I started playing at the age of 13. I took some optional music subjects at school and became interested in playing the guitar after hearing Iron Maiden's "The Trooper". At school I learned the basics and then I studied myself how to play the guitar. Just like Jerry, I'm a self-taught guitarist. Just like all the great ones :) Before the guitar I had played a lot of instruments such as clarinet and violin.
Right now I'm studying in an upper secondary school, in Oulu's teacher trainig school (Oulun normaalikoulu). Maybe I'll become an architecht someday... I have always wanted to be one.
My gear
My guitar is a Falcon Stratocaster which I bought in January 2002. It used to be ugly red (like the Eric Clapton Strat) but I painted it black. I shouldn't have done that. My guitar looks like s**t now. I also changed the pickups into a Hohner Entwistle set which I got for 20 euros. I have also changed the pots to really good quality DiMarzios. The guitar isn't pretty but I can play with it and that's the most important thing in a guitar.
My amp is a Marshall G30RCD. It's a 30 watt amplifier. The overdrive is kind of mild in my amp, so I bought a Boss Metal Zone. The Metal Zone is a nice unit. It gives me the distortion I need. Gonna get more of 'em Boss effects.
My acustic guitar is a nylon string Landola V-65. It was actually my mom's guitar and a little bit broken but I repaired it.
And, I use Jazz III plectrums.
I'm actually building my first guitar. It is a Strat-shaped with two humbuckers and a single coil pickup (HSH). It's going to be black with a mirror pickguard. It has a maple neck with a maple fingerboard. Hope I get it ready before christmas and get some pictures of it in here.
I am also interested in building my own effect board, even though I have only one effect. Let's see if I get some pictures of it in here when it's ready.
I've also got a personal home page at http://safaweb.cjb.net/
See you at our gigs!