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I grew up in a band. Sleeping on the floor of the bus in my sleeping bag. We were a 12 horn band (Britt Small & Festival) that toured the US and Canada for 27 years recording 18 albums and more than 2 million miles on our bus.. I started performing with the band as soon as I could walk and was soon singing and playing trumpet on stage. Started playing baritone Uke at 5 and picked up the guitar at 16. I continued to tour through collage until I enlisted in the Army.

Throughout my 20+ years in the Army, I would meet the band on the road to continue to play shows as training time allowed. Now that I’m a Reservist and retiring this year, I’m getting back to playing full time. Unfortunately, That band is no longer together and we have lost several member to include Britt Small. Right now I mostly work as a Sub Lead Player.

In 2018, I was inducted into both the South Dakota and Iowa Rock & Roll Hall of Fames. We were only group to ever perform on top of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (The Wall) in Washington DC. For more info, you can go to www.brittsmall.com.

At 15, (1963) I was given a beat up Silvertone acoustic. I started with Mel Bay chord books and playing Beatles songs. At 18, I joined my first band, using a cheap Japanese electric. Played local dives and high schools. Then I went into the Air Force and that was the end of that phase. I always had an acoustic with me, but as rock music got harder edged, I didn't know how to play that style, so I switched to drums. Played drumsin a number of bands through college years. About 1980, sold drums, bought a decent Tele. Hooked up with old band mate and started a band again. Didn't do much playing out at all, but we kept at it for years as a "hobby band." Retired to Florida in 2013 and figured my band days were over. Wrong!!! Going to open mics and responding to CL ads, I started getting back into the band thing. Went through a few projects that fizzled, but now I have a 4 pc acoustic band and an electric "classic rock" group. I'm playing out more than I ever did before retiring and I'm actually making a few bucks doing so. At 71, I'm totally amazed to be so involved in music. I know it could come to a screeching halt at any time, but right now, I'm rolling with it!

I started playing guitar at around age 9.  Like anyone my age I was amazed by the Beatles and Stones on Ed Sullivan, but what truly got my interest in learning to play happened in Chicago when my family stopped there on our way out to Nebraska.  We stopped at ether a relative's or friend's house overnight and someone's son was told to entertain us with some songs.  So he grabbed an acoustic and proceeded to play and sing some Ukrainian folk songs, but ended up playing Satisfaction and I was amazed.  Then he had me strum the strings while he chorded and I was immediately hooked.  

Shortly after getting back home my dad bought me a super cheap Baron acoustic guitar and I began taking lessons.  After about a year I lost interest and wanted to quit.  I was terrible and all my teacher did, week after week, was to put a check mark at there top of the Mel Bay page I had just butchered and told me to work on the next page.  It was just awful.  I can still remember that summer later afternoon/evening when I sulked on the couch and told my dad I wanted to quit and he told me that he had paid for the month's lessons and that I was going... period!  When I got to the store I didn't see my teacher and was told I had a new teacher - a guy with long hair that was about 6 years older than me.  We went into the small teaching room, I opened up Mel Bay and began playing horribly.  He reached over, closed the book, looked at me and asked "What do you really want to learn.  I said I'd like to learn some songs I hear on the radio and this is where my musical life began.  He may not have realized it, but that was the best thing that ever happened to me.  I'm now certain that I was/am ADD and realized many years ago that I'm dyslexic.  So learning by watching and listening was the best way to get me and keep me interested.

It wasn't long after that I stopped taking lessons and just learned songs on my own.  I started playing lead guitar in a band when I was 12, and played with them (+/- a few members) until high school when I hooked up with some other guys and started writing originals and learning lots of Allman Bros (but it was Eric Clapton and Cream that really got me listening to simple riffs and how major and minor pentatonic can be applied to the same chord progression).  After HS I hooked up with some older guys that could actually sing well and harmonize like nothing I had ever heard up close.  That band eventually morphed into a 6-pc horn band that played clubs/club circuits for a year and a half.  We finally disbanded and I decided to try college music, taking a minimum full time course load at a local University branch.  I only went one school year but it was enlightening.  At that point I was at least able to put some theory to the guitar neck and learned to read lead sheets to some success (still stink at reading notation).

After having some education I thought I'd try my hand at teaching and found out I was not suited for it.  So I switched to tech school and shortly after beginning got a job as a draftsman.  Never thought I would spend my entire life doing that for a living, but I did and retired after 36 years.  However, I never stopped playing in bands except for maybe a year or so after my son was born.  I've played classic rock, jazz, blues, country, [high school] pit orchestra, electric, hybrid acoustic, whatever.  My inability to read well and concentrate has left me to play mostly by ear, but it has kept me in the game this long (I'll turn 64 in a few months).

Since 2012 I've been playing between 30-50 gigs a year but see that number dropping off considerably this year for various reasons.  So much that I'm scrambling to find some new opportunities, but few exist.  Local music is a popularity contest and I just don't fit that mold.  Many of the really good local musicians have given it up years ago, so pickings are slim when wanting to form a new band.  I'm even considering moving south to an area that may have more opportunities to play, but that would be risky as there would be no guarantees that I'd be welcome into the music scene there.  At least I wouldn't have to deal with Ohio winter anymore.  Regardless, I'm not ready to call it quits and resort to only dabbling with home recordings.

I started when I was around 11. My oldest brother played a bit and that was likely my inspiration. I was mostly self taught. He eventually switched to bass and we later played in a band for a while before he called it quits. I played my first gig at 14 and most of my musical endeavors were centered around originals. I spent a lot of time "recruiting" and teaching friends bass, and playing with guys that were simply not as advanced as I was. I then hooked up with a band of guys that were more seasoned than I was and played real gigs. High paying club gigs (loved the 80's), weddings, corporate gigs, etc. I learned a lot from these guys. A later band was again club oriented, lots of blues, jump, J Geils, and back to some originals incorporated. Again, cats that were either my peers or more advanced. I eventually wore down from the scene and stuff that goes along with 5 male egos. I've been mostly a home recordist since the mid 2000's with a few part time projects in between.

I love music and musical interaction, but I don't have the flame that keeps many of us older cats staying up late in the bar scene on weekends.

When I was about 14, I got an Apollo copy of a Hofner 500 because my friends and I were going to learn to play and start a band. I didn’t learn much and eventually sold it. Then I got a cheap, used Stella acoustic with ridiculously high action and learned some basic chords. Not much more progress until I got to college, where I had friends who could play and would teach me. By that point, I was able to own a decent guitar.

After college, a friend and I managed to get a band off the ground, in which I was the rhythm guitar player, sometimes singer, and occasional bass player. We did alright playing locally for a couple of years, during which some of my musician friends told me that I should concentrate on bass. When that band broke up, I moved away and rarely played for about 15 years. When I moved here, I responded to an ad for guys who used to play, where we discovered that some of us still could. From that evolved a band that gigged for 10+ years. Initially, a couple of us were going to share bass duties but I eventually decided to be the bass player and realized that those years ago friends were right.

My mom's side of the family was musical: classically-trained musicians who taught and performed. Mom studied in New York and Boston; as a student, she played Carnegie Hall as the featured soloist (piano) with a full orchestra. Her father made violins; he exhibited at the 1939 New York World's Fair. I heard a lot of informal recitals as family members got together to perform at home.

All attempts to get me to study piano failed, even though I was fascinated by the instrument (my mom had a Steinway baby grand). My main exposure to the electric guitar was watching Ricky Nelson perform on TV on "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet". When I was a pre-teen, my dad (a scientist and physician, not a musician) became interested in learning to play the classical guitar. I absconded with his instrument and instructional book and tried on my own to figure out how to play. Rest strokes nearly broke me, LOL.

When the Beatles did their Ed Sullivan performance, suddenly everyone my age wanted to play the electric guitar. That Christmas, me and my next door neighbor were both gifted identical Kent guitars and Silvertone amps. We learned whatever we could from my neighbor's dad, whose hobbies included calling square dances and playing a cool-looking Italian electric guitar (with pushbutton pickup selectors and lots of pickups) through a tweed amp that'd probably be worth a small fortune today. Of course, we formed a garage band...

My first public performance was at one of the aforementioned square dances. A lot of us pre-teens attended either because both parents were there or (at least in my case) because it gave the `rents a break of a few hours. In an attempt to get the small horde of roaming pre-teens to settle down, one of the adults handed me a guitar and said, "You can lead a sing along." Which I did. Heck, what'd I know...? I credit that incident for my complete lack of stage fright when performing.

Throughout middle school and high school I was in a number of pick-up bands that performed covers (and a few originals) for school dances and civic events.

In college I organized and performed in a weekly "coffee house" in the dorm. Mostly folk-singer type material, but as this was the era of folk-rock, we adapted a lot of pop tunes, as well. The dorm was a modern concrete building with a five-story stairwell that had a really awesome reverb sound; the musicians in the dorm would frequently gather there for impromptu jams. I learned a lot by watching others.

This was also the time I started experimenting with sound; I switched from a steel-string acoustic guitar to an electric played through a portable radio. From the stairwell gang, we assembled a trio (flute, classical guitar, electric guitar) that wandered the campus putting on impromptu performances for anyone who'd listen.

When I got married and was raising children with my first wife, the guitar went into hibernation. Then my younger son, in his early teen years, decided to play drums. I was intrigued by his friends' bands practicing in our garage, and started jamming with my son. This was around `98-99.

Once I started playing again, I quickly tired of repeating my old repertoire and decided to do something about that. I started learning how to record (an activity that had been prohibitively expensive when I was younger), wrote some new material, recorded some demos and formed a band with folks at work. Over the next several years that led to other bands. All original material. After a while, I got tired of being out until two or three in the morning on work nights and going home with less in my pocket than the door guy earned. I left that scene and did some solo guitar performances for two or three years. Still no money, but at least I got perform during the early evening hours.

Playing solo guitar improved both my ear and my confidence, to the point where I thought it'd be fun to take a run at one of my lifetime aspirations: to play completely improvised material in an ensemble. I invited Stephen and Joe (both of whom were involved in the "band with folks at work") to join me with nothing more as an expectation than to "figure out how to improvise *as a group*". It took us quite a few years to lay all the groundwork, but once things started to click we got pretty good at it. We hold open a weekly date and get together to record on those weeks when we all have time. We consistently end up with an hour of new recordings from a two-hour session.

My own interests have turned to the nature of free improvisation and to advanced music theory. There's a lot of work in modern classical composition that relates to both algorithmic analysis and geometric structures, both of which are appealing to me as a musician and a computer scientist.

Going to a Catholic elementary school music class (singing hymns) was not so good....
In 3rd grade my mom came home one day after school with a clarinet and told me that I was starting lessons on Saturday....
...played all throughout high school (adding saxophone) on the way....then flute and bassoon.
Joined the AFM when I was 16 and made good $ playing parades and concert band gigs...
Went to music school after HS which led to a school music teaching career for 35+ years while gigging quite a bit.
In the '90's started playing pro shows: Tony Bennett, Ray Charles, Temptations, Natalie Cole, Aretha Franklin, Barnum & Bailey Circus, plus others.
In 2000 successfully auditioned (bass clarinet) for a local orchestra and started providing sound systems for events.

Today: still a member of the orchestra, retired from my public school teaching and currently teaching as adjunct faculty at a local university, still doing sound gigs, trying to play more sax these days as classical music is putting me to sleep...

While I was in my 30's I asked my mom why she had made me play clarinet in elementary school....her answer: "kids that turned 18 were getting drafted and going to Vietnam...some of them never came back....if a draftee had a talent for music and-audition-successfully, they'd get to play in a band...or else be handed a gun and put in a hole.."
She was looking out for me....

I got hooked on acoustic fingerpicking aged 12, This was because of some BBC TV programmes and teaching books by John Pearse. The second book featured Mississippi John Hurt, Rev Gary Davis and others, which led me safely away from any folky tendencies. Alongside this, I'd discovered The Beatles (hard to avoid in the mid '60s) and Sgt Pepper was the first album I bought. But then I heard Cream...That led to electric guitars and my first band aged 16. Didn't get far. No-one had any money, we were too young to drive and we weren't any good.

I had a bit of a break pursuing academic stuff, then a few years playing professionally most of the time (pubs, clubs, college circuit, army and air bases...). I also had an eight piece jazz/funk originals band which I still think could have done well. After that, as a postgrad student at Oxford, I played in a Reggae band, taught guitar and worked studio sessions for whoever wanted me.

Then a long break of 20 years. Life got in the way and I was disillusioned with the music biz, but when I got together with my wife, in 2001 or so, she was promoting music nights for young bands and I got involved, including writing reviews for the local paper, running the PA, working on the door....Allie had been a professional actress and had sung in shows, but never been in a band. So we put one together and ran it for about 15 years. We played bars and clubs at first, then only private functions, mostly weddings. It was hard work, but by the time we took the current break we were able to attract some really good musicians with impressive CVs. They liked the quirkiness of it all: a wide range of covers played, we all liked to think, in our own style and to a good standard.

At present we're not sure if we'll ever do any more. Our "taking a break" has turned into a couple of years already, I've retired from work, but we both seem to be very busy. My favourite description of running a band is that it's "like herding cats" and the thought of starting over again puts us off. Most of our former bandmates and crew are no longer available and we might not be as lucky next time. But never say "never".

I think I knew that, Lefty. I left in '78, banged around the country for a few years, came back and went to work for the SO there.

Left again 3 years ago, live in Colorado now. No more cities for me.

no one in my family played an instrument but a friend's brother had a flattop. though I wasn't allowed to play it, I could watch him play.
most of my friends in high school listened to rock but then a friend took up violin.
one day a few of us were at his house listening to rock and he got up and put on a Django Reinhardt record his sister had just given him.
everyone started laughing, someone even said "what is this Mickey Mouse music?" my friend turned to me and asked my opinion. I said the guy was an amazing guitarist.
bought a $99 Yamaha flattop and started lessons for awhile to get the basics.
we played together for a number of years w/a bassist and drummer, then drifted apart.
but I've been gigging in jazz bands regularly since, mostly Hammond B-3 bands

Jazzguy, I just realized your profile pic is Wes Montgomery.

I guess I came from musical families on both parent’s sides. My father played tuba and trumpet when young and his brother played sax, clarinet and flute all his life. My mother’s family were all musical with the entire family playing piano and she was part of a dance troop. My mother’s brother also played banjo and guitar for many years while my grandfather played vibes and drums.

I started out early in grade school playing violin for three years and then switched to sax and ended up playing that in the first rock band I was in. That band started out as a seven piece group and it’s final form was a five piece group. Two of the guys in that group were classmates and I was always hanging out at their house where they had an old Stella guitar that I eventually learned to play simple chords on and tune. One of the guys was the bass player who wanted to be “in front” of the group when he’d sing a solo song so I learned to play bass on those couple of tunes. I found I really enjoyed playing bass so eventually traded my baritone sax for a used Fender Jazz Bass (this was my senior year of high school).

I spent a lot of after school hours practicing bass and ended up auditioning as the bass player for a nightclub group where I would be playing six nights a week and doing a weekly radio show for half of my senior year of high school. It was the best apprenticeship I could have experienced. That group headed for California and, since I wasn’t finished with high school, I stayed and started forming groups with local players.

in the 50+ years since then I have played bass with many different bands playing country, polkas, rock, blues, and R&B with those groups ranging in size from a duo to a 10 piece “horn group” playing a seven state area covering Chicago and Tower of Power tunes along with original stuff we recorded. I’m still an active player in a couple of projects.