If you’ve ever seen Payton Smith perform live, then you know he is a force to be reckoned with on the guitar. You can also hear his skills on all of the songs on his self-titled EP, including his debut single, “Like I Knew You Would,” on which he plays acoustic and electric guitar, and banjo. But it’s not surprising that Payton is so good on the guitar, since he’s been playing one for half his life. Payton is just 20-years-old, and he says, “I picked up a guitar when I was about 10 years old and I knew that from that moment, when I couldn’t find the words, that this thing was going to do a lot of the talking for me. So, when I was about 10 years old, I picked up a guitar. I took lessons, HATED ‘em.”
Payton stopped taking guitar lessons but became relentless at teaching himself how to play. “I just started learning on my own,” says Payton, “and I started taking a lot of things from guys like Keith Urban. Joe Walsh, trying to learn from guys like that.”
If you’re going to study other guitar players to try to hone your playing skills, to borrow the title of another one of the songs on Payton’s debut EP, picking Keith Urban and Joe Walsh as two of your teachers, you “Can’t Go Wrong with That.”
Payton Smith – when started playing guitar :21
“I picked up a guitar when I was about 10 years old and I knew that from that moment when I couldn’t find the words, that this thing was going to do a lot of the talking for me. So, when I was about 10 years old, I picked up a guitar. I took lessons, HATED ‘em. And I stopped playing lessons and I just started learning on my own and I started taking a lot of things from guys like Keith Urban. Joe Walsh, trying to learn from guys like that.”