My Story

I started playing guitar at an early age while living in New York City. I grew up in Manhattan’s the lower East side, so I was exposed at a young age to an endless diversity of musical styles. I first took lessons from a classical pianist who owned a local music store off first avenue called A1A Music. However, learning only to sight read music from Aaron Shearer books did nothing to motivate or incentivize me to practice. As such, much to the chagrin of my parents who paid for the lessons, I lost interest and quit.

Sports, namely baseball was a calling far too strong for me to ignore at the time. The concrete playground of PS 019 became my new summer home as did the fields in Central Park west.

Berklee Influence

It was not until high school that I seriously revisited my previous interest in music and the guitar. Black Sabbath and Toni Iommi had made a considerable impression on me. I eventually branched off and started listening to everything metal. Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Anthrax, Slayer to older, classic rock from Led Zep, Yes, Hendrix to King Crimson. Nothing was off the proverbial musical table. I soon realized I needed guitar lessons if I had any hope of becoming proficient as a guitarist. Learning randomly on my own was not an option as I had to many unanswered questions and was naturally curious about so many musical styles. Luckily, I found a competent teacher who was also a Berklee alumni. Our lessons covered everything from technique to music theory and composition to improvisation.