George started classical guitar lessons with John Sutherland in the Spring of 1971 when he was twenty years old. A passion for the guitar was ignited. A door opened. A new path beckoned. He crossed the threshold and began an uncertain journey of challenge and discovery.
He began teaching beginners in 1973. In 1974 he started exploring more formal music studies by auditing music courses available at Clayton Junior College. That experience was like being handed a torch in the dark. A little knowledge, like oxygen to a fire, is a powerful catalyst for a deep desire to learn. A path forward was now illuminated and made more clear.
George decided to pursue a degree in music performance at the University of Georgia. He enrolled in 1976 and completed requirements for a BM in 1978. He graduated Magna Cum Laude and was elected to Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society and Golden Key National Honor Society.
After graduating from UGA, George became active in teaching, performing and promoting classical guitar in the Atlanta area.
He continued teaching at Sutherland's House of Guitars into 1979. Then he made the decision to open his own teaching studio. While continuing to teach privately, more than a year was spent researching everything necessary to open a business either large or small. The decision for small was made. In 1981 a space was let on Maple Drive and the business now known as Maple Street Guitars was launched.
George has experience performing in ensemble and solo. He played for twelve years with the early music group The Pied Pipers which had an average of 30 performances a year and in which he played the renaissance lute , guitar and other assorted musical instruments. He has performed with the Atlanta Symphony, Macon Symphony, Emory Orchestra, Atlanta Chamber Players, The Atlanta Virtuosi, and The Atlanta Singers. Additionally, he has performed in duo and in other combinations with many fine Atlanta singers , flutists, guitarists, and other instrumentalists either in recital or for special events. As a soloist he has given many recitals, but mostly has performed for special events which number in the hundreds.
George was nominated president of The Atlanta Guitar Club in 1978 which was later incorporated as a non-profit and renamed Guitar Atlanta. For twelve years, he and a dedicated group of others organized regular meetings with performances and activities, workshops and masterclasses, and a concert series which brought to Atlanta for the first time many now well known masters including David Russell, Manuel Barrueco, Paco Pena, the Assads, and the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. A newsletter highlighting events and topics of interest for guitarists was regularly published, and efforts to persuade local media to recognize the classical guitar were successful. Guitar Atlanta was retired in 1990.
While he no longer performs for public or private events, George continues to teach one day a week and can be found most every day at Maple Street Guitars talking with enthusiasm about music and guitars.