09/06/2022
Today I would like to honour my guitar teacher John Egan. I recently learned of his passing in November 2019 and am very sad that I could not connect with him before he departed.
John Egan was a kind hearted man with an unapologetic bravado, a rock 'n' roll swagger that he carried wherever there was a potential audience. He had long slender fingers that knew their way all over the fingerboard of a guitar, acoustic or electric, and I remember his dedication to the 'licks'; I would often walk in to the start of our lessons just as he was finishing a practice round of 'bends', 'pull-offs' and 'hammer-ons' accompanied by the steady click of the metronome.
A true bluesman through and through, John lived in an apartment with 2 - 3 other musician roommates on Locust Ave. in Mill Valley, California. He slept on the floor of his tiny room, next to his 3 guitars and 2 amplifiers, on an inflatable mattress which he deflated each day to make room for his students to attend their lesson sitting on a chair opposite him.
When I became his student in 2006, I had already been teaching myself the guitar for about 6 months. He quickly adapted his lessons to my level of ability, and from there it was off to the races! He taught me techniques like alternate flatpicking, fingerpicking patterns, Travis picking, major, minor, pentatonic and blues scales, Delta Blues songs, Elvis tunes, Jimi Hendrix jams, Tom Jobim classics and more. For 2 years he would sit with me for nearly 3 hours every Saturday afternoon and demonstrate the hand movements for each scale or song. I would watch and absorb, then play back to him what I had learned. He would exclaim enthusiastically "that's it!" and "now you're playing!" as I started to get the hang of it. He then meticulously wrote out the tablature for the parts so that I could review and learn them fully.
John Egan was a regular at the Sweetwater and Book Beat Open Mics and Oakland Blues jams, among others I am sure. During my time as his student, he pushed me to perform before I ever believed I was ready. First I was up on stage foolishly facing the amp and staring at my fingers, trying to remember the pentatonics that he'd shown me, and then months later I was leading the house band with my own songs. John was my guide and my mentor into the world of rock music performance, and because of him I became a regular wunderkind myself at the Larkspur Sweetwater Station in 2007.
We lost touch when I moved to Santa Cruz in 2008 as I went on to larger musical explorations, and he kept on in his blues scene bubble. I was often frustrated by his myopic views on music, he disliked Thom Yorke's voice, and seemed to uphold the 'guitar god' mentality that the electric guitar solo was the pinnacle of achievement. Yet I remember that as I finished my lessons with him, having learned the entirety of The Beatles 'Blackbird' on my own, he said: "You're a player for life. You'll always be a player". And his confident proclamation has kept me going to this day!
When I returned to the Bay Area in 2015, I tried many times to track John Egan down again, but knowing that he was a bit of a Luddite (I used to give him a lift to the public library so he could check his email), I could scarcely find a word of him on the internet. Only last week I found the Sweetwater Open Mic announcement of his passing. I messaged one of the other former MCs and learned about his health issues, and his being forced out of his long-time home when the building was sold.
It's sad for me, I always wanted to share my success stories with him; booking paid gigs, performing at farmers markets and private events, then finally releasing my first EP with a sold-out show while leading a 6-piece band! But I know he would have been proud to see me making a living with my music.
So long old friend, I'll miss your overconfident swagger, your flying-V guitar slinging showmanship, and your words of encouragement. Mr. John Egan, you really were the mythic bluesman mentor of my life, and I will always be grateful to you for the wisdom you bestowed upon me.
(At Sweetwater Station 2008, John pictured here in his characteristic P-bass hoodie, denim jacket, cowboy boots and hat, photo-bombing my mother and I with family friends Dale and Della)
