My First Guitar/Music Teachers

At 18, since I had decided not to pursue my education in classical music, I picked up a guitar. I had an old Silvertone arch top I paid $10.00 for. I wish I still had it; it was a great playing guitar. I dabbled at bass for a couple of years prior, but got bitten once a guitar was put in my hands. I was bitten so badly by the passion to play guitar, I practiced 10 hours a day, 7 days a week. For the first month my fingers bleed on the fret board.

Part of my playing/practicing time was spent at a beautiful rose garden off of Oakland Ave. in Oakland, CA. I would sit there learning from my friend, Tim Garcia from San Antonio, TX. He was in the Navy and stationed at Alameda Naval Base. He taught me that really cool flat picking that Neil Young does on an acoustic. We’d play tunes like Old Man, Needle and the Damage Done, Cowgirl In the Sand, etc… We played other stuff as well.

The other part of my time was spent with a guy I had met during my senior year in high school. Because of our passion for music, we hit it off immediately. I moved, well sort of left shall we say under a cloud to Minnesota, where I completed high school. Upon returning to California our friendship fired back up and we spent a great deal of the time together. I virtually lived at his house for about 2 plus years. Those of you who know the band Y&T (Yesterday and Today), know who Dave Menniketti is. Whenever someone save Dave they knew I was nearby. He taught me the pentatonic 3 octave scale that goes from open E on the 6th string to E on the 12th fret of the 1st string. And all the time I roadied for them, I watched and learned….watched and learned.

We would sit in Dave’s room and listen to The Allman Bros, King Crimson, Edgar Winter, Uriah Heep, Stanley Turentine, Lenny White, Jimi Hendrix (Dave’s fav). We listened to a wide assortment of music…Dave was into broadening both our musical horizons, and he had a great collection of vinyl, yes albums. This was before cassettes even.

Here is where I’m going to stray away a little and pay some honor to Dave’s family. His father is one of the nicest people you will ever meet. His mother was a very classy lady. She used to take time to educate me on a variety of things. The most memorable, probably because if she had been the one to introduce this to the world, she would have made millions….She used to make pizza on french bread all the time. She used to explain to me that this was the pizza of Italy, but not with meat, because they weren’t rich like us Americans. This was back around 1971-73. What a classy lady. His sister was a real nice girl and very supportive of Dave. Last time I saw his father and sister, they were still supporting Dave’s career. What a wonderful family to have touch my life back then. I hope they read this and give me a chance to say thanks to some people who blessed me.

Dave was in a band before Y&T either called Oakland or Skin Tight. Dave was on guitar with his wall of sound, a Baldwin amp, Duane Parker on guitar, Arthur J. Finney, and Leroy Silva. Later Dave started talking with Leonard Haze and Bob Gardner and the first generation of Yesterday and Today was born. Leonard and I used to joke that we could set up his drum set faster than the others could set up their amps and the PA which was an amp and two column speakers. The original band played top 40 at the Navy Bases and EM clubs, a story in itself. Later Bob Gardner left the band and they started heading into the direction of the Y&T that started doing albums and touring.

Bob ended up being “instrumental” in more musical growth for me. He was attending Cal State Hayward, where, if I remember correctly, he got a degree in music. Bob liked the fact that I was the only “rock” player he knew who appreciated his wide taste in music, which incorporated classical. Bob and I talked about doing music together and worked on some “Chicago” tunes, which were progressive at that time. Bob was the one that helped develop my ear training at that time. He would have me turn my back and hit 2 notes on the piano. I had to guess the interval between the 2 notes. Try it sometime…it is a great exercise.
These were the first people in my life that were responsible for music training after school was over. Humble beginnings that marked the aggressive learning curve I still have today…I love to learn, which is why I still carry a learner’s permit, though I teach as well.

As for the other training, by learning from the pros on the albums…the first “hard” song with lots of chords I learned on my own was: I’d Love To Change the World - Alvin Lee and Ten Years After. The first album? Paranoid - Black Sabbath…my wife hates the fact that I can sing like Ozzie. I have re-written the lyrics to 3 songs on this album (I call it Christianizing or GOD glorifying). JESUS Gathers for War Pigs, Savior Man for Iron Man and Not Paranoid for Paranoid.