What got me started? It's hard to say, but probably the 1st thing is that I was born to very tolerant parents.

We used to have an old pump organ down in the basement. At 4 years old, I would go down there, pump up the pedals with my hands (I couldn't sit on the bench and reach the pedals) and hammer out "The Green Beret" by ear. When the organ would wind down, I would stop, get down and pump her up again.

I was in 3rd grade when my sister (a year older) brought home a clarinet. She taught me what she was learning. I took up clarinet a year later when "I was old enough". A couple of years later, my folks bought me a guitar. My dad taught me a couple of chords, but for the most part, I learned chords from Reader's Digest song book chord diagrams. He then bought a mandolin. We would spend countless hours out in the garage playing old time and country music. I always got stuck with whatever instrument was left over.

Again, probably the biggest thing that got me started was tolerant parents. I cringe when I hear my neices or nephew get told by their parents to "knock off that racket". The world would be shy alot of musicians if all kids were told the same thing.

Snookums