About Me

I started learning the guitar at about 8 years old. After learning some basics, I took 1-2 years of blues guitar lessons (where I learned fun stuff like the pentatonic scale).

I got my first experience playing in a band, at my local church, where I played guitar for about 4 years. This is also where I learned my 2nd fretted instrument: bass.

This was a big step for me, because that’s when I began to learn just how similar the fundamentals are across different fretted instruments.

A few years after learning the bass, I saw the below video from Trace Bundy and Sungha Jung, who are absolute “fingerstyle guitar” legends.

This inspired me to take 1-2 years of classical guitar lessons in college.

Around this same time, I was gifted a travel-size ukulele, so I decided to give that a shot. And similar to bass, I learned that there are is a ton of overlap in the skills and techniques used to play guitar and ukulele.

Ukulele is the instrument I’m playing the most currently.

And in the past, I’ve also dabbled with mandolin and guitanjo (a guitar with a twangy sound like a banjo).

To sum all this up. I LOVE fretted instruments. I love to look at them, smell them (don’t judge me!), and I’ve been playing a variety of them for the past 20+ years.

Why I Started Fret Folks

Bleh – that’s more than enough talking about myself. Now let’s talk about Fret Folks.

Throughout my journey of learning fretted instruments, I’ve run into my fair share of road blocks and frustrations. Learning about a new instrument (or mastering a new skill) can be really frustrating!

And in my experience, the #1 most valuable thing to help you overcome these kinds of hurdles, is a friend that’s done it before who can explain it in a simple way.

I created Fret Folks to be that helpful friend. Or at least the digital version 🙂

I hope that you’ll find the guides and FAQs on our blog helpful, it’s all free.

Now stop reading this about page, and go play your instrument. Enjoy!