My parents always had music playing at home in one form or another, so my love for music probably started when I was still in the womb. Though they never played instruments or sang, they owned a restaurant and for several years a lot of the kitchen guys happened to be musicians (good workers referring their friends, seemed to keep the high school rock-and-rollers rotating through). Being in the pre-internet days, they always had guitar magazines and catalogs in the break room. Already being a music fan, I was naturally intrigued, flipping through pages and pages of gear, and started dreaming of learning myself. I first took on bass in 6th grade and guitar a couple of years later. Of course, very few things make a freshman cooler than walking around school with a bass gig bag on his back, so I was proud of my music involvement and I really started to embrace it as a part of my identity.
I began writing my own music around junior year of high school and found it to be a great outlet for my emotions and a way to process the things going on in my life. I've been gigging (playing mostly original material) and participating in jam sessions pretty much ever since. I only did it professionally 2014-2015, successfully enough to get by, but quickly found that turning music into my job made me not want to touch instruments outside of rehearsal or concerts. I also don't think I'm really cut out for the lonely life on the road... always having been very close with my family, I may be more of a settler type than a nomad type. So I went back to just working a full-time job and doing music for enjoyment. Much happier this way. Thus far I've made some amazing friends via music, learned a lot about myself (and sound and electronics and wood, etc.), and have had some pretty interesting music-related experiences and adventures. Even happened to meet my amazing wife while on tour!
Why do I collect instruments? Between basses, classical guitars, steel-string acoustics, and electric guitars, I really just consider what I have to be a modest collection, though for at least a decade I got a ton of enjoyment out of cycling through different ones by taking advantage of the internet's buy/sell/trade resources; kind of a quest for THE tone/feel that I knew was out there but didn't know exactly where to get it. That's been dwindling and I've found that my current little collection feels pretty concrete, almost like I've found the ones that are really "right" for me. The timing might be just right too, as in the last few years I've married, become a homeowner, and expect that the next few years will likely bring about some mini-mellowgermans. Of course I'm sure I'll always keep on casually browsing the used market and dabbling with new-to-me guitars/basses now and then. Maybe here and there one will take a spot in the long-term stable, but for the most part, I'm pretty content with what I have.
