GUITAR TEACHER: RON TYLER

When I was 13 my friend  Milan came over with an awful metal guitar his father had bought him. It was either a BC Rich Bitch or a BC Rich Black Widow. I forget which. I just know it was ugly as hell. It totally would have fit in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGf5NxLQoEo

Milan played Jimmi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" wicked loud, and my father did not yell at us. For whatever reason he didn't. I remember thinking "Holy shit, we're making so much noise and nobody is yelling at us." Also, I saw a video for Eric Clapton's "She's Waiting" and thought "I want to look as cool as that guy." Thinking back on it now, it's some awful 80's shit, but back then I loved it. So I told my mother I wanted to play guitar. She literally took me to get one that day. We signed up for guitar classes because I didn't know anything. I took lessons for 2 years. my teacher was this guy named Ron Tyler. 

Because I was a weird religious kid I refused to learn any Led Zeppelin. I thought they were satanic. He taught me every single one of their riffs but told me it was The Beatles, which I knew but played along because those riffs were fucking fun. I'm not kidding, "Livin Lovin Maid," "Heartbreaker," "Whole Lotta Love," "The Ocean." But "Black Dog" was too hard. 

At one point he asked me to bring in a tape of a song so he could figure it out. For the next two years I brought tapes of songs I liked and learned how to play them. I never learned how to read music I just learned riffs. I had fucking weird taste. I remember him getting mad because I brought in a Brian Eno song to learn and the solo only had one note, over and over. He was offended. 

I took lessons for 2 years. At my last session, Ron my teacher said "You've been here for two years. When you came in you SUCKED. And now you STILL suck. But at least you stuck with it."