It’s my great pleasure to introduce my friend and teacher, Steve Tarshis. Here’s a picture of Steve at the launch party for Sweet Man Is Gone, where the entertainment was provided by the Steve Tarshis Trio.
Steve is a New York City guitar guy with an impressive resume: he’s got a BA in composition from the Berklee College of Music and has worked with artists as varied as Bo Diddley, John Sebastian, Chico Hamilton, Carl Wilson, Robert Lamm, the Mamas and the Papas, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Nora York, and the Joffrey Ballet. His Broadway credits include Rent, Tick Tick Boom, Johnny Guitar, They Wrote That, People Be Heard, and Up in the Air.
His current band is an instrumental trio with Steve on guitar, of course. They gig around New York City and have just completed their second CD. Steve was a founding member of Nine Below Zero, known to many blues enthusiasts in the eighties and nineties, and he lent his guitar skills more recently to Bucktooth Johnson, which I listened to with delight many times at Scotland Yard in Hoboken.
For the past few years he’s had an ongoing collaboration with singer-songwriter Hope Nunnery, who creates beautiful tunes that evoke gospel and Appalachian folk songs. Their collaboration resulted in a stunning album called Wilderness Lounge, and they’re at work on a second album.
Steve’s also currently working with composer Jamie Lawrence–playing guitar on a documentary film about Sean Penn’s work in New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina.
Steve’s the author of over fifteen books published by the likes of Music Sales Inc. and Hal Leonard, and till its recent closing he was a multi-faceted teacher at the New School’s Guitar Study Center. I first met him there when I signed up for the wonderful Blues Ensemble course. Steve’s been giving private lessons for over twenty years, and his website gives a terrific glimpse of the wide variety of students who study with him.
I asked Steve what he’d advise people pursuing creative goals of all kinds, 
and here’s what he said:
Number one: just do the work and don’t worry so much about the result. It’s a cliché, but the hardest steps are the first ones. Don’t wait around for permission to do it, or until you think you are “good” enough. Just start and see what happens.
Number two: Role model the things you like. Borrow, copy, steal. All the greats have. Inevitably your own voice will shine through anyway. In my mind “art” is more cultural than individual. Think of yourself as part of the great universe of creativity, instead of a lone voice. Be part of the culture. You don’t have to invent it.
Number three: Don’t take anyone else’s rules and numbers and advice too seriously. It may help you—or not!
Visit Steve’s website for lots more information about his projects, as well as video and audio links. You can buy copies of his CDs there too!