Gee-tar

As you can probably tell from the above photo, I’m the greatest guitar hero currently living in my house. I’ve played since sometime in the mid 1980s, but can’t remember exactly when I started. I know for sure I was playing to some degree by 1984, but that’s about as good a guess as I can muster. I’m also into songwriting and recording.

My tastes run the gamut from 1960s ~ 1980s rock, folk, jazz, j-pop, and even some classical, but I really love the classic 70s rock stuff. My primary playing / songwriting influences are The Beatles (duh), Queen, Ty Tabor (of King’s X fame), Nuno Bettencourt (formerly of Extreme), Heart, Boston, Kansas, Tommy Emmanuel, Edward Van Halen, Frank Zappa, Indigo Girls, and (of course) Weird Al. In other words, pretty much a little of everything.

I had my first experience recording in the mid 80s in my buddy Joel’s basement. My friend Dave and I (well, mostly Dave) built a makeshift multitrack recording system out of 2 cheap portable cassette recorders, some wires, a few cheap (there’s that word again) microphones, and a 2-channel mixer Dave bought from Radio Shack. Dave and Joel played keyboards and I played a cheapie loaner guitar that had microphones for pickups. I probably still have a tape around here somewhere (which is where it will likely stay).

Once I actually had some money, I bought a Fostex 4-track and entry-level Roland drum machine sometime in the late 80s while living in beautiful Monterey, CA. Today, I have a small Pro Tools-based digital project studio in my home that I use far less often than I should.

Guitars I have amassed (and have yet to sell):

• Line 6 Variax 700
• Fender Performer (my first electric guitar from 1986)
• Gibson MIII (see above)
• Epiphone Chet Atkins nylon A/E
• Line 6 Vetta II HD + 4×12 cab
• Mandolin
• Various guitars (acoustic, bass, etc.)

Miscellaneous recording crap:

• Franken-PC
• MacBook (the cool black one)
• GarageBand
• M-Audio ProjectMix I/O
• Pro Tools 7.1 M-Powered (which I’m still learning)
• M-Audio Oxygen8
• Groove Tubes GT-55 Microphone
• Various software pluggy-inny things

Songwriting

I’m working on it. I currently have a lot of half-ideas and some pretty cool song titles (if I do say so myself), but nothing complete just yet.

Budo

This is my “bio” as stolen (and edited ever-so-slightly) from the series of Japanese language columns I used to write for AikiWeb.com (all of which you may perspicaciously peruse in the “Papers, Please” section):

Michael Hacker began his study of Aikido in Japan in 1990, and has been very fortunate to get his hands on many skillful teachers in his short time on the tatami. His primary Budo influences are Donald Moriyama, Amano Shigeko, Saito Morihiro, C.E. Clark, and (the late) Stan Connor. He has also had limited exposure to Kodokan Judo, Mugai-ryu Iai-Hyodo, Shorin-ryu Kishaba-juku Karate, Hapkido, Tae Kwon Do, Tai Chi, and various Chinese martial arts. Among his other loves are songwriting, his Chet Atkins nylon-string, techno-geek stuff, his world famous Bad Budo video collection, studying languages, and Swan (if he knows what’s good for him). Michael is a student and apprentice instructor of Jiyushinkai Aikibudo at the Jiyushinkan in Tempe, Arizona.

Language
I have been a foreign language nut for the majority of my life, starting with teaching myself to read German in 4th grade. I started creating my own language in high school, but realized that I’m not that crazy.

I can speak and read some French, decent Russian, and good Japanese. I’m currently studying German and French, and am considering studying Farsi and Arabic. I also just recently discovered that I can read some Aragonés, Belorussian, Bulgarian, Czech, Esperanto, Macedonian, Romanian, Polish, Scots, Slovensk, Serb, Ukranian, and probably several other languages I haven’t bothered looking for yet.