Gregg through the years...

• Grew up on the Monkees, thinking they were a real group.
• Played rock guitar throughout High School -- crudely, and too loud.
• Sang in Madrigals and Barbershop Quartet ("blends well", said teacher).
• Later studied classical guitar ("doesn't practice"), then jazz guitar ("unable to play fast").
• Fooled around with lutes, mandolins, and whatnot, against teacher's recommendations.
• Began acquiring stringed instruments of every size and description.
• Composed and recorded original instrumental music long before it became fashionable.
• Took up the pedal harp and freelanced for awhile, including stint as L.A.'s first street harpist.
• Played guitar in comedy Oldies band, The Pretensions -- until the members became too pathetically old themselves.
• 1991 - 1995: Completed life's work of playing every instrument in the collection (~100 at the time).
• 1996-2000: Promoting "A Christmas Collection." Figuring out how to play some of these instruments live. Becoming enough of a computer nerd to maintain this web site.
• 2000-?: Working on next "secret project." Packaged some of my original tunes for my patient fans.
• 2002-indefinite: Created a whole new web site devoted to the harp guitars and other instruments of turn-of-the-century builder Chris Knutsen.
• 2003 and on: Continue research, writing and exploration into all sorts of wonderful, forgotten instruments....
• 2004-indefinite: Created Harpguitars.net, the largest, most complete Internet resource on a single musical topic that I am aware of.
• 2006: Opened Harp Guitar Music, record label and the world's first all-harp guitar web store.
• 2009: With several cohorts, created The Harp Guitar Foundation, of which I am currently president.  We guide and fund the annual Harp Guitar Gatherings and HG.net....me, I never sleep.

I'm basically your typical part-time musician, though with unusually diverse musical experience, and a rather passionate interest in stringed instruments of every description. I originally labeled myself a collector, recording artist, and "armchair musicologist" -- meaning that, without leaving my house much, I managed to appear to be a "world-renowned expert" on the entire realm of stringed instruments.  

Since my "humorous essays" written about the instruments for my Christmas Collection booklets, I've had to present my subsequent, not-insubstantial research a bit more seriously.  And I am quite the geek.

I still divide my time between the arts (music career) and sciences (aerospace workaday world), and in the past have worked as a free-lance harpist, zookeeper, animation art dealer, and rock & roll comedian.

My full musician/scholar resume from my original Wikipedia page

Chicago, IL

·         1965+: Self-taught guitarist (electric, acoustic)

·         ~1973-1976: Music Theory at DePaul University, classical guitar study with Richard Pick, jazz guitar study with Jack Cecchini

Bloomington, IL

·         1976-1979: Original music and multi-instrumental experimentation

Los Angeles, CA

·         1979-1989: Pedal harp studies with Mildred Dilling, JoAnn Turovsky, Gail Laughton, DeWayne Fulton; freelance harpist

·         Mid-1980s: Mandocello and harp guitar with the Los Angeles Mandolin Orchestra

·         1980-1989: Lead guitar and vocals with musical comedy Oldies band The Pretensions

·         1991-1995: Completed A Christmas Collection, the 2-volume CD project featuring 100 instruments of his collection

·         1995-1999: Live appearances promoting A Christmas Collection, with David Marchant and other musicians

·         2003+: Appearances at The Harp Guitar Gathering® on various harp guitars and related instruments, recordings, producer on the Harp Guitar Music label