The guitar has been my friend for 40 years. I taught myself through sheet music books; starting with the Beatles, the Beach Boys and the Lovin' Spoonful. I never joined a group or performed in public for money. I've played at family parties and in the last 5 years with church groups.

Over the years I developed a hybrid finger-picking, strum arpeggio style. I play a lot of bass note progressions. Country, blues, folk type music; Neil Young, Dylan, Van Morrison, Simon and Garfunkel and lately Johnny Cash, the Flatlanders, John Hiatt, Delbert McClinton. I even do the harmonica around the neck routine with some basic blues riffs.

I play a Martin D-35. I've had it for 30 years. I have an Epiphone 12 string that I don't play and a Univox 6 string electric that I play once in awhile.

My biggest thrill with the guitar was playing and singing "Edelweiss" on stage in community theatre as Georg von Trapp in The Sound of Music. The guitar is a stress-reducer; I can get lost in a song.