Music has always run in my family, from the time I was born to the present, music has always
played a significant role in the everyday life in my family. When other requirements of life
aren't imposing on creativity, music offers a respite from work and social affairs.
My primary instrument is guitar, which I've been playing since about 1984. My main guitar is a
'86/'87 model cream coloured American series Kramer Baretta. I also own an Ibanez
Universe 7-String UV7BK 1990 model, a '96 Strat and a custom-built Vee.
In addition to guitar, I also play piano/keyboards, bass and sing backup. Usually, however, songwriting
is my greatest attraction to the world of music, and although I can only claim about a hundred songs
to my credit, I have in fact properly recorded only a few.
My father, RG Anstey, has written over
a thousand songs in his lifetime and recorded most of those. As someone who I've always looked up to all my
life, I enjoy working with him (and my brothers) in recording music. His latest album, DayStar, is a
good example of his musical diversity, and my three brothers and I collaborated on the project.
When I was quite young, perhaps in grade three or four, my father began teaching me how to play the guitar. While this basic instruction initially sparked my interest in music, self motivation proved to be among my strong points and I found myself continually striving to learn new chords and styles. Of course, in these days my musical style was not exceptionally diverse, and most of what I listened to and played was based on acoustic instruments. This proved to form the foundation of my musical style, as so often one's early influences radically shape their future.
In 1991, my father bought a banjo, and a while later, a mandolin. I studied both of these instruments with a passion that continued for a number of years. In the end, my interest had given way to my encapsulation with the guitar, and it recaptured my interest with renewed zeal and fascination. And although guitar had always been my primary focus, I never truly saw it explicitly as a tool for personal expression, and I believe most of my recordings, especially the more recent, reflect this attitude. As a result of this, my creative adventures involved a significant number of instruments which, for the most part, demonstrate that diversity impacts your subliminal perceptions more than typically realized.
I bought my very first guitar, an El Degas 12 string acoustic, in the summer of 1994 at a swap meet near Seattle, Washington. This was the very first guitar I had ever personally owned, which I suppose considering my age at the time wasn't overly suprising. The El Degas further influenced my style, and I wrote and recorded dozens of songs during the time that I owned it. It musically proved to be the perfect match for me at the time, and even today when I listen to old recordings, I am suprised by the impact that that instrument lent to the material.
Throughout 1995, my influences and motivation changed dramatically. A lot was happening in my life, and I was definately undergoing the growing pains that maturing musicians inevitably experience. Friends introduced me to many diverse styles of music from Zeppelin to Ozzy, which formed a part of my style which had gone unrealized for all of my life. The notion of fast paced, complex guitar rhythms and solos which had so predominately ruled the 80's proved almost overwhelming to my undernourished musical inhibitions.
Deluged in a diverse ocean of musical liberation, I found myself struggling to form a new foundation encompassing all that this ever-changing landscape had revealed to me in the past few years. Throughout the remainder of my teen years, turmoil was analogous with my music and style, and is reflected considerably in the music and recordings of that era.
In November 1996, I purchased my very first electric guitar, a Fender Squire. Although this was an inexpensive instrument and by all counts intended for a beginner, it far exceeded my expectations and proved to be my launchpad into the world of electric instruments. Over the course of the following two years, it underwent a substantial number of modifications to improve it's playability and tone which included new tuners, a Duncan Distortion pickup, minor neck reshaping and graphite saddles; not to mention countless paint jobs.
Although the Fender proved to be a reliable and very solid instrument which served me well for several years, the toll exacted from the countless hours of intense playing and continual transportation eventually warranted something different. My musical interests had also changed dramatically, and the inevitable call for a new instrument lay heavy in the air for some time. I pursued many options, but in the end I opted to build a guitar which best suited my musical requirements.
After over a year of contemplating designs, I eventually settled on a vee shaped guitar modelled after the Jackson Rhoads; as at the time my primary influence was Randy Rhoads, the late great guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne. Built during 1996, the Vee was constructed with a body of solid Rock Maple and featured an old Kramer neck. I ended up recycling most of the parts from my Fender into this instrument, including the bridge, tuners, pickup and supporting hardware.
The Vee remained my staple instrument until the end of 1997, when I fell in love with a Kramer Baretta at a local music store. This guitar fufilled every requirement I had laid out for the Vee, and no matter how I tried, I could not exceed it's playability with any other instrument I could lay my hands on. As such, I eventually, yet reluctantly, placed my other guitars into storage and simply relied on the Kramer whenever a guitar was needed.
In 2000, I purchased two additional guitars, another Fender Squire - perhaps to fill the void left by the tranformation of my prior instrument - and a Ibanez Universe 7-string. Why I bought the Universe, I will probably never know. All I can say is that the price was right, and that it was an instrument that immediately felt right and fit within my comfort zone for an instrument. Apparently for some, 7-string guitars feel awkward, but this instrument immediately clicked with me and I truely enjoy the diverse music range provided.
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