Musical Background
I was born in Saint Petersburg Russia in 1983. I started taking piano lessons when I was 7. The school I went to also had
music classes every week where we learned to sing harmonies. I also attended music school in Saint Petersburg for 3 years where I learned basic music theory.
As a kid, I had an old tape player and a vinyl player. I always listened to a lot of Beatles.
When my father got a cassette player - he started taping radio stations in Finnish and German. I heard Paul McCartney and the Wings,
Queen, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, and any American pop that was on the radio at that time. I loved the instruments in pop music and how the vocal harmonies all worked together.
"Hotel California", "Abbey Road", and "A Night at the Opera" became deeply ingrained into my head.
When I was 12 - I got to perform several times in front of large crowds of people. I was singing a fun, upbeat, love song with my music teacher accompanying me on the piano. This was a great opportunity for me to overcome stage fright at a young age. I kept taking piano lessons - playing mainly classical and jazz, until I came to Toronto, Canada with my family in 1997. I didn't have a piano anymore, so the music halted, until I started high school in 1999. I took grade 10, 11, and 12 guitar classes in high school where I learned the basic chords on the guitar, reading tablature, and notation. Every friday we used to have a performance - where each student would go up in front of the class and perform a piece they had been working on during the week. This was a great opportunity to hear many genres of music and to practice performance skills.
During my highschool years I haven't yet heard the stuff that would later change my life forever. I was into a lot of Brit Pop, Alternative, Metal and Reggae music. Bands like: Radiohead, Oasis, Sublime, Weezer, Metallica, Megadeth, Rage Against the Machine, Bob Marley & The Wailers and whatever everyone else was listening to in high school at that time. When I enrolled in college in 2001, I met George Crecoukias (guitar/bass player) in one of my classes. He introduced me to styles of music like progressive rock (the G3), classic rock, and Texas blues. When I heard the guitar style of SRV, I had to learn to play the electric if it killed me! George and I started jamming together - playing cover tunes. We were also reaching out - trying to find cool musicians and guitar instructors around the Toronto area when we discovered a local musician - Tony "Wild T" Springer - a complete virtuoso on the guitar doing a Jimi Hendrix tribute act as well as his own music. Since then, I kept coming to open jam nights to jam with Tony every chance I got. Every night presented new musicians, and no two nights were ever the same.
I have gained contact with many musicians and hobbyists through these jam nights. George and I kept playing covers with these musicians we met along the way. One night we jammed with George Harrison (drummer) and joined the BabyOil project shortly after.
Influences
Stevie Ray Vaughan
SRV has a completely unique style and he plays from the heart. His guitar playing, singing, arrangements, and lyrics all display a great deal of passion and uniqueness. Anyone can imitate him, but there is only one SRV.
Eric Johnson
The guy is a tone surgeon with his guitar sound. He also employs signature techniques like harmonics, jazzy chord voicings, octave "Wes" shapes, super fast precise pentatonic soloing, and probably the most beautiful overdrive you'll hear coming out of a Marshall amp.
Eric Clapton
I love Eric's music in all its forms - Bluesbreakers with Mayall, Cream, Blind Faith, Dominoes, his accoustic album, and his new stuff. Some guitar players criticize Eric for not being a flashy guitar player, but he is a master at mixing major/minor pentatonics and phrasing them. The songwriting Eric does is unmatched. Long live Slowhand!
Kenny Burrell
He is my favorite Jazz player along with Joe Pass, Wes Montgomery, and Pat Martino. I love the way he can use a minor pentatonic scale through a set of jazz changes but still outline the progression.
Jody Fisher
I own most of his Jazz Guitar methods, and constantly look up new topics from them. He is the guy that taught me about chord tone targeting in solos - the key to playing a good solo.
Scott Henderson
Scott's 2 instructional videos on RHS are invaluable for any guitar player. In the 1st video he gives you the full harmonic palette for playing jazz guitar. In the 2nd video he talks about phrasing those notes - to tell a musical story to the listener.
Tony Springer
He has a great ear and can fly all up and down the neck playing little melodies and motifs. He also can take any progression and play around with it by changing the rhythm, feel, dynamics, style, or anything else and create a 15 minute medley out of it. He really reminds me of Jimi Hendrix in his utter control of the instrument.
Steve Lukather
I like Toto for their lead vocals and vocal harmonies. But most importantly - their songwriting. Steve Lukather is a session guy who played on A LOT of records. He can shred - and does so at the right times. He can play anything from jazz to metal to opera.