New to the forums :)

[David Gonzalez Sr.]

Hello my friends,

My name is David Gonzalez, from Los Angeles California. I am new to this forum, and very excited to be here with all of you! I am a self taught musician since the age of 10 years old. I was always fascinated by guitar, as my father Rogelio Gonzalez seemed to always have his guitar in hand and would enjoy his tequila and guitar from the second he would walk in the door from a hard days work. He was always more of a singer though, he was a very impatient man and would never be able to sit down with me to teach me what little he did know on guitar.

He listened to allot of flamenco, but was not all that skilled in the technical side of the art. I was on my own pretty much when it came to guitar. I have a good ear, and put it to use and taught myself how to tune and play the guitar fairly well by the age of 15.

I ended up joining a heavymetal band at age 18.... My flamenco roots were kinda frowned upon by the fellas, and i ended up naturally taking to the bass guitar as i was pretty good at fingerpicking......... I ended up getting signed to a Record Label who had me join the band "Banishment" and pumped out their debute album with them on my 7-string bass.

Getting signed opens new doors, and i was put in contact with a friendly luthier by the name of Fred Bolton of "Bee Basses" who was willing to build me my very own custom 9-String Bass. Its been about 3 years now since i quit playing heavymetal, and pretty much stopped playing music all together,.... that is untill my Father passed down his favorite and most prised possetion.....

On August 5, 2009, my father gave me his 1970 Tamura Flamenco Guitar made and signed by Hiroshi Tamura. My father took SUCH GOOD CARE of this guitar that it still looks brand new! I went out and bought some Saverez yellow card nylons and my jaw dropped the second i heard the tone and clarity in sound. IT WAS/IS LOUD!!!!!!!

So here i am over a decade later and right back to my roots. I want to dedicate all my spare time to Flamenco guitar. Since i am self taught purely by ear,... i made the decision to buy the "Gerhard Graf-Martinez" Flamenco Guitar Method Volume 1 Book with CD and DVD. Just bought it today on ebay for $29.99 USD, and paid the $10 extra for 2-day shipping.

I hope i didnt bore you all with my lengthy introduction.... NICE TO MEET YOU ALL, and hope to chat with you guys soon here in the forums!!!!!

David Gonzalez Sr.

[Payul]

Hi David!

welcome to the falseta forum, thanks for your story, it is allways a joy for me to read how people walk their live and how they become a flamenco afficionado

Payul