うぇれあれあっlてぇぃっtぇぎrぁいかんぺえおn?

Hello, I'm Matt. I've been playing guitar since I received my first guitar, a cheap Les Paul knock off :), for Christmas back in '94. I've always have been musically inclined, but my family wasn't, but in '94, I finally got my Mom to get me an electric guitar, which changed my life and has gotten me through some tough times. :)

I learned how to play the guitar by buying some self teaching guitar books, videos, and guitar tab books of artists such as Nirvana, Green Day, Metallica, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Pantera.  I've taken a some lessons from Grant at the Atascosita School of Music back in '99 and '02, but for the most part, I'm self taught. During my lessons with Grant, I learned my pentatonic and diatonic scales up and down the neck, and some music theory.

I always dreamt of playing in bands, but never really pursued it. I was a bedroom jammer. I started playing in bands in 05' when a good friend of mine, Juan De Leon, invited me to audition for an original spanish rock band, Sin Sombra. The band was currently going under a lot of changes, so my time with them was brief. Afterwards, I was hooked playing in a band. Since then, I have played for numerous cover bands such as Ellude, Saturday Nite Palsy, SEX KAB-OMB, and currently Evil Empire (a Rage Against the Machine Tribute).

My goals as a musician this year are to compete in the Battle of the Blues and get further than I did last year, which was second in the store finals, to network with other blues musicians via the competition or blues jams, work on original material with the guys from the RATM tribute, and to create my own album, which will be blues / rock based, along the lines of the Black Keys and The White Stripes. I also want to continue to progress as a singer and harmonizer.

So, that's a little bit about me as a musician.

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