Hi everyone,
I'm relatively new here and have been asked to introduce myself properly, so here we go. I'll apologise in advance for making it so long.
I live in the very far western part of Germany, near Düsseldorf, not far away from Cologne, and very close to the Dutch border. In October, I will be 65. My retirement is scheduled for January 2026. Looking at it with mixed emotions at this stage.
My older cousins introduced me to music while I was in elementary school, making me familiar with the Beatles, Hollies, Beach Boys, and similar things. Later on, I moved in the post Woodstock direction altogether. My main influences were Hard Rock (Deep Purple), Blues Rock (Rory Gallaher), Southern Rock (ABB), and Jazz Rock (Al Di Meola). At the age of 11 or so, I started playing the drums, and later on guitar.
I've always been self-taught, occasionally picking up things from others I got in touch with. I'm pretty sure that the kids today don't even appreciate that they can always go to YouTube and learn things from watching videos. All that we had was the radio, the record player, and a book with chord tabs at best. Luckily, I had received a solid introduction to musical theory through our music classes at school, which helped me get my head around the fretboard. My enthusiasm for doing this was extreme during this period, until around when I left school. I definitely wasn't the best player around, there have always been better kids than me, but that didn't matter. All I wanted to do was play, and play I did. I joined a number of school bands, we did a number of gigs, and I also did the singing. We liked to improvise four hours. We had long hair, beards, and truly believed that we were phenomenal after we had some dope. In retrospect, this was the best time in my life.
After I left school, my life changed dramatically in some ways for reasons too many to mention here. As for my career, I've had all kinds of jobs throughout the time, ranging from very theoretical (working as an assistant at the University where I was studying languages and literature) to very practical (working on building sites given my family background where almost every man was a construction worker). I never seemed to be able to settle. I never seemed to be able to make up my mind eventually. I must have relocated like 10 times until I was 40. Playing the guitar slowly disappeared from the radar until it was totally gone when I was in my midtwenties. But I have always kept my old gear, taking it with me and keeping it in the cellar or somewhere for when I will pick it up again, I kept telling myself.
In around 2000, I started a new job, with all the usual scepticism at first, but then it became permanent up until today. I work in an engineering office, specialised on dealing with damages to buildings. My job is doing loss adjusting on behalf of some major insurance companies here in Germany. I have to travel a lot, get in touch with thousands of people a year, with whom I will have to come to terms in the end. All in all it has been a great education in collecting facts, being able to reproduce and present them in a reasonable way, and last but not least dealing with things using common sense and diplomacy.
At about the same time, I found myself a new partner, with all the usual scepticism at first… Long story short, we are still together and happy after all (saying this just because she may be listening). So all in all, I have settled by now.
In July 2021, our cellar was flooded due to extremely heavy rain. I ran down and rescued my amp and my two guitars, one electric and one acoustic. It must have been the first time that I actually touched them in like 15 years or so. I decided to start practising again, but facing all the frustration over all the things that I had lost, and doing this really only in a very half-hearted way, I gave up again very soon.
Now recently, in March or so, I finally decided to go back again and stay with it this time. Maybe thinking that I should really do so before I am 65. You know, a man always needs a reason for doing things, doesn't he. In addition, and maybe as a means to strengthen my motivation, I decided to get myself the Les Paul which I had always dreamt of. Not willing to spend an insane amount of money on it, I decided on an Epiphone. Practising is still very frustrating, and I should definitely increase my practice time, but this is not as easy when you have a full-time day job. However, I seem to make some progress over time, and this keeps me being optimistic.
In preparation, I have probably watched a zillion YouTube videos on guitars and things. I'm a big fan of Rick Beato, and also got his tutorial material, which alone would give me a year's worth of stuff to practice and get my head around. The biggest frustration with it for me this far being the "Ear Training", when I had always considered myself to be reasonably good in discerning things acoustically.
I have also resumed listening to the music of my teenage days, which initially got me started, on YouTube again of course, trying to jam along. If I could make a dream come true, I could play like Dickey Betts or Warren Haynes overnight.
Now, if you have made it this far, you may also be interested in my current gig. I'll attach a photo showing it all. From left to right, we have:
– A 1978 (I believe) Aria Pro II, Stratocaster copy, with two humbuckers, which can be switched to single coil. I got this one in around 1980, and it still plays reasonably well and sounds as it used to. Even though it was hit by the flood.
– In the background, a 1967 (I believe) Vox Virtuoso solid state amp, which I got in around 1974 if I recall correctly, with some really kind support from my mother. My hero back in the day. It is one of the flood victims and I haven't dared to plug it in yet. Planning to take it to a tech, but putting this on the shelf again and again. Anyhow, it would also be just too loud to play today in my apartment.
– In front, a rather new Marshall MG15R, which I decided to make my practice amp in the kitchen where I play. Given the low cost, it's actually terrific, and the headphones output is really excellent, listening through my AKG K240. The neighbours, and my partner, consider the headphones to be the best part of my rig anyhow.
– On top of the Vox amp, a Marshall MS-2. It's portable, runs from a battery and also comes with a headphone jack. It doesn't sound too bad, given its size and specifications. Although it comes across as a gimmick, it would truly be able to annoy the neighbours very badly also.
– And now, last but not least, my beloved November 2023 Epiphone Les Paul Classic IBG in Heritage Cherry Burst. It has the very thin slim taper neck that I want (0.8 inch at the first fret), very long sustain and is flawless from a manufacturing point of view, at least to me. Over time, I have managed to set it up the way that I want it, and as already mentioned, I also gave her a Plek service, which may or may not have improved it, or maybe just by a hair. Best of all, I can hardly take my eyes off her.
Thanks for your interest.
Edit:
I forgot to mention that I also have an old (1975 I believe) Eko 12 string acoustic guitar which I got in combination with the Aria. But it is just too shy to appear in front of a camera and prefers sitting in the cupboard.
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