Getting Started I had no musical training as a child but in August of 1960 at age 15 I first heard the instrumental guitar tune Walk Don’t Run by the Ventures on the AM radio and I, like many, immediately decided I needed to learn to play the guitar. (This recording continues to be recognized as one of the most influential guitar recordings in the history of pop/rock and the Ventures have been a huge influence on virtually every great pop/rock guitarist since).
I initially got an old beat-up acoustic guitar from a friend that fall and then got a real electric guitar and amplifier for Christmas in 1960. These were the very early days of rock and the guitar was just beginning to be used as a lead instrument in popular music so there were few, if any, instructors who taught the style of guitar playing I wanted to learn, particularly in rural northern Vermont where I spent my high school years at a small all- boys boarding school in a very tiny town. The school didn’t have a music program and I had no previous musical training so, in those days long before the advent of the internet, I had to teach myself how to play by ear (I still can’t read a written note of music). I spent countless amounts of my free time during the cold winter Vermont evenings learning tunes while wearing out phonograph needles and vinyl record groves listing to tunes over and over as I learned by trial-and-error how they were played. There were a handful of fellow students who were taking up guitar but they preferred the folk and/or flamenco genres so there was a little opportunity to learn to play rock from others. I was the only one interested in rock at a time when the prevailing feeling was that this genre was a passing fad which would soon die out. I recall us guitar players having light hearted philosophical discussions regarding the various merits of our chosen musical genres.
During high school I mostly concentrated on learning guitar instrumentals from groups such as the Ventures, Shadows, Fireballs, Johnny and the Hurricanes, and the “Surf” guitar bands of the day as well as some Kingston Trio tunes. It was a lonely endeavor since I had no access to other musicians who shared my specific interests but I apparently enjoyed doing it. Looking back at it today its apparent that the experience of self-learning (figuring it out myself) taught me persistence, determination, self-reliance, the benefit of taking on a challenge, and the confidence to learn without the experience of other’s, all skills which have served me well throughout my adult life. The only time I performed for an audience during my 3 years of playing guitar in high schools was one dance when gals from a nearby girls school came to our campus. I worked out a few tunes with a fellow student who played the piano and we performed for perhaps only a half hour with the help of a last minute vocalist. My First Bands
My first few years of college were spent in the Hudson River Valley north of New York City. There I was in 2 bands, the first being short lived and we only played 2 or 3 gigs (guitar, piano, sax, and drums). Then 4 of us decided it might be fun to start a band and we became locally successfully in 1965 and 1966. We called ourselves the Satyrs and I played lead guitar and sang background vocal (and a few leads). We had a rhythm guitars/lead vocalist, a bass player/background vocals and drums) We were what today is known as a “cover” band and we performed tunes that were hits on the radio charts that baby-boomers liked to dance to. We played at local clubs, college parties, country clubs, and other events, and for many months were the Friday night regular house band at a popular club which drew hundreds. The high point of this period was being invited to perform at the New York World’s Fair in the summer of 1965.
We started playing at
fraternity parties but soon were playing at the local clubs. By
early 1967 we became the regular week-night house band at a popular
club adjacent to campus where students came to dance and drink the
“3.2” (percent alcohol) beer legal for those age 18+ at the time.
By mid-summer we’d sold close to 10,000 copies of our record in the few states where it was distributed/promoted and this got the attention of at least one major west coast record company (I can’t remember which one). A little quick math based on population demographics suggested that, if released and promoted nationally, our record could possibly be a million seller so we were close to signing a record deal to re-record our tunes in a higher tech multi-track California studio for national distribution. However, the time commitment to band activities over the previous months had taken its toll on band member’s college grade point averages and, despite attending summer school, 2 of our members didn’t have the grade-point to stay in school (and mine was suffering a bit). In the late 1960’s if you lost your student military draft deferment, you likely ended up in fighting the war in Vietnam pretty quickly so the California record company lost interest since it was clear the band couldn’t stay together.
We continued performing into the fall of 1967 and, as I recall, a short bit into 1968 but when the 2 members were finally gone my adventures as a budding rock star were over. Some of us for a shot time thought of continuing as a different band but that was short lived as I’d pretty much concluded that, while playing in a band was fun, it wasn’t a sure-fire way to earn a living and a college degree would be much more valuable in the long term. So, I mostly put away the guitar and focused on my completing my degree.
More Recently
During the following half-century I picked up my guitar only
occasionally. In the early 1980’s I set up a little 8-track home
recording studio in my den which I messed with for a time. I
upgraded the studio to digital technology in 2008 and recorded a 6
tune CD on which I played all the parts (except drums). For around
the past 20 years I’ve taken my guitar along on ski club overnight
trips and led “sing-alongs” where we sing tunes we all recall from
the 1960’s and 1970’s. I’ve occasionally performed a solo act where
I play the lead guitar part over a pre-recorded backing track. Then
during the Covid-19 pandemic starting in 2020 when I, like most, was
sequestered at home with lots of free time, I got serious about
playing again and started practicing a couple of hours a day and
have been having a great time learning many tune I always wanted to
play back-in-the-day but didn’t have the time learn at the time.
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