About Guitar Stories USA

Why did I start Guitar Stories USA?

By: Rick Baker

If you want to write a Blog, they say you should write about what you love. “They” also say you should write about what you know about or have experience doing…otherwise, why should anyone care? So, some biographical info is in order. I won’t bore you with everything about me here in one post, more on that later, but I will tell you a little about where I’m coming from in writing, sharing and blogging about my love for all things rock guitar!

Being a guitarist since 1976, I love the Electric Guitar…always have, as long as I can remember. Having been born in 1966 in Northeastern Ohio, I was luckily born in the rock and roll heartland of America. My Mother being the oldest of five and a pre-baby boomer, I was a little kid (sponge) hanging around my Uncles and Aunt who all graduated high school in 1965, 1969, 1972 & 1977. It was through these “Influencers” I learned about rock guitar and I’ve never stopped loving and appreciating the electric guitar and those who could make it sing.

The first guitarists I remember absorbing into my conscious and subconscious mind were Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, Keith Richards, Pete Townshend and Joe Walsh. I actually started my musical training at age 5 on piano, taking my lessons from my Great Aunt Margaret, a Kent State music graduate from the late 1930s, who taught music for decades. I later found out she played rag time and jazz piano at speakeasy clubs during prohibition (how cool is that?). But once my hands were big enough to get around a guitar neck, the real fun began in earnest!

Besides soaking in the sounds of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Edgar Winter & Steppenwolf while watching my Uncles build NHRA Dragsters, Choppers & Large block Chevy racing engines, my Uncle Ron was getting into guitars. He had picked up a Fender Mustang that he customized with two humbucker pickups, removing the original Fender single coil pickups and a Fender amp, as well as a Hammond M-3 with a Leslie cabinet. This was simply fascinating to me and my older Sister, who started playing just before I did…then we moved to Orlando, Florida in 1976 and I began my learning, playing, jamming and gigging on bass, then electric guitar. My passion for playing was ignited at a very early age and it was game on in the mid-1970s and my love for it has never stopped.

At 52 and after 22 years of law practice, many of those in the music business, many gigs and recording sessions, I am ready to share my Guitar Stories and those of my fellow rockers, famous and not. I promise I will only post about stories and products I think are cool and true to the code of real rock guitarists everywhere, old and young. But we want to hear your stories!!!

So welcome to Guitar Stories USA and please feel free to share and express your love for the essence of Rock Guitar and your guitar stories. In an upcoming guitar story, I will discuss my Southern Rock education and how my 1966 Gibson SG came into my life. Now that’s a great Guitar Story!

Rick Baker

Editor in Chief