Learning Guitar After Retirement

You can spend 30 years with a guitar in your hands and still feel like you’re guessing. That’s why this conversation with Perry lands so hard. He grew up in Casper, Wyoming with music in the house, built a band in the early 80s, and even got the kind of wild, last-minute call every guitarist dreams about: his group stepped in as a backup band for Blue Oyster Cult when another act didn’t show. Amazing story, but it also revealed something deeper. Surviving a gig is not the same as understanding your instrument.

Perry takes us through Arizona stage tech work, a move to Alaska, an electronics degree, and a 30-year career with the FAA. When retirement hits, the desire to really learn guitar comes roaring back but the local scene feels tense and unwelcoming. So he makes a different choice: an online guitar academy built around structure, coaching, and a supportive guitar community.

We talk about the shift from playing by ear and memorizing parts to understanding chord structures, smoother chord changes, key changes, and why ear training becomes the next mountain to climb. Perry shares how much more confident he feels now, how jam sessions turn lessons into real music, and why songs like As My Guitar Gently Weeps and Purple Rain are perfect vehicles for growth.

If you’re an adult guitar learner chasing real progress, this one is for you. Subscribe, share this with a guitarist friend, and leave a review with the one skill you want to master next.

Thanks for being here!! I will continue to do my best to bring you the best, most informative guitar discussions to help you along your guitar journey!

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Steve

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Transcript

Welcome And Interview Setup

Steve 0:00

Hey Steve Stein here from Guitar Zoom Academy. In today's interview, I'm going to be talking to a gentleman by the name of Perry. Now, Perry is one of our Guitar Zoom Academy students. He's just a super super nice guy. And um is super positive. And I just I'm so glad that he's here. And he and I sat down and talked about his life and uh his goals as a guitar player, what he always wanted to be able to do, what his struggles were, and how living here at the Guitar Zoom with the rest of us. Guitar Zoom Academy got him where he needed to go. So I hope you enjoy this interview. He's just a super great guy, and I think you're going to be inspired by listening to him talk. So just tell me a little bit about yourself. Tell me about, you know, your life, where you grew up, what you did for a living, all that kind of stuff, what you do now.

SPEAKER_03 0:46

Okay. So uh pretty much grew up in your neck of the woods uh in Wyoming, born and raised in Casper, Wyoming. There you go. Uh my father was a musician, so you know, there was music in the house all the time. And um, he was quite a musician too. I mean, he was he was talking to me about how to play guitar when I was like 14, 15 years old. I wasn't paying attention, but he was he was already mentioning the you know the the chord progressions, and then you get to the diminished chords, and I had, you know, I'll never play a diminished chord, right? Well, uh, that's not necessarily

Wyoming Roots And First Guitars

SPEAKER_03 1:20

true. So I wasn't really paying attention, but I was learning how to play guitar at about 14-15. He had he had 20, 30 guitars to pick from, you know, so I picked a a Mose right guitar and loved that guitar, uh, but it had some really heavy gauge strings on it, and so it was difficult to play, and then I just kind of moved into doing my own thing. But I always I think my first song that I ever learned was like Ted Nugent, right? Okay. One of those Ted Nugent songs, probably Strangle Hold or something, and some Z Tops. And uh so just kind of um spiraled from there. I just kept progressing with it and uh went to high school, got through high school, graduated high school, and wanted to get into electronics right away. And um, I had a group of buddies that said, hey man, let's let's form a band, let's do that. They convinced me that we were gonna we were gonna do something, right? And we actually did. We were somewhat successful in a way. There wasn't a lot of money involved or anything like that, but we certainly did uh put together a pretty good sound, you know. And it was it was on my behalf, I was just uh playing by ear, always just playing by ear. And what kind of music did you guys play? Um you know, man, that set list that you did in Arizona. We could pretty much could have copied and pasted. Oh, that's right. There was a lot of stuff from there that you guys played that we we definitely played, uh Fast Play. Um, just some some right off the top. Um, anything that was current back in like the early 80s, right? So there was a lot of that that we were playing and had a really good vocalist. Man, that guy could really play some guitar too. But you know, the lineup, there was always little differences here and there, and people came and and went, but there was this core of three of us that really kind of stayed together, and then we became a three-piece for a while, and uh we actually got to back up Blue Oyster Cult in 1982. Oh wow at the Casper Casper Event Center.

SPEAKER_02 3:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 3:38

Uh so Al Donova, Al Donova was supposed to be their bet his the Blue Oyster Cult's backup band, and he wound up uh canceling for whatever reason. So from that point on in Casper, Aldo Nova was the Al known as Aldo No Show. But I was working, I was working as a stage tech

The Night Blue Oyster Cult Needed Help

SPEAKER_03 4:00

back then, just out of high school, pretty much, and um they've heard that I had a group, or you know, that we had a band, and because there were the the whole conversation because Aldo was not showing up, they wanted to get a backup band and they needed one right away. So word of mouth, uh, I had the road manager come up to me and say, Hey, I heard you have a band. Can you can you guys be ready to play by seven o'clock tonight? Right. So a man, I'm frantically calling all my buddies, right? And uh we were actually rehearsing with another guy to kind of start doing some original stuff, and we actually did a couple of those originals that night, but we did um Bad Motor Scooter and oh geez, I can't remember all the songs that we played that night, but I think the the the one that killed the crowd, I mean that really brought the crowd to say, Man, martial law, these guys are awesome, was Bad Motor Scooter.

Steve 4:57

Oh, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 4:58

So um, and we did a pretty good version of it, you know. It wasn't note for note or anything, but always always were able to kill that one. So uh had some success and got some notoriety, and you know, it wasn't I wasn't really doing it for that. I just enjoyed playing music, right? Sure, even back then. It was more fun than than it was a job. So um just kind of tooled around in Casper for the longest period of time. It seemed like uh, you know, we had we had invites to play, and we we kind of threw our own little parties and whatnot, but uh never really kind of took off from there. But um after a while, everybody decided that we needed to do something different. So I moved my brothers. I have a pretty large family. I've got uh six brothers and sisters, and I had uh two two brothers that were living in Alaska about that same time. I moved down to Arizona because I had the drummer that I kind of followed him down there so to see if we could put something together in in Phoenix. In fact, uh he lived in Mesa, so I was staying with him for a little while and never really got anything together in Mesa,

Arizona Gigs Then Alaska Stage Work

SPEAKER_03 6:10

but uh worked down there as a stage tech and did a lot of shows, a lot of convention work and stuff like that. But um got a little bored with that. So I decided, hey, my uh my younger brother Scott, he invited me up to come stay with him in in Alaska and said that he'd get me to work up on the slope, right? As a as a rig guy. I said, okay, I guess I can give it a try. You know, music's not panning out right now, so I definitely need to start figuring out how I'm gonna start putting together a life here. And uh this is about 28 years old, 29. And um I got up to Alaska and and working on the slope didn't work out, but I got I still went to work at the performing arts center here as a stage tech. And before uh before too long, I was pretty much a lead on just about anything that they were doing in the theater. So that was kind of that was kind of um um I I was definitely happy about that, but I still wasn't really making a very good living. And I decided to go back to school, got my electronics degree and associates at uh University of Alaska here in Anchorage, and um then basically just kind of bloomed into uh an electronics career for uh federal aviation administration. You know, aviation is huge up here, everybody's flying everywhere because we don't have a uh you know, stable or uh solid road system that gets you everywhere, so a lot of flying goes on up here. So that was my career for 30 years and still kept playing guitar, didn't really dive into learning guitar still, but 30 years later, um finally found myself able to retire, and I was very happy to be able to retire because working for the federal government, man, that is that is uh that's a challenge, let me tell you. Um uh I know there's probably a lot of complaints about federal government uh employees and whatnot, but man, I've I really did my best, and

FAA Career Stress And Retirement Shift

SPEAKER_03 8:15

there was a lot, a lot of stress involved. So I was happy to step away from it.

SPEAKER_02 8:20

Sure.

SPEAKER_03 8:21

So as soon as I got to do that, I decided, man, I need to have something to do. And uh playing guitar, I've always kind of wanted to just step into it and start jamming with some of the local musicians here, but the atmosphere is kind of it's not it's not a comfortable atmosphere, you know. If you're an outsider and you want to get started with playing with some of the guys and you know, attitude and all that. Uh just I don't have time for that. I really don't enjoy that part of being a musician and having to deal with personalities that maybe not so pleasant, you know. I don't know what's going on in their lives, but uh, I'm sure you probably experienced a little bit of that. It just seems to be uh as I I suppose once you break the ice and you start to get to know these people, they probably start to open up a little bit, maybe a little more friendly, but uh it's very, it's very um tense. Um uh and um that's probably just me. I don't know, man. There's probably some people that say, man, it's awesome up there. But we do have a couple of groups that have been somewhat successful from Alaska. One of them is Portugal the Man. That's uh one group that they actually went down into Oregon and uh Washington, and that's where they really started getting into the studio. But I guess they were a thrash band when they were in the valley in Washington, right? So that's all they were doing was thrash, and it wasn't working out so well for them. But um then they got down into the Washington area and probably some of those influences, and they really became successful, right? They won a uh Grammy.

Steve 10:02

Okay, oh wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:05

Uh I can't remember the name of the song, but uh man, it got a lot of a lot of radio play. It was on the radio all the time. I really enjoyed that, and in fact, there's there's a little bit of a connection with those guys uh with my wife. She's a member of the Connecticut up here, and um Portugal the Man actually started, or that that band, they weren't, I don't know if they were called Portugal the Man then, but they were actually they all originated from Wasilla, right? So Okay. So there's that connection in Wasilla, but her tribe is actually the Connec Tribe, which is in the that same area. But uh they have reached out to the Connec Tribe uh Council and uh Corporation to see if if there would be any interest in the corporation jointly going into a studio adventure with them at the school that they have opened up. So there's that connection. I'll already kind of volunteered to help them if they decided to do something like that, to where I could go in and actually learn some a few things about engineering and whatnot, too. So I'm kind of open to that, but uh I'm always trying to keep my fingers in something, right? And uh I've I've seen your advertisements for years, actually. Uh you know, I'm I'm not even sure exactly when I started to see some of the stuff that, but you know, you were providing some pretty basic information, but it uh you were always friendly about it. And um then just one day I was fiddling around on my computer and either one of your one of your ads popped up. I said, you know what? I'm not getting too far with what I'm doing. I mean, I was using the internet to learn certain things, but it still wasn't clicking, right?

Why Online Lessons Were Not Enough

SPEAKER_03 11:55

I mean, it wasn't there wasn't this whole real profound understanding of how to play. And I've just decided, man, why not give it a try? I don't I don't have anything to lose and I've got time. And I really didn't know anything about how the academy actually worked or anything like that. I just said, let me just um let me say I'm interested, right? And that started the whole ball rolling, and uh so just to recap a little bit, I've been playing for 30, 40 years and can fiddle my way or fuddle my way through a song, whatever song it is that I choose to learn, with the aid of other people that I can watch play on the internet and whatnot, but still wasn't really making any kind of um it wasn't something that I completely understood what I was doing. It was just uh rote memorization, right? So um I really wanted to learn more about the guitar. I mean, that it's a it's a whole language that I'm I'm already kind of incorporating in how I play, but I don't understand the language, right? So that's where I just said, man, I'm I'm ready to dive into this. I I've got the the time to end. I don't have to worry about you know uh having a job or anything else right now. So I just wanted to I wanted to learn as much as I can about playing the guitar. And not just the guitar, just music in general, too, you know. Sure. That's awesome. That's kind of my story. Um I've probably skipped over a lot. I mean, I'm sure. We can be here for a day or two, but um got a big family. Uh I have a lot of family here in Alaska now. Uh Alaska's probably gonna be home because it is home to my wife, and um, but we do want to start adventuring out and doing other things. And I'll uh like I said, I've already got a few things lined up for this summer. I really wish I could make it to Rockford for that for that gathering there. But um I already kind of made arrangements with some guys that I used to play with 30 years ago. Uh not the same group, but just other musicians that you know, right out of high school, everybody was just getting together and jamming and seeing what kind of felt good, and they they formed their own group, and we formed our own group, and we were a lot heavier than anybody else in the at the time because man, we just wanted to play, you know, uh all the heavy stuff.

Steve 14:28

Sure.

SPEAKER_03 14:29

So, and we got to play one of the bigger bars there. And in fact, we we kind of broke a record. It's probably not a record that I would want to claim too much, but our very uh must have been a Thursday night or Friday night, it was like ladies' night or something. They they sold the most alcohol ever in the history of that bar because the place was packed, they ran out of ice, they ran out of this, they ran out of that. They said, Man, you guys are killing it. And we we really so they invited us back many, many times after that. But um great, yeah, that was our uh claim to fame at that bar. We we helped them break their booze record. So I'll I'll I'll I'll own it, I guess. Anyway, I get to go back and play with some of those guys um uh from that that part of my life. And they're all excited about having me come back and play with them too, because they're gonna be doing a gig out at Alcova Lake. It's gonna be an outdoor gig. I guess they set up a pretty decent stage for it and all of that, you know. So um I'm I'm looking forward to that.

Steve 15:38

And you're gonna be jamming with them?

SPEAKER_02 15:40

Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:41

Oh, good. Yeah.

Steve 15:42

So, Perry, what do you do you think going in now you're gonna feel different? Like, do you feel more confident with yourself in your playing?

SPEAKER_03 15:53

Are there things that I'll I'll let you finish your question.

Steve 15:59

I'm just wondering, like, you know, what what I really want to get into now that we're at this spot is just what your experience has been like. Like, you know, I I'm on the outside, right? I'm I'm an instructor, I'm a teacher, I'm the guy that organizes the academy, that sort of thing.

Chords Mechanics And New Confidence

Steve 16:16

But it's so valuable to hear your thoughts being on the inside. Like what's it what's it doing for you? Like, has it has it helped you? Have you you know, are the goals that you're trying to obtain, are you are you working, are things working? Like And is it ultimately is it is it impacting you in a way where when you go to jam with these guys, you're like, yeah, I've got these skills I feel good about. I'm I'm excited to go do my thing. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 16:45

Well, I can I can qualify it by saying that there's a man that I don't think I'm ever gonna stop learning guitar. There's always something new. That's why I think I love it so much. That's why I wanted to be into electronics, because there's there's always something new, right?

Steve 17:01

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 17:03

As far as the electronics part of my life, I'm kind of done with it. You know, I don't I don't want to be uh there's certain things that I will certainly dive into. And um well, there's there's parts of electronics that's always gonna be just kind of like magic in a lot of ways, but the science behind it all and all of that. But uh as far as playing guitar goes, I'm always gonna want to learn the next thing. And then it's never gonna stop. So I feel myself being involved, uh being a student with GZA for the rest of my life. Um is what I'm kind of uh evaluating until these fingers stop working so well, you know. So um, with that being said, I've absolutely got a much better understanding of what I'm doing, the chord structures. Um, I'm I'm still kind of developing the the mechanics of moving between a chord, one chord to the next chord. And if there's a chord change, if there's a key change, all of those things. It's just I already kind of know how to get through everything, so I gotta kind of slow myself down and really dive into the the understanding of how this is gonna work instead of just moving through it, you know? Because I can I can like I said, um uh my instructor, Manny, has already pointed out that I really do need to uh better educate myself on my ear training. So that's gonna be next year's progress and and getting through everything. But I can I can pick out parts and pieces of songs and and get through it still, but I definitely want to keep moving forward with better understanding. But as for the answering your question, I'm gonna feel at least 80% more confident than I ever had. And if I ever get to 100%, I think it's gonna be I'll I'll say, man, I think I've had enough. You know, but yeah, I don't see that that's even possible of getting to 100% in any in anything. I agree.

Steve 19:16

It's a never-ending journey, no doubt about it.

SPEAKER_03 19:19

Absolutely. So um, but but I do feel that 80% is very qualified. So uh we've already picked out about three or four songs, and they're all really good jams. One of them's As My Guitar Gently Weeps, which was a jam that we did um as a project that everybody got involved in. I love the way that that song plays out, especially when it's jam time.

Steve 19:42

Right.

SPEAKER_03 19:43

Man, you can do anything with that song. And then uh Prince's song, um Purple Rain. That's a good jam tune. I mean, because you can just play for 20 minutes, man, and and it's gonna sound awesome. And that's kind of what I plan on doing. I'm just let's keep going, you know. There because the game the song. No, no, no, not yet. But uh just really looking forward to playing with these guys because I know that they're accomplished, they've been at it for years too. So um that's that's the other part of it too. I feel confident in their capabilities, you know.

SPEAKER_02 20:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:20

Because um, well, I've actually done we did a little project. I've got a bass player that lives in Wenatchee, Washington. In fact, I'm going down there um in next month, in fact. Yeah, so I'm gonna go down and jam with him for about a week, and he's got a keyboardist, so we're gonna try to uh start a little project and hopefully we can pull something together. It's not gonna be something that we want to go out and play every you know weekend or whatever, but uh we definitely wanna he's retired and the other guy still is working, but um we want to put together at least uh uh an established enough show to where everybody keeps rehearsing their parts, their pieces, and we just get together whenever it's time. Kind of like what you're doing in Arizona, right? Yeah, uh come together, maybe rehearse for an an evening or two, and then go do a show and then be done with it and come back in two, three months or whatever it is, you know. I mean, if it leads to more gigs than that, then fabulous. But um I don't want it to be another job, you know. So um but if it does become another job, I've I've got plans for that too, maybe uh uh wherever it leads me, you know. I'm just kind of letting letting the big guy upstairs kind of guide me through everything that I'm doing now.

Steve 21:46

Dude, that's awesome. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 21:49

I'm really looking forward to it.

Steve 21:51

Yeah. So tell me a little bit more about have you have you made some connections like relationships. Relationships in the academy with instructors like Manny and whatever or other students? Like how how has that element been for you in the academy as well as, you know, we talked about the structure and those sorts of things. But what about what about the community? How's that been for you?

SPEAKER_03 22:16

Well, you know, um you wouldn't think that you'd get a really good read on individuals being just from a camera and talking and whatnot. But there's there's some players that have some fabulous energy, and then there's some players that are some students that I don't know, man. It's just kind of it's hard to keep them in a positive realm, you know. And um, yep. I'm I'm I think I'm pretty even keel and uh uh but the one thing about me too is that I kind of tell it like it is, you know. I'm not really a sugar

Community Energy And Staying Positive

SPEAKER_03 22:50

coater kind of a guy. My wife's gonna tell you that. She'll say, you know, you could be a little bit nicer, but that I said, well I'll I'll try, you know.

SPEAKER_02 23:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:01

So um I guess with the job that I had too, I had to I had to deal with a lot of characters that were in this these headphones. I had to deal with a lot of characters with some pretty bad energy once in a while. So just had to deal with it and um kind of got good at it. So but the majority of everybody that is involved with GZA, I absolutely adore. I I love being involved in this. I don't think I've ever had involvement with uh such a positive group, you know, and you know there's always gonna be one or two that's gonna try to not necessarily even try, it's just the energy that they bring to it. Uh you want to change it, you want to help them develop a little bit more positive aspect they're they're uh addressing their issues about playing guitar because it is a challenge, man, and it can be very frustrating, especially if you're just really now starting to learn things. But I try to bring as much positive uh energy to it as I can because I I really believe in that, man. If it's if you're not if it's not positive, then you shouldn't be doing it. Yeah, if it's more frustrating than it is uh uh pleasurable, then yeah.

Steve 24:17

But yeah, it's easy for some people to get locked in on the things that they can't do versus the things that they can do. And I think some people just forget to look back once in a while and appreciate where they are. It's a it's a tough thing. I mean, I get it, you know. It's easy for me to say because I've been doing it my whole life, but the truth is, is I've had my my more than my share of ups and downs with guitar playing over the years.

SPEAKER_03 24:44

Um but there's a look at any musician and they're gonna have the same the same perspective. Ups and downs. That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 24:53

Right.

SPEAKER_03 24:54

So um I I don't mean to interrupt you. I I want to hear everything that you have to say too.

Steve 25:00

So well, no, just I I that that I've always thought that that's one of the biggest things. That's why I I tell people a lot, and I don't want to make this about me. I'm just telling you, I I've always tried to be a motivator as much as I am an educator, because it's not just a matter of giving you the right information saying, well, you need to work on this. That that is true. But if we're not supporting each other and we're not trying to find a way to stay motivated, then it's easier, it's easy for people to go dark and um, you know, I can't do this and I'll never be able to do this. And it's like those are not the things to focus on. You just got to focus on where you are today and where you want to be tomorrow and keep trying to move forward one step at a time. Because, like you said, it's absolutely true. I practice on the days that I eat because I tell you to do the same thing. And because I I am obsessed with guitar playing, it is it's in my blood. I love to play. Even on the bad days, I love to play. And and it I will continue to pursue trying to learn more, get better forever until I can't do it anymore.

SPEAKER_03 26:04

Yeah. Man, I 100% agree with that. And I think that's one of the biggest reasons why I feel so at home here, because you guys have the same perspective that I've always had. And you know, it 30 years ago, maybe I didn't have the same profound perspective that I want to know guitar, I want to learn guitar, I want to learn as much as I can about how to be a better guitar player. So with that perspective, and then finding a place that everybody else has that same perspective, and even though you guys are so accomplished now, that it's you understand that man, we can there's so much more, you know. There's always gonna be so much more. So that that whole part of the energy thing, man, um the majority of everybody that I've that I've have had open rooms with and even doing some of the jams and whatnot, um it's always been very positive. Very positive. Um and once again, there's been just a couple of players that you just kind of felt they're they just man, it was it was more of a competition than it is, hey, let's just enjoy what we do. And if you want help, man, reach out to me. I've always uh I've always and not I'm not an instructor, I don't claim to be an instructor, but sometimes hearing it from just a a regular player is gonna maybe have a you know, because I'm not gonna use the same language. I'm just gonna say you need to put your finger on this fret. And they might hear it just a little bit differently than coming from an instructor.

Steve 27:41

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 27:42

I don't know why that is. It's probably just, you know, the the the relationship, you know.

Steve 27:51

But that's that's the beauty of having mentors like you that you know, watch out for other people because you're right. I mean, I it's always surprising that sometimes you guys don't even realize the impact that you have, not just us as instructors, but you as a student and a mentor, how people look at you and watch videos and things like that, and the things that you ask and the things that you talk about. And they get just as much benefit from you as they do from someone like me, you know.

SPEAKER_03 28:20

Absolutely. So um I kind of relate to everybody, some of my guitar heroes, and you know, it's right at the top of the list. And uh I've got a hundred, probably even more, but um just the the top ten, you know, and we'll start with Joe Satriani because I think the guy is just absolutely phenomenal. And I can relate to his playing style better than I can Steve Vai or anybody else, because they just kind of the it's not really the musical uh type that I'm I'm more interested in. And then there's Michael Shanker, and then there's um some other guys too that I I can't recall all of them, but um right now I'm diving into Michael Schenker, and I'm just kind of man, I know I'm I'm kind of in over my head. But Manny, Manny is helping me quite a bit.

Steve 29:13

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 29:14

So I've actually uh um let him understand that you know I'd I'd prefer

Guitar Heroes And Manny’s Honest Coaching

SPEAKER_03 29:20

to I love being in the open rooms and all that, but it takes up more of my time to be a part of that. And uh I just said I'm gonna kind of wing or scale back on the open rooms and maybe we can do more one-on-one so I can get focused on because this project that is coming up, uh, we wanna I want to get him as wired as I possibly can. And he's helping me dissect some of those uh sections within a song and the leads that are coming up. And this guy, man, Schenker is he's not an easy guy to play, you know.

Steve 29:51

No, he is not.

SPEAKER_03 29:52

He never will be. I don't I don't think, because his his style has changed quite a bit from when you know he was 18 years old and did a live album that is so profound.

Steve 30:02

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 30:04

So um I I'm I absolutely value Manny's input on everything that we we discuss, especially the one-on-ones, because man, he is he's kind of ruthless in a way, and I appreciate that. I like that honesty. Absolutely love that honesty, man. He says, you know, you're not gonna you're not gonna figure that out until you figure this out. You know, there's these pieces, these components that you have to build on to get to where you want to be. I really appreciate that about him. And man, I'm um I've already I've already decided that um this is where I want to be as far as being involved in music. I want to be a part of uh the academy is the best way to say it. You know, I want to be a part of this uh learning guitar with the academy's structure.

Steve 30:56

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 30:57

Because it's it's providing everything that I I'm actually looking for that I I didn't even know that I was really looking for, what you guys provide. And there's so many questions that I'll still really don't know how what what questions I really truly need to be asking, because I'm still in that learning realm, you know, and at some point maybe I'll I'll have uh much better background on how to keep moving forward with better questions, especially.

Steve 31:27

So, Perry, what would you what would you tell somebody who maybe is on the fence about the academy? What would you say to them?

SPEAKER_03 31:35

I would say don't don't give it 30 years to be on the fence, you know? Don't don't wait. Uh something that you would want to dive into, and I mean really do. You you want to be ready to dive into it and uh spend as much time as you possibly can. That's the only way you're truly gonna get better. Because there's the there's the there's the reading aspect of it, there's the mental understanding of the aspect of it, but then you got to transpose that to these things right here. Fingers. You're not doing that, you're not really advancing, you're gonna get a better understanding, but your playing capabilities aren't gonna improve until you start applying that knowledge that you're that you're seeking. And I've kind of I've seen that with some of the students is that you know they want they

Stop Waiting And Practice For Real

SPEAKER_03 32:25

have this really good understanding of everything, and they want to uh talk about music, but when it comes to playing, hey man, let's get down to playing, let's do that.

Steve 32:35

Amen. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 32:37

So I always encourage them. And in fact, uh anybody that says, Well, I've you know, I've been working on this and working that. I say, Well, uh the other part of it is play, play, play. You gotta play that guitar. Anybody that that is on the fence, then get involved because it is it is it's a life changer, it really is. I feel so more I I'm just happy every time I get involved and I come and and get this camera on and I see everybody else. We have this conversation about music.

SPEAKER_02 33:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:11

I don't have to talk to anybody else about music unless I'm with other musicians, and that's that's not that doesn't happen every day. But this happens every day if I choose to have it happen every day. I mean, you can be that involved, you can be as involved as you want to be. And yeah, the fence doesn't do you any good. You just gotta make a decision and get involved, get started, man. Start start the process, because it is a process, everything's a process. It's just something that you gotta determine that what you really want out of out of your own guitar playing. And you guys cover every genre that there could that you could possibly think of. So whatever whatever genre that you are um drawn to and that you enjoy playing, you're gonna be so much better. It's gonna improve your capabilities in so many ways.

Steve 34:05

That's awesome. Well, Perry, dude, we are blessed to have you in here. I mean, I I I like to hear things like that because I enjoy this much on this side as I like to hear you guys are enjoying it on that side because we're always trying to find ways to improve, you know, things that we can do to make your experience better, the learning better. And um and so yeah, I just re I appreciate all your input. I appreciate everything that you do in the community, and and like I said, I'm just really thankful that you're here, man. It's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 34:42

I'm I'm thankful that I actually decided to get involved too, because I had no idea what what you guys really offered. And I'm so I'm so blessed to know that uh you guys are there, you know, and um I certainly will stay involved in it as long as I'm as long as I'm able, you know. That's awesome. One thing that I was gonna add too is that um when I did sign up at first, it was a little intimidating, but um you just start to get more comfortable. I mean, everything takes a little bit of time, but I think really what started opening up some of the doors is that you guys are are uh somebody recognized that we need to start doing more jams. Jams is what everybody wants to be involved in. Jams is what everybody kind of gets a little bit of uh opportunity to show, hey man, this is what I've I've been working on. This is what I can bring to the song, whatever it is, or this backing track. And that I think it's really kind of changed the environment a little bit. It's not just about uh learning, learning, learning. It's about okay, let's see what you guys have learned.

SPEAKER_02 35:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:52

And you know, it's not it's not really a pressure situation. It's do you want to do you want to be a part of this jam session? So

Why Jams Make Learning Stick

SPEAKER_03 36:00

I think the jams are are invaluable.

Steve 36:02

I mean, they have yeah, yeah, and that the jams actually came from you guys. I mean, the the the want to have those those jams came from I don't remember who who kind of first started talking about it, but it was like yeah, that'd be a great thing to have. And and again, you're not the first person to say that that those those things are are some of their favorite things is being able to do to attend and and interact in those things. So I'm I'm glad.

SPEAKER_03 36:32

Again, I know that there's been some of the players that we were always involved with when with Manny's uh open rooms, and I think it may have kind of come from from some of that, or even maybe with Juan, because there's some backing traps that we were just kind of you know playing over, saying, Okay, this is the this is the scale pattern that you want to use in there, and then you bring some some of your own style to it, right? And um, maybe it just kind of developed from there. But but of uh that's another thing that I like about the academy is that it's always evolving. We're gonna move in this direction now, and uh we greatly appreciate all of that flexibility.

Steve 37:14

Yeah. Well, Perry, thanks so much for your time today. Thanks for taking time out just to talk to me about that and just sharing your thoughts on that. I really do appreciate that.

SPEAKER_03 37:23

Well, you know, anybody anytime that anybody's asking me, so what are you doing these days? And I just say, Man, I'm involved in this guitar zoom academy, and it is awesome. So, oh really, tell me more, you know. So um I just really enjoyed uh sharing my experience, and um I'm I'm really looking forward to all the future experiences too, because I see I see it's gonna be it's gonna be always be a blessing.

Steve 37:52

Yeah. Yeah, now that we can actually start implementing these live get togethers, which we'll have more of these. So even though you may not make this one, there'll be other ones where we can get together and you know. I had somebody ask me this morning, they said, is it gonna be more of a of a clinic style thing, or is it gonna be more of a a hangout? And I said it's gonna be equal. Like we will be playing and we'll be hanging out, playing music together, playing songs together on a stage. Doesn't matter if you're a beginner, doesn't matter if you've been playing for a long time, we're gonna interact and do those. And then afterwards, we're gonna go out. We're gonna go have fun. We're gonna go eat dinner together and hang out and talk and get to know each other. And yeah, it's it's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 38:33

Man, I'm I'm just uh the more I hear about it, the more I really would like to be involved. But um, as I said, um previous commitments, I don't want to let anybody else down.

Steve 38:46

So well, dude, I'll I guarantee you there'll be another one soon enough, and

Live Meetups Plans And Goodbye

Steve 38:50

you'll be able to attend that. We'll make sure you can be there.

SPEAKER_03 38:53

In fact, um I will make sure that I do. I'll I'll rearrange things if I have to, because that's that's gonna be the priority, making sure that I make it.

Steve 39:03

That's awesome. Well, Perry, thanks, man. Thank you for everything and thanks for being here today. And um, we'll talk to you inside the academy, okay, buddy?