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Back in fifth grade, Chris wanted to play in the middle school band. Unfortunately, he was an uncoordinated pre-teen and unable to maintain a coherent rhythm with drumsticks, so Chris made the trombone his instrument of choice. Quickly rising to the ranks of first chair, he developed a nervousness for playing lead solos in front of all the parents in the Sequim Middle School gym during band concerts. Chris made a stunning revelation at the end of his sophomore year in high school, where he realized boys don't meet girls at parties playing the trombone. Consequently, he abruptly ended his six-year relationship with the trombone and band class.
One day during his junior year, Chris pulled a Ferris Bueller and faked being sick so he could stay home, drink orange juice, and eat Top Ramen noodles while watching MTV videos all day. Around 11 am that day, he happened to catch Poison's "Nothin' But a Good Time" video broadcast for the first time. Awestruck from the flashy guitars being swung around by the long-haired rockers, he had to be a guitarist. Certainly, he thought, boys can meet girls at parties by playing the guitar, right? Bringing the guitar topic up at the dinner table that evening, his parents agreed to purchase a basic electric guitar and small amp for him to learn on. Much to their credit, Chris' parents were always supportive of his musical aspirations. So he took to the guitar like a madman and realized, after hours and hours of practice, he was able to emulate his favorite guitarists, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Eddie Van Halen, Ted Nugent, and Billy Gibbons. On Friday and Saturday nights, when most high school kids were out on dates or with friends at parties, Chris would be found in his bedroom with his CD boombox to his right, a Fender 10-watt amplifier to his left, and numerous 80s hard rock CDs littered on the floor. To this day, he still doesn't do very well meeting women at parties.
But how did Chris start playing the bass guitar, you ask? Having parents who were Garage Sale-a-holics, Chris accumulated a number of used guitars picked up on Saturday morning sale runs, many priced dirt cheap. One day his father suggested he take a few of these guitars to a nearby pawn shop and trade them for a bass guitar. Chris thought to himself, "The bass is pretty much the bottom four strings of a guitar. Why not?" Soon after it was made apparent to him that bands always have guitar players lying around, but bass players are scarce! And so it goes… Chris' musical path had continued to evolve.
Chris has played for people in bars, churches, gymnasiums, family rooms, community lawns, coffee shops, and state fairs. He still gets nervous whenever he plays a solo, but now he's happy to be able to play without having to look at his fretboard the whole time.
On his lifelong quest to achieve a solid tone, Chris uses G&L basses and Mesa Boogie amplification.
Chris thanks God for blessing him with the ability, his parents for
the initial encouragement, and Gary McKinney, Sam Middlebrook, David and Nathan for the opportunity, and Wendy for taking a chance on him.
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