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Tom
grew up in a very musical family
and had a guitar in hands since he
was four years old.
Tom’s father was a classical /
folk guitar player as well as
having a Master’s Degree in
music. His father was a college
music professor and got Tom
started on his musical path. His
mother has a wonderful singing
voice. His brother and sisters are
also musicians.
As
a boy, and through his teens,
there was a constant flow of
musical groups and choruses that
came through the house - his
father worked with them.
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Tom’s
parents sang in several groups
and also played together as a
folk duo. Tom accompanied them
often on both guitar and
stand-up bass. His father
continues to play and record
music at 73 years of age.
During his late teens through
his mid twenties, Tom got “the
fire”. He studied guitar with
several teachers learning much
about theory and different
guitar styles. He played with
various small groups (rock /
pop). He also accumulated a
number of guitars (Q: How many
guitars? *** A: Not
enough…there are never
enough).
At the age of thirty, Tom
stopped playing. Between work,
fatherhood, home ownership,
marriage, career, outside
commitments, etc…there just
didn’t seem to be enough time
to keep up with music. (sound
familiar?) Ten years went
by…and now he is back!
In 2000, Tom got “the fire”
again. He started playing solo
finger style guitar. “It is a
wonderful style of playing that
weaves melody line, rhythm,
counterpoint and bass all into
one arrangement. It sounds like
there is more than one
instrument playing.” “Now,
instead of sounding like one bad
guitarist, I can sound like two
bad guitarists!” (not!)
Tom’s musical tastes are quite
diverse and range from classical
to jazz, rock to bluegrass. Some
of his major musical influences
are his father, Chet Atkins,
Steve Goodman, Lee Sklar and
John Williams.
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