Andy Timmons clinic-World Music Nashville

Recently I attended a Mesa Boogie amplifier clinic at World Music Nashville, featuring guitar great Andy Timmons. I had only seen Andy in various guitar magazines prior to this event, and since I had never seen him live or bought any of his music, only knew him to be a great player and a sort of shredder kind of guy, though with mad skills, vs. some dude playing 1000 notes a minute just to make noise and be a show off.

I like Mesa Boogie amps, so I was interested in hearing Andy play through those as well, so for me, this was a bonus night. Hear a great player though great amps, for FREE. Turns out that not only did I get that, but I got a great night of entertainment as well, by a man who for sure has mad skills as a guitarist, but is also hilarious and very personable. I thoroughly enjoyed his comments, stories and answers to questions from the crowd during the evening. He’s not one of these just stand there and park it kind of guys when he plays—Andy is ALL OVER THE STAGE—making the “guitar faces” (as seen in a few photos above) and really getting into it. That’s fine—not me persay—but fine. Then again, this guy is 1,000 leagues my superior in the guitar world on his worst day, 25 years ago.

After his playing was done for the most part, the area rep for Mesa Boogie got up and talked more about the amps and they did some Q&A from the crowd before giving some stuff away. I won a Boogie cap and keychain, and then bought one of Andy’s albums and had him sign it. Again, very personable, and courteous to EVERYONE there. A funny and all around good guy—someone you want to like in that business—as opposed to the cocky ego driven (insert favorite expletives here _________) types that I have come across from time to time.

So, if you are into harder rock kind of instrumental guitar music, as I enjoy, then do yourself a favor and check him out. The album of his that I bought was Resolution, and I really like it. If you do give him a try and like his playing, drop me a line and let me know. Maybe the next time he comes to World Music for a clinic, we can go check him out. Good times.