About Me

Or...The Long Road To Becoming A Pretty Good Guitar Player...

I started playing guitar when I was 10 years old. My parents ordered me a guitar for my 10th birthday from the Sears Mail Order Catalog. It was a little package deal...a Harmony Les Paul Jr. rip-off with a little 10 watt amp, a cable, some picks, etc. My friends and I had already been tinkering with the idea of putting a band together so when the guitar arrived, we went full-bore into writing some of the wiedest music you could expect from a bunch of 10 year old kids. It wasn't until 6 months later that another kid who lived down the road from us, and who could actually play guitar, came by and showed me how to tune it and (surprise, surprise) showed me how to play the intro to "Stairway To Heaven". Since that day, I have never looked back and have continued to hone my craft. The year was 1980.

My biggest influences of the day, and very much still are even to this day, were bands like Rush, Led Zeppelin, Blue Oyster Cult, Queen, Pink Floyd, The Cars and eventually the plethora of rock, metal and new wave bands that came out during the 80's. But it was in the summer of 1981 that I was turned on to the guitarist who would become my biggest influence, even...dare I say...my idol. That summer a friend of mine had recieved a new record player for his birthday, along with some new records to play on it. One of those records was Ozzy Osbourne's "Blizzard Of Oz". From Randy Rhoads' first slide on the E string in the beginning of the song "I Don't Know", I was hooked...I...knew (hee hee). And initially, it wasn't even the playing that struck home with me so much as it was the way Randy's guitar sounded. He had this mid-range "growl" to his sound that just, in my opinion. was perfect. And then when he kicked into a guitar solo, his guitar tone would just jump up in the song and it didn't matter if he was playing one note, or a million notes, they all soared over the music like a flock over birds over the ocean. So I studied Randy...his technique...his tone...the man himself. He was a great teacher...and I never even met him.

It was a year or so after I had dedictaed myself to learning everything I could about Randy Rhoads, that I realized I needed more...and that it was ok to have more than one influence from more than one style of music. It was around this time too, that a new magazine had hit the scene - "Guitar For The Practicing Musician" (GTPM) - and it had this cool new (new to me anyway) way of writing out music for the guitar called "Tablature". And within the covers of this magazine, there were songs from my favorite artists "tabbed-out". And not just pieces of the music...entire songs, including guitar solos and many times the bass guitar parts were tabbed-out too. I immediately asked my parents for a subscription. As each issue came month after month, my repertoire of songs I could play grew. Also, around this time, I discovered I could play along with my favorite artists simplying by knowing what key a song was played in, tuning my guitar to that song and playing along. It was information overload, but I loved it and I couldn't get enough of it. And I wasn't happy with just learning one song, or just the popular songs, I learned entire discographies. Even songs that didn't turn me on...I had to learn them.

In 1986 I was a Junior in high school. Still receiving my monthly copy of GTPM magazine and still learning entire albums of bands as they came out, again I felt the need to get something more out of the guitar. I wanted to write my own music and record it. I had done some writing and some recording using a little tape deck my dad had laying around the house, with a single condensor mic on the front of it. In one of the issue of GTPM, I had seen an advert for a portable 4-track recorder made by a company called Vestfire. It was the perfect tool for a solo artist to lay down tracks to tape and help get the creative juices flowing. So, considering the price of the thing, it was the only item on my Christmas list that year. It was under the tree Christmas morning, and although my parents were cool and bought me some other gifts as well, I was in awe of this thing. Even at this age, I was a manual reader. Any time I received something or bought something that came with a User's Manual...I read the manual. Most times before even unpacking the item. Not having the slightest idea about multi-track recording, I dove head first into an aspect of the music world that would become a passion of mine for the rest of my life...Sound and Recording Engineering.

In December of 1988, I had graduated from high school and my parents had retired in Arizona. I was tossing around the idea of going to college, but growing up in a military family influenced me and I decided to do my time for King and Country. I joined the United States Air Force, and after Basic Traning and follow-on school in Texas, I was assigned to my duty station at Wurtsmith Air Force Base in the town of Oscoda, Michigan. I lived in the dorms the first few months I was there, and on the weekends I would go down to the "Day Room" (kind of like a community break room, with vending machines, a TV, couches, etc.), bring my amp and guitar and continue to keep up with practicing my only passion at the time. One Friday evening this guy walks past the door of the day room, hears me playing, introduces himself as the drummer for a cover band, and asks if I'd like to come to a jam session with him. To keep the story short, I met a bunch of great guys that night, and the band itself went thorugh a few line-up changes in a short time and eventually became the band "Dark Star", my first "well-organized" cover band. We played a great mix of rock and pop songs and I gained a great deal of experience playing for 5 people on some nights, to playing in a bar that was so packed, the owners had to open the dining room section to allow for the size of the crowd. The band parted ways in 1992 as some of us recieved orders to other duty stations or, in my case, decided not to re-enlist.

I moved back to Arizona and from 1992 to 1993 I played with several cover and original bands, but nothing seemed to satisfy me. So in 1993 I gave up the idea of playing in cover bands and decided to focus on building a home recording studio and writing music. I had stepped-up from the 4-track Vestfire I has been toting around with me (still have it actually) and was now on to an 8 track Tascam 688 Midistudio. I had also picked up a drum machine, a couple of bass guitars, mics, etc. So I set out to record, what I consider to be, my first serious album. I called it "Paroxysm" and it was really a collection of songs I had been writing since around 1992. I wrapped the project up in 1996 and gave copies to friends and family. The feedback was positive but most importantly, I felt a great sense of accomplishment...instant gratification. It would be another 4 years before I would again feel the need to write music.

It's now the summer of 2000 and, for reasons I still don't fully understand, inspiration struck me and I found myself once again writing music and lyrics for what would become my second album - "The Flags Of War". It was a concept album (which I'm sure the inspiration for came from bands like Rush and Savatage). The idea was to tell the story of a relationship in turmoil and on the verge of breakup using the scenery of a soldier in war (World War II to be exact). I soon realized, as I was beginning the recording process, that the songs lent themselves to a special kind of atmosphere...and that a big, full production was not doing them justice. So I widdled the songs down and recorded the entire album using only 2 acoustic guitar parts and 1 vocal part. It gives the illusion of being on the porch steps listening to grandpa tell old war stories. It worked...and it wasn't long after, I started working on songs for what would become my third album...it's funny how creative  inspiration comes to you.

I had already decided on the name of the album - "A Dream Within A Dream" - from the title of a poem by my favorite author, Edgar Allan Poe. Again, it was to be a concept album, but this time it was going to be a conglomeration of separate stories revolving around a central theme of growing up and becoming a man. In July of 2001, the album was finished and I couldn't have been more proud. I immediately burned a copy to CD and ran it over for my Mom and my Sister to listen to. They loved it...and for all the time, effort...for all the blood, sweat and tears, so to speak, their approval was all the gratification I needed. So...I suppose when it comes to writing music...the only people I am trying to impress are those closest to me. I have never attenpted to put a band together and go out playing my music live, and I'm not sure I need that, although I wouldn't completely shut down the possibility of it happening some day.

Now we jump ahead to the year 2004. I've had a son, been through a divorce, have met the woman that will become my wife to this day...which...by the way - my wife is the greatest, my wife is the greatest, my wife is the greatest, my wife is the greatest, my wife is the greatest, my wife is the greatest, my wife is the greatest, my wife is the greatest, my wife is the greatest, my wife is the greatest, my wife is the greatest, my wife is the greatest, my wife is the greatest...I promised her I would write a paragraph on how great she is...and she truly is...so...there you have it hon. Love you!

So...it's 2004 and the urge to do something with music comes crawling back to the surface and begins to grow...like most monsters grow. It's different this time though, as now I'm feeling the urge to get back into the cover band scene. I had started to go out to bars a bit more around this time to catch some live music on the weekends and was blown away on the rare occasion, but mostly disappointed. I kept hearing the same old stuff, played (for the most part) the same old way. And so I decided to put a band together that would play the music fans like me wanted to hear...still focusing on popular music...just not the same old song choices it seemed many cover bands were making.

It was a long process, going through line-up changes, agreeing on song choices and getting the entire band on the same page about the direction of the band. In 2008, the band Deeper Cuts was formed. We played a bunch of Open Mic nights around town to "test the waters" and see what kind of reception we would get from the audience to our choice of songs. The feedback was very positive. Just as things were starting to look up for the band though, and it seemed we were ready to starti booking some paying gigs, the band itself imploded and we all went our separate ways...but stayed in touch with each other. I moved on, joining various cover bands in their start-up phases, playing the same old standards and being bored out of my mind. You see, the idea of the potential for a band like Deeper Cuts was always lingering on my mind. But trying to introduce that idea into some of these cover bands I had been joining always seemed to lead to this weird tension between myself and the rest of the band...and that weird tension was simply that those bands and I were not on the same page...and there's nothing wrong with that...I like to describe it as a marriage in which the two spouses one day realize they want different things out of life, and so they split up.

In October of 2010, I reunited with the former bass player and drummer of Deeper Cuts. The three of us, along with a new lead singer formed the band Rock Garden. Being that the new lead singer was female, this opened a lot of new doors for us where song choice was concerned. Around the time of our second rehearsal, I had received an email regarding an up-coming cover band contest. I posed the idea to the band and we all agreed it was something we wanted to do. It would push us to not only rapidly increase our song list, but to also focus and really polish our sound. And so, on November 4, 2010, we played in the first qualifying round of the contest...and won. We new, from that point, that this was something we could take all the way. And we did, winning the Semi-Final round on December 4, 2010 and finally winning in the Final Round of the contest on December 18, 2010. Not bad for a band that had only been together for two months. And I've said this before, and I will continue to say it...even if the we hadn't played our best...I believe we still would have won the contest solely on our choice of songs. We played songs that were fresh and new and that we had not heard other bands playing, yet were still very familiar songs. So we had this great combination of excitement and comfort we brought to the audience. Sadly, in March of 2011, Rock Garden disbanded. But only for a short time as the band has recently put itself back together and I sincerely wish them the best of luck.

And so here I am again...going out on auditions...still looking for that right combination of people to make music... ...know anyone looking for a Lead Guitar player? :-)

Frankie Commans Jr.
May 15, 2011