I started playing guitar when I was in 5th grade. I started on my own and realized if I wanted to get better I would need some lessons. My lessons consisted of learning songs only; with each song I would learn new chords, but that was the extent of my lessons. I got frustrated that I was not learning the songs I would like to learn anyways so I stopped taking lessons.

A couple of years later I began to take from a good family friend who was taking from Dick. He began to teach me some of the principles he had learned while taking from Dick Gordon Jr. I liked what I was learning, and after this friend went to college, he recommended me to Dick to continue on the principles I had learned.

My friend/former teacher was such an accomplished guitar player at 18 that I knew I wanted to achieve his playing level, so I had no doubt that taking lessons from Dick would be the key to my success as well. When I started with Dick, I was 16 years old.

I remember when we started Dick did an assessment of where I was in my talent, and from there we started learning more than just guitar. He was teaching me about theory and was giving me the “why” behind the playing. I was very pleased to gain this knowledge, especially because I knew that it was rare to know without studying formerly at a university.

As I progressed, I began to find myself not putting in the right amount of time into my playing. I thought that I would be able to get away with doing just enough to get by, but Dick saw right through it. We worked through some of my personal struggles that lead to me having breakthroughs  personally and with my playing. As I continued taking lessons until college, Dick and I developed a close friendship.

I left for college after taking from Dick for 3 years, and found myself writing a lot of my own songs. I was pleased to have the knowledge I gained from lessons with Dick. The following summer I desired to learn some more, and was able to take from Dick for another few months in between school years.

Three years later I graduated from college and found a job in Tulsa. Not only was I excited about the job but I was excited about learning even more from Dick. Overall our relationship has deep roots and I am thankful for the opportunity to have learned so much from him.