Name: Peter Slater

Student Support Forum Screen Name: "Slug"

Gender: Male

My city: Geebung, Queensland, Australia

My instruments/gear:
Guitars:
* 70's Classic Stratocaster (MIM), with Lace Hot Gold pickups.
* 60th Anniversary Players Special Stratocaster (MIM), with Fender 57/62 Classic pickups. This is my 'Rory' Strat, has a great bitey tone with just enough OD break up to satisfy.
* Jaguar, Players Special HH, with Seymour Duncan SB Pickups. JB in bridge & Jazz in neck position.
* Fender 'Tim Armstrong' Hellcat Acoustic-- I love all my guitars & I regularly cycle through each guitar through each amp so that I'm being faithful to each love of my life :-) but have to admit the Rory Strat through the Blues Jnr is the combo I go to as a default preference.
*All my gear even my leads & picks are Fender. Irrational? Probably. Fanatical? Absolutely

Amps:
* 65 Reverb Deluxe (15 watt)
* Blues Jnr, Tweed (15 Watt)
* G-Dec 3 (15 Watt)
* Roland Micro Cube RX, original amp which is now predominantly the speaker for my MP3 but has a special place in my heart as it did all the hard yards of Session 5 - 10 with me & has travelled the world with me.

Pedals:
* Boss TU2 Tuner
* Boss Blues Driver
* Boss DD7 Delay
* Fender Wah/Fuzz. The Fender wah is so big I put wheels on it at weekends and it doubles up as a skateboard :-) I don't use pedals very much. I went though the stage we all do I guess of buying pedals & fooling around with sound & tone but I always come back to a cleanish tone with just a hint of break up, which is exactly what the Blues Jnr provides. Of all the pedals its probably the Wah I enjoy most & the TU2 I use always.

Favorite Artists/Bands: 3 Kings of Blues, Eric Clapton, SRV, Rory Gallagher, Buddy Guy

Favorite style(s) to play: I love 'The Blues' & Blues/Rock. It is that style of playing & music I want to be able to play well & hopefully be considered a player who plays Blues well.

While I'm not a big fan of Reggae or Jazz, I do like to practice playing those styles of guitar because I think that learning & incorporating other styles & other peoples playing into your own is what will eventually develop what my style & sound is.

I am a big Keith URBAN fan, so I guess I enjoy that style of music which I think would be considered Country/Rock if there is such a thing. I'd like to learn a few Country licks & style of playing. Keep that quiet though. I already get accused of being a Rocker at heart by the blokes I play with :-)

What made me want to play music?: When I was about 12-13 my older cousin who played in a school band had his guitar at a family Christmas BBQ. He was playing the intro lick from Free's 'Alright Now'. I was instantly hooked, I must have got him to play it 1000 times that day until he succumbed to my physiological pressure & eventually gave me the guitar. After a lifetime of chasing footballs & procrastinating about really learning to play guitar I found L&MG about 2 1/2 years ago & now I can play the Alright Now intro lick.

I recently caught up with my cousin in Melbourne & we sat down & played Alright Now together. Nothing changes we just get older.

Previous music experience: None really other than a few lessons as a teenager & dabbling with learning to play a couple times as I travelled through life. I grew up in a family where the most musical thing that ever happened was my Mum would play her Mario Lanza 12" record over & over & over again while she cooked the Sunday roast after church. Our family music did expand somewhat when Dad bought Shirley Bassey's Greatest Hits & James Last's Trumpet A Go Go from a record club. My musical moment arrived when Mum & Dad permitted me to get one record from the record club & I ordered Jethro Tull's 'Aqualung' album. I picked that record based on the cover of the album sleeve. That music changed my life, I was fascinated by the music and the powerful emotion that it generated in me. Locomotive Breath is still my number 1 song "In the shuffling madness of the Locomotive Breath....."

If your house was on fire, which one piece of gear would you grab and why?: Whew! Tough question that one. I'd save my 70's Classic Strat. It was my first electric guitar, it is the guitar I refer to as "Mr Strat" on the forum. I'd save Mr Strat because he has travelled the whole journey with me & while my other Strat is my preferred go-to guitar, it is Mr Strat that is closest to my heart & the one that will belt out 'Brute Force & Ignorance' at my funeral.

My favorite place to be when I'm playing music: I live alone so I can set up the house anyway I please. The back of my house is very large room that is a lounge / dining / kitchen / family combined room. I have set a corner up as my Guitar area. I have a 20' lead (Fender Tweed of course) so I can sit on the lounge to watch the L&MG DVD's and still be plugged into an amp. When I sit in the Guitar corner I am Rory, Stevie, Eric, Jimi.... anyone I choose to be. Its my favorite place to sit, even just reading the paper with a coffee I'll sit there rather than on the lounge in front of the TV.

My highest musical moment: Last Friday night (17th Sept) I played in a Blues band in a Battle-of-the-Bands-sort-of-gig at a local Hotel. It was my first genuine public appearance where I played for paying customers. It was also the first time I played a solo in a song in public. I think that experience will be a springboard for me to reach a new level with my playing, it was also the realisation of a dream to play the guitar. I think for the first time I am starting to believe that one day I will be able to play, really play the guitar.

Hobbies: Guitar is my hobby, passion, addiction, it is what consumes most of my recreational time. I am a keen surfer although since I moved south to Brisbane I don't get in the water as much as I would like. Having spent a lifetime playing sport I am a keen spectator of all sport but my football passion is Aussie Rules Football. I enjoy keeping fit & training hard but as the years creep on the wheels tend to fall off the running shoes every now & then. I enjoy fooling around in the garden willing all my plants to grow larger. Recently I bought a new plant for the garden because it is called 'Rhythm & Blues', good enough reason for me.

Current Job: I am a member of the Australian Federal Police. Its a job I love and an organisation that I am devoted to. As a member of the emergency services we run toward things that the public run away from. Its what we do so that our community can live safely & at peace with each other.

Playing guitar is a blast, but playing guitar with friends is one of the great joys on earth--IMHO. It's also one of the best ways to quickly improve your playing. There are two sides to learning guitar - input and output. Input is the time you spend pouring yourself into learning new skills and practicing. Output is when you use your skills to make real music. This article is about getting out of your practice room and playing music for others.

Here are some thoughts about getting out and playing:

1) The Better the Musicians You Play With, the Better You Will Become. My high school band director told me this and I have found it to be true at every stage of my career. We as musicians have a chameleon-like way of rising to the level of the musical environment we find ourselves in. Make music with players that are better than you and you'll grow faster than otherwise.

2) Get Over Yourself. It's easy to stay in your comfort zone, musically (nobody wants to be "the weakest link"). It can be embarrassing and harmful to our pride when we struggle to keep up with others. But that's exactly where we make the most progress. So don't let fears of embarrassment cause you to miss a great musical opportunity. Be Bold! Sometimes the scariest (and most productive) words are "Hey, do you mind if I play along?"

You may be thinking, "I'd love to play with other people, but I don't know where to go." Well, here are a couple of musical situations that might work for you to start with.

1) Playing at Jam Sessions. Chances are your community has regular jam sessions going on in a variety of styles like Jazz, Bluegrass, or Blues. Your best bet for finding them at the local music store - just ask someone there. Some stores even have a bulletin board with events posted. Chances are, someone behind the counter will be able to point you toward a local jam session.

2) Playing for Special Occasions. Christmas time, holidays, and family get-togethers are great places to grab your guitar and strum along in the background. Or even, work up a little Christmas song to play when everyone is together. Playing for a special occasion gives you a concrete goal to work toward. Nothing like a little time pressure to get you working - holidays make great deadlines. And, who knows? You just might end up making a magical musical moment for your family and kids in the process.

3) Find a Guitar Club. Guitar clubs are made up of folks who just enjoy playing guitar and they're popping up all over these days. To find one in your area, do a quick internet search or glance through the music classifieds. They usually meet weekly at a home or community center. If you can't find one, why not start one?

4) Play at Your Church. A church music team is a great way to get used to playing with other musicians. If you don't feel good enough to play for services, ask if you could just rehearse with the team. I've played on church music teams for years.

You can only go so far by yourself. You need an outlet for your playing no matter what your skill level. Even if you only know a few chords, that's enough to play a country or folk song or simple Christmas carol, so go ahead a "risk" playing for someone other than yourself. You can only learn to swim by getting in over your head.

Keep Learning & Growing!
Steve Krenz