Name:

Mark

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2,698

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Style:

Miscellaneous

Joined:

September 30, 2006

Last Sign In:

1 week ago

Subscribers:

39

Website:

Formation Date:

October 04, 1957

Record Label:

What's A Record?

Label Type:

Major Label

Band Members:

Yes

Influences:

Stravinsky, Hendrix, Debussy, The Three Kings (BB, Freddy and Albert) Wes Montgomerey, Pat Martino, My Students, Jeff Beck etc.

Sounds Like:

All of the above combined with none of the above.

Hometown:

Richmond BC, Canada

Country:

United States

Occupation:

Composer, performer, music school owner guitar instructor

Companies:

The Guitar School (www.theguitarschool.com) Peninsula School of Music (www.peninsulaschoolofmusic.com) Long Beach School of Music (www.longbeachschoolofmusic.com)

Hobbies:

Music, business, philosohpy, dance Why I Improvise I am passionate about improvisation in all styles of music. This is my love, my joy, my high in life. I get the most satisfaction from this aspect of my live performances. The creativity experienced, especially when Im on, is something I dont experience in normal everyday life. When it started I had been playing the guitar for a couple of years as kid and was just starting to listen to Santana, Johnny Winter, Led Zeppelin and The Allman Brothers when one of my friends mentioned that the guitarists were making their solos up on the spot. That just floored me, I couldnt believe it! I knew right then and there that I had to be able to do that too; thus starting my lifelong quest to perfect the art of improvisation on the guitar. How it progressed Beginning with garage/basement bands, my friends and I got together and jammed for hours at a time on modal one chord jams, simple progressions and blues. Later on, as I developed my skills, I moved into progressive rock, fusion and funk, and eventually be-bop influenced jazz. Along the way I also picked up skills in Country, Classical, Latin, African and other various ethnic music and hybrid styles. Where its going Although I am constantly refining my technique and exposing myself to many different types of music and musicians in an effort to find new ways to express myself, something that has been inspiring me for quite some time now is teaching other musicians to improvise. The fact that no two persons interpret an idea the same way has been fascinating to me, and that I, an experienced musician for over 30 years can learn even from a beginning improviser. The goal I want to introduce musicians and listeners alike in the art of improvisation because this part of popular music seems to have disappeared in the last few years, especially in the mainstream. I am on a quest to educate, enlighten and inspire the masses. I believe one of the best ways to accomplish this is through teaching. If I can get a student to experience even a fraction of the passion I had as a beginning musician then I am convinced that they in turn will inspire others, as well as being open to listening to and enjoying great musicians improvise.

Movies:

Most Sci-Fi and thrillers

Music:

Jazz, Blues, Fusion, Rock, Classical, Country, Folk, Polka, Salsa

Books:

Dune, I Robot, Stranger In A Strange Land, Actually alot of classic Sci-Fi but I used to love those Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazines and the pulp fiction Sci-Fi from the 50's-70's but who has time?