Pat Smith

Member Since: 2011 | Location: Iowa City | Page Views: 1,398

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About Me

I'm a Guitar player. I started in 1969 when I finally got the guitar I had wanted since seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. Meanwhile I had gone through tap dancing, Piano, Clarinet and Bassoon lessons which, at the time weren't what I was interested in. I played in garage bands through high school in Evanston Il. I also played in the E.T.H.S Jazz band my senior year. In the summer of 1975 I was sent off to Coe College in Cedar Rapids Iowa where I played in the Jazz Band the first year and in the Swing Choir the second year. Like many youthful bums, I was more interested in playing guitar and girls than I was in studying. It was during this time that I started my main vocation of playing in dive bars, I still consider myself a “Bar Guitarist.” So, after two years I went back to Evanston. I pursued assorted things, more school, Guitar building, and teaching. I have been very lucky to have studied with some wonderful and inspiring pickers, I have taken seminars or lessons with Ken Bloom, David Bloom, Howard Roberts, Pat Martino, Joe Pass, Lenny Breau, Ron Eschete, Ted Greene, Joe Diorio, Jethro Burns, Guy Van Duser, and John Stowell. I also spent some time taking Sitar lessons with Som Mujumdar. I have played in many styles which has been both good and bad. Good because it's fun to try on different hats and bad because I never really got down to one style. In 1987 we moved to California and I started to concentrate on Jazz. I played with a fusion band called Io and some assorted Blues bands. Then, around 1994, my hearing having faded a bit, I started having bad headaches after I would play a gig and had to give up loud music. I started a band called The Penguin Jazz Quartet to play quiet Jazz. The PJQ disbanded in 2000 and I went on to start a Brazilian band called Nossa Bossa. I moved back to Iowa in 2008 and started playing duets with Bassist Rich Wagor.