Hello Everyone! Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with someone who I am happy to call a new friend: John Knowles.

John's career is definitely one of the most varied and diverse of all of the folks I've talked to in this series so far. Not only is John Knowles an accomplished performing artist, he is also one of the most respected guitar educators in his field, a prolific author of guitar education material, an incredibly accomplished songwriter and arranger (both for his own material and for material for some of the most recognizable names in guitar -- Chet Atkins, Jerry Reed, Tommy Emmanuel, etc.)!

John Knowles' career as a guitarist spans decades, and is filled with some of the most amazing stories that most of us can ever only dream of. It was an honor to get to sit down with him and hear even a handful of those amazing stories.

Relevant Links:

John's Website: http://www.johnknowles.com/

FingerStyle Quarterly: http://johnknowles.com/archives01.htm

John's TrueFire: https://truefire.com/educators/john-knowles,-c.g.p./e4475

John's YouTube Page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpMQliIh86owW4DyV3HRGFA

Time Signatures:

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:01:05 - No Roadmap for Being a Guitarist

00:01:28 - John's "Normal" Workday

00:03:14 - Music Education in John's Business Model

00:04:32 - Transitioning Professions

00:07:36 - The Professional Amateur

00:09:15 - Lifestyle Creep and Budgeting to be a Pro

00:11:37 - Skill Level to be a Pro

00:14:29 - Publishing Educational Material

00:20:17 - The Business of Publishing

00:23:40 - The Public Domain Publishing (The Entertainer)

00:25:40 - Is Physical Publishing Still Viable?

00:28:11 - Digital Publishing

00:32:25 - Recognizing Opportunities

00:34:48 - Writing for Other Musicians

00:37:16 - Co-Writing with Musicians

00:39:27 - Writing for Reed

00:41:08 - Collaborating with Tommy Emmanuel

00:46:18 - Meshing with Other Artists

00:50:08 - Lenny Breau

00:54:17 - Directing Chet Atkins on VHS

01:00:37 - TrueFire as Part of the Business Model

01:05:46 - Retirement?

01:07:57 - Why John Does Not Tour Regularly

01:09:45 - Process of Learning and Teaching How to Learn

01:14:46 - Why John Did Not Have a Teacher as a Kid

01:17:38 - Advice to the Next Generation

01:22:38 - Outro

01:23:20 - Performance and Credits