"Dizzy" Dan - String tickling lead guitar player, back up vocalist, song writer and original band member of High Tolerance.

A bit about Dan,

Before High Tolerance, way back, back when I first gripped that wonderfully crafted combination of wood and metal, what my grandfather calls "a noise-making-machine" the guitar. Believe it or not, I was inspired to pick up my musical jack-hammer by a friend who played guitar, after showing me how he could play Wanted Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi, still one of my favorite solos! The thought of jamming along to MY favorite tracks just like he did was the coolest idea to me, so I decided to give it a whirl. I was 15 years old when I started tickling the strings, twas a Christmas gift from Santa! I don't know if I ever ripped open a package that fast before (of course I knew what it was).

Mostly self-taught,

with the help of those lovely on-line tabs, which I still use (thank you power tab and guitar pro) and YouTube videos. I loved every minute of it and if I wasn't playing guitar I was thinking about playing. I did however get stuck a few years in to my playing and decided to take some formal lessons at a local music store. This teacher stays embedded in my brain and played a strong role on my guitaristism (I believe I made that word up) foundation. He had opened my mind to some of the amazing possibilities the instrument had to offer, things that you just don't get from the internet. He most definitely inspired and drove me to work harder and all of this naturally led me to be the guitar player I am today.

My music career,

pre-High Tolerance well, among practicing licks and techniques I started writing and recording my own riffs mainly just to solo over, that was the most fun for me; this did however lead to writing some songs. I feel this creation process gave me a good sense of my own style. Then being bored of just jamming by me lonesome I joined a band in which we played some Pantera, Metallica and Megadeth songs but nothing ever came of it, never gigged, we didn't even have a name! Got tired of going nowhere with that and sought out starting an original band. Then soon after I ran into Chris while hanging out with a few buddies and thus beginning of High Tolerance

My Gear
Guitars: I have Betsy a 1990 Ibanez RG 570 and Gertrude a 2009 Epiphone Les Paul Custom
Amp: Line 6 Spider Valve with Line 6 shortboard foot controller and for in studio I record direct with the Line 6 POD XT Pro
Cabinet: An old, beat up Marshal 1960A straight Cabinet
Cables: Monster cables cheap, reliable, good plus they have lifetime warrantee!
Picks: Jim Dunlop Jazz III, I prefer the red nylon ones they have a smoother feel to 'em, hate playing with anything else but I will if I have too.