The Introductions Thread

[PhilTraynor]

I'm new to the forum.. as you may have guessed from my username, I'm Phil Traynor. I'm enrolled in the Vicki Genfan "Guitar Sherpa" class, and I also have in the past purchased her "3D Guitar" DVD, it was incredible. I'm looking forward to great things!

My musical experience is as follows - I've played drums for 38 years, and bass, keyboard and guitar for about 35 years. Guitar is my weakest instrument, I'm primarily a bassist and drummer. I'm just a rhythm player, I cannot solo my way out of a wet paper bag on anything. I have a small studio in my house (MOTU 8pre into Adobe Audition), and have release three jazz CDs, the first in 2003, the 2nd in 2008, and the most recent just last year. You can hear what I do on my website, philtraynor.com, there's a Reverbnation player embedded there.

Oh, I'm from St. Petersburg FL (I live about 4 miles from Truefire headquarters, I got to visit, it is the coolest joint on the planet!)... Go Rays!

Looks like a great forum so far, I already see people I know just in this thread! (Hi, Rolly!!)

Anyway, Hi!!

[Hutch82]

I'm new to the forum.. as you may have guessed from my username, I'm Phil Traynor. I'm enrolled in the Vicki Genfan "Guitar Sherpa" class, and I also have in the past purchased her "3D Guitar" DVD, it was incredible. I'm looking forward to great things!

My musical experience is as follows - I've played drums for 38 years, and bass, keyboard and guitar for about 35 years. Guitar is my weakest instrument, I'm primarily a bassist and drummer. I'm just a rhythm player, I cannot solo my way out of a wet paper bag on anything. I have a small studio in my house (MOTU 8pre into Adobe Audition), and have release three jazz CDs, the first in 2003, the 2nd in 2008, and the most recent just last year. You can hear what I do on my website, philtraynor.com, there's a Reverbnation player embedded there.

Oh, I'm from St. Petersburg FL (I live about 4 miles from Truefire headquarters, I got to visit, it is the coolest joint on the planet!)... Go Rays!

Looks like a great forum so far, I already see people I know just in this thread! (Hi, Rolly!!)

Anyway, Hi!!

Welcome to the Truefire Express Phil I'm sure you'll enjoy the ride with Vicki noticed the vid on your site you jammin with VG amazing. Love to hear some of your bass wisdom in the The Bass Hang thread too. See you around

H

[Jestme]

Phil

Welcome to the forum...

Cool website you have. You've got some interesting and cool things going on.

Your working with Pete Huttlinger over the Internet was very interesting. As you probably know Pete has some health issues going on, hopefully everything will work out for him.

Jamming with Vivki Genfan was cool too. I listened to your tunes... nice stuff, and very well put together.

I think you'll like it around here. Have fun.

[herby]

Welcome Phil. From reading your background and listening to the tunes on your site, which are very cool by the way, it looks like you've found the perfect place for yourself here at TF. I hope you'll think so too, and that you'll feel free to jump into the forum. We can use a guy like you around here. Loved the Long Train Runnin' vid of you and Vickie G!

[wvgman]

Glad to see you made your way onto the TrueFire bus. You are most welcomed here and thanks for sharing your work with us. Super cool! Hang out, have fun, and make yourself at home. Everyone is happy here in guitar-land! Please chime in on any topic. We definitely encourage participation and I am sure you can draw from a pretty deep well of knowledge to enlighten us to some of the things you have learned in your experiences.
Glad you are here!

[PhilTraynor]

I hope I can add to the community as much as I take from the accumulated wisdom... Thanks for having me!!

[zaphod123]

Hi Phil,
Welcome to the forums! I just signed up for the Sherpa class with Chris Buono. The classes look like they are going to be a lot of fun.

I second jestme. Nice website!

[PhilTraynor]

Hi Phil,
Welcome to the forums! I just signed up for the Sherpa class with Chris Buono. The classes look like they are going to be a lot of fun.

I second jestme. Nice website!

Thanks very much!! That website was actually super easy. I discovered a great site, weebly.com, that uses templated site designs, you just populate content from any browser in the world (that supports Flash), and you can customize many variables. I just mostly designed my own banner, and edited the CSS to customize my fonts a bit, the rest is a straight-up template. I HIGHLY recommend it; it's only $2.99 a month for a 2 year commitment, plus the domain name... It's great because I can edit it from anywhere, I don't have to be at home, so updates can be super timely.

[zaphod123]

That's cool. The price is definitely right.

Thanks very much!! That website was actually super easy. I discovered a great site, weebly.com, that uses templated site designs, you just populate content from any browser in the world (that supports Flash), and you can customize many variables. I just mostly designed my own banner, and edited the CSS to customize my fonts a bit, the rest is a straight-up template. I HIGHLY recommend it; it's only $2.99 a month for a 2 year commitment, plus the domain name... It's great because I can edit it from anywhere, I don't have to be at home, so updates can be super timely.

[Skyhigh]

Hi guys and or yeah, gals...
Well as it says I am new to the forum. Played drums for many years and then guitar. Got married, kids.. etc etc.. I am sure everybody who has been there understands. So long and short of it is, kids are gone doing there own thing and so is my now ex-wife. So after a couple of years of trying to figure out who I am now.. took back to music once again. So for the last 18 months or so I have been trying to relearn it all over over again... Boy, did I get a shock. none of this was around when I started to play.. no mp3s, no DVDs, only 33/45s...so now this is all a new experience for me. (60s)

Sky...

Gibson LP Special, black
Fender SRV Strat, natural finish,
Gibson ES335, Dot neck reissue, Latte
my old Tele I am now rebuilding..
An acoustic (made in China)
and custom made 30watt all tube amp...
and some pedals.. to make me sound good..

[Jestme]

Welcome aboard Skyhigh.

MAny of us share stories similar to yours. All these years later and it's still awesome.

You've come to a good place to learn about new gear, playing, recording... and to make a few new friends.

Glad you found your way here, I think you'll enjoy it.

[wvgman]

Glad to have you on the forum. This is a super great place to find friends with a common love for guitar and music. Browse about and discover all the cool things in the TrueFire playground: the home page, the forum, the blog (The Punch-In), the Sherpa classes, the Free Stuff, the Insider Newsletter, and of course-all the great guitar course. Yeah, the world is a more awesome place than it was when we were kids. Hang out, have fun, make yourself at home, and feel free to post any questions, comments, or even random thoughts. Someone will soon reply to it. Enjoy and again, you are most welcome here.

[herby]

Welcome Skyhigh! Your profile is very similar to very many people's here so you should feel right at home. That's some cool axes and gear you have there. This 'll be a great place to put them to use. Like WVgman says, the forum is a great place for discussing anything guitar (and sometimes other stuff too). I hope you'll feel free to jump in.

[gadlaw]

Welcome Skyhigh, glad you found your way here. I do like the guitars you have there and would wonder about how you go about rebuilding a Tele and why would you do that in the first place? Please make yourself at home and welcome again.

[golfnutt67]

Welcome I will second gladlaw about your guitars very nice, but I would also like to hear about your custom built amp.I'm an amp junkie

[ohpapa]

I think I was supposed to start here and started a new thread due to FIS (Forum Ignorance Syndrome)!

I'm Scott Perry from Floyd, VA. I've been a professional musician for almost 30 years, mostly as a traditional blues player. Now I teach 40+ students a week and am studying jazz guitar w/ Frank V. and loving it! I do still gig solo, duo and w/ my trio, Front Porch Swing, but teaching is my main income these days as I've become "choosey" about where I play in my "old age" (almost 50). I live on a small farm w/ my wife and youngest son (oldest is now on his own), where we raise a garden, fruit trees, berry bushes, chickens and more than a few eyebrows!

I taught myself to read and the basics of music theory about 5 years ago and the TrueFire videos and Sherpa system in particular has really helped me deepen my understanding of both and, more importantly, find useful and practical applications! I LOVE TRUEFIRE!

If there are any fellow swing/jazz enthusiasts out there who'd like to exchange charts, ideas, etc. I'd love to connect and even better, jam!

[herby]

I said welcome already at your other thread ohpapa, but welcome here too from a fellow Virginian. Don't worry about FIS. We've all had it but fortunately you'll get over it soon!

[highstepper]

Greetings, this is John (aka highstepper). Lifelong resident of New Orleans. Like a lot of other folks, I'm a long time/ low intensity guitar player. Played a lot (if not well, or intelligently) through my teens, but college and then medical school and residency proved to be a huge distraction to my woodshedding. Not to mention marriage(s) and kids and 65 hour work weeks. Now all 6 of my kids are out of the house, with 3 in college. So I have more peace and quiet in my short hours off and I'm rediscovering the guitar. I've acquired some decent equipment over the years, but as we all know, "it ain't the arrow, its the indian".

I'm still trying to forge a plan to make use of all the resources available. I could probably be considered a relative novice when it comes to music theory, since most of what I know was by aping songs off of records. I'm a tad more advanced from a technical standpoint, but I need to rectify my ignorance of the method behind the madness. I'm open to suggestions, and I look forward to the journey.

[wvgman]

Great to see you folks here in guitar land! ohpapa, are you down there near what the call "the crooked road"? I'm in 'the other Virginia,' but I lived 12 yrs in Lynchburg and love The Old Dominion. Some really good musician around your area. Thrilled to see a neighbor here! We all had to start the forum thing sometime. I never was much of a forum guy until I won a guitar from TrueFire and the lady said I should intoduce myself to these guys. I have made some wonderful friends here. It is a super place w/ great people.

Hi highstepper, WOW the first time I saw your wonderful city I was there to help in some relief efforts on day 3 after Katrina hit town. Hit country I should say! Man, what a tragedy. I went down this past summer and took my wife because I had to see the place when the devastation was cleared (for the most part). It is a wonderful city and you got all kinds of great music there too! I took her to lunch at Emeralds' and then I let her come along as I took me to the Rivershack for some gator appetizers and an po boy! I do love NOLA!

What a great thing to have both you fellows here on the old TrueFire bus!!! What ever style you like, if you love guitar, you are going to love TrueFire! Hang out, have fun, and chime in! It is all good!

[herby]

Greetings, this is John (aka highstepper). Lifelong resident of New Orleans. Like a lot of other folks, I'm a long time/ low intensity guitar player. Played a lot (if not well, or intelligently) through my teens, but college and then medical school and residency proved to be a huge distraction to my woodshedding. Not to mention marriage(s) and kids and 65 hour work weeks. Now all 6 of my kids are out of the house, with 3 in college. So I have more peace and quiet in my short hours off and I'm rediscovering the guitar. I've acquired some decent equipment over the years, but as we all know, "it ain't the arrow, its the indian".

I'm still trying to forge a plan to make use of all the resources available. I could probably be considered a relative novice when it comes to music theory, since most of what I know was by aping songs off of records. I'm a tad more advanced from a technical standpoint, but I need to rectify my ignorance of the method behind the madness. I'm open to suggestions, and I look forward to the journey.

Welcome John the highstepper! There are all kinds of TF course for guys like you that want to get into the theory of music as it pertains to the guitar (with more to come!). Whether you play acoustic or electric, music theory is music theory and apply to both and other instruments as well. Off the top of my head and in no particular order, Fretboard Epiphanies comes to mind for strong basics. Also The Efficient Guitarist gave me all kinds of insights that were new to me even after 40-some years of playing. Fretboard Breakthrough is invaluable and any courses presented by Brad Carlton and Frank Vignola are full of good theory insights. There are many more and I apologize for any that aren't coming to my early-morning-first-cup-of coffee-mind right now. Also you'll find TF forum guys knowledgeable and eager to help all they can, so don't be a stranger here either. Enjoy!

[Allison]

Im Allison from Queens. NY. I am student of economics, hated music but since I got my new fenix full size semi acoustic, Im loving it n learning it like it already was in me

[gadlaw]

Im Allison from Queens. NY. I am student of economics, hated music but since I got my new fenix full size semi acoustic, Im loving it n learning it like it already was in me

That's a wonderful story Allison. It's great that you have found the music in you and are enjoying the journey of learning. There are a lot of resources out there for you. This forum is one of those resources and we're glad you've checked in, please don't hesitate to explore and ask any questions you like or participate at any level you are comfortable with. You could be the most brilliant Economist in the world and still find a place in your life for your own personal music journey in life so it's all possible. Like Highstepper above you, a life of hard academic work and just now finding the time to organize his hobby. It's very rewarding to learn to play, learn some theory when you feel like it has something to offer you. That's the brilliance of having your own hobby, take it at your own pace and enjoy! Welcome to the forum, glad to have you here!

[gadlaw]

HI there sir, glad you found your way to the TrueFire forum. We're most happy to have you and your journey as you know by reading around here is a common one - a full life and now trying to get your music hobby more in gear. The tools are certainly here for you to elevate your game. If you are looking to increase your theory chops there are a good number of ways to go about it depending on where you are in your understanding. Being non musical myself it's been the most difficult thing, grasping music theory and if you are going from the bottom up then the Modern Method by Frank Vignola is a good place to start http://truefire.com/tftv/index.html?...r-lesson-intro. If you'd like a easy to understand dose of theory where you'll get a grasp on where to find A Chords and the other chords across the fretboard, where and how to find 7th Chords and having that most easily explained then Marc Schonbrun's The Efficient Guitarist is a brilliant way to start. A bit PDF heavy but the charts and the video descriptions will have you saying 'AHA!' in short order. http://truefire.com/techniques-guita...st-techniques/.
Beyond that, it's a matter of picking the path that most interests you, you can go up the path following a Blues path, a Jazz Path, A Acoustic Path - learning to play and learning technique while you are picking up the theory and the understanding while you're at it. Great stuff and good way to go about it. http://truefire.com/learning-paths/

As always, go through the sample videos of any course to get a feel for the instructor and what direction he's taking to see if it's for you. Theory, techniques, licks, songs, philosophy of music - it's all here. Thanks for joining the forum and welcome!

[jrhoden]

I've been AWOL for quite some time and wanted to say that it's great to be back. For those of you who introduced yourselves during my absence, I wanted to take the time to say hello and welcome you to the forums. I'm sorry I missed all the initial introductions but look forward to getting acquainted with everyone in the very near future. We have a great community here and we're happy to have you all as part of it. I hope to see you all online very soon. Don't do like I did and be a stranger.

[herby]

Im Allison from Queens. NY. I am student of economics, hated music but since I got my new fenix full size semi acoustic, Im loving it n learning it like it already was in me

Welcome Allison. I'd personally love to hear your perspective on learning the guitar as a young adult. My guess is that the music has always been in you. So I hope you'll keep us up to date on your progress here on the forum. Remember, sometimes the hardest part of practicing the guitar is simply picking it up! So pick it up and jump into Truefire and watch yourself grow musically.

[Wolfboy1]

23 April 2112

To all you new folks my sincere welcome! I haven't ventured up here for awhile, I tend to post more content oriented material (both stupid stuff and relevant info) and have generally let others of the SWAT team make the welcomes. But I have been missing greeting everyone as well as encouraging folks to post more. This place is only as good as you make it!

So to all those I have missed in the last 8-10 months welcome and jump on in to the threads,. New insights, jokes, reviews, questions and gear photos are always sincerely appreciated. Plus....if you build anything guitar related (cigar box guitars, pedals, amps, guitars, stands etc.) please share your build threads as they are my favorite!

Wolfboy1, aka Jeff Rogers

[RGarland]

Hi Everyone,
I'm new to these forums. Been a fan of TrueFire for many years and recently launched my Sherpa classroom 'Guitar Babylon.' http://truefire.com/guitar-sherpa/sh...s.html?id=4238

I am VERY excited to be a part of the TrueFire community, surrounded by great musicians and look forward to checking in with these forums to see what's new with everyone.

I'm originally from the U.K. now living in sunny Los Angeles and am an obsessed lunatic when it comes to all things guitar and music - just ask my wife!

I'll be contributing to the 'Your Guitar Diary' thread in upcoming weeks and can hopefully share some useful musical tips as well as some questionable humor.

Cheers,
Rob

[gadlaw]

Hi Everyone,
I'm new to these forums. Been a fan of TrueFire for many years and recently launched my Sherpa classroom 'Guitar Babylon.' http://truefire.com/guitar-sherpa/sh...s.html?id=4238

I am VERY excited to be a part of the TrueFire community, surrounded by great musicians and look forward to checking in with these forums to see what's new with everyone.

I'm originally from the U.K. now living in sunny Los Angeles and am an obsessed lunatic when it comes to all things guitar and music - just ask my wife!

I'll be contributing to the 'Your Guitar Diary' thread in upcoming weeks and can hopefully share some useful musical tips as well as some questionable humor.

Cheers,
Rob

Welcome sir to the family. Sorry about the delay in your post showing up. It's the usual thing, new guy with a link and the software flags that. If it happens again please do email me at gadlaw@gmail.com and I'm able to get to that no matter where I am thanks to the wondefulness of 3G and smartphones.

Took a look at the introduction video at your Sherpa page and it's really quite a resume. It'll be great hearing from you in the Guitar Diary section, we've really learned a great deal from all the players and instructors and students who have posted there. Welcome to the forum!

[RGarland]

Thanks Gadlaw, much appreciated.

Good to be here.

[murrayatuptown]

Hello all the new people. I just realized I've been staying out of this forum because I already announced myself. I just remembered I'm supposed to greet the people who are introducing themselves....nothing personal...I lose touch with reality her and there...

I have to laugh at Allison's description...I never dug economics but did dig music...

[DarthGrumpy]

Me.....I'm 47, live in Ohio, and a long time player, since 15. I quit except for a little flamenco and fingerstyle from age 27 to 41 due to usual factors. Kids, job (US Navy) then after 8 years as a naval aviator hunting Soviet subs I got out and went to law school....definitely no time for guitar during this time frame as I was working and raising kids as well. Graduated and became a county prosecutor. Then at age 41 I got seriously ill, 3 operations and nearly dying made me reshuffle priorities. I went from 1 to 7 guitars, got in a band, bought a bunch of pedals, started gardening more and have relaxed and brought my hobbies back to the forefront of my life. Two boys (21 and 15), a wife of 23 years and 3 dogs. I play as much as time permits and have been really encouraged by my skill development with a band and truefire. I play better now than I ever did.

Very similar to my story. I'm just turning 50, started playing when I was in Junior High. Went into the Navy. I was hunting Soviet subs from the other side - U. S. subs. Not much room for guitars, though I did score a Les Paul Custom at a pawn shop. Judging from the condition, it had seen a lot of playing. Eventually, when life, wife, and kids caught up to me, it went in the closet. Now, 25 years later, priorities have shuffled. Recently, I was mingling with musicians that are parents of my daughter's friend. The itch hit again, and I decided it was time to quit letting things get in the way, and scratch it hard. The Les Paul came out, I got a decent practice amp (ditching the Gorilla that I'd settled for years ago), and I've already made more progress in a couple months than I did in a decade, just working off the materials I could find off the Internet. I stumbled on Truefire, and after signing up for a trial, dug into the 50 Licks Texas Blues lessons. (Great course!)

Right now, I'm like a kid in a candy store... all the material to choose from. The courses are all reasonably priced, but even after all these years, I still have a problem convincing myself to spend money on ME. That's one of my biggest obstacles. The others are physical. I have a lot of neck and shoulder problems (in part from sleeping in submarine racks) and I've lost a lot of strength and even some feeling in my left hand. I'm looking at the CAGED Cracked, and I can get the A and E forms pretty well, but I've got small hands to start with, and the bars needed for the C, G, and D chord forms are brutal. Hopefully, with stretching, playing, and time, it will get better.

[Wolfboy1]

Very cool Darth! I very glad you found us here in the forums. The CAGE course is a fundamental one as much for showing the relationship between notes and chords as for positioning/applications on the fretboard. Don't over stress your hands, some of these guitar related injuries can take a long time to heal. Give a look at Frank Vignola's Vamps course. It was just as eye opening to me in a different way.

By the way.....wear you on a boomers or fast attack boat?

[DarthGrumpy]

Very cool Darth! I very glad you found us here in the forums. The CAGE course is a fundamental one as much for showing the relationship between notes and chords as for positioning/applications on the fretboard. Don't over stress your hands, some of these guitar related injuries can take a long time to heal. Give a look at Frank Vignola's Vamps course. It was just as eye opening to me in a different way.

By the way.....wear you on a boomers or fast attack boat?

Both. My original boat was a boomer, the Henry L. Stimson (SSBN-655), then in the yards in Newport News. I got tapped as an emergency replacement for a fast boat out of Norfolk, the Spadefish (SSN-668). Did a couple runs on her, and then also got TADed to the Casimir Pulaski, a boomer out of Kings Bay.

I'll check out the vamps course. As far as the CAGED cracked course, I'll still take what I can from it, and go back for more as my hands stretch out. I like Carlton's style. Not quite a boot-camp CC, but definitely no nonsense.

[wvgman]

Welcome to the forum! I am not too far away from Buckeye land: I'm in WV.
As you have seen there are loads of great materials here. I like Brad Carlton as well.
You are gonna love TrueFire. Glad you are here. Jump into any thread and post.
Questions, comments, and even the occasional snide remark are all welcome.
Hang out, have fun, and make yourself at home.

[jklingensmith]

My wife playes keyboard.....anything like the TrueFire system for keyboard players?? So cool there is something like this for us guitar players but any suggestions for those that tickle the ivories? Thanks for any help.

[gadlaw]

My wife playes keyboard.....anything like the TrueFire system for keyboard players?? So cool there is something like this for us guitar players but any suggestions for those that tickle the ivories? Thanks for any help.

That possibility has been discussed and shelved for the time being. There will be a focus on Bass Courses and beefing up the Rock Category of guitar lessons. Hopefully Piano Lessons will come sometime in the future.

[smoozik]

Heya. I'm Conch--originally from Manila, Philippines and now residing in Chennai, India. Have been playing guitar for over a decade now--mostly rock. But I've been listening to jazz and funk, too. No formal guitar education--just a year of classical guitar back in high school. Just discovered True Fire while searching for guitar instructionals online. Figured it's time to really dig deep into the instrument. I'm eager to learn and can't wait to start on the lessons on the site!

[gadlaw]

Heya. I'm Conch--originally from Manila, Philippines and now residing in Chennai, India. Have been playing guitar for over a decade now--mostly rock. But I've been listening to jazz and funk, too. No formal guitar education--just a year of classical guitar back in high school. Just discovered True Fire while searching for guitar instructionals online. Figured it's time to really dig deep into the instrument. I'm eager to learn and can't wait to start on the lessons on the site!

Welcome to the forum Conch from Manila currently residing in India. That's a large journey in life and it sounds scary so you must be pretty adventurous and brave. Brave enough even to find your way to a guitar forum. First of all, check out this thread http://truefire.com/forum/showthread...-You-MUST-Know! - which will hook you up with a free download of lessons. You can't beat that price and be sure to follow the directions in the thread and if you have any problems let us know, we can fix many things.

We're here to help and we're glad you found your way to TrueFire. Now I'm going to go Google and find out where Chennai, India.