hotel. At the time, I was trying to teach myself through various books, like Fredrick Noad's "Solo Guitar Playing". After a year of playing with others, I picked up both volumes of Ted Greene's "Jazz Guitar: Single Note Soloing." I learned a lot from those books. I wish that I could remember everything that it laid out, but I tried to follow note mistakes with mode changes, which had mixed results. I also picked up Tommy Tedesco's "For Guitar Player's Only." Awesome book - more about the business side of music, and the stories in it are hilarious. One thing that I learned from it was "never turn down a chance to play." I learned a lot through that sentence. It also bit me when I didn't follow it. At 20, I dabbled in writing classical pieces, but I soon realized my limitations there. With those beginnings, I entered the Navy and occasionally picked up the guitar and played. It was more like meditation than practice - I had a standard routine - pentatonics, then minors, then augmented, then major, then this song, then that one... etc. But in those days, I preferred listening to music over playing it.
During my Carnegie-Mellon days, I ran across the Gibson ES-335. The little (tiny) local guitar shop had a walnut one in the front window that I would salivate over, but I could not afford it no matter how long I starved. This desire was fed by the Jazz Crusaders' with Larry Carlton "Crusaders 1" and literally everything by BB King. In 1990, I ordered a black ES 335 directly from Gibson. When it arrived, I cried. I took a week off an played it until my callouses hurt. Then I picked up a little Mesa Boogie 0.22 and it was the perfect fit for me. When I landed in Phoenix, AZ I found out that my workmates had a band and they were open to anyone playing with them. The band was named "Attack of the 50 foot woman band" after the Daryl Hannah movie of the same name. There were times when we played that there were four of us and sometimes twenty. It was a blast for me. Those folks liked a lot of Neil Young and early 70s rock, which was right up my alley. We had two very solid lead guitarists and the vocalist played guitar, so I tried to be a bridge between the bass and the keyboards (when we had some) and I became the rhythm guitarist. I also had a Tascam 6 by 2 mixing board so I picked up a small Peavy PA system and we were off to the races. While in Phoenix, I also picked up an Ovation 1312 Ultra and I had a piezo pickup installed in it. It was sweet sounding, but it wasn't very friendly for me to play; my belly and it's curved back made for an unstable combo. I also picked up a wine colored ES 335TD, which was very different. It wanted to scream. During the days in Phoenix, I became a member of the Phoenix Blues Society, which was awesome. I met so many legends at the events and the monthly club meetings. It was also nice to meet the various bar owners and learn the locaitons of the blues bars around town. On many Fridays, the gang from work would have some wings at a bar and maybe venture out afterward. On a couple of occasions, we went to the Biltmore in Scottsdale and sat in a section behind the stage. We could see the stage, since we were off to the side, but we were in our own world, just enjoying the music. usually jazz. I ended up in a small town near Montgomery, AL and that's where I picked up my charlie brown ES 335. When I got it, the action was set ridiculously high and the whole neck was warped. After a good bit of scouring, I found a Gibson certified luthier in Alpharetta, GA. These were old stomping grounds for me, so I packed up and drove over there one weekend to drop off the guitar for some neck work. I had brought the action back down, but there was a good deal of fret buzz. The luthier looked it over and asked how far he could go, since it had a pre 1975 serial number. I asked him to keep the neck, but refretting was fine. After about a month, he called me up and said that it was ready. Boy, was it ever! He took the warp out of the neck and he refitted the bridge along with all new fret wires. It played like a dream. I picked up a couple cases from him for the brown and wine ES 335s and headed back to Alabama (with a Gibson on my knee). Around this time, I met Jeremy Douglas who was a sweet guitar player. So, as a late wedding present, I gave him my black ES 335. Fifteen years later, he received my brown one, too. In Alabama, I didn't play much (all work and no play) so the guitars were idle. My daughter asked for the wine ES 335 TD, which I happily gave her. To this day, I don't think that she has plugged it into an amp. I gave the Ovation away to a friend's son who is trying to make it as a pro guitarist. It'll be one more sound for him.
So, I'm guitarless with arthritis, MS, and cancer. Maybe I can learn how to play the harmonica...
