Where it all began! 
I started with 2years of classical guitar lessons after school with an 80yrs spanish guitar teacher.
It was a solid route for me and for my 17th next birthday , my dad bought me my first electric guitar
(my girlfriend screams "it's his fault") which was a cherry red Vantage "avenger" (see my photos) made in Japan.
Music Influences & growing up
My first taste of playing music with others came during my music lessons at school where myself
and Matt (Best friend) used to hide in the cupboard and jam.
This of course turned into "i will bring my guitar round to your house" and many a weekend was spent learning all our favourite songs and trying to impress each other.
I found that by copying the riff's of my favourite players i could build upon their style and
extract the best part's of their style and make up my own.
I started with SteveVai , Joe Satriani & Yngwie Malmsteen and listened to every guitar album i could get my hands
on. I also listened to different styles like jazz (Sting ,Django & Mike Stern) pop etc to widen my horizons.
Show me how to play:
Ideas , riffs and chops!
I pretty much started writing riffs and recording as soon as i had a 4 track tape recorder.
I used to write loads and recorded any licks and ideas that i had. I always thought that it
was a good idea to keep every idea on tape , so that i could turn it into a song or pinch a
riff here and there.
After years of learning and playing cover songs i decided to stop copying song's and work
on my own style so that i wouldn't get caught up in a particular style.
This meant hours of jamming and writing some really bad songs and any ideas that came
into my head. I messed around with finger shapes and anything that would create a riff.
I used to play all the stuff to my mate and he would tell me how i was improving.
Show me how to:
Songwriting is a skill !
On my mission to become the worlds next Steve vai , i forgot the one vital thing and that
was "structure" & "melody" .Just because you can solo , doesnt mean you can write a song!
You forget that some of the best lead guitarist's are great rythm players and that's the road
i had to go back down.
I thought , okay , i better get myself some books and find out how people write songs.
I have amased a huge pile of songwriting books,many crap! many half good.
But one was amazing and finaly what i was looking for , it was called How to Write Songs on Guitar by Rikky Rooksby
and it's the only book i have re-read over and over again. Infact i lent it to Matt and haven't seen it since!!
Writers block & how to over come it
Like this guy , we have all suffered it and i have seen many a discussion forum covering "writers block".
My advice and especially after reading Rikky's book is that when you get stuck in
a rut try something different.
Here are my perscriptions for "writers block"
- Start writing another song
- try writing on a different instrument
- go for a walk
- dont play for a week
- wash the dishes
- take a break
- read a magazine/book "How to write songs on the guitar"
- watch a DVD
- Listen to as many albums in that style in a week then try again!
- Write a blog on songwriting (sounds familiar)
- Jam with some friends
- Jam with some backing tracks
- Take the dog for a walk
- Read a musicians biography & how they started
- Watch a music documentary about a band in a studio (this helps!)
- Most importantly....DONT GIVE UP!
Good reference material
As i said before "how to write songs on the guitar" is the best songwriting book i have ever read!
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