jeff

I've been playing guitar since I was 13 and still manage to make some noise everyday. Music has been a huge part of my life - as a fan and as a wannabee musician. When I look back at some of the greatest memories, music seemed to be a critical part of the equation. I've gotten so much from the artists that helped shape my own playing and contributed to the great times I've had. (SCROLL PAST THE MIXTAPE if you seriously have nothing better to do with your time...)



To be honest, I participated in the rat race for most of my career, but I had a chance to put that all behind me when I decided to leave it and travel the world for about 6 months. It's amazing what happens when one is away from cell phones and the "crackberry." In almost every country, I took a lesson from a musician in the local language - learning bossanova guitar in Salvador do Bahia, Argentinian folk music in Buenos Aires, or the charrango in Peru were experiences that I'll never forget. I could barely speak Spanish or Portuguese, but it didn't really matter that my language skills were pathetic - our connection was through music. Most of the lessons were mostly spent about telling my story or playing American music - my teachers wanted to know EVERYTHING about me, music in the US, the rest of the world. But the music experiences were amazing - trying to play a blues riff over Andean music or introducing a tune like "Giant Steps" (Joe Pass style, of course) to my bossanova teacher, or even jamming with an Ecuadorian band to obscure Tito Puente tunes was hilarious...

The less humorous truth is that life for musicians EVERYWHERE is brutally difficult. Many of the artists that I jammed with would never leave their country or even their home towns. Many of the same evils that exist in our "cushy" lives seemed inconsequential compared to what they went through - keep in my mind that the average price for a lesson from a professional musician was about US $3 per hour. In Cusco, Peru, I spent 3 hours with one teacher and he said that the lesson was free - he gave me sheet music of the first Cuscaian compendium of local songs and a CD so I could practice - he wouldn't accept my money - I gave him a Google t-shirt... The smile that he gave me was so overwhelming that I almost lost my shit as I had to fight to keep back the tears. Man, I'm probably boring the pants off of you if you're still reading this (feels like I'm already writing a book... sorry)...

But probably the most important lesson from my travels was the realization that life is too short not to pursue what you love doing. For me, I knew that music had to be part of my life's story. And more importantly, doing something to help the creators of music, the lifeblood of the industry, yes - the artists was absolutely important.

For the first time in my life, I wake up in the morning and bound out of bed to go to work - it's the GREATEST feeling. And I feel like I'm working with some of the greatest people on earth here at Fuzz. Now it's time to give back to those very artists and the new ones that seem to spring up from nowhere everyday that help make the world a little less crazy... let's join the music uprising and let's do it now...