Bio written by Dan Hoch

My first memory of the guitar was when I was ~10 years old. The folks bought me a clunker of an instrument which my first guitar teacher said was "unplayable." I could only learn the notes in the first position since the neck was so bowed that playing notes beyond these was impossible since the strings were too far from the fret board to play. From those days I recall three things; a C chord and a C major scale (in first position) which I never forgot, But most important, I recall how much I loved walking around carrying that guitar. That whole experience must have lasted a summer. But the seeds were planted:

"I have learned that there lies dormant in the souls of all men a penchant for some particular musical instrument, and an unsuspected yearning to learn to play on it, that is bound to wake up and demand attention someday." - Mark Twain

Flash forward 30 years and right around a 40th birthday I was transferred from plant manager up into the corporate offices. The change was that I went from a 16 hour work day to a straight eight hour day. What to do with all that free time? I announced to my family that I was planning on either learning to speak Japanese or taking guitar lessons… in the Fall of 1992 I started guitar lessons in a local Guitar shop and have not put the guitar down since.

Was it just a coincidence that at this very same time in my life, I discovered BIAB?

As a Ph.D analytical chemist (the dayjob) I approach my music from a very academic perspective. I need to understand the why’s and how’s of music making. BIAB helps me "see" and understand the music not just hear it. So while I may not have been blessed with an innate musical talent (can’t quit the day job), the level of mastery I have been able to achieve has been enough to fuel my creative juices and has provided a tremendous amount of satisfaction and joy for all these years. BIAB was there every step of the way on this 20+ year musical adventure. I can't say it was all possible because of BIAB, but can certainly say it helped along the way.

www.jazzmandan.com/