My Life Playing Guitar

Do you play guitar? I have played guitar since the age of 8 and, as of writing, have been playing for 30 years (wow, now I feel old!). My relationship with guitars started in the 1980’s, I was fortunate to have a very, very cool dad! My dad was, and still very much is, my hero. Dad is my influence in life and music, and a man who has had one of the most interesting and unfortunate careers as a touring Guitarist from 1968 to 2024 (but that is another story and hopefully one he’ll tell the world one day). My story starts with me as a toddler breaking into his music room to sit on his vinyl player so I could spin myself round on it. Music is in my blood, in my childhood everyone other than my mother was involved in music or played instruments; every day someone new came to our house for their guitar lesson with my Dad and I was quite literally surrounded by guitars.

I began learning, guided by Dad, at the age of 8. We had a bright yellow Hofner Stratocaster guitar which was perfect and in my favourite colour (I still love the colour yellow!). I learned the basics over the course of 2 years before becoming too cool (I thought!) to play guitar and giving up for 3 years. When I had my GCSE options looming over me, I did not know what to pick but knew in my heart that music was something I wanted to do so it was time to bring the dusty guitar out and refresh my limited skills. I blasted through the next few years and began my GCSE in music, for which my dad bought me a new guitar - a bright red Yamaha RG series guitar with twin humbuckers. This guitar was very similar to what a lot of guitarists in bands I was listening to were using at that time but despite that I hated it… with a passion, the colour was horrific, the finish looked cheap, the pickups didn’t produce a great sound and the overall shape in my opinion was bland.

I knuckled down and got on with it passing my GCSE in music, I also started playing in a school band “Diesel 10”. I was the lead singer and the lead guitarist and we played concerts at schools and at local halls, trying to gain a following. I stayed in school but decided IT was the way forward and halted my musical progression; maybe I tried to separate my learning from my passion and playing in a band was very much now my out-of-school hobby. Two years later all the band members moved on to university and I decided to take a year out to find work and make some money, music and guitar were put on the back burner.

In 2001 I decided to go to University to study music, my grandad had just passed away and left me some money and I really, really wanted a new guitar for when I started my course. I bought myself the same type of guitar my Dad had, a Les Paul. Not just any Les Paul though, I bought a 1978 Gibson Les Paul Custom Artisan made from walnut with a natural varnished wood finish, 3 PAF humbucking pickups (a rare setup used by Peter Frampton, King Crimson and Ace Frehley of Kiss). The Les Paul was made iconic the world over by many talented guitarists including Slash, Jimmy Page, Les Paul himself and my idol at the time - Zakk Wylde, guitarist to Ozzy Osbourne and of Black Label Society fame (someone I’d later name my son after). Since buying my Les Paul it has been everywhere with me; witnessing my whole music career, thousands of gigs and recorded multiple albums. After 20 years I finally retired it to my study wall where I can cherish all the memories I made with it; my wife jokes that it means more to me than her, but in my eyes if I hadn’t have purchased the Les Paul and chosen the career path I did I would never have met her. (that too, is a story for another time!)

Fast forward to 2024 and I have a successful career in marketing for a book company that sells books to schools in the UK and internationally, Browns Books. I also have sufficiently less hair and a bigger belly but I still play guitar every day and have a mighty collection of axes(Guitars). I also have a message for anyone who always wanted to play guitar - it’s never too late! There’s some amazing resources out there, personally I recommend the series of books and CDs by Yorkshire-based guitarist Ron Hales whose Bluespower range is awesome. Browns has some great resources - Wiley do a fully updated book for beginners, Guitar for Dummies which covers all the basics and Guitar Basics by Faber is also a perfect, comprehensive guide for those picking up a guitar for the first time. If learning isn’t your thing and you just like to look at Les Pauls then Welbeck Publishing's Les Paul 70 Years is a visually stunning book chronicling the history of rock’s greatest guitar.

Keep Rocking,
Nic - Marketing Manager