Update: 13 April, 2012

Quick update, Tom Petty's band rehearsal site in Culver City, California was broken into the other night. Go here for link on info.

It's been very busy here, a lot of studio work, and unable to update much. However, we're striving to continue building this site to help you achieve your musical success. Bear with us and be patient. Our columns are going to be staggered throughout the month now, so check back often.

First-timer? Bookmark this site! If you want to be put on our mailing list, click here and put "mailing list" in the Subject line. We will send out a kind of newsletter as we deem important. We won't bombard you with meaningless e-mails.

We will be adding a Mandolin column soon, so all you Bluegrass and Country folks, stay tuned. It will be a "from the beginning" column, and will include chords, sight reading, some tablature, and include reels and jigs and fiddle tunes, too. So if you ever thought about learning, join us when we begin and we'll get you up and running so you can join in on song circles and other Country flavoured jams.

The latest installments (including posting date):

1 April: Guitar Players: The new Basics column is ready. This series focuses upon things all beginning and early intermediate guitar players should know. The beginning is here.

1 April: Bass Players: The Bass Fundamentals column is here. Like the "Basics" column, this series focuses upon things all beginning and early intermediate Bass players should know. The beginning is here

5 April: Worship Musicians: The newest 'The Art Of Worship' can be found here. The beginning is here.

1 January: Music Theory Primer, is here. You can then click through to the first lesson. Posting is infrequent.

1 April: Philosophy; new column is here. The beginning of the series is here.

You may also enjoy these columns:

• Putting the Fender guitar neck info straight, right here.
• The truth about JBL D series and K series speaker cones.
• Three Part series on Business. Not a comprehensive business plan, but rather a guide to possibilities and pitfalls designed to get you thinking, perhaps in ways you have not considered. It will be revised from time to time and I'll let you know when that happens.
• History of the Guitar here. It's nice to know where we get our joy, how it came about.

The Stolen Gear Registry is here. All posts will remain up for a period of six months or until the gear is recovered (which we would like to be notified in that case to remove the post). What that means is, if you get ripped off, let us know by contacting us with descriptions, location and pictures, and serial numbers if you have them. Write to us here.

Comments are always appreciated. We also welcome ideas, suggestions and anything else you might find useful; this site is yours as much as it is ours. Help us out, let us know what you want to see, what you're not finding at other sites.

Thanks to everyone for the feedback we've been getting. We're very thankful you are enjoying what we're doing. Got problems with our stuff? Let us know. Without you, we wouldn't necessarily identify problems. So we appreciate even the not so kind feedback because it is our goal to make Fretboard.com an important destination for your guitar and bass knowledge needs.

Yes there are a boat load of guitar sites out there. But a lot of them are really not very good at all. And don't even get us started on the wasteland that is Youtube, the repository of ineptitude and mangled guitar "experts" and their "lessons". So everything you say to us by way of feedback is not ignored at all. We look at it as a way of gauging our progress in providing you with the things you reall want, as well as the things you need. Don't stop speaking your minds!

My Credentials:

As the head of musical development on staff here, I bring a lifetime of experience to the table. Why should this be important to you? You want the editorial chief to actually know what they're doing, that they are directed and focused and have experience in presenting material that actually works because it's been tested in real life. You want to know they can bring in qualified professionals as consultants and contributors to this site as well. You want them all to be passionate about music. And you want them to be available to answer your questions. That's me. And that's our slowly growing staff.

Personally, my active work history includes, in no particular order, the following:

• Director of Music Ministry at a church in Los Angeles, California through 2004 (also providing support services, i.e. sound engineer, backup musician, etc. for other folks and events)
• Directed music worship services at local churches in the greater Portland, Oregon area 2004 - 2009 (also providing support services in other venues)
• Ongoing involvement in prison mission outreach and music ministry, with the invaluable support of PMA
• Ongoing professional Recording and Live Sound Engineer (30+ years)
• Ongoing professional Guitar and Bass services, both in studio and for touring (35+ years)
• Active student roster (20+ years)

You don't get and keep these kinds of gigs if you don't know what you're doing!

Thank you for your time and attention in visiting our site.