I am merely a drummer that enjoys picking up a guitar from time to time to give my eardrums some much needed rest. So when my dad asked me if I wanted to attend a guitar clinic, I not only had no idea what to expect, I also wasn't very enthusiastic.

I mean seriously, we had 50-year old folks causing a bigger ruckus than I was. And that should never happen to a vibrant, word-happy fellow like me.

Did I really just refer to myself as a "fellow"?

But by the end of the night, I was silent not because I was bored to death, but because I was simply in awe of the musician who put on the clinic, Doyle Dykes.

I feel as if he took me to school UNIVERSITY.

This man stood there, for an hour and a half, and finger-picked his way through a multitude of songs of different varieties, from contemporary music by Coldplay, to such classics as Stairway to Heaven, to country hoe-downs. And everything sounded good.

He could've smashed a guitar over my head and it would've sounded good.

What's more, everything sounded bigger than it actually was, as if there were three people playing the intricate parts to each song, but it was just him and his incredibly fast fingers. If I stood around with five of my friends, each given a part, I don't think we could pull off what he pulled off by himself.

And then, to top it all off, he brought out his daughter to play a little mandolin and sing along. Mind you she wasn't the best singer ever (check out her Myspace I linked there for a sampling), but that just put it over the top. I mean, a brunette chickie who could sing and play a mandolin?

Sorry, did I mention how she boldly stepped up and sang them Christian songs?! And then got people to sing along at certain parts? And did some crazy synchronized finger picking along with her dad?

Knocked. It. Out. Of. The. Park.

To demonstrate my level of contentment with this $7 clinic, I wasn't even disappointed when I left the night without winning anything from the raffle. In fact, I left there wanting to buy a Taylor guitar more than ever, thinking that I could be just like Doyle.

And that's SCARY. This event being a Taylor sponsored event, that must've meant that their advertising worked on me without me them ever blatantly plugging Taylor in any way. And that I can respect.