Quick intro. My name is Ed, I'm 35 and have been playing for just over a year now. I've been a drummer for 22 years and finally decided to give the guitar a go after setting up a home studio. I quickly learned that I love the instrument. Strange to have just figured this out after being in bands and around some great players for so long. I think it was just putting in enough effort to see some progress that got me excited. So far I'm very pleased with my playing. Even surprised some friends which was nice.

I've always been into a wide variety of music but with a focus on melodic power metal and progressive metal. Some of my favorite guitarists include John Petrucci, Michael Schenker and Wolf Hoffmann of ACCEPT. Strangely enough, after having been a huge fan of ACCEPT through my late teens and 20's my path crossed with Wolf on a business level at one point and we ended up becoming good friends. So it's pretty wild to watch him play in person and have him actually teaching me some of my favorite ACCEPT riffs. He event went as far as to give me an amazing custom Hamer guitar as a gift. That alone is enough inspiration to play every day! But I digress.

Long story short (too late), I really do love to play. I try to practice as much as work and family time permits. I'm primarily self-taught with the aid of books and videos but I'm getting ready to take lessons from a good friend and amazing player here in the Tampa, FL area. (You can check out some of his instrumental work at http://www.mp3.com/toddgrubbs ) That should give me a lot of insight into the theory aspects as well as technique.

Great to have found a cool site and forum such as this. I wish everyone the best in their own musical pursuits!

(BTW, Wolf's site that I run is http://www.wolfhoffmann.com You can check out his instrumental takes on some classical pieces at http://www.mp3.com/wolfhoffmann )