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Tyler Ballantyne has always loved music, but he didn’t start playing seriously until his college years. Around that time, he became obsessed with Dave Matthews, particularly his right hand—the way he played rhythm guitar.

Ballentyne bought a guitar, and he says that at the time, he learned about half of one of Matthews’ songs and otherwise strummed it to play songs like “Take Me Home, Country Roads” and “Ring of Fire.”

Once he arrived in Colorado, he fell in love with bluegrass and folk.

A few months into the COVID pandemic, he decided to take guitar more seriously, inspired by acts such as The Grateful Dead, Phish, and Billy Strings. He bought a Martin D-18 and signed up to take lessons from Bryan Sutton.

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