Jamming, learning, teaching – the music never stops for Glendale’s Tom Mein

By Matt Marn

Also posted on AZCulture.com

Not a day that goes by when Glendale guitarist Tom Mein doesn’t work the strings. He would go crazy without it. In 34 years, the longest he has ever gone without playing was four days… his first honeymoon.

As far back as Mein can remember he has been attracted to the guitar. But what really did it for him was listening to Jimi Hendrix work his magic.

“I was a teen, and he was like the first guitar hero,” Mein said. “I used to draw pictures in my notebooks about guitars. I bugged my parents for one, and they got me a classical guitar. When I was 16, I saved up and bought my own electric.”

He took a few lessons, but had no formal music education growing up.

“I didn’t want to ‘learn,’ just wanted to play,” Mein said. “Most of what I learned was in the west suburbs of Detroit. A lot of my friends learned and had guitars, too. We didn’t have a guitar class in high school, so we all just jammed and learned from each other. That’s how I learned, that and by reading.”

Music was not Mein’s profession at first, but he moved out west to start fresh. His goal was to become a studio guitar player. He didn’t know where he was going to wind up, but Phoenix was close to Los
Angeles, so he stopped here. He got a job in printing, and played gigs with local bands on weekends.

“I worked night jobs to earn money, and squeezed bands in when I could,” he said. “I hated it. That’s when I decided, ‘I’m going to do what I want to do.’ I decided to earn money doing music… and I fell in love with it.”

Since then he has performed in countless bands, including rockabilly group ’56, as well as the Next Band, which leads open mike night, “Tuesday Bluesday," where musicians of all styles are welcome to bring their instruments and share the stage in an evening jam session.

“We just go with it,” Mein said of sharing the stage. “That’s how I grew up. I have a good ear because of that. I hear a song, and I play it. For me, the most fun thing is playing with others and improvising. That’s why Next is a blast, especially with good players. I live for that stuff.”

As if his schedule was not quite full enough, he also began teaching guitar students from out of his own home. He currently instructs over 20 students.

“I love teaching kids, seeing them learn and grow,” Mein said. “The more I got into it, the more I became absorbed by it. I have been teaching since 1993, it will be 19 years this year. It’s different than school teaching – I don’t see my students for just one year, and then they graduate and move on to the next thing. They come to my house; they are like a part of the family. And sometimes, you have moments where they get it, when you see the light bulb go off in their heads. That’s what it’s all about.”

Mein recalled one of his past students, Tyler Barkley, who was auditioning for a student jazz program, Young Sounds of Arizona. A difficult program to be accepted into, it all but guarantees a college scholarship, Mein said. He helped Barkley practice his pieces, and Barkley was accepted into the program.

“Just being able to help him was huge for me,” Mein said. “I might have been more thrilled than him – I was telling all my friends. He did the work, but it was just nice being a part of that.

Mein is currently attending classes at Glendale Community College, working toward a degree in music education, with which he hopes to teach guitar in the classroom. He is taking a variety of classes, including a Jazz Combo class, complete with recitals.

“Sometimes, I still get butterflies,” he said. “I play 200 gigs a year plus, but in the recital for my class at GCC, I get more butterflies than any other gig. We played three songs, played them out as a small group. We played well, but I was more nervous than any other time.

With his full schedule of gigs, students and classes, he keeps in mind why he takes these extra classes: the extra students he can reach, as well as the consistency of a school teaching role.

“I’ve always got ten things going at once,” he said. “It keeps me busy. I have to, because the last three years have been steady, but you have no gigs for a month and you don’t eat. I’ve been working out of my house for years; it would be nice to have security. Every steady gig, no matter how steady it is, every gig comes to an end.”

As well as the list of gigs on his schedule, Mein also sees the genre of jazz as a changing field.

“Jazz used to be what rock is now, they didn’t teach it in schools,” he said. “You had to get a classical music education, and then apply it to jazz. These jazz musicians, they learned and created as they went along. Now there are very few jazz artists who did not take classes on it in school. There used to be only a few schools, now it is widely academic.”

Mein said it is important to have a formal education in music, but also to have real-world experience.

“It depends on what you do, what music you want to play, as for which is more important,” he said. “Most musicians are schooled. I’m not, but I’m going back. I can see a different side of the issue. Obviously there’s a lot of value in formal learning, too, or I wouldn’t be doing it.”

Formally educated or self-taught, the one certainty with Mein is he does what he loves for a living.

And he’ll keep doing it as long as he can.

“It’s kind of weird, I was backed into this life,” he said. “I’m not really a religious person, but fate forced me into it. My printing business went down the tubes. I did more and more gigs, and was exhausted and could barely make it, but I was happy. It felt great. And the whole teaching thing, I love that, too. And if I can get a day teaching job, that’s great. Les Paul played gigs until the week he died at 94. That’ll be me, and I’ll be a happy man.”