Hi Steven! Thanks for the update - sounds great! No doubt that fast lick at the end of American Girl can be tricky to get down -- but it's always good to get away from it for awhile then come back fresh and work on it again!

Definitely Petty was very influenced by the Beatles as well as the British Invasion as a whole - but he was also influenced by American bands like The Byrds and Buffalo Springfield.

Cheers!!

Mike