August 21, 2025 • 17 mins
What does it really take to build a sustainable career in music while maintaining your sanity and relationships? In this revealing episode, Steve Stine pulls back the curtain on his musical journey and sets the record straight about a common misconception.
"I do not own Guitar Zoom. I have never owned Guitar Zoom," Steve clarifies early in our conversation. Working for Dan Denley's company for 15 years as a content creator has been just one chapter in Steve's multifaceted career. From his first transformative encounter with Kiss's "Love Gun" album as a child to teaching over 100 private students weekly in his twenties, Steve's path has been defined by both passion and overwhelming commitment.
The heart of this episode explores the breaking point that changed everything. While juggling teaching positions at a Montessori school, a rock academy, and a college—plus playing in touring bands—Steve found himself burning out. His wife was "running ragged" managing their daughter's activities while he was perpetually absent. When Guitar Zoom offered him a chance to consolidate his career, Steve made the difficult choice to step away from his numerous commitments. "It was the first time I think I've ever just sat in silence and had a moment of peace," he reflects on that transition.
Now at 55, with a grandchild and decades of experience behind him, Steve has found a delicate balance between his love for playing, teaching, and his commitment to faith and family. His story offers valuable perspective for musicians at any stage who struggle with the tension between creative fulfillment and personal wellbeing. Whether you're starting your musical journey or reconsidering your own work-life balance, Steve's candid reflections provide both inspiration and practical wisdom.
Links:
Check out the GuitarZoom Academy:
https://academy.guitarzoom.com/
- Steve’s Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/stinemus...
- GuitarZoom Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/guitarz0...
- Songs Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/GuitarSo... .
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Steve (00:00):
Hey, thank you so much for joining me for another
episode of Steve Stine GuitarPodcast Today.
What I thought we would talkabout is I get a lot of
questions about me, my history,and one of the most important
questions I tend to get isGuitar Zoom.
Who owns Guitar Zoom?
People think I own Guitar Zoom.
I do not own Guitar Zoom.
I have never owned Guitar Zoom.
(00:21):
There's a gentleman, wonderfulgentleman, by the name of Dan
Denley who has always ownedGuitar Zoom and he hired me
about 15 years ago to makecontent for him, make courses,
make some videos, things likethat, and I've been working with
Dan ever since then.
Now, of course, I do, you know,some guitar lessons on the side
(00:42):
and I play in lots of bands,and you know some guitar lessons
on the side and I play in lotsof bands and, uh, you know, I
still do clinics and teachclasses at various um, you know,
educational institutions,things like that.
So I do a lot of things, uh, onthe side as well, but I most
certainly have been working forGuitar Zoom, uh, this entire
time for the last 15 years.
So, no, I do not own GuitarZoom.
(01:02):
I have never owned Guitar Zoom.
I always never owned GuitarZoom.
I always tell people my job,pretty much everywhere I go, is
to smile and strum and tomotivate people.
So, whether I'm, you know,motivating people within Guitar
Zoom, the Guitar Zoom Academy,you know, teaching people how to
play, whether I'm doing it at acollege, whether I'm, you know,
performing whatever it's tryingto get people excited about
(01:24):
music, excited about guitarplaying, motivated that sort of
thing.
That's what I've always done.
And so, to answer a few otherquestions, like well, how did I
get to where I am doing what I'mdoing right now?
What other kinds of things haveI done in my life?
And I don't talk a lot aboutmyself, but I thought I would
take this opportunity and justtell you a little bit about
(01:45):
where I've been and what I'vedone and, you know, give you a
little bit of information.
So, basically, back when I wasabout seven or eight years old,
I went to one of my cousin'shouse and I had already been
listening to music.
You know my, my parents had alot of 45s.
You know small records, thatsort of thing, a lot of big
records.
I used to listen to a lot of45s not so much albums when I
(02:08):
was younger, and so you know Iwas familiar with Led Zeppelin
and Jimi Hendrix and you knowAlice Cooper and just a whole
bunch of different things.
Plus, I grew up listening to alot of doo-wop music.
My mom was big into doo-w, youknow fifties music, that sort of
thing.
So I listened to a lot of.
(02:32):
You know Chantilly Lace and allthose kinds of songs and my dad
was big into both country, oldschool country.
You know Marty Robbins and youknow all that kind of stuff and
um, and he was into a lot ofseventies rock, ccr, alice
Cooper, led Zeppelin, theBeatles, all kinds of different
things like that.
So I grew up with a realhodgepodge of music.
Plus, I grew up in a veryfaith-based family so a lot of
(02:55):
church was involved, a lot ofchurch music, that sort of thing
.
When I went over to my cousin'shouse when I was about I don't
know seven, eight years old,something like that, I was
introduced to the album Love Gunby Kiss and so looking at this
record, this album cover, andseeing them on the front and
there's all these women sittingthere and it was like I was
(03:17):
absolutely enamored Becauseagain, at this time I was still
playing with Star Wars toys andGI Joe and God knows what.
There was no-transcript.
You know toys, but they, theyplayed music and it was just
like it was the coolest thing onthe planet for a little kid.
And you know the music,christine 16, and you know all
(03:41):
those kinds of songs that wereon that album almost human and,
uh, I think I stole your lovewas on there.
Plaster caster, you knowwhatever hooligan I think was on
there, I, I, I can't remember.
It's been a while since Ilistened to the album, but just
into it, just huge into it, andso my interest in music just
escalated big time from therelistening to a lot of different
(04:02):
things.
Now I didn't actually startplaying until there's a little
caveat I'm not going to take allyour time but about nine years
old, ten years old, I was livingout in a little town called
holly, minnesota, namelyactually called Rolog, minnesota
, which is out of town of Holly,tiny, tiny, tiny little town
living out by my grandparentsand my uncle borrowed me a
(04:24):
guitar to use.
It was an acoustic guitar andthe strings were about, you know
, three quarters of an inch awayfrom the guitar neck and all I
had was this Mel Bay book and Icould make no sense of what I
was doing.
I had no instruction, you know,I just had this book and this
guitar and it made no sense tome.
Certainly I was listening tothings like Ted Nugent and all
(04:45):
this kind of stuff and what Iwas trying to do was, you know,
strum this G chord or play thesenotes on the sixth string or
God knows what it was.
I don't remember what it was,but what I was trying to do and
what I perceived guitar to bewere not even in the same realm
and it was a miserable failure.
I did not do it and we wound upmoving back to Fargo, north
Dakota, and when I was 13, myparents bought me my first
(05:08):
electric guitar and that was acompletely different trajectory
because I had a couple oflessons, learned, a couple of
things.
I didn't stay in lessons long,but I had a lot of like
influence of some friends, somepeople at a local music store
called Schmidt Music that I wasaffiliated with for many, many,
many years.
That showed me little things,little riffs, little you know
(05:30):
Day Tripper and you knowHeartbreaker by Led Zeppelin,
like little things.
That made more sense in mybrain and from there I started,
you know, playing by ear.
I would learn songs.
I could learn songs off therecords by listening to them
over and over and over.
That's how I learned how toplay.
You know, there weren't guitarmagazines and stuff yet at that
(05:52):
time.
They were just getting popularand of course I'm living in
Fargo, north Dakota, so theyweren't overly available at that
point in time.
But that's where it all startedfor me.
So, learning how to visualizechord, you know, power chord,
movements.
I didn't understand anythingabout theory, I didn't
understand anything about chords, I just knew what little bit of
information I had.
(06:12):
And then, once the guitarmagazine started becoming
available, I would read those,you know, every single page in
those books or those magazinesto learn stuff.
And that's where it all started.
So, anyway, learning how toplay.
17 years old, I finally startedteaching.
I got my first teaching studentwhen I was 17.
I would drive to his house, andso in those first day, those
(06:35):
first early years of teaching, Iwould drive to people's houses
and the teaching just kind oftook off.
So I, you know, started havingthem come to me also at 17,.
I graduated high school earlyand then went to college and
studied music, and so I wasdoing all of those things at the
same time.
I had odd jobs working atHoliday Inn, worked at Pizza Hut
(06:56):
for a number of years, workedat Schmidt Music, as I had
mentioned.
So I was never just like onejob.
Even when I was in college Inever had one job.
It was always different jobs,teaching in different places.
I would work and then I startedplaying in bands in college and
then started playing out when Iwas well, just about 20, I.
And then I started playing inbands in college and then
started playing out when I waswell, just about 20, I suppose I
(07:18):
started playing in bars, thatsort of thing.
So I had a lot of things on myplate all at once and that
consisted, was consistent upuntil I started working for
Guitar Zoom, as a matter of fact.
So I had all these differentjobs, started teaching At one
point in my 20s I actually hadover 100 students a week private
students, because I wasteaching seven days a week.
(07:41):
I wasn't on the road yet withbands.
I was playing in bands in theevenings and things, but I was
teaching seven days a week.
I had over 100 private studentsand lots of amazing you know
experiences and a lot of thesestudents I still talk to.
A lot of them are still inbands playing.
You know, it's just was was areally wonderful time.
And then when I got into youknow my it must've been in my
(08:04):
early thirties, right somewherearound there late 20s or 30s I
started teaching at a Montessorischool.
So I was teaching music.
I taught music for about 14years at a Montessori school.
At that same time I was doingprivate lessons.
I was working at a place calledElevate Rock School, which is
kind of like School of Rock herein North Dakota, and I was
(08:27):
teaching at the college.
So I was teaching modern guitarstudies at a local college.
So I wasn't doing Pizza Hutanymore.
I wasn't doing any of those.
I still worked at Schmidt Music.
But then I had this Montessorigig, which was really, really
cool.
I would teach toddlers through.
At that time.
It would have been sixth gradeand then seventh grade and then
eighth grade as we kept growingas a school.
(08:48):
But I was doing all of thosethings all the time playing in
bands.
At this point I was travelingwith bands.
I was playing in bands inMinneapolis, which is about a
four-hour drive for me.
I was playing in a couple ofdifferent bands out there.
One of them was a band namedAvian which was like a power
metal band all original material.
We got to play with a lot ofreally great bands, met a lot of
(09:09):
really wonderful musicians inMinneapolis still friends with
them today and just doing all ofthese things.
So at some point when I was inmy you know again, late, late
thirties, something like that,somewhere around there,
everything's a haze for mebecause I was always so busy but
at some point I was burning outjust all these wonderful things
I was doing.
But too many things, justalways too busy, was never home,
(09:33):
never helping with.
You know, at that point we hadone daughter.
I was married and, um, I wasnever home to help with the,
with my young, with my daughter,and you know my, my wife, was
running ragged trying to bringmy daughter to.
You know all these differentthings.
You know she was dancing, shewas going to.
You know she was at Elevatedoing music and just all these
different things she had goingon.
(09:54):
And I was always so busy I wasjust never home and I could feel
a strain of just all of thesethings that I was doing.
You know, god had blessed mewith a lot of opportunities.
But I just, I was justoverwhelmed with things.
And then I was on break at theMontessori school.
I was, I was having lunch andmy phone rang and it was this
guy, dan Denley, and he's likehey, I, you know, I saw some of
(10:16):
your videos on YouTube.
You know I'd been doing stufflike that on YouTube, just
trying whatever I could to tryand get my name out there.
And uh, he's like, yeah, I sawsome of your videos and you, you
know, you play really good.
And you seem like, uh, you know, you can teach good and blah,
blah, blah, I'd like to hire youto do some guitar courses for
me.
And I was like, sure, I'll dothat.
(10:36):
So now I started doing guitarcourses for him at night,
overnight, when my, when mydaughter was sleeping and, um,
my wife was sleeping upstairs, Iwould do them downstairs in our
basement and I wouldn't sleep.
So I just wouldn't, wouldn'tsleep.
I just, you know, record thesecourses at night when I got home
from everything I was doing, dothe course, you know, get my
(10:59):
daughter up, get ready for goingto the Montessori school and
then start the day over again.
So I started doing that withhim and, um, even more busy, and
at some point he's like look,you're going to, you're going to
burn yourself out, you're goingto wind up divorced or dead If
you don't slow down.
What I'd like to do is I'd liketo hire you to work with me and,
um, you know, work at guitar,zoom, and you know, stop
(11:24):
everything else that you'redoing and just have a steady job
, and he goes.
I don't know that we'd be ableto succeed financially, like
this thing might fall, and hegoes.
I don't know that we'd be ableto succeed financially, like
this thing might fall, you know,fall apart.
But I'd like to give you theopportunity, which was a huge
blessing to me because, again, Iwas just never home, I was
never around my family, and so I, you know, thought about it and
I said, yeah, I, I, what I didwas I, I thought about all the
(11:46):
things I was doing in life andhow much money I was making,
which, honestly, was just neverthat much.
You know how it is playing inbands and stuff.
You just it's just reallydifficult to make a living and
you know it was okay.
But what I did was I tried tokind of summarize all of that
into you know this number andwhat I tried to do is give him
kind of a low ball number withthe opportunity that I could
(12:07):
actually get out of what I wasdoing.
And he said you know, it's notunreasonable, but right now I
just can't afford it.
But I'd like to revisit thisconversation further down the
line.
Well, come, whatever it wasOctober, november, something
like that of whatever year, okay, Probably the same year he's
like look, we're going to giveit a try, I'm going to try this,
and if we fail the company goesunder.
But I want to give this a tryand see if we can make this work
(12:30):
with you.
So he accepted that number,whatever it was at that time,
and so, come January of thatnext year, I literally quit
everything, everything and juststarted working with him.
And I can't explain it, but itwas like the first time in my
(12:50):
life that I was actually able tosit down in the quiet, because
my, at this point, my otherdaughter was born too.
They were gone, my wife wasgone, I was alone in the house
and it was the first time Ithink I've ever just sat in
silence and had a moment ofpeace, and it was like I knew at
that point that I was nevergoing to go back to being as
busy as I was.
(13:10):
I was just never going to goback to living the life that I
led, even if it meant living in.
You know, I mean, I don't livein a big house or drive a fancy
car, anyway, I've never, neverbeen like that.
But but just, I was never goingto let myself get into a
situation where material thingswould make me force me to, um,
(13:31):
you know, have to work all thetime and you know I've been
blessed with endorsements andand things like that, which is
great, but, um, so anyway,that's where it was.
And then I started working forGuitar Zoom and did that, you
know, until I'm, until today.
Now, you know I'm, I'm, I'm 55now at the time of this
recording.
You know I like to play in bandsand so I'll go out and play.
(13:52):
I don't play every weekend.
I don't play, you know, in aconsistent bar band.
I play with different,different friends of mine,
different bands that you knowneed to fill in, or you know
they put something together andwe're going to do some shows or
whatever.
Um, I play in specialty things.
I love that kind of stuff, justdifferent kinds of unique
experiences that I can have as aguitar player, as a musician
and, um, you know, do somesession work here and there, do
(14:15):
some, you know, lessons on theside here and there as I've got
time, um, you know, justdifferent kinds of things like
that that that are fun for mebut not overwhelming myself with
too much stuff, so I still havethat availability.
I'm now a grandfather my oldestjust had a baby, and so I want
to have time for all of thosekinds of things, and so that's
(14:35):
that's kind of my story.
That's how I wound up where I'mat.
You may have seen some of myvideos and all that, or,
obviously, listening to this orwatching this on YouTube or
something.
So it was.
You know, I'm blessed withevery opportunity that I've had.
I just, at some point, neededto make a choice on what it was
I was doing and what it is thatwas was most important to me,
and I play in church.
(14:56):
That's incredibly important tome.
My journey of faith isincredibly important to me, and
my family is incrediblyimportant to me.
More important, you know all ofthose things.
You know my faith, my familythose are what's most important
to me at the age of 55, more sothan how fast I can play my
scales or something like that.
You know, and don't get mewrong, I was blessed with the
(15:17):
opportunity to do all of that ata young age and develop and
craft all of those you know, goto college and study and all
those things get together withamazing musicians and friends,
other guitar players and craftall of that when I was younger.
So now I don't have to work ashard now at this age, which
again I'm very thankful for.
But anyway, I just thought togive you a little bit of a
(15:38):
background on me.
You know I get a lot ofquestions about Guitar Zoom.
You know, is it my company?
It is not my company.
Um, it's a wonderful company.
It's just I'm not going to takecredit for something that's not
mine.
I've always just been the guywho smiles and strums and
teaches.
That's that's what I do for thecompany, that's what I do best
and uh.
So anyway, hope that was kindof interesting to you.
(15:59):
Anyway, and thanks for peopleasking about my, my past and my
background and things like that,and I wish you well and
blessings to you and have agreat day, all right.
Hey, thank you so much for joining me for another
episode of Steve Stine GuitarPodcast Today.
What I thought we would talkabout is I get a lot of
questions about me, my history,and one of the most important
questions I tend to get isGuitar Zoom.
Who owns Guitar Zoom?
People think I own Guitar Zoom.
I do not own Guitar Zoom.
I have never owned Guitar Zoom.
(00:21):
There's a gentleman, wonderfulgentleman, by the name of Dan
Denley who has always ownedGuitar Zoom and he hired me
about 15 years ago to makecontent for him, make courses,
make some videos, things likethat, and I've been working with
Dan ever since then.
Now, of course, I do, you know,some guitar lessons on the side
(00:42):
and I play in lots of bands,and you know some guitar lessons
on the side and I play in lotsof bands and, uh, you know, I
still do clinics and teachclasses at various um, you know,
educational institutions,things like that.
So I do a lot of things, uh, onthe side as well, but I most
certainly have been working forGuitar Zoom, uh, this entire
time for the last 15 years.
So, no, I do not own GuitarZoom.
(01:02):
I have never owned Guitar Zoom.
I always never owned GuitarZoom.
I always tell people my job,pretty much everywhere I go, is
to smile and strum and tomotivate people.
So, whether I'm, you know,motivating people within Guitar
Zoom, the Guitar Zoom Academy,you know, teaching people how to
play, whether I'm doing it at acollege, whether I'm, you know,
performing whatever it's tryingto get people excited about
(01:24):
music, excited about guitarplaying, motivated that sort of
thing.
That's what I've always done.
And so, to answer a few otherquestions, like well, how did I
get to where I am doing what I'mdoing right now?
What other kinds of things haveI done in my life?
And I don't talk a lot aboutmyself, but I thought I would
take this opportunity and justtell you a little bit about
(01:45):
where I've been and what I'vedone and, you know, give you a
little bit of information.
So, basically, back when I wasabout seven or eight years old,
I went to one of my cousin'shouse and I had already been
listening to music.
You know my, my parents had alot of 45s.
You know small records, thatsort of thing, a lot of big
records.
I used to listen to a lot of45s not so much albums when I
(02:08):
was younger, and so you know Iwas familiar with Led Zeppelin
and Jimi Hendrix and you knowAlice Cooper and just a whole
bunch of different things.
Plus, I grew up listening to alot of doo-wop music.
My mom was big into doo-w, youknow fifties music, that sort of
thing.
So I listened to a lot of.
(02:32):
You know Chantilly Lace and allthose kinds of songs and my dad
was big into both country, oldschool country.
You know Marty Robbins and youknow all that kind of stuff and
um, and he was into a lot ofseventies rock, ccr, alice
Cooper, led Zeppelin, theBeatles, all kinds of different
things like that.
So I grew up with a realhodgepodge of music.
Plus, I grew up in a veryfaith-based family so a lot of
(02:55):
church was involved, a lot ofchurch music, that sort of thing
.
When I went over to my cousin'shouse when I was about I don't
know seven, eight years old,something like that, I was
introduced to the album Love Gunby Kiss and so looking at this
record, this album cover, andseeing them on the front and
there's all these women sittingthere and it was like I was
(03:17):
absolutely enamored Becauseagain, at this time I was still
playing with Star Wars toys andGI Joe and God knows what.
There was no-transcript.
You know toys, but they, theyplayed music and it was just
like it was the coolest thing onthe planet for a little kid.
And you know the music,christine 16, and you know all
(03:41):
those kinds of songs that wereon that album almost human and,
uh, I think I stole your lovewas on there.
Plaster caster, you knowwhatever hooligan I think was on
there, I, I, I can't remember.
It's been a while since Ilistened to the album, but just
into it, just huge into it, andso my interest in music just
escalated big time from therelistening to a lot of different
(04:02):
things.
Now I didn't actually startplaying until there's a little
caveat I'm not going to take allyour time but about nine years
old, ten years old, I was livingout in a little town called
holly, minnesota, namelyactually called Rolog, minnesota
, which is out of town of Holly,tiny, tiny, tiny little town
living out by my grandparentsand my uncle borrowed me a
(04:24):
guitar to use.
It was an acoustic guitar andthe strings were about, you know
, three quarters of an inch awayfrom the guitar neck and all I
had was this Mel Bay book and Icould make no sense of what I
was doing.
I had no instruction, you know,I just had this book and this
guitar and it made no sense tome.
Certainly I was listening tothings like Ted Nugent and all
(04:45):
this kind of stuff and what Iwas trying to do was, you know,
strum this G chord or play thesenotes on the sixth string or
God knows what it was.
I don't remember what it was,but what I was trying to do and
what I perceived guitar to bewere not even in the same realm
and it was a miserable failure.
I did not do it and we wound upmoving back to Fargo, north
Dakota, and when I was 13, myparents bought me my first
(05:08):
electric guitar and that was acompletely different trajectory
because I had a couple oflessons, learned, a couple of
things.
I didn't stay in lessons long,but I had a lot of like
influence of some friends, somepeople at a local music store
called Schmidt Music that I wasaffiliated with for many, many,
many years.
That showed me little things,little riffs, little you know
(05:30):
Day Tripper and you knowHeartbreaker by Led Zeppelin,
like little things.
That made more sense in mybrain and from there I started,
you know, playing by ear.
I would learn songs.
I could learn songs off therecords by listening to them
over and over and over.
That's how I learned how toplay.
You know, there weren't guitarmagazines and stuff yet at that
(05:52):
time.
They were just getting popularand of course I'm living in
Fargo, north Dakota, so theyweren't overly available at that
point in time.
But that's where it all startedfor me.
So, learning how to visualizechord, you know, power chord,
movements.
I didn't understand anythingabout theory, I didn't
understand anything about chords, I just knew what little bit of
information I had.
(06:12):
And then, once the guitarmagazine started becoming
available, I would read those,you know, every single page in
those books or those magazinesto learn stuff.
And that's where it all started.
So, anyway, learning how toplay.
17 years old, I finally startedteaching.
I got my first teaching studentwhen I was 17.
I would drive to his house, andso in those first day, those
(06:35):
first early years of teaching, Iwould drive to people's houses
and the teaching just kind oftook off.
So I, you know, started havingthem come to me also at 17,.
I graduated high school earlyand then went to college and
studied music, and so I wasdoing all of those things at the
same time.
I had odd jobs working atHoliday Inn, worked at Pizza Hut
(06:56):
for a number of years, workedat Schmidt Music, as I had
mentioned.
So I was never just like onejob.
Even when I was in college Inever had one job.
It was always different jobs,teaching in different places.
I would work and then I startedplaying in bands in college and
then started playing out when Iwas well, just about 20, I.
And then I started playing inbands in college and then
started playing out when I waswell, just about 20, I suppose I
(07:18):
started playing in bars, thatsort of thing.
So I had a lot of things on myplate all at once and that
consisted, was consistent upuntil I started working for
Guitar Zoom, as a matter of fact.
So I had all these differentjobs, started teaching At one
point in my 20s I actually hadover 100 students a week private
students, because I wasteaching seven days a week.
(07:41):
I wasn't on the road yet withbands.
I was playing in bands in theevenings and things, but I was
teaching seven days a week.
I had over 100 private studentsand lots of amazing you know
experiences and a lot of thesestudents I still talk to.
A lot of them are still inbands playing.
You know, it's just was was areally wonderful time.
And then when I got into youknow my it must've been in my
(08:04):
early thirties, right somewherearound there late 20s or 30s I
started teaching at a Montessorischool.
So I was teaching music.
I taught music for about 14years at a Montessori school.
At that same time I was doingprivate lessons.
I was working at a place calledElevate Rock School, which is
kind of like School of Rock herein North Dakota, and I was
(08:27):
teaching at the college.
So I was teaching modern guitarstudies at a local college.
So I wasn't doing Pizza Hutanymore.
I wasn't doing any of those.
I still worked at Schmidt Music.
But then I had this Montessorigig, which was really, really
cool.
I would teach toddlers through.
At that time.
It would have been sixth gradeand then seventh grade and then
eighth grade as we kept growingas a school.
(08:48):
But I was doing all of thosethings all the time playing in
bands.
At this point I was travelingwith bands.
I was playing in bands inMinneapolis, which is about a
four-hour drive for me.
I was playing in a couple ofdifferent bands out there.
One of them was a band namedAvian which was like a power
metal band all original material.
We got to play with a lot ofreally great bands, met a lot of
(09:09):
really wonderful musicians inMinneapolis still friends with
them today and just doing all ofthese things.
So at some point when I was inmy you know again, late, late
thirties, something like that,somewhere around there,
everything's a haze for mebecause I was always so busy but
at some point I was burning outjust all these wonderful things
I was doing.
But too many things, justalways too busy, was never home,
(09:33):
never helping with.
You know, at that point we hadone daughter.
I was married and, um, I wasnever home to help with the,
with my young, with my daughter,and you know my, my wife, was
running ragged trying to bringmy daughter to.
You know all these differentthings.
You know she was dancing, shewas going to.
You know she was at Elevatedoing music and just all these
different things she had goingon.
(09:54):
And I was always so busy I wasjust never home and I could feel
a strain of just all of thesethings that I was doing.
You know, god had blessed mewith a lot of opportunities.
But I just, I was justoverwhelmed with things.
And then I was on break at theMontessori school.
I was, I was having lunch andmy phone rang and it was this
guy, dan Denley, and he's likehey, I, you know, I saw some of
(10:16):
your videos on YouTube.
You know I'd been doing stufflike that on YouTube, just
trying whatever I could to tryand get my name out there.
And uh, he's like, yeah, I sawsome of your videos and you, you
know, you play really good.
And you seem like, uh, you know, you can teach good and blah,
blah, blah, I'd like to hire youto do some guitar courses for
me.
And I was like, sure, I'll dothat.
(10:36):
So now I started doing guitarcourses for him at night,
overnight, when my, when mydaughter was sleeping and, um,
my wife was sleeping upstairs, Iwould do them downstairs in our
basement and I wouldn't sleep.
So I just wouldn't, wouldn'tsleep.
I just, you know, record thesecourses at night when I got home
from everything I was doing, dothe course, you know, get my
(10:59):
daughter up, get ready for goingto the Montessori school and
then start the day over again.
So I started doing that withhim and, um, even more busy, and
at some point he's like look,you're going to, you're going to
burn yourself out, you're goingto wind up divorced or dead If
you don't slow down.
What I'd like to do is I'd liketo hire you to work with me and,
um, you know, work at guitar,zoom, and you know, stop
(11:24):
everything else that you'redoing and just have a steady job
, and he goes.
I don't know that we'd be ableto succeed financially, like
this thing might fall, and hegoes.
I don't know that we'd be ableto succeed financially, like
this thing might fall, you know,fall apart.
But I'd like to give you theopportunity, which was a huge
blessing to me because, again, Iwas just never home, I was
never around my family, and so I, you know, thought about it and
I said, yeah, I, I, what I didwas I, I thought about all the
(11:46):
things I was doing in life andhow much money I was making,
which, honestly, was just neverthat much.
You know how it is playing inbands and stuff.
You just it's just reallydifficult to make a living and
you know it was okay.
But what I did was I tried tokind of summarize all of that
into you know this number andwhat I tried to do is give him
kind of a low ball number withthe opportunity that I could
(12:07):
actually get out of what I wasdoing.
And he said you know, it's notunreasonable, but right now I
just can't afford it.
But I'd like to revisit thisconversation further down the
line.
Well, come, whatever it wasOctober, november, something
like that of whatever year, okay, Probably the same year he's
like look, we're going to giveit a try, I'm going to try this,
and if we fail the company goesunder.
But I want to give this a tryand see if we can make this work
(12:30):
with you.
So he accepted that number,whatever it was at that time,
and so, come January of thatnext year, I literally quit
everything, everything and juststarted working with him.
And I can't explain it, but itwas like the first time in my
(12:50):
life that I was actually able tosit down in the quiet, because
my, at this point, my otherdaughter was born too.
They were gone, my wife wasgone, I was alone in the house
and it was the first time Ithink I've ever just sat in
silence and had a moment ofpeace, and it was like I knew at
that point that I was nevergoing to go back to being as
busy as I was.
(13:10):
I was just never going to goback to living the life that I
led, even if it meant living in.
You know, I mean, I don't livein a big house or drive a fancy
car, anyway, I've never, neverbeen like that.
But but just, I was never goingto let myself get into a
situation where material thingswould make me force me to, um,
(13:31):
you know, have to work all thetime and you know I've been
blessed with endorsements andand things like that, which is
great, but, um, so anyway,that's where it was.
And then I started working forGuitar Zoom and did that, you
know, until I'm, until today.
Now, you know I'm, I'm, I'm 55now at the time of this
recording.
You know I like to play in bandsand so I'll go out and play.
(13:52):
I don't play every weekend.
I don't play, you know, in aconsistent bar band.
I play with different,different friends of mine,
different bands that you knowneed to fill in, or you know
they put something together andwe're going to do some shows or
whatever.
Um, I play in specialty things.
I love that kind of stuff, justdifferent kinds of unique
experiences that I can have as aguitar player, as a musician
and, um, you know, do somesession work here and there, do
(14:15):
some, you know, lessons on theside here and there as I've got
time, um, you know, justdifferent kinds of things like
that that that are fun for mebut not overwhelming myself with
too much stuff, so I still havethat availability.
I'm now a grandfather my oldestjust had a baby, and so I want
to have time for all of thosekinds of things, and so that's
(14:35):
that's kind of my story.
That's how I wound up where I'mat.
You may have seen some of myvideos and all that, or,
obviously, listening to this orwatching this on YouTube or
something.
So it was.
You know, I'm blessed withevery opportunity that I've had.
I just, at some point, neededto make a choice on what it was
I was doing and what it is thatwas was most important to me,
and I play in church.
(14:56):
That's incredibly important tome.
My journey of faith isincredibly important to me, and
my family is incrediblyimportant to me.
More important, you know all ofthose things.
You know my faith, my familythose are what's most important
to me at the age of 55, more sothan how fast I can play my
scales or something like that.
You know, and don't get mewrong, I was blessed with the
(15:17):
opportunity to do all of that ata young age and develop and
craft all of those you know, goto college and study and all
those things get together withamazing musicians and friends,
other guitar players and craftall of that when I was younger.
So now I don't have to work ashard now at this age, which
again I'm very thankful for.
But anyway, I just thought togive you a little bit of a
(15:38):
background on me.
You know I get a lot ofquestions about Guitar Zoom.
You know, is it my company?
It is not my company.
Um, it's a wonderful company.
It's just I'm not going to takecredit for something that's not
mine.
I've always just been the guywho smiles and strums and
teaches.
That's that's what I do for thecompany, that's what I do best
and uh.
So anyway, hope that was kindof interesting to you.
(15:59):
Anyway, and thanks for peopleasking about my, my past and my
background and things like that,and I wish you well and
blessings to you and have agreat day, all right.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.