Steven Dillon - About Me

About Me

	Condensed Version
	The Whole Story
	Guitar Heros

I started playing the acoustic guitar when I was eleven years old. It didn't take me long to begin writing and recording my own music. At age 16, I picked up the electric guitar and joined a high school garage band. We were together long enough to perform at a talent show, and, while I'm sure we didn't get booed off the stage, I don't recall how we did.

The first rock concert (Van Halen) I ever attended was a life altering experience. After watching Edward play, I knew, without a doubt, what I wanted to do the rest of my life. Becoming a guitarist was my highest priority from that day on, and I studied Edward's style for many years. Eventually, I learned to play nearly all of his licks. However, too many failed attempts at trying to get a successful band going forced me to rethink that career choice. I put my guitar away for a couple of years to attend college before giving musicianship another try. I joined a band that was nearly ready to play bars and weddings, but when I started writing again, I quickly grew tired of learning cover songs. Not ready to put the guitar down, I pursued a solo career and continued to write songs for a demo tape. At that time, I was heavily influenced by Vinnie Moore, George Lynch, and Joe Satriani.

Playing my own music, I competed in a guitar contest. I placed in the top 4 out of around 35 Western Michigan guitarists. I took home a trophy and other prizes that day, but the most important thing I walked away with was a feeling of being on the right track. Then just as the demo songs were nearly polished enough to head to the studio, I was diagnosed with a severe case of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS). Since I could no longer play without pain, I quit once again and concentrated on my schooling. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and became a Software Engineer.

Watching and meeting Richard Leo Johnson was another life altering event. He changed my whole attitude towards music. I knew that I had to get my songs recorded - even if it was just a gift to myself. I released a demo CD titled "Messin' Around" to friends, co-workers and family which received very positive feedback. I also submitted one song from the demo CD to the news group Rec.Music.Makers.Guitar.Acoustic (RMMGA) that was favorably reviewed.

Completing my first real CD was like a dream come true. It was something that I have wanted to do for as long as I can remember.

When I was around eleven years old, my father bought a cheap acoustic guitar for my brother. The action was terrible, but it was good enough for him to take lessons on. I learned how to play by picking it up when he wasn't practicing. I'd look through his lesson books and struggle with the chord patterns. I play by ear, and I remember trying to learn songs using just one string. My dad didn't allow Rock-n-Roll in his house, so I cut my "musical teeth" on Country and Bluegrass. I became so interested in playing that my brother would often have to fight me to get his guitar back. At that point, I knew it was time to have my own guitar, so with money I had saved from working for my dad, I bought a 12 string.

Check out those bell-bottom jeans!

Click On The Picture To Enlarge It.

I was writing and recording my own music even way back then, and I had an 8 track tape nearly full of my own songs.

As a Junior in high school, I elected to attend the Newaygo County Vocational Center. It was there, at 15 years old, that I was introduced to new and exciting music. I continued to play my 12 string, but I started listening to Light Rock (through headphones so I wouldn't get yelled at). Later that same year, my step-mother brought a used electric guitar and amp home that she had purchased at a yard sale. I think it was a Hofner or a Sears model - it was a total piece of junk, but if I cranked the amp wide open and laid it face down into a bean bag, it wasn't loud enough to get me in trouble and produced a pretty good distorted sound.

My brother and I moved to the big city of Grand Rapids when I was 16 years old to live with my mother where I was introduced to real Rock-n-Roll. While I continued to write on my 12 string (it was the only guitar I had), I found myself becoming intensely interested in electric guitar. Charles Preston Smith (CPS), my best friend at Godwin Heights High School, was also a guitarist. He had a very nice Les Paul and a good, loud amp. He was taking lessons and was much better than I was. He let me borrow one of his old guitars and a practice amp, but my mother would hear nothing of it. The electric was banned from the apartment because it was too loud and it didn't produce the type of music that she enjoyed. So I was only able to play electric while at CPS's house. We used to dream about becoming big rock stars. We wanted to be KISS. He was going to be Ace, and I was going to be Paul, which seemed a good fit at the time since he could play lead and I couldn't. We started our first garage/basement band and called ourselves Magnum Force. I think he got the name from the Clint Eastwood movie.

My Mom could only handle two hell raising teenage boys for half of a school year, so I moved back to Grant to finish out my Senior year of high school. Since I had been bitten so hard by the electric guitar bug, I rarely played my acoustic guitar anymore. Instead I played that old yard sale special as much as I could stand it.

Three days after I graduated (I was 17), I moved back to the city and decided to sell my 12 string so I could buy an electric. I bought a blonde Hondo II from a kid who played it long enough to find out that practicing caused blisters to form on his fingers. It was a Les Paul copy and wasn't too bad to start on. I was very pleased with it, but when showing it to my mother she said, "You get that out of this house this instant. That guitar is straight from the Devil!" I was a little disappointed, but in spite of that, Magnum Force was going to tour the world. We eventually became tight enough to play a talent show, and, while I'm sure we didn't get booed off the stage, I don't remember how we did.

I will never forget the first Rock-n-Roll concert I ever attended. I saw "The Man" Edward Van Halen, and it was a life altering experience! He was still turning his back to the crowd in those days (on certain really technical or innovative pieces so that it wasn't easy for other guitarists to steal what he was doing). I was awestruck, and I knew, without a doubt, what I wanted to do the rest of my life.

Shortly thereafter, the entire state of Michigan fell into a serious repression. Due to the economic hard times, I was forced to join the military or lose my car. I only wanted to be a musician, so I decided to enlist just long enough to pay off my car, save up some money, and get some good musical gear. I played every chance I could, and when I got to Germany, thanks to a favorable exchange rate, I was able to buy my first decent electric. I got an Ibanez Destroyer and a Fender Twin Reverb amp. I was learning everything I could get my hands on. I especially liked AC/DC, Scorpions, UFO, Michael Schenker, Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Saxon, Ozzy, Judas Priest, and Accept. I was also writing my own music and constantly trying to learn how to play some of "The Man's" licks.

While there I met Lorenzo Williams, another guitarist, who was stationed in Meisau Germany at the same company I was in. I noticed he already had very good equipment when I saw his Silver Anniversary Fender Strat and Marshall amp.

I was an arcade junkie too!
Like my Space Invaders T-Shirt?

Lorenzo and me.

Click On The Picture To Enlarge It.

We played together quite a bit, but it was hard for him to play anything that he didn't write. Nevertheless, we had fun trading techniques back and forth as we learned from each other.

From Germany, I was transferred to Texas. I had saved up enough money to buy my first good guitar and upgrade my amp. I guess my desire to own a Flying V went back to the days of wanting to become KISS. When Gibson offered a reissue of that model, I decided it would be my next guitar without really shopping around much. I was heartbroken when about two weeks after I bought it I checked out a B.C. Rich Warlock that played like a dream. To this day, I believe that not buying the Warlock set my playing ability back about two years. I could have learned much faster on it because all the tricks I struggled with on my Flying V were so easy to do on the Warlock. I sold my Ibanez Destroyer to an Army friend who was just learning how to play. He practiced night and day and we eventually wrote a pretty cool song together. With the money from the Destroyer and savings, I bought a Marshall amp from a store in Austin where Eric Johnson hung out. I never met him, but I heard lots of stories about a phenomenal local player. I started concentrating on "radio" Heavy Metal and didn't really write as much because I wanted to be prepared to play gigs when I got out of the service. During that time I was into Van Halen, Y & T, Gary Moore, Judas Priest, Great White, Night Ranger, Triumph, and the Scorpions.

Me sporting a Texas tan and my Flying V!

Click On The Picture To Enlarge It.

I returned home after being honorably discharged from the Army and discovered that forming a functional band was going to be more of a challenge than learning how to play. However, becoming a guitarist was still my highest priority, and I continued to study. I worked many hours mastering the styles of my favorite players; Edward Van Halen, Warren DiMartini, and George Lynch. I put in at least six hours every day and it was not unusual to put in ten. Eventually, I learned to play nearly all of Edward's licks and everything I wanted to play from Ratt and Dokken. Having a two-speed tape deck really helped me as I was never happy until I could play everything note-for-note.

I had the talent and the "look" down, but putting a band together seemed to be almost impossible.

Love that "Guitarist" length hair!

Click On The Picture To Enlarge It.

I was in and out of lots of garage/basement bands without ever being able to find the right mix of talent and drive in one group of guys. After way too many false starts, I decided to put my guitar away and go to college.

Killing the allure of a being a musician isn't that easy, and I guess I just wasn't quite ready to give it up yet. Also, I wasn't sure that college was the right answer, so I went to California to visit my Army buddies and to check out the music scene.

I hung out with Lorenzo who had been trying to get a band going in Los Angeles since the day he got out of the Army (in fact, to this day he's still chasing his dream).

Lorenzo and me.

Click On The Pictures To Enlarge Them.

We hit every Los Angeles bar where the hottest bands were playing; The Whiskey, The Troubadour, and The Rainbow. We even saw the Killer Dwarfs play one night. I left California knowing that if I would have been willing to "pay my dues" I could have made it. The thought of guaranteed, easy money obtainable by simply earning a college degree was just too hard to pass up.

About two years later, even though I was a full-time student, I thought I'd give playing in a band one more try. I joined a group that was nearly ready to play bars and weddings. They had lots of equipment and were definitely serious about performing. It was great to be back in a band, but it was difficult to discipline myself to learning ZZ Top when I was writing my own music again nearly everyday. We parted ways, and Short Circuit became the last band I was ever in.

I pursued a solo career and continued to write songs for a demo tape. At that time, I was heavily influenced by Vinnie Moore, George Lynch, and Joe Satriani. Playing my own music, I competed in a guitar contest where I placed in the top 4 out of around 35 Western Michigan guitarists. I took home a trophy and other prizes that day, but the most important thing I walked away with was a feeling of being on the right musical track.

Before The Contest.		During The Contest.

Click On The Pictures To Enlarge Them.

Then just as the demo songs were nearly polished enough to head to the studio, I was diagnosed with a severe case of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS). Since I could no longer play without pain, I quit once again and concentrated solely on my schooling. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and became a Software Engineer.

After a ten year hiatus, I bought an acoustic guitar. I "noodled" with it every once in a while, but was never very serious. Then I listened to the Narada CD "GUITAR fingerstyle" and was completely amazed at how far acoustic music had progressed. Once again, my love of guitar had been rekindled, and I began writing fingerstyle tunes. My earliest influences were the Narada players; Don Ross, Billy McLaughlin, D. R. Auten, and Stephen Bennett. However, their influence comes only from listening (I haven't tried to play any fingerstyle music except my own). I feel that makes my contribution to the fingerstyle genre a little more unique since I'm coming at it from a different angle.

If you've read my story from the beginning (thanks for hanging around that long!), you know what all of my influences are. I believe that my eclectic style and sound have been shaped by my past as well as musicians who were inspired by Michael Hedges (sort of a second generation Hedges' influenced player if you will). Right around January of 2000, I decided to check out Michael to see what all the hype was about. Now I understand how he single handedly helped change the way the acoustic guitar is played, amplified, and recorded. He was a true innovator in the mold of Jimi Hendrix and Edward Van Halen.

Attending an Instrumental Guitar Workshop With Richard Leo Johnson (sponsored by Taylor) was another life altering event. In fact, I now refer to my music in Pre and Post Richard time lines! Richard changed my whole attitude towards song writing and opened my eyes to the true possibilities of fingerstyle playing. His style is so unconventional that one could consider him more of an artist than a guitarist.

After watching and talking to Richard, I knew that I had to get my songs recorded - even if it was just a gift to myself. I released a demo CD (with 6 Pre-Richard songs) titled "Messin' Around" to friends, co-workers and family which received very positive feedback. I also submitted one song from the demo CD to the news group Rec.Music.Makers.Guitar.Acoustic (RMMGA) that was favorably reviewed.

Completing my first real CD was like a dream come true. It was something that I have wanted to do for as long as I can remember. Seeing my picture and reading about my music in a major magazine was a real thrill too, but hearing one of my tunes coming across an FM radio station for the first time was an event I'll never forget! Music has always been my passion and becoming a full time musician may very well be my destiny.

Richard Leo Johnson