We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Will Tipton. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Will below.

Alright, Will thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Learning my craft of guitar came very natural. My father was a musician so music was always playing wether in the house or the car. He mainly played piano but also guitar, drums and many other instruments like the bagpipes. He provided me a lot of tools and inspiration and I used it all when I was able to start playing. I began guitar when I was 11. My parents gifted me a small body Yamaha acoustic guitar. My dad taught me 4 chords and I ran with them. After that, I couldn’t put the guitar down. A few months later I saved up to get an electric and that’s when I really started to progress in the instrument. I then got a few tab books and took a few lessons and fully realized the love I had for the instrument and how I could express myself through it. Going from blues to some mellow guitar to hard rock to some crazy shred guitar, I was going through many phases and genres. In high school, I formed a band thinking it was going to be punk/rock music, but it turned into a thrash metal band. This is when I started to write a lot of original music. This band was my first project that really got my creative juices flowing.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Growing up watching my dad play gigs around town definitely made me want to do it myself. While he would gig, I would help haul equipment and get to watch him do his thing. Watching how he moved people with the music he played definitely made me want to pursue music myself. Now, I am currently finishing up my bachelors in audio at SAE Nashville and play out as a guitarist with several artists including Mikki Zip. Ive also got a solo project on the way with all original music. It is very blues/folk inspired. Along with that, I am working on another project that’s a rock n roll power trio called “Tipton”. Besides my guitar playing and writing music, I also enjoy the capture of it all. I go to an audio school and I’m fortunate enough to have studios at my disposal. Having that capability is great because I’m able to engineer and produce for others as well as record my own music. I love it because I try to hone in on the quality, tone and overall vibe of what we are recording so that when we go about it we can go into it with a creative structure.
My current job also assists in my passions, which is working for a live-streaming company called Volume. I go around Nashville and stream shows at various venues. Im very fortunate because we do some shows such as Marcus King at the Ryman, Phil Lesh and Friends and several shows with Sony Nashville. To watch the behind the scenes and in front of the camera magic of it all is pretty awesome!

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I think ever since I started to get the guitar under my fingers, I of course wanted to be playing on stage in front of a bunch of people every night, but I really and genuinely express myself completely with the guitar. Ive always had an interest in improvisation on the guitar. People like Joe Satriani and Jimmy Herring but but also jam bands like the Allman Brothers and Derek Trucks Band. A big drive for me too is my parents. They have always pushed me and taught me that anything worth doing is worth doing well. Ive tried living by that the best I can and realize the gifts God has given me to do things I want to do.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I think the most rewarding aspect is when I am able to move people with what I create or am performing. It’s always good when you get compliments about things in your music but what I think I really take from people supporting the most is when I hear that they are really moved by what they hear. I once got to sit in with my best friends band, Lach Thorton, in Meridian Mississippi. This was a special weekend because we were playing the Jimmy Rogers Festival. Not only did I get to play a historic festival to some amazing people but I met some great friends too. A few days after the festival we were eating pizza at a place downtown across from the venue and a man approached and told us that he saw us play. He said that we moved him so much in how we performed that he picked the guitar back up again after years of giving it up, that alone made my whole week. It’s so great to use thee inspiring moments as motivation and confidence in my journey as a musician.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/willtiptonmusic
• Other: TikTok: @willtiptonmusic

Image Credits
Instagram: beck_photography02