I first started playing the guitar around the age of nine. While I only fumbled around with the funny looking instrument at first, it wasn’t long before I had insisted that my parents allow me to take guitar lessons and, after months of whining, they finally gave into my demands. After several years of playing and practicing I started a band with some middle school friends and somehow and for a reason that is long since forgotten, the guys started calling me Axel. The nickname stuck, and by the time I started another band in high school people could barely remember that I used to in face, be named Brian.

In high school, I started another band and we managed to somehow stay together into our late twenties playing local and regional gigs, making a decent amount of money, and having a great time doing it. Today, no longer playing in the band, I run a fairly popular website – Axel’s Guitar Blog – and make a decent living recounting my days on the road with the band. While I long for the days of the stage my new life as a husband and a father keeps me grounded, and behind the computer, and I suppose that’s where I belong these days.