A LITTLE ABOUT MYSELF

  I was born in Elkhart Texas.  When I was 2 years old we moved out to my Grandfather's farm.   I was raised on this farm. I got my first guitar when I was nine years old.  By the time I was twelve I could play a lot of tunes.  

I left for college after graduating from high school, I went to the University of Texas.  I stayed in a boarding house with 21 other boys. Four of them played guitar. This was really good and I learned as much as I possibly could from these guys, and after two years of college, I went to work in Port Arthur, Texas. There, I met the girl who is now my wife. We have four grown daughters, and have been married for over fifty years.

 During the mid 1950's, I played music recorded by artists such as Bo Didley, Jimmy Reed, and Muddy Waters. I also played songs by Carl Perkins, Elvis, and Jerry Lee Lewis - and of course Hank Williams and Jimmie Rodgers.

I started playing in bands in Port Arthur, Texas at the age of twenty. At the age of 23 I was playing and singing with Murphy McDowell, a great guitar player. Murphy was raised next door to Jimmy Wyble, a great jazz player still playing.   They grew up playing guitars together.  Murphy could play jazz or whatever. Murphy taught me all the chords, from diminished to the 13ths.

During the mid 1960's, I had the opportunity to play with great artists such as Willie Nelson, Bill Mack, George Jones, Jimmy Newman, Johnny Winters, Bennie Barnes, Billie Jo Spears, Cliff Bruner, Deacon Anderson,  Billy Carter,  Virel Vance and many others. From the late 60's to the present, I started playing swing, big  band and jazz songs along with country, which I really like.

All of this experience has given me a great insight as to what is needed in order to learn  to play the guitar. So I decided a few years back to make this DVD video course.  I am still improving the courses as I go along,  but all the good stuff is there, I'm just finding easier ways to get it across to the students.