Larry Neal

I think I came in this world tapping my foot. Since I was small I wanted to play music, mostly the guitar. Getting my first guitar at age 12, I’ve spent many an hour just trying to play at a level I could enjoy. I was never a natural with it, I have always had to practice hard. I know quite a few people who have the natural talent for playing the guitar and for music in general, and it’s very difficult if you don’t, but, my love for it has pushed me through. I wasn’t able to write songs or si...

I think I came in this world tapping my foot. Since I was small I wanted to play music, mostly the guitar. Getting my first guitar at age 12, I’ve spent many an hour just trying to play at a level I could enjoy. I was never a natural with it, I have always had to practice hard. I know quite a few people who have the natural talent for playing the guitar and for music in general, and it’s very difficult if you don’t, but, my love for it has pushed me through. I wasn’t able to write songs or sing as a young man, so, I knew it was best for me to have a day job. Life for me, as for everyone, has taken many turns – 2yrs.in the Army, 28yrs. with the local power company and now on disability, after a bout with shingles in my right ear which left me with vertigo, in 1998. I didn’t start writing or singing until my early forties!! I used to tell my wife I couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket; she felt otherwise and encouraged me, along with a friend of mine that I was getting together with every week to play guitars; then I started trying to sing backup. So let me be a lesson for anyone that things can come to you later on in life, just keep doing what you love. Now at 50+ years old I mostly play for my own enjoyment and once in a while I will play out somewhere, depending on how I am feeling. I’ve only played out at our grandchildren’s daycare center in the last few years for several reasons, but mostly I want to spend as much time as I can with my grandchildren while they are still here, in the neighborhood. In the past I’ve played at church, the hospice house, coffee houses, nursing home, open mic-night, a fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald house & a peace forum at AACC. Inspirational music was the first type of music to start coming to me. The music just would come to me, a tune or words. As quickly as I could I would record it or write it down. I would sometimes get a whole song. Sometimes it would be a melody, sometimes words, when it would stop I would stop; when I would come back later it would continue or not. I guess I might call it connecting to the big song book in the sky. There was not much effort on my part, either the music came or I moved on. After accumulating more then enough songs for an album I decided to get it recorded. While playing some at a church I was going to at the time I was introduced to someone to help me produce the album “Pathways From Within.” They were on cassette. I had over 500 made and donated all but a few to people, churches, the area hospice, and now it’s in the digital world “ itunes.” The next 2 albums came the same way, but to get them recorded took years because I lost my producer. He took on another job and just couldn’t do it anymore, and I had to produce them myself. With the limited resources and with me not being able to stay on the computer, because of my vertigo problem, to get the next 2 albums out was an extremely slow process. When youtube came into my picture I thought aha, this looks like a great place to film myself playing the “Pasadena Song.” This song is for those who have not only lived here awhile, born and raised here, but is also for those just getting here; it doesn’t take long being in Pasadena to be able to relate to something in the song. The other video, “If The Earth,” is a collection of still pictures, from different public & private collections focusing on what we as mankind have done to the earth and if the earth could speak to us what might it say. This is set to the music that came to me and has been put on line as a single, but will be in the next album, set to come out before the end of this year.