rlheart

During middle school, played in the pre marching band on the keyboard (wanted to be the snare drummer but wasn't allowed because I was apparently more suited for keyboard).

During high school I began jamming as a drummer before and after church youth group sessions (I was never any good at drumming although Rock Band has helped with that recently lol).

Then when I was about 15, my sister wanted to learn to play guitar, so my parents bought her a first act guitar from walmart (using my stepdad's Fender Bullet Reverb amp, now known as the Fender Frontman).

Less than a week later she quit and I decided to start playing guitar. Using a chord poster from walmart I began to teach myself how to play (figuring out how to read the chord diagrams and learning to barre still remain the hardest things I've ever had to learn on guitar).

Quickly realizing that the First Act guitar was trash, I began using my stepdads acoustic (an Ovation Celebrity) to play (I would over drive it on the bullet reverb lol). I began transcribing a bunch of Green Day songs by ear (my favorite band at the time) and after awhile, realized that I hated them.

My parents bought me my own acoustic for my birthday the next year.

The year after that I worked my ass off at two different jobs (Dairy Queen and the IRS of all places), bought my own electric guitar (Ibanez S320), a digitech delay pedal and an Ibanez wah.

Because I was fairly uneducated about how guitar sounds worked (and I hadn't really found my voice yet in music) I was convinced that new pickups would fix my issues and set out to find my pair (after playing a nice Charvel with a Dimarzio Tonezone and PAF Pro I settled on those).

I got the Microcube as a High School Graduation gift.

Until late 2008, I had been focused as a bluey-rock player who wanted to shred. But, in just about every song I played, I'd skip over the solos that were too hard for my fingers to handle. This is no longer the case.

Starting in 2008 I began teaching myself again, this time, focusing not on what I wanted to play, but what could help me play what I want to play.

Chromatic exercises and a metronome later, I'm now learning such songs as Scarified by Racer-X, Bark at the Moon (the solo I never bothered to learn in the past) by Ozzy Osbourne, Constant Motion by Dream Theater, and Far Beyond the Sun by Yngwie Malmsteen.

At the time of writing (Jan 10, 2010) I'm ready to settle down with my first tube amp, the 6505+ 112. They get back in stock on the 19th and I just can't wait.

ASIDE FROM PLAYING GUITAR

I attend college full time at Angelo State University in San Angelo Texas. I am currently a Computer Science Major.

I hardly watch TV if at all. I like some (but not all) anime (excel saga is my favorite).

I read books quite often (I like thrillers quite a bit, though Huck Finn and Catch 22 remain my favorite books).

I also am a pretty damn good Dance Dance Revolution/In The Groove player if I do say so myself (quite a few AAA's and tristars).

I have a youtube here:

www.youtube.com/ITGZachATTACK

My Groovestats. (In The Groove Ranking Site, #228 in the world as of 01/10/2010)

My DDRecall .