Lyle was born and raised in Manila, Philippines. He discovered the love for music at an early age. Growing up, he was heavily exposed to songs specifically from the 80’s and 90’s era by his family. His music taste can be described as a melting pot of genres from rock and heavy metal, mainstream pop, hip-hop, and many more. He started playing the guitar at the age of 8. He was taught how to play basic chords and songs by his dad and cousin, and from then on, he ventured and taught himself how to play more complex songs. He then heard Def Leppard’s “When Love and Hate Collide” on the radio and that sparked his desire to learn and practice more. Lyle mostly plays rock and metal songs such as materials from Def Leppard, AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Metallica, and the likes. But from time to time he also plays whatever his heart desires may it be a poppy song from Cyndi Lauper or more laid back tunes from Fleetwood Mac. Other than the guitar, he also knows how to play the bass, basic level piano and drums and is now learning how to play the violin. Lyle also creates his own music and covers, his style of music composition leans more on the synthwave pop and ambient rock spectrum. Lyle hopes to release a self-produced album and to one-day play for huge crowds.
Lyle’s guitars:
RJ Les Pu – this was my second guitar after breaking my old acoustic guitar. This guitar is locally made here in the Philippines by RJ Guitars. It’s a knock off hollow bodied Les Paul (thus the name “Les Pu”) with a single bridge pickup, volume and tone knob.
Mac Smith Strat – this is an aqua blue strat, I got this from a local music store as well. I’m not quite sure about the history and country of Mac Smith guitars. It’s basically just a strat style guitar. I mainly used this during my high school and college days of playing. I named this guitar “Stella” with reference to Daft Punk’s musical film “Interstella 5555: the 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5system” blue alien people characters. The songs played in the film were from their “Discovery” album.
JCraft LTX-1 Telecaster – again, this guitar is (I think) locally made as well. It’s a white telecaster with double humbucker pickups I bought during the pandemic lockdowns. Currently this guitar is undergoing enhancements, I’m planning to change the pickups to alnicos. I named this guitar “Hailey” since it’s white and I initially thought of hailstorms.
SQOE Jazz Bass – a 4 stringed bass from SQOE Guitars (which I think is originally manufactured from Spain). I bought this to channel my inner Rutger Gunnarsson. I started to learn how to play the bass just a few years ago when I bought this.
Jackson Dinky JS11 – my workhorse, an entry level Dinky with 2 humbuckers. This is my go-to guitar. I named this “Rocky” just for the sake of it being a good guitar for metal and rock.
D&D ST EL – again another locally made guitar, a shell pink strat. The reason I bought this was out of impulse since it was on sale and I wanted to get that John Mayer Silversky vibe. I named this guitar “Hibana” with reference to the Japanese operator from Rainbox Six. Also, I associate this guitar with the cherry blossom festival in Japan.
Ibanez GIO GRX90-TRS – red flamed top Ibanez guitar which I bought from a used guitar listing I saw online. The previous owner modded this guitar and made a 17-way selector mod. This guitar has an HSH configuration and coil split with the volume knob configured to split the bridge humbucker and the tone knob configured to split the neck humbucker. This guitar also has a SPST switch, thus making this guitar very versatile. I named this guitar “Michelle” for no apparent reason at all.
Jackson Rhoades JS32T – My latest purchase for my birthday, this guitar had a bit of a learning curve since it’s V-shaped I had to play and position this like a classical guitar. I must admit, playing with that angle really helped me to play more with ease. This guitar has not been named yet.
What was your first guitar and do you still have it?
My first guitar was a cheap acoustic guitar. Unfortunately, sometime around my high school years I accidentally dropped it and broke the neck. It was beyond repair and soon after it was already dispatched.
What's your favorite guitar right now and why?
Probably my Dinky JS11. I know it’s an entry level Jackson but it really served as my workhorse. I really liked the slim neck profile which really enabled me to learn more fast solos and improve my chops. It’s a very good guitar to learn metal and rock songs. Other than that, that Dinky has a lot of core and important memories tied to it.
What's your newest purchase?
My latest purchase was the Rhoads JS32T. I bought it last March for my 25th birthday. As you can now observe, I am a Jackson fan so why not buy a Rhoads? It looks sick and I always wanted to get a V guitar. A little backstory on how I acquired it – It was the day of my birthday and I decided today is the day I finally buy that Rhoads. I went to the local music store near me only to find out that they are closed for store renovation. I initially thought maybe this is not my day, but I decided to go to the other branch of that music store. Upon arriving, I noticed that there were no more Rhoads on display (only King Vs and Soloists). I asked the clerk if they still have a Rhoads in which they told me that all Rhoads were already out of stock. I was of course dismayed, but when I was about to leave the store, the clerk told me to wait as they were not going to let me go home empty handed. After a few minutes, the clerk came back with the last stock of that Rhoads. I bought it right away! It was indeed a happy birthday.
How often do you play?
I make it a habit to play at least 1-2 hours every weeknight after work. On the weekends I usually play the whole afternoon and I’m not strict when it comes to my routine, I just find good songs to play or learn and mostly find backing tracks to jam on and improvise.
What's the music you are creating, what's the mission behind it?
I compose and make synthwave pop or ambient rock songs. I cannot really pinpoint the specific genre since it’s more on the experimental side of music. I just make it for my own listening pleasure and also to share to people who are interested to listen to it. Another reason is that I really enjoy recording and the post recording processing and mastering of the music. In that way, I also learn how to produce and get the best sound out of it.
