User:Jfcjb002/sandbox

JOHN FRANCIS CARROLLis a solo acoustic guitar instrumentalist/composer from Melbourne, Australia. He began playing guitar first at the age of 10, as an activities subject at St.Monicas Primary School in Moonee Ponds. Learning from a Christian Brother playing Church hymns, he remembers receiving a score of 8/10 for playing a particular song. That score being the highest score he had received for anything at school at that time, stayed with him. The guitar was borrowed from some family friends, the Taylors, to help start him off.

But it wasn't until a few years later that urge to be good at something brought that interest back to the guitar. Having three older brothers who all had started record collections meant there was an abundance of music in family home in North St Airport West in the 1970's. Anthony the eldest was into rock bands Dire Straits, Queen and Fleetwood Mac, Tim into Aussie Rock bands AC/DC, Cold Chisel, The Angels, Midnight Oil and Matt Finish. Chris was into hard rock from Kiss, UFO, Def Leppard, more British rock bands.

It was John's love of AC/DC records that fired the desire to play the guitar. That raw crunch of the opening chords of Jailbreak mesmerized him, and even the tightness of AC/DC's Powerage album in 1978 was making an impression on him sitting on the lounge room floor, asking his brothers to put on the vinyl records (as he was not allowed to use the turntable out of fear the youngest brother would scratch the records).

At age 13 guitar lessons at Paul Haywards Music School at the Highpoint Shopping Centre followed, and John began learning basic scales and chords and folk songs that were part of the general curriculum like Bound for Botany Bay, Proud Mary, Lying Eyes (Eagles), Yankee Doodle and Blowing in the Wind....not exactly AC/DC! With so much enthusiasm he learnt fast, and would continue lessons, while his parents did the shopping every Saturday morning, and he also went on to performing his first concert, strumming the chords to Snowy Whites 'Bird of Paradise', a radio hit at the time. Suggested by his brother Chris, who informed John that he was a member of Thin Lizzy, and who's guitar style was heavily influence by British Blues Guitarist Peter Green who would later become a major influence on John.