Syl: Guitar Player
I originally started playing guitar in the mid-1980s, at the age of 16. This is, it turns out, a fairly late age to start playing, and the dream of ever being able to play guitar professionally was put aside by the necessities of life, such as paying rent and obtaining groceries, (not to mention the reality that I’ve always been more skilled at other activities than I am at playing guitar).
Years have passed, of course, including far too many when I didn’t play any guitar at all. I got tired near the end of the 1990s of seeing myself as “the guy who used to play guitar,” and decided to make an effort to become one of the guys who STILL plays guitar!
I now own much better quality guitars and amplifiers than I did in those early years, so although I don’t spend as much time playing the guitar as I did then, I’m able to get much more satisfaction and enjoyment from it. Between yearly pilgrimages (since 2003) to the Guitar Workshop Plus1, a few private lessons in 2004 with a teacher who helped quite a lot (particularly with reading skills), and various instructional materials, including some DVDs and more recently select YouTube guitar instructors’ channels, I find that I’m playing better than I ever did when I was younger and am now progressing more quickly, although I still feel I was able to play more songs then (although not particularly well, and without any solos or leads).
- I cannot overstate how great the yearly visits to Guitar Workshop Plus in Toronto have been for my playing. The teachers they get are absolutely top notch and there simply is no better way to learn to play any instrument than with in-person instruction. If you’re in any way in a position to attend these workshops, no matter your age or current playing ability, I wholeheartedly and very enthusiastically recommend that you do. ↩︎
Theory courses, as part of an unfinished Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in music (electro-acoustic studies, specifically) at Concordia University have helped me understand much better the music I hear and play.
I used to keep a list here of the guitar gear that I own and regularly use, but that list is just too likely to be out of date at any given moment. Suffice it to say that I have a selection of guitars to suit myself, some amps that I really like, and a decent selection of effects for those situations when I want to use them.
I also own other music related gear, much of which I purchased not working, for the purpose of repairing and turning back into the fun gear that it can be. I do rather enjoy that side of things.