Since I am writing this myself I thought it should be in the first person. Though common practice, the idea of writing my bio in the third person for my own website seems pretentious.

Short Version:
I am a guitarist, composer, educator and audio engineer. I started playing guitar when I was seven but didn't take it seriously until high school when I formed a rock band with some friends. I studied music at Grant MacEwan Community College in Edmonton, Albera and then moved to Boston to complete my B.Mus. in guitar performance at Berklee College of Music. After Berklee I moved to Vancouver, BC where I performed at clubs, cafes and restaurants. I also taught guitar lessons and music theory both privately and at several music schools in the Vancouver area. While living in Vancouver, I earned a M.Mus. in jazz performance at Western Washington University, studying with Chuck Israels, as well as private studies with Oliver Gannon and Bill Coon. In 2002 my wife, Donna, and I moved to Pasadena, California so I could begin the Doctor of Musical Arts program in Studio/Jazz Guitar at the University of Southern California, which I completed in fall 2007. While at USC I had the great fortune to study guitar with Joe Diorio, Pat Kelley, Frank Potenza and Richard Smith. I currently perform in the Los Angeles area, teach part-time at USC, and work as an audio production engineer for 89.3 KPCC, Southern California Public Radio.

Long Version:
I am only going to include events that I actually remember. Although I have official government documents stating that I was born on a specific date in a certain place, I have no recollection of the actual event. My earliest childhood memories are from southern India, where I lived for a few years.

When I was six my family moved to a suburb of Montreal, Quebec and that's where I first saw a commercial for a 'new' double LP of Elvis Presley. I begged my parents to get it for me for Christmas that year and they did not let me down. I soon became an Elvis fanatic. I used to put my Elvis records on the turntable, crank up the volume, then dance and roll around on the floor in a quasi-religious fervor, singing along at the top of my lungs.
Since Elvis played guitar, I decided that I needed to as well. I received my first guitar when I was seven. It was warped and stained blue from the lining of the case, having fallen in a lake during a canoe trip with the previous owner. I didn't care, I LOVED it. I sat on the front porch strumming the open strings until a large blister appeared on my thumb. All of a sudden I didn't love it so much, at least until the blister healed.

Since I wanted to play guitar like Elvis so badly, I soon found myself enrolled in classical guitar lessons. Like many folks, my parents believed the myth that if you could play classical music, you could play anything. I don't understand how or why but that myth continues today. I have been asked about this by many concerned parents of guitar students I have had over the years. Of course, it just ain't so, but as a child I bought it.

Lessons only lasted a few months before I quit (but only for a short time). Guitar, like all instruments, was much harder to play than I had ever imagined. A few months later I started up again, mostly because my brother was learning to play and I couldn't let him get ahead of me. It's amazing how a little competition can motivate some people. I have quit dozens of times during my life but I always fall off the wagon pretty quickly. Music is just too addictive!

By junior high, Elvis had lost much of his appeal for me but I discovered Frank Zappa and also the great British rock groups like Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Queen, Eric Clapton, and The Beatles.

In the middle of 10th grade I moved with my family to Edmonton, Alberta and nearly froze to death, but I continued to play guitar. I studied privately with Carl Lotzberg (classical) and Terry McDade (pop, rock, finger-style folk, etc.).

Towards the end of high school some friends and I put together a band and started playing at parties and clubs in and around Edmonton. However, even at this point music was just a hobby. I never gave any thought to pursuing a career as a musician. I wanted to be a physicist, that is until I took a year of Engineering at The University of Alberta. The only classes I really enjoyed that year were physics and a music theory elective. I needed a change.

I had many long conversations with Terry McDade, who was very supportive, about pursuing music as a career and he gave me the confidence to go after it. I dropped out of Engineering at the end of the year and enrolled in the music program at Grant MacEwan Community College. Although I had diverse musical tastes and had discovered great guitarists like Pat Metheny, George Benson, Larry Carlton, Pat Martino and others, it was at GMCC that I really starting learning about jazz.

After finishing the music program at GMCC I moved to Boston and transferred into Berklee College Of Music. I loved Berklee and Boston even though I was living in a 10 X 12 room in the youth hostel with only a sink and a small window that looked onto a brick wall where the words 'FUCK ART' had been spray-painted in large letters. Inspiring scenery! At Berklee I studied with a number of great musicians/teachers including Hal Crook, Joe Rogers, Rick Peckham, Bob Harrigan, Jim Kelly and Bret Willmott.

The next stop for me was Vancouver, BC. I finished the Bachelor of Music program in performance at Berklee and had to leave the country...my student visa only allowed me to remain in the USA while I was enrolled in school.

... to be continued.