I was born in San Antonio and raised in a musical family in Corpus Christi, TX. My dad sang in a local Tejano band and my brothers and cousins all played instruments at a young age. I felt left out! So I picked up the guitar at about age 12 and things took off rather quickly. I was self taught but also highly motivated and competitive. I played mostly punk rock music but of course had a regrettable metalcore phase.

But it was my sophomore year of high school where I took a guitar class for “an easy A” where things took quite a turn. Keith Justus, the guitar instructor, put Bach’s Prelude in D Minor in front of me and said “betcha can’t play that” and I was determined to show that I could. One piece led to another and then another and before I knew it, I was a full on classical guitar player. I graduated High School, spent some time learning under Phillip Hii at Del Mar College, then was accepted to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music to learn directly under Lawrence Ferrara and then Sergio Assad. I also received a full ride scholarship to spend some time studying with Tilman Hoppstock at the Akademie Für Tonkunst in Darmstadt, Germany.

Life after graduation as a classical musician isn’t as straight-forward as some may think. The days of accepting the diploma and waltzing into the full-time teaching position are long gone. Teaching positions are as limited as ever, leaving so many of us finding work in different avenues of music or leaving music all together. I was able to find my happy-medium in none other than the beer industry as a brewer and taproom manager. But no matter what I was doing, my commitment to the instrument remained the top priority. I kept a handful of students, maintained a consistent practice schedule, and would take lessons from instructors like Marc Teicholz or Grisha Goryachev. I was a full time brewer, a full time guitarist, and a part-time teacher. Then the pandemic hit.

Like so many others, I was laid off from my job not too long after March of 2020, but I was extremely lucky to have a backup option and go full-time with my teaching. However, it was during this period that I started to experience extreme pain in my left hand, leaving me almost completely unable to play. After being cleared of any sickness or injury from doctors, I was referred to take lessons in a practice called “Body Mapping” with Jerald Harscher(who I still study with to this day).

Body Mapping is, as Jennifer Johnson puts it in this video, “like a user’s manual for the body.” A method in which the musician develops a harmonious relationship with the movements of their body through the study of their structure, function, and size. The first two weeks of Body Mapping lessons flipped my world upside down. The pain I had been experiencing for over 6 months went away within weeks. I became aware of movement not just through the hands and up the arm structure, but throughout my entire body head to toe, including my breath. I began to see myself not just as an artist of sound, but also as an artist of movement. My movement has never felt more liberated and free.

Expressing the profound impact Body Mapping has had on my life as a musician is challenging. After just a few months of lessons, it became clear that dedicating my teaching to this practice was essential. I am currently in the process of becoming the second guitarist in the country to attain the status of a Licensed Body Mapping Educator. So many guitarists play in a state of pain and tension without knowing how to address it. My objective is to assist as many people as possible in playing without limitations and reaching their fullest potential.