and approached me asking my name and such. He told me he loved my playing and then he left. He told Bill Ham that there was this guitar player he needed to see. Months later Ham tracked me down with a private investigator and found me back in Euless as I had moved home from Houston. After being signed by Bill Ham to a solo artist contract in '72 he offered to let me get educated "in the big time" by going on tour as the guitar tech for ZZ Top. I did it off and on for a couple of years all the while searching for musicians to assemble into what would someday become Point Blank. During this time I realized that the guys I was already playing with - John and Buzzy - were notice- ably better than anyone I found while touring with ZZ. (Author’s Note: Bill Ham was the leg- endary manager and producer of ZZ Top, known as one of the shrewdest rock man- agers ever as he fronted Lonewolf Productions while discovering many great artists, including ZZ Top, Point Blank, Clint Black and others along the way.)
You were the first guy I ever saw who played south-pawed, strung back- wards, and all that. Albert King style. Tell me how that came about and how in the world you learned it so well at such a young age.
My father played right handed and his guitar was always in the corner when he or I wasn't playing it. When he was playing it he always sat on this bar stool with me as his audience. Being the little four or five - year - old guy that I was, I was always looking up to watch him which gave me the same view of the neck that I see now when I play. When he would let me hold it while sitting on the couch, where I couldn't drop it or bang it into any- thing, I always ended up holding it left hand- ed. After making that first E-chord it was like
the whole world stopped for a minute and I just sat there not wanting to let go of the neck until I knew where I had placed my fin- gers. My mother said to my dad “Bob, have him turn it over and play it right.”He replied “I believe he is doing it right. I didn't show him that chord, he just found it on his own.” When I ask him what chord I had made, he said E, and to remember where my fingers were. I did, and within a month I had found A and D which allowed me to learn about 90% of the country and western songs of that day. I was blessed that my father was a tasty country player who was gifted at teaching you to hear and feel the piece of music you were playing. He had a great ear and a good feel on his axe.
He was an ear trained player, and like myself, had a lot of music in him that had to get out. His guidance regarding my playing was more about overall musical dynamics and nuance than teaching me to play via note selection or style. Sometimes we would listen to a nice piece of music together. Marty Robbins’ “El Paso” comes to mind, and he would bring all sorts of nuances to light as food for thought, and generally stretch out my musical receiver. He taught me to hear things that were going on behind the featured event that embellished or worked in concert to strengthen the feature.
I was very fortunate to get this sort of edu- cation at such a young age, about matters that literally shape your playing without doing your playing for you. So, any prowess I possess on the guitar, I owe to my father. By him teaching me, not by note selection, but more in training and tuning my ear and my understanding of whatever piece of music we were focused on.
Tell me about any other bands you had as a kid or teen. In what way did those other bands influence your music in
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