A Little About Myself
Hi and a warm welcome to all you guitarists out there.
On this page I will talk a little about myself so that we can get to know each other. Who am I? My name is Scott Johnstone and I am the owner and author of Guitar Lessons Central.
I'm originally from Nova Scotia, on the east coast of Canada, in the Annapolis Valley region, and it's where I grew up as a kid. I currently live in Medicine Hat, Alberta, having just moved back to Medicine Hat for the second time from the beautiful province of British Columbia, Canada.
I have been playing guitar for the last 20 years or so, picking up the guitar at an early age (my grandmother buying me my first guitar when I was 4 years old). I didn't really start to take the instrument seriously until the age of 14 when I started playing and practicing religiously.
At one point in my early days I can remember practicing for 6 to 8 hours straight, and sometimes longer. I remember playing so much that my fingers on my pick hand would develop blisters and start to bleed, so I would have to put band-aids on them to keep the blood from getting all over my guitar (yuk). Needless to say, it didn't stop me.
Growing up where I did in Nova Scotia, there wasn't a lot of opportunities to get lessons from a teacher. So I had to take it upon myself and teach myself how to play. I used any information and books that I could get my hands on in order to further my progress and ability.
I also studied what other guitar players were doing and always had a ton of questions to bombard them with, when we would get together and jam.
Some of my favorite players that influenced me when I was growing up were guitarists like Randy Rhoads, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Zakk Wylde, Jimi Hendrix, Jimi Page, Kirk Hammet, Joe Satriani and Steve Vai to name a few. Some of my favorite bands being Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Collective Soul, Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath as well as many others.
I like many genres of music and have never really stuck to playing just one particular style. I feel that being able to play many different styles helps you become a more well rounded player, as well as helps you in carving out your own unique style.
Like I might have suggested above, I am a self taught guitar player with over 20 years of playing under my belt. I know the stumbling blocks that gave me trouble when I was first starting out, and I realized that many other guitarists are probably experiencing similar troubles.
Because I had no formal teacher to guide me along, I have developed a huge collection of books and practicing materials that I've bought over the years so that I could cross reference everything that I was learning. Some of the books were great accept many seemed to leave you guessing with there vague explanations they would give. Never letting me see the big picture about how everything fits together.
I don't want to see other guitarists that are struggling, having to go through what I did, by spending thousands or dollars on books, videos and other learning materials in order to become better players.
That is the reason I have put this site together. I want a place where guitarists can come and have there questions answered by someone who has "been there, done that", and knows what you are going through.
That way you are not wasting thousands of dollars and your precious time searching for books and other
I'm not saying that the learning products on the market today aren't any good, it's quite the opposite, most books that you can buy today usually have CD's included with them to help further explain what they are teaching. It seems that the amount of information available today has just exploded, making it even more confusing for the guitarist to find what they are looking for.
So my main goal here at Guitar Lessons Central is to help you gain a better understanding of the guitar by providing you the information that will help you reach your goals as a guitar player. At the same time suggest any books or other learning products that I feel has great content and that will help in your development and further your ability.
O.K., that's enough about me for now, let's get going and get down to some practicing, shall we!
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Happy playing!
Guitar player and enthusiast,
Scott Johnstone
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