From The Very Beginning...

We all start playing guitar for a particular reason, being that we wan't to feel the electricity through our fingers, or whether its because we just love the idea of creating our own compositions. From the very beginning, I got started on songwriting, because for the most part that was what pushed me to the next level each day. But once I discovered the many possibilities with this instrument, I was hooked. Because when writing songs I wanlt to feel 100 percent competent, and with expanding my knowledge in different directions Ive always wanted to find out which direction I would naturally lean towards.

I love playing very loud rock songs, and Metallica has definitely been a huge influence for me over the past several years. Their take charge attitude, and their will to focus primarily on their music has opened my eyes like never before. But I think because of my childhood, I'm very much naturally in tone with the blues. Ive never suffered pain like the great legends of our past, and a lot of people feel that in order to play the blues sufficiently you have to suffer. But still, with the overall love of the music, and your natural abilities, theres a way to overcome this cliche. From the very beginning my compositions sounded very bluesy, (even without proper training), its just something thats always been inside of me, Ive just always been looking for a way to let it out. So from the very beginning, once you mastered the basic open/power chords, what style of music did you feel yourself drifting towards? And have you ever felt the need to fight the current due to popular demand, and what your friends expect you to sound like?

-Joseph

I got into guitar because of my love of music and at 9yrs old i wanted to be a rock star.

I play mainly the blues now but depending on the mood will play around with rock(ac/dc etc).

As for suffering in order to play the blues, we all suffer at times, its just that some suffer from more sadder or tragic events than others. In our lives we lose touch with old friens, family die, lovers leave, fave things go missing or break. We all se sadness in differnt ways and I find that many try to compete with my lose is greater than yours, i'm blue'er than you, my life is more tragic etc.etc.

All that matters is our own loss or sorrow, thats why blues players sound differnt from each other, thats why we relate to one blues mand and perhaps not as much to another.

If you play from your heart and enjoy what you are doing then thats what it is.

Riff and be merry

I first started when I saw offspring play gotta get away at woodstock I thought it looked like the coolest thing, so i Got a guitar and explored like practicly everything, from Hendrix, then I thought, ugh, ill never listen to metallica, now its all I ever lsiten to, same way with alice in chains, perfect circle, then i got into series guitar music like steve vai and satriani.

Originally posted by Fenderblues
All that matters is our own loss or sorrow, thats why blues players sound differnt from each other, thats why we relate to one blues mand and perhaps not as much to another.

When writing our own compositions, our creativity can be sometimes measured just from a few thoughts here and there from the past, our most creative moments don't necessarily happen right after we have suffered through a great deal of turmoil. And when it comes to the blues, some of the best compositions have actually been written in the light of day, focusing on the good aspects of life, and perhaps its just the little memories here and there that put in the fiunal touches. Sure for a lot of the great blues musicians of the past they have experienced life like no other, from the loss of their friends, familiy, and lovers. But when it all comes down to it, writing good songs come from the heart, and I don't necessarily feel that one has to suffer like never before to reach their highest level of potentional. Writing musiuc, its not one big competition, its all about expressing our personallity. Throughout everyones life we encounter things that challenge us and fear us, but to overcome these obstacles through music, thats when we put our abilities to the test.

When writing impulsive solos, for me, everything always comes out sounding rather bluesy, I guess its because thats what I naturally wan't to hear. And sometimes I fight the feeling, trying to add a little bot more flash techniques, fast runs etc, but sometimes a song just doesn't call for the other stuff. Sometimes you have to be willing to trust yourself, without taking advantage of your sweet spot once its found...

-Joseph