In my late teens my best friend let me have an old beat up guitar. I learned a few chords and a couple of scales and then got stuck in the "three chords to foverever" stage of development. I stayed there several years. During that time I repainted the guitar. (which I now know would have been collectible otherwise... on the other hand, since I never have any intention of selling it, and I like the way it looks its collectablility is rather a moot point.)

Somewhere in the early nineties I was in a guitar shop with a friend. I wasn't there to buy anything... but while I was waiting for my friend I saw a Washburn bass guitar. I put it on and it felt... right somehow. The saleman said "it looks good on you," and I thought they were right.  I balked at the price, but they offered to throw in a hard case for it, and since it was around Christmas time I had a chunk of cash in my pocket. I bought the Washburn for two hundred dollars, and thought it was a lot at the time. (looking back I realize it was quite an incredible bargain.)

I'd like to say I took it home and practiced dilligently, but that would be a lie. I took it home and learned a bit and moved from the three chords to eternity stage to the three songs to eternity.

Really, I can thank my friend Ben Brown for all of my musical accomplishments. He is a professional musician, and he took pity on me and a couple of other musically hopeful friends. He led us into forming a band called Cluster Duck, which sounds a lot like... well if  you can't figure out what it sounds like, you probably don't want me to tell you.  We played a few shows. (OK, they were all at my house to captive audiences, but they were shows.)

After a while Cluster Duck kind of faded away.

Currently I am playing in Whisper Garden, a band that is named after my novel.