The TXG Leadership Team

THREE PASSIONATE "STUDENTS" OF GUITAR

Dean Strickler (aka Deano)

HEAD OF PLAYER EXPERIENCE, COACH & CO-CREATOR

Bill Huang (aka BillZo)

Bill started his musical journey as a drummer in 1980 and practiced diligently until life and the impracticalities of a drum set and apartment living converged.  He then took up the bass guitar and worked hard at that for a few years until career and family interrupted that effort.  After becoming an accomplished software developer and leader, he took up bass again in 1999.  He studied with a private instructor and worked diligently for about 6 years.  He ended up giving up bass in frustration because he thought he had no talent and a concrete ear.

 

A few years went by and he missed music so he decided that he would commit the remainder of his hobby life to guitar.  He had learned a little guitar in the early 80s but never got serious.  This time it was different.  He managed to get his head in the right space and committed without reservation or overly high expectations to practice guitar for the rest of his life and to NEVER sell his last guitar. That was 9 years ago.

 

Since he started playing bass in 1999, he has worked hard to develop his recording engineering skills and now considers himself at the semi-pro level at recording, mixing and mastering.  Having run sound for and recorded many bands and artists.

 

In March 2020 Bill joined TenX and things have never been the same for him.  He was able to apply his significant music practice experience to the refinement of the TenX Principles and his technical background to building the TenX platform.  The application of the TenX Principles was the missing piece in his musical practice.  It turns out that Focus was what was missing for him.

 

Paradoxically, he focused extremely well on each of the instruments he learned but failed to understand the importance of focusing on foundational skills long enough to take them to a high level.  In the past year, he has made major progress as a player and attributes it to the TenX Principles and his discipline and commitment to practice.

John Quinlan (aka Quinney)

Quinney started playing guitar in the late 70s as a teenager living in London, England.   After a couple of years of playing he shifted to bass when a band he knew needed a bass player.  After that experience he shifted back to guitar and spent time learning scales, riffs, and chords.   Through the years, guitar became less important.  There was college, three children and a 30-year career as an executive at iHeart Radio.   Over the years, he kept a guitar around and picked it up occasionally, but he was far from serious about it.

 

Then a bunch of guys got together at the golf club to jam and just goof off.  Quinney blew the dust off his old Strat and showed up to play.  He still had some skill and technique, but really did not know what to do with it musically.  Quinney and the guys had so much fun, that they decided to become a real band and scheduled a gig.   Quinney had to learn songs, learn solo lines, and even sing a little. At that point he simply poured himself into all these aspects; attacking them individually.  He went over and over the parts he needed learn.  He took all the technique he already had, and he was suddenly using it musically.

 

Quinney was using the TenX principles without even knowing it.    His playing improved dramatically over the next couple of years.  He became the band’s lead guitarist and one of the primary lead vocalists.  Quinney decided to test the theories he and Dean were developing around principles of rapid improvement by attacking slide guitar.  He was able to gain real proficiency quickly by applying the  TenX principles.  The process of Quinney learning slide was the first real-world validation of the TenX principles.

 

The idea of formalizing the principles that are now the foundation of TenX came out of a few conversations between Quinney and Dean about how they were both able to make rapid progress. These general ideas and practices have been refined into the TenX principles and serve as the foundation for the entire learning system.