Garry Hallman - Bio
As a child I remember getting my first guitar, a nylon stringed acoustic. I already knew a few cords from watching my parents and older brothers play, so this new guitar never really had that idle time for it?s owner to decide, if he really wanted to play or just wanted a guitar because it was cool? This guy wanted to play.
Now the odd thing is, when I first picked up a guitar, it just felt right holding it left handed. Of course I couldn?t re-string my brothers guitars nor did I really ever think about it, I just turned it over and played. I can remember watching my brothers play while I would figure out how to place my fingers in the ?Up-side-down" position.
Shortly after I was ready for electric, so I scrounged up 15 bucks for a ?no name? electric guitar and an ?Alamo? amp. The guitar needed a new nut which was quickly remedied with a ?Bic Pen? and was precisely cut and filed to specs with my old man's hack saw. The amp (which I still have) was a small tube amp with an 8? speaker that had a nice natural distortion, which sounded really good when turned all the way up (is there any other way?)
Music was just a way of life in our house. My parents were 4 Star members of the WWVA Jamboree, which in its day was nearly equivalent to Nashville of today. When my parents weren?t banging out Bluegrass in the kitchen with their band, my brothers would be practicing up stairs with theirs.
Me? I was just a kid who couldn?t wait for the drummer to say ?Do you want to play my drums??. When the parents were around they would yell ?Play Wipeout?? Me? I couldn?t wait to learn the drum solo in ?In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida? (which I did).
Then it was time for the ?Bands Thing?.
Through the school years there were many but these stick out the most in my memory.
4th grade ? there was this bongo and morocco thing we put together for the school talent show (it must have been the Santana influence)
6th grade ? Iron Shadow - (Favorite among the "Garage Circuit").
7th & 8th grade ?Day Dream? - which had the Jr. High School dance circuit tied up (one school?ours).
9th & 10 grade ?Sphinx? - Now we were playing other schools, churches and roller rinks.
By 11th grade one of my brothers asked if I would be interested in joining his country band. At the time, I wasn?t a big country fan, but it was a paying gig and almost every weekend, so I said ?Why Not?. I remember being called down for ?That distorted guitar?. Back then country was still very traditional and that was just unheard of. I like to think I was a pioneer back then because that distorted guitar is all over country music today. Go figure?
After school was over, there were a couple of years with my oldest brothers band ?Excalibur? , then a little bit more country and the last 15 years with "The Hallman Brothers Band"
We?re a Classic Rock Band, which consists of three brothers out front and a non "brother" drummer behind.
I began writing music almost as soon as I could play. I managed to record one for my now wife?s 18th birthday, but never had the chance to do it again until about 8 years ago when I discovered the beauty of digital home recording along with MIDI sequencing.
Since then I have spent endless hours working on recording, writing and the techniques required for both.
Between the end of high school and the year 2000, I was pretty much dedicated to raising my family and playing covers, now it?s time to concentrate on my own music and introduce myself to the world.
My heart has always been with Rock and Roll but the years have enlightened me to all genres of music, from the Bluegrass in the kitchen, to the country in the bars, to the kids marching band competitions, to the many years with The Hallman Brothers Band. I?ve learned to appreciate many kinds of music and I hope it is reflected in my own writing.
So let me introduce myself,
My name is Garry Hallman... I am a musician.