I was born on Feb. 12, 1979. Since very early childhood I had wanted to become a musician. Some of my first memories are of old guitars that no one in my home played, old guitars that eventually I fixed and became my first real musical instruments.
Early on I was surrounded by old time country music and have many memories of watching black and white re-runs of "The Grand Ole Opry" on my mother and father's T.V. By the time I was eight or so my older brother was letting me listen to Heart, Peter Frampton, Kiss, Bon Jovi, and ZZ Top. This had a tremendous impact on my life and they kind of music I enjoyed in general. When I was ten the same brother gave me my first rock albums, Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet and ZZ Top's Eliminator on audio cassette. I played them both till they wore thin and broke.
By the time I was 12 I had moved on from listening to "the Eighties Greatest Rock Hits" type tunes to AC/DC, Metallica, and Ozzy Osbourne. At about the same time the "Grunge Era" was beginning and bands like Alice in Chains, Nirvana, and Soundgarden began to have an influence as well. When I was 13 I was turned onto King Diamond and Mercyful Fate by a Church video called "Hells Bells the Dangers of Rock N' Roll!" What a hoot that was, it contained a lot of rare footage of bands that I thought rocked.
I pulled my first guitar out of the loft of my parents house when I was 14. No one was supportive of my decision to learn to play guitar. As a matter of fact I heard many times that I would never learn to play. By the time I was 15 I had the cash saved back to have the instrument fixed and buy a small amplifier. It was an early sixties Danelectro Sears Silvertone Model Guitar. The first songs I learned were "You Shook Me All Night Long" by AC/DC and "Heart Shaped Box" by Nirvana. I bought my first fuzzbox not long after and was very excited about being able to make the songs sound more like the originals.
Within the next year my brother and his wife had opened their home to a friend recently discharged from the US Navy who happened to play guitar. He showed me how to play "Iron Man" by Sabbath, "Cat Scratch Fever" by Nugent, and "Seek and Destroy" by Metallica. He also had a thrash metal CD collection that would make the Library of Congress sick as hell. The three songs he showed me plus having access to such a large library of kick ass bands I had never heard of really changed my life. I was 15 hooked on guitar, thrash metal, and practicing from the time I woke till I passed back out. Slayer, Venom, Testament, Destruction, and Overkill were all bands that I did not have easy access to considering I was born and raised in the heart of Appalachian East Tennessee. The local Wal-Mart was the only source within 30 miles of where I lived to buy music.
Heavy metal eventually led me to want to persue a study in classical guitar, learning to read music, and wanting to understand music theory. The first guitar teachers I had found would usually let me take a lesson or two and after finding out I already knew the pentatonic scale send me on my way.
When I turned 18 everything took a massive halt and was turned upside down. I was involved in a pretty major car accident and sustained injuries, including a torn aorta, that I should not have lived through. (If you want more details you'll have to email me and as for them because it is a very long story.) The fact that I lived was further evidence that I was here to play music, at least in my mind. I can't think of anything else I would have been kept around to do.
About six months after the accident I was referred by an old friend to a guitar instructor who was exactly what I was looking for. His name was Charlie Hicks, a Berklee College of Music grad who was teaching at a local two year college while working on his masters at the University of Tenn. Knoxville. He is by far one of the best musicians I have had the oportunity of knowing. I owe my entire way of thinking about music to the seeds he would sew as my teacher. He made me forget everything I had learned before studying under him, he told me not to waste his time, and he taught me how to really play the guitar with an open mind and an open soul. He gave me the tools to never stop learning and never stop improving.
I am currently teaching guitar at Tooter's Music in Cleveland,Tnand at the Monroe Area School For the Performing Arts in Sweetwater, TN. For information or to schedule guitar lessons please call 423-253-6034. or visit http://www.myspace.com/jackaikens or http://www.myspace.com/jackaikensmusic.
If you would like information on the Monroe Area School for the Performing Arts or courses offered such as piano, voice, opera, ballet, or drama please call 4233529013.
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