BlackCatBonz Shawn Bailey Cobourg I've been a musician most of my life. I started out playing violin with my grandfather at the age of 5, but I was terrible at it... I think the reason I was terrible was due to the fact that all I had on my mind was playing drums. I was around 13 or 14 when I got my first kit. I spent every minute I could playing along to Led Zeppelin or jamming with my friends. After a family move at 16 yrs old, I found myself in a new town looking for guys to jam with. Surprise surprise, one of the first friends I make is also a drummer... I decided I wanted to be in a band more than I wanted to play drums so I worked all summer and bought a Les Paul; and it has been my one and only electric guitar ever since. I realised that summer that guitar was the instrument for me... I would practice between 8 and 10 hours a day (this was 1988 and Shred-mania was in full swing) I had 13 amazing years playing in bands around Ontario, but my first band is the one I still think about. During my time playing, I started to notice the pain and numbness of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, and arthritis. So I did what most idiots do and ignored it until around age 29 when it became practically impossible for me to play. I spent almost 9 years with the Les Paul in a closet corner. At first I felt guilty about not playing it, but eventually I came to resent it because it represented pain and the loss of an ability to do something I truly loved. Now with my pain under some control music is calling again, I've picked my guitar back up and feel that same excitement I had almost 25 years ago. I don't think I will ever be able to shred like I did back then ( I listen to tapes and I wonder who that guy is on guitar), but I have a lot of music inside of me that needs to get out. Now is the perfect time to get it out there, as a computer nerd and musician I am looking forward to sharing my creations online. BlackCatBonz’s tracks Shawn Bailey - Dead to the World - Mix/Remix by BlackCatBonz published on 2023-01-05T11:02:01Z Osiris - Breaking Away by BlackCatBonz published on 2010-11-05T09:37:11Z