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Transcript

King Of Guitar Rabbit Holes Learns To Focus · The Steve Stine Podcast

• 0:35
  Steve: Hey Steve Stein here from Guitar Zoom Academy.
• 0:38
  Steve: I'm glad to bring you this interview I did with a gentleman by the name of Stan.
• 0:41
  Steve: Now, Stan is one of our uh incredible students here at the Guitar Zoom Academy.
• 0:46
  Steve: He's been here a while.
• 0:47
  Steve: He's been working really hard.
• 0:49
  Steve: Uh, he knows he's got more work to do, and we talk about that on a regular basis.
• 0:53
  Steve: And in this interview, he tells us about his history, his playing guitar and his struggles, and um some struggles that he's still dealing with when it comes to guitar playing, but how we're working on those things together.
• 1:04
  Steve: So, again, a real powerful positive uh conversation, real honest positive with Stan about his goals and his struggles with guitar playing and how the Guitar Zoom Academy has helped him.
• 1:15
  Steve: So I hope you enjoy this interview.
• 1:17
  Steve: Sit back, relax, and let's go.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's the number one thing I'm really working on.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Intimidation.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: I got into the academy and and it's on me.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: The academy has everything I need.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: I am so blessed.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: The good Lord has blessed me with this opportunity because, like the guitars on the back wall, I really raised my kids, I'm retired now.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: So that's when that got by.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm living music to me is always a memory.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: If I hear a song, I remember where I heard it, what I was doing, when I enjoyed it, what album I had first, you know, and uh I love hearing about your stories.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm a little older than you are, but we we we got that same genre.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's right.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Getting in here, uh, yeah, it took me about eight months, and I'm really trying to kick that in because I really didn't know where to go.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: There's so much to do here, and I wandered.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: And my instructor always says, Stan, you know, turn that funnel like a turn that pyramid upside down.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Let's start up here and bring it down.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I know that I had talked to you about, well, I want to write, I want to record, you know.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: I uh Steve I don't even know a whole song all the way through yet.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: And that was one of the accomplishments.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: But after after I broke loose in in your hangout class, and I said, When do we get over this confidence thing?
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Because I mean, people see me shake with the minute the camera goes on.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm really working hard on that.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: And that's when it clicked.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Stan, it's on you, brother.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: You've got the world at your hands in this academy.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I I tell you what, Steve, I couldn't be happier to be here.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: And uh what I'm learning is what I'm learning is to dissect what I need to learn.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I've totally backed up and went back to major scales.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Chord changes I need to get quicker on.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Learn the scale and connectivity.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: I like to, and I think you may use that term sometimes, glide across the fretboard.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I like to use the whole flat fretboard, and maybe that's because uh I'm not familiar enough in the two boxes that are close.
• 3:25
  Steve: Right.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: See, so sometimes I'm fighting that battle of learning shapes, note names, right, versus major versus minor, right?
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I just want to play music, and I and you know, I tell you what, my wife is a biggest supporter, and my two youngest, they said, Dad, we're so proud of you.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: Not so much with your accomplishment, but you haven't quit.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: It knows so many friends of theirs that try to learn guitar and gave up.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Not me, Steve.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not giving up.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: You guys are stuck with me for a while, bro.
• 4:02
  Steve: Dude, that's awesome.
• 4:03
  Steve: You know, it's funny, Stan.
• 4:04
  Steve: I always think like, and and I may have said this to you before, but for me, guitar is like this Pandora's box where you you have an you have an assumption of what you think guitar is, and then when you open that box, you're like, oh my gosh, like there's just a million things I could do.
• 4:21
  Steve: And so it's very easy to just kind of get lost all the time, like all over the place.
• 4:25
  Steve: And and the goal is exactly at that is is once you figure out what your funnel needs to be, trying to stick to that so you can feel because the most important thing for me, Stan, isn't isn't whether or not you learn 10 scales or 35 chords.
• 4:42
  Steve: It's are you feeling good?
• 4:44
  Steve: Do you feel good about yourself?
• 4:45
  Steve: Do you feel forward motion?
• 4:47
  Steve: Are you gaining some element of confidence in yourself so you can do this music thing?
• 4:52
  Steve: You can play in front of your kids, or you can, you know, grab a guitar and go sit outside and play some music or whatever, whatever it is somebody might want.
• 5:01
  Steve: And um, so that's what I'd love to get into a little bit with you, Stan, is just kind of talking about you know where you were, where you are, and and all that.
• 5:08
  Steve: But before we get into that, just let's tell you know, the folks listening kind of who you are.
• 5:14
  Steve: Like, tell me a little bit about yourself when you know, where you grew up and what you did, and you know, when you started playing guitar.
• 5:21
  Steve: We'll just kind of step back to everything.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Steve, I'm I tell you, if we gotta go back that far, I've always wanted to play guitar ever since I was about 14.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I had a good friend of mine.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: I was born in Ulysses, Kansas.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: We were on a farm, and of course, like you, there is no internet or whatever.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: There was a magazine called Circus Raves.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so we got a lot of our information from there.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the first albums he brought home that we threw on his record player was Blue Oyster Colt Tyranny and Mutation.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, wow.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's going back, Steve.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's brother.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm telling you what, it's not the it's not the fear of the reaper stuff.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: It was tyranny and mutation.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, and uh, and the early Nazareth, of course, and even the early the I still remember the red album Bloodshot by Jay Giles, and it came on Red Vinyl, and so that's where I got my start.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: And he was the biggest Kiss fan, too, like yourself.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: He introduced me to Kiss, the very first KISS album, brought that home, you know.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so that Kansas farm boy, I wanted to play music after that.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: I was a rockhead, I know the power chords were hammering me hard.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't want to listen to anything else.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I grew into that even through high school, and then uh I moved to another farm.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: Now, my dad was a farmer, he was uh Japanese farmer, see, and uh he would never allow me to quit anything, so that's another reason I'm hanging in here too.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: But I've always loved it, and even then, then we got interested.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, some of those guys in southeast Colorado, their music taste came in with that Poco, uh Jonathan Edwards stuff.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so I brought my rock and roll part to them, and they brought that to me.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: So it really, it really mixed and gave me a wife.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: I said, man, you know, these guys can play.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Don't, you know, heck with Alabama.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: I want to hear Poco, I want to, I want to hear Marshall Tucker and that kind of stuff.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: So my music influence grew, and even my desire to play was growing.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: But then after high school, you know, I lost my dad when I was 18, and uh I had to go to work, you know, support mom, that kind of thing.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then I got married, and life got in the way.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I raised three beautiful children, and my brother has been playing forever.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: He had a band, I think he's been playing now 50 years, but my two boys played.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I was pushing them to play, you know, and uh, and uh my oldest son, oh, he gave him beating the odds all day long.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh my other youngest, he's in Tennessee, and he went to school to be an audio recording engineer, so he's really loved it.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: So, and he's more into Teddy Swims.
• 8:17
  Steve: Okay.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: So, and I got a daughter that can that's uh in theater.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: So there the the family's been musical for a long time, and it wasn't until I finally retired five years ago that my wife said, Stan, you've been wanting to do this, and we tackled it.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: That's all right.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: I spent two years and a couple of knee surgeries that let me set me back.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: But that's when I asked her.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Man, I keep getting these things from and I was already a member of Zoom.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: I had something out I wanted to show you too from from the Zoom.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, my Zoom days.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: I got your package with the winder and the wire cutters and the Steve Stein picks, and I had them laid out.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Man, I gotta show Steve.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: You you know, and I don't know how young you were the when you first started, and when you remember when that package came out with a couple of things.
• 9:07
  Steve: Totally, totally, yeah.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, order these two books and you can get this.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so I had all your website stuff, and I started delving into that.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: And that's how I think that's when the academy started reaching out to me.
• 9:20
  Steve: Gotcha.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I finally said, Brenda, and I'm I'm stuck here.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: I need to take this phone call.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see what it's about.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see what it's about.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: And she goes, Well, I think you need to.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: What else are you doing?
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: You're you're you're playing golf and you've got time on your hands.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: Let's let's do this.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: And we did it.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: Me and you talked, and I whipped uh I whipped the details on her, and she just kind of went, okay, you know, and so we did it.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I tell you what, Steve, she's never looked back.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: I've never looked back.
• 9:56
  Steve: That's awesome.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: I just I love it here.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: I know that this is a place I need to be, but it's gotta be on me.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: I gotta, you know, you gotta put foot to everything, you know, and it is, it's practice.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I have the time, Steve, where I get uh I get frustrated at myself uh because maybe I set time frames on myself that are unrealistic and say, okay, so it's taken me longer than somebody else in the academy to pick up the cage system or whatever.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm trying, I'm deciding, I'm finding out what kind of learner I am.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, uh, but I feel like my strengths are I've got a great ear.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: And as long as I have that, uh I can keep going.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: I've got rhythm, I've got, I can got the feel in my heart, I've got the fire that burns.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: I saw a good quote the other day that says, I got tired of trying to play it perfect.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: I just wanted to make it sound like music.
• 10:58
  Steve: Amen.
• 10:59
  Steve: That's that is the greatest attitude to have.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm working on a backing track right now for uh a class on Saturday, and uh, you know, it's a little fast for me because my chord changes aren't up to where I they need to be.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm hammering away on that and I'm slowing it down.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: And that and I took that quote because I just heard it the other day, and I said, you know what?
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I'm gonna tackle this on.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's how I'm gonna approach it, and that's what I was working on before we got on this.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: But uh I'm telling you what, Steve, this is this is great.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: The academy has been good for me, and uh I just want to keep going.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Brenda, like I said, I sometimes I may not see the progress, but she does, or my kids do, or something, because I can record now and maybe send them something, see what they think.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, I'm no momstein.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know that my arthritic hands will let me, you know, shred like that, but I know I need to play quicker.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm trying to figure out okay, where do we get there?
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: Because, you know, the idols are the guys that I want to play with, which is another thing that's changed.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: I stuff I listen to and the stuff I'd like to come out of my hands and my head.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, they can go through some fills or bursts, you know, and I've got to be quick enough to do that.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, getting that tone.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I never was a biggest Pate Floyd uh guy growing up, uh but now that I'm playing, Gilmore makes me smile.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Because you see that research you see it, you see it, you you hear what he's trying to say through here, here, here.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know?
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's great.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's just great.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: So where I've had to be careful if like the first seven or eight months here, especially about the first five.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: I was jumping into too many rooms, biting off more than I can chew.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: Right, you know, and and of course, I've always told my instructor I'm the king of the rabbit holes.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: Because I mean, just call me bugs, because I am telling you what, I was chasing it all.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: And uh finally got it through my head, you can't do it that, you know, turn that funnel upside down.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: Let's tackle that.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: But in the meantime, um, he got me making music, and then that was a that was enough.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Enough of your theory, Snan.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: We got time for theory.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I know you want this, you want that.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: But I tell you what, let's try and make a little music to you.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: That's where you're here is to learn to play some music.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I have been.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: And for that, I've I've I've done I've enjoyed Steve.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: That's great.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: Hearing what comes out, and you know it.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I can sit in here by myself and just get a big smile.
• 13:47
  Steve: That's great.
• 13:47
  Steve: I turn on the case.
• 13:48
  Steve: I love you.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but I got I gotta get over it.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's on me.
• 13:54
  Steve: It's not on the academy, it's all and you know, I mean, I agree, but of course, we're always here to help support you and get that confidence so you know what you need to be doing.
• 14:05
  Steve: And I'm glad.
• 14:06
  Steve: I mean, I I I hope I don't want to get off on a tangent, but I hope you specifically are trying to get in front of that camera and do more and just getting over that thing because I think we all have that until you've done it 50 times or 100 times or 200 times, and and then all of a sudden it starts feeling more comfortable.
• 14:26
  Steve: And that confidence, Stan, is what I like to see.
• 14:29
  Steve: The change in you is is two things giving yourself some grace, right?
• 14:34
  Steve: Progress over perfection, number one, and number two, becoming more confident in yourself, like finding that confidence because you're right, it's guitar playing.
• 14:45
  Steve: When you love playing guitar, it's like being a kid in a candy store.
• 14:48
  Steve: There's a million things we want to be able to do.
• 14:50
  Steve: But the first thing we got to do is just we got to start building something where we can actually make some real music and then figure out, okay, so where do we want to go from there?
• 14:58
  Steve: So tell me, Stan, what what is it, what's it been like for you having access to the instructors, to your studio instructor, you know, the live help?
• 15:07
  Steve: How what's that been like for you?
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's been life-changing, Stu, because it's it's all at my fingertips.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if I need it, go ask for it.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: There's no lack of support anywhere in this academy that I've found.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: I've not been disappointed on one end because the information's there.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: I get uh sometimes I always think, you know, and this is usually late at night or late in bed, I said, Man, I I don't utilize the the classroom recordings enough.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Now I had those when I was with Zoom, but I need to go back and do them.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I have done a lot of those, and some didn't kick with me.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: So now I should go back and review them and they might.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's just like last Wednesday with with with in the hangout.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: Your kids' class in the classroom with not being able to converse one-on-one and raise your hand and ask that question.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's a lot different in the academy by having that available to you.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: What a tool, what a tool.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: But you gotta ask it.
• 16:36
  Steve: Yeah, that's right.
• 16:36
  Steve: You got it.
• 16:37
  Steve: Yeah.
• 16:38
  Steve: I always tell people it's honesty.
• 16:39
  Steve: I want to hear from you, good or bad.
• 16:41
  Steve: I want to hear from you so we can figure out what we need to do to fix or remedy whatever the situation is and get you moving forward, you know.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: Personality-wise, I was just for those first few months.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: I I think I was intimidated, you know, because the levels are all over the place.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: There's really, really advanced players that that are great.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm not there, but I tell you what, I will be.
• 17:02
  Steve: Yeah, that's right.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: I will be.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: With the academy's help, I will be.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: And uh it it like I said, the academy's got.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think a lot of times the I think they'll send out how can we improve?
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: When I get to that point where I feel like, you know what, there's something else I need here, I'll be first to post it.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: But right now, where I'm at, and to keep it keep it honest with myself, I have everything I need.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and the questions are in these open rooms.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: My instructors are to go ask them.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I need to probably utilize more than just my instructor.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: I need to start, you know.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: I think you've always pushed that.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: All these instructors are here for you, Stan.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: I and you're absolutely right.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't met one yet that wasn't here for me.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they honestly want to see me succeed.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel that.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: If I didn't, it would change a lot of things.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's what's great is the support in the academy.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: What a powerful, what a powerful institution that that you have all put together.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: And uh it's just here, it's here for the bacon.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: I want to keep moving forward.
• 18:17
  Steve: Yeah.
• 18:19
  Steve: You know, we're I mean, we're blessed to have you here.
• 18:22
  Steve: You know, you you get people in here that have such personalities that you get connected to them.
• 18:29
  Steve: Um, and you know, we we as instructors, we talk about you guys all the time and what we can do to make things better for you or improve the academy as a whole.
• 18:38
  Steve: And and um, you know, I just appreciate your honesty and I I I want you to know that you just need to continue reaching out.
• 18:45
  Steve: Like, like you just said, we're all here.
• 18:48
  Steve: Your studio instructor is obviously there, but we're all here to help you anytime you need something.
• 18:52
  Steve: So tell me this if you were talking to somebody that was maybe on the fence about the academy, right?
• 18:59
  Steve: They're in a place where you were, right?
• 19:01
  Steve: They're trying to figure things out, they just can't do it.
• 19:04
  Steve: They they they're not connected to a community of other people that are positive and you know, other players.
• 19:09
  Steve: What would you say to somebody who was on the fence?
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and uh it's funny you asked that because a while back I did spend a phone call with a gentleman.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: You did you know if I run him off or not?
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he probably thought I was in some paid advertisement.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: But if they were in the same situation that I am, I can look them right in the eye and they would see the confidence.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I was a um in my final years as a lineman, uh, I was a safety instructor.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I had to do uh uh safety meetings and stuff like that.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I got them believing that we've got to follow these processes.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: I could, you know, I would tell them right now if you need to go somewhere, here's your avenue, here's the keys, you gotta put it in the ignition and give these guys a call.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: Get in here because I they can't, I just don't think they can convince me there's an area that can't be helped here in the academy, if that makes sense.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, and I know you guys are working on new things all the time, so it's only gonna get better.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: What astonishes me is how much on the fence are you when I can sit here in the months I've been here and seeing the membership grow from when I got in to where it is now.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: It just seems like every other day, Steve, there's two or three.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: Let's welcome so and so.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and uh and when I got when I got in, it was still there was a handful going, I don't know, we're gonna all let Spanky and our gang here.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you know, really, you know, it was kind of that way.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, he's gotta earn his stripes, I don't know.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: But I tell you what, those guys are great.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, they'll rip you.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they love you.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, it's it's it's great, Steve.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they wouldn't get it, you wouldn't get they wouldn't get any negatives from me on where to go for what they need when they need it.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: Six days a week.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: Six days a week, there you go.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know?
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, where can you get that?
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: Just think, you know, I I even told my wife, if I had to find somebody which isn't here in this town uh to get private instruction for what I'm getting here now, it wouldn't come close.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: I would not be as far as I am now.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: Because he'd give me his 45 minutes and I'd be packing up.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: And the first 30 minutes I'd be listening to him play.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's my experience with some private instruction.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: Local.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I get, you know.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: So that was disappointing for me.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: Books.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like I'm a visual learner, but I've got all the visuals here too.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I can always reflect back on that.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: No, uh, but yeah, I was in the gang, yeah.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 22:05
  Steve: They let me in.
• 22:06
  Steve: Well, you are.
• 22:08
  Steve: Well, and now you're you're one of the what I would call kind of mentors.
• 22:12
  Steve: You're one of the guys that's been here for a while, and you you can help other people and give other people opinions on things and and guide them with things.
• 22:20
  Steve: Um, you know, it's not always just about how far you are in your guitar ability, it's it's it's in your experience, you know?
• 22:28
  Steve: And like I just, I just somebody just you're gonna get to know him, Stan.
• 22:34
  Steve: Somebody just joined this morning who is an absolute beginner, and he's so excited.
• 22:41
  Steve: Like he's so excited to be able to do this thing.
• 22:45
  Steve: And um, I'm like, well, there'll be two or three guys that'll be probably reaching out to you to let you know hey, this has been my experience, and this is what I would do a little bit differently from the first time I was in here.
• 22:55
  Steve: Um, you know, here's some advice on this.
• 22:58
  Steve: So he's he's gonna be excited to talk to you, some of you guys, for sure.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: I love it when you know these guys when especially you know the Academy.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you know, I think when I first looked, it was geared for intermediate.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, at the time I joined, I really thought I was intermediate.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: I was far from the truth, you know.
• 23:19
  unknown: But now, hey, I just all I can say is I don't know where I'm at.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: I know where I'm going.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I am moving, and the rear view mirror is pretty small, and I'm the one looking forward, you know.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that's exactly why I'm here and I hope to be here a long time.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: God help me.
• 23:38
  Steve: Yeah, dude.
• 23:39
  Steve: I'm so I'm so thankful you're here.
• 23:40
  Steve: This is awesome.
• 23:41
  Steve: I tell you what.
• 23:42
  Steve: I look forward to seeing you in my classes, and yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, I I'd like to get get out to the Arizona area sometime, Steve, and and what meet you and watch you play.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, uh it's so and keep me posted on when you're playing out there.
• 24:00
  Steve: Absolutely.
• 24:01
  Steve: Yeah, I just I just got done talking to Perry, and Perry lives out in that area.
• 24:05
  Steve: So last time I played out there, Perry came out and we hung out.
• 24:08
  Steve: Yeah, yeah.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so he got some chops.
• 24:12
  unknown: Yeah.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he's an old Tommy Boland lover from way back then.
• 24:18
  Steve: He totally is.
• 24:18
  Steve: That's exactly yeah.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: Me and him get to talking about because see, I saw Boland in Denver on the teaser album.
• 24:26
  Steve: Yeah.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: Or Private Eyes, I'm sorry.
• 24:28
  Steve: Okay, okay.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: And uh so he got to talk about that, but I guess he wasn't too far, he was in Wyoming.
• 24:36
  unknown: Yeah.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it's just you grew up in a yeah, yeah, you you find what a small world it really is, you know, because that's where I live.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's where I moved from.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: I lived up by Winter Park, Colorado.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: Gotcha.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: Up in the mountains.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they have three seasons up there, July, August, and winter.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: I kid you not.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: But Denver and me, so many shows.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: There's the memories, there's the drive to play guitar.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: It was Big Mac, McNichols used to go there to see all my shows.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm fortunate to see, I've seen a lot of the grades.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: I regret I not having the chance to see a few that are hanging it up now.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: I always tell my son, go see them when they're gone, they're gone.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so uh, but those guys, if it wasn't for them, Steve, I wouldn't be sitting here.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I mean, you gotta you you look back at what pushed you, what kept you going.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and we're not that far, we're not we're us guitar players are not really all that different.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: There's a fire in there, they look to somebody, you know.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: I want to develop my own sound, but I'm also always trying to play with God.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: I pick up techniques that they're 10, you know.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh just got back from Vegas a couple months ago to see Carlos.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, he's another one.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: When they're gone, they're gone.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: But uh what he helped me with, just watching him, because I look at it different than I used to.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: Now that you're playing guitar, you're guys acting all the time.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: So he he uh how smooth he is.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: How those guys navigate that fretboard now uh and and they get it's like teardrops or rainfall.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: The notes don't they're not staccato, he's making them melt, you know, and so that helps me with my technique.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I come back in and says, Wow, Stan, you've kind of improved on that.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, hell yeah.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but uh Steve, it's it's been great.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, what what else can I what else can I, you know, other than a big thank you, yeah.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, what do you want to know from me, man?
• 26:43
  Steve: I oh no, and that's clapping my gums now.
• 26:46
  Steve: Yeah, no, this is great, dude.
• 26:47
  Steve: I love it.
• 26:47
  Steve: I and that's why I said was it's it's I love to hear from you guys because you know, I'm I'm kind of doing the construct, right?
• 26:56
  Steve: I'm out here trying to do this thing, and and I love to hear from you guys on the inside and how what's working, what's not working, what we need to adjust.
• 27:06
  Steve: You know, the the the academy to me is an ever-changing system that builds itself on the wants and needs of the people that are inside of it, you know.
• 27:16
  Steve: You know, we we started adding some of these jam nights.
• 27:18
  Steve: We we switched over to having you know some beginner open rooms on Mondays, you know, different kinds of things like that.
• 27:24
  Steve: And those all happen because of the information we're getting from you guys, you know.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: No, absolutely.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: You can just tell uh in certain open rooms where what I call more the advanced players are in there.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I I'll hop in once in a while, just because I'm not there.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: I know it's a right, you know, but I I want to see that's there's another fire.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: See, prove to yourself that you will get there and play with that ability that they have right now.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: But uh, I was just talking to uh Drew on chat, you know, all over this this cage thing.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, he's willing to reach out and send me some charts here, and I'm trying to make sense of it, you know.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um so that's those are just the guys that I mean you're you there's an endless revenue, uh avenue of of information here.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's just picking what you want, picking pick your journey first.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: And it took me a while to do that.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: It really did.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: Pick where you want to go, and then you start putting the pieces together.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, like a ladder.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the first rung, here's the second rung, here's the third rung.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you hit the fourth, you didn't get the third.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I told you the other day.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, Steve, I just kind of sort of know it.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: I remember that every day.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: If you kind of sort of know something, you kind of sort of don't.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's right.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: God, the hell true is that?
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, because it's holding me back.
• 28:57
  Steve: That's right.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I gotta always put the reverse on sometimes.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I do spend a lot of time one two steps forward, one tuck back.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: But I but I know where I want to go.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's just getting there now.
• 29:09
  Steve: Right, right.
• 29:10
  Steve: You know, so well, Stan, again, thank you so much for your time.
• 29:14
  Steve: And um God bless you, man.
• 29:16
  Steve: I mean, I I'm so glad that you're here, and we'll just keep the journey going forward and go from there.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, you know, I just Steve, I appreciate you.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: I I listen to all your stuff.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: I tell you what, I I just you've been an inspiration.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: The way you handle us as people that's what I really appreciate.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: Is that you put the human being aspect in this, not like it's some big robotic business, you know.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: You put the feel and the emotion for that.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate that.
• 29:53
  Steve: Thank you.
• 29:54
  Steve: And I I and I'm thankful that you feel that because I I I wouldn't do this if that wasn't part of it.
• 30:00
  Steve: I I would I could go pump gas and be perfectly happy.
• 30:04
  Steve: You guys are the best.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_02: God bless you.
• 30:06
  Steve: Yeah, God bless you too, man.