By Kristie Adams, photo and graphics editor.

Many dream of “making it big” as an artist. A lot just dream of making music, which is the case for guitar player Glenn Swindler. Posting videos on Youtube, he is making himself known to the world as a guitar player who is going somewhere.

Swindler was born and raised in Salina. He attended Bennington High School, 15 minutes north of Salina.

Swindler remembers his grade school music teacher Janice Kraus boosting his love for music.

“She was the happiest person on the planet,” Swindler said. “The passion she showed for music got me hooked.”

Swindler went through school looking forward to the part of the day when he could express his creativity.

“I’d fall asleep in science, but music was always the best part of the day for me,” Swindler said.

 

Singing came naturally for the bass singer with the required music, but his love for guitar grew from something most high school kids are familiar with, Guitar Hero.

After playing for more than two years, Swindler decided he spent too much time with it and the game got too easy for him. Then he picked up the real thing.

“I thought to myself, ‘How much harder could the real thing be?’” Swindler said. “I found out that it was much, much harder.”

Making it through the first three months, which Swindler claims is the hardest for any instrument player, he taught himself how to play through various books and the Internet. Wanting nothing more than to quit, he then sought help from a high school teacher who introduced him to the “finger playing” style that enticed Swindler even more.

Finger style is one of the two ways a player can play the guitar; the other is with a pick. The technique is interesting, but requires a lot of coordination and is difficult.

“You practically use your fingers to turn yourself into a one man band,” Swindler said. “Your thumb becomes the base, and your fingers become the melody and percussion.”

One of Swindler’s biggest inspirations is a player named Andy McKee. After coming across this artist through Youtube, he spent the following months watching his videos, becoming fascinated by the techniques and talent.

“He inspires me to play but kills me by how good he is,” Swindler said. “It’s hard to see yourself coming close to someone like him.”

After this stage Swindler started looking into the “behind the scenes market.” These are the artists whom nobody really knows about. A person can search Youtube and literally find thousands of them.

Each of these artist inspired Swindler to work harder and dedicate more time.

“To be half as good as them, I’d be willing to work for that,” Swindler said.

Swindler attributes much of his success to his supportive family. Supporting him and his two brothers in every endeavor, his parents found it natural to help him when he decided he wanted his first guitar. He decided in early December it was a must-have item that could not wait till Christmas. Promising to pay for some of it, Swindler’s parents helped him out and that’s when it all began.

Swindler can be seen now walking the halls of Riney Fine Arts Center or in his dorm making beautiful music. He is also the worship leader at New Covenant United Methodist Church. Starting with his church’s praise band years ago, he feels right at home at in this “small but mighty” church community.
“It’s nice to have somewhere to go every week,” Swindler said. “It’s also one excuse to do what I love.”