It all started in 1989...

I was 15 when I started playing guitar in December of 1989. My uncle had an old acoustic with four rusty strings. He got me a Mel Bay chord book and showed me how to string it and tune. 

Two months later, my parents splurged and bought me my first electric guitar. It was a bright red Gremlin. Of course, my dad's friend, a local musician, advised that I get another guitar that was used and slightly beat up (I think it was an Ibanez which would have been a much better choice but I had the shiny object syndrome). 

Let's back up a little...

It was late 88 or early 89 when I heard heavy metal for the first time. There was this kid at school who had long hair, wore a jean jacket loaded with patches of metal bands, and always had his headphone on air drumming.

Growing up in the small town of Cantonment, FL (close to Pensacola), heavy metal was considered devil-worshipping music. So many of the kids thought this dude was weird and, well, yeah, worshiped the devil.

I admired this guy. As timid as I was back then, I drummed up the courage to ask him what he was listening to. He smiled as if he already knew he won me over and said 'Metallica!' 

That week I took $20 that I had made for mowing lawns and bought the Puppets and Justice cassettes. It was long after that I realized I wasn't just a metal fan. I wanted to go deeper.

I was obsessed with heavy metal and had those two albums blaring on the street while practicing BMX freestyle moves. I also got into bands like:

Guns n' Roses
Scorpions
Def Leppard
Queensryche

And pretty much all of the hair bands of that era. It's funny that getting into the heavier stuff came later in life. 

After getting my first electric guitar, my dad's friend took me to his house to show me his gear and was like 'Man, you've gotta hear this.'

He popped in Joe Satriani's Flying in a Blue Dream. I was hooked, mesmerized, and forever changed. 

Growing up we went to a small Pentecostal Holiness church. No, we didn't handle snakes or anything too crazy. But there was guy that played a jazz and blues style who become my mentor. Ronnie Goodman. RIP Ronnie. 

I started playing in the church band with him as did some other friends who played guitar, keys, and bass. Yeah, it wasn't my taste. But when you truly love the instrument that much, you just want to be up there playing.

I attribute playing hymns that were in non-guitar friendly keys like B flat and E flat along with learning metal songs at home to being able to quickly learn my fretboard and getting good at improvising. I never thought much of that until later. 

In the mid-90s I joined my first real band. Palin Genesia, which means a new beginning in Greek. We were a Christian rock/sort-of alternate band but with shred guitar solos because of me (if you were around in the 90s, you may recall that grunge killed guitar solos for a short time). 

Like many bands, it faded after a couple of years. But I had become really close friends with the band manager, Eddie Gray. And he and I started a little band called The Guys.

Another close friend, Tom Sherman, who I met later joined us as we needed a rhythm guitarist for a big show we had coming up, Pensacola's Springfest 1999.

We played several other shows and festivals. We also went through several drummers. I ended up moving from Pensacola to Tampa in 2000 so that squashed The Guys (that's another story for another time). 

Over the years I've played with a couple of worship teams, bands, and have recorded guitars and wrote for some small projects. 

There was a dark time when I fell out of music. I still owned a guitar and played here and there. But wasn't involved in anything serious. 

I mention that because many guitarists can relate to that. I've read so many comments on my YouTube channel where people have told me they laid it down for 10, 20, 30, even 40 years, and just picked it back up. 

I've been there. I get it. And if that's you, I'll share what someone told me during this dark time:

There's a reason your windshield is so much bigger that your rear view mirror. 

In 2008, I met someone who changed my life forever. My wife, Candy.

I got back into music with a mission and started getting the gear I needed to write and record. This is the when amp sims were starting to become a thing and I was brand new to recording software.

With that, my wife thought it'd be a good idea for me to start a YouTube channel. So that launched in 2010. 

I also started getting into European metal bands like:

Nightwish
Sonata Arctica
Delain
Arch Enemy
Amon Amarth
...just to name a few

In 2013, I released my first solo album, Apocalyptic Dreams. To this day, I'm extremely proud of that album. 

Fast-forward to now, I've got several albums under my belt, have worked with and recorded for some amazing artists (the Polish metal band KAT, the cinematic metal project Homeric, and a few others). 

I've also got to work with brands like Blackstar, Peavy, Electro-Voice, Bogren Digital, Digitech, Zager Guitars and On-Stage. 

On top of that, I play live solo acoustic shows 2-3x a week in the Tampa area. I stick to rock and some pop covers from the 80s for these gigs. 

I hope my story gives you some encouragement. 

I want you to always remember that no one can do what you do exactly the way you do it. You have your own unique style and sound. And it's an honor for me to be part of helping you further develop that. 

Keep it Metal, and Keep Playing Music,

Jason