About Me

My name is Mason Tilley, and I'm from Kentucky. I'm a born, raised, and born again christian, and I do my best to dedicate my life to the lord every day and do his will. I'm a musician, and I atempt to glorify God at the church I attend weekly by playing drums, bass, guitar, singing, just whatever needs doing to worship.

Music

Musical talent is one of the great gifts I have been given, and I enjoy using it. I play a lot of guitar, and I've recently been getting into a lot of country and bluegrass type playing. Been trying to learn finger rolls, cross-picking, and just overall get a better handle on those styles. I really do like bluegrass, too, it's got a cool sound to it. Bluegrass in a minor key is really great, it tends to be more creatively put together and I like the way it sounds. Check out Nashville Blues for an example of what I mean.

I'm also a bass player, and while it's hard to say what style I like playing most on a bass, I guess it would have to be rock or country. I don't really conform to a genre, just play notes together in a pattern, and usually those are what it most sounds like.

I play drums too, and those are my primary instrument. I am primarily a drummer, although I love guitar and bass and everything else. Drums are where it's at for me. I would say I try to play as creatively as I can rather than playing a specific style, or even playing well. My tempo is all over the place and I jam more than I play, but I like it. Here's a recording of me jamming from a couple years ago.

In July of 2023, I received my first pedal steel guitar from Justice Steel Guitars down in Arizona. If you need a steel, get one from there. They have a super affordable entry model. I think it has something like two pedals and one knee lever... but I forget. I ended up ordering that and just adding additional pedals/knee levers. I ended up with 4x4 and the whole shebang was still cheaper than the next model, which had 3x4. I'm loving the pedal steel and I'm having a good time learning it. I've been picking some classic country licks but also have been trying to learn some jazz chords. I have an E9 neck and I know most people use C6 for that, but there are still some cool things you can do. Now I've played a C6, and you can create jazz chords on there without even half trying. My next steel either needs to be a double neck or a U12.

I make music digitally as well. I really like the way trap music sounds, and I spend a lot of time playing around with creating that. See my Music Page for some of my work. But more recently, I've started recording other genres, but primarily whatever sounds good to me. I spend all kinds of time picking, and sometimes I come up with some sweet ideas I'd like to get made into songs. The nice thing about the time we live in is that digital recording gives you the tools you need to get creative, right at home. And I certainly enjoy that.

Sports

I like sports. They are fun to watch and fun to compete in. In fact, competition is generally a favorite of mine.

As far as watching sports goes, I usually find myself tuning into baseball, the Reds, and college basketball, UK. I grew up doing that and will still turn on a radio every now and then to catch a game. I can follow football too, but I've never been a big fan. Well, unless the Bengals make it anywhere near the superbowl, then I watch them

I am somewhat of an athlete, too, and physical exercise is something I enjoy. Working out is great; running, lifting, pushing myself to the point of exaustion, etc. But I actually participated in a few sports in my time too. Track was a favorite of mine, and I actually hold a state record in the adapted hundred meter. But I also played goalball, a full contact sport specifically for blind people. You can check out some videos of me playing here to see what it is, if you'd like.

Hobbies

We've already covered two of my big hobbies, exercise and music, but I also enjoy computers a lot. Working on them, working with them, troubleshooting and fixing them, writing scripts for them, just all kinds of good stuff. Electronics in generall are awesome. I'm not much of a programmer, I do it, but only when inspiration strikes. Offten, my creativity exceeds my motivation, meaning that right now I have a whole file full of ideas and project notes, with no knowledge or interest in acquiring the knowledge to bring them to life. For me, programming is a means to an end, it has its place in my life when I want a specific feature or script or app that simplifies my workflow/daily interaction with my PC. But other than that, I don't care for it. I enjoy my ability to walk away from my projects more than I enjoy developing them. Nonetheless, you can check out my Code Page to see what I have managed to come up with.

I also really like antiques, as a matter of fact I have a rather old fashioned personality, and that goes well with my desire to collect stuff from a long time ago. You know, anything from back then is probably going to last you a very long time, as companies did not design products to break in five years so they could keep you coming back for more. I have a clock on my wall from 1943 and it still works, just fine. It ticks, too, which is why I have it.

Clocks are awesome to me, I am just fascenated by them. I can't believe they don't make clocks that tick anymore, so I had to search all around eBay till I found this one. And it's great. It manually winds up, manually ticks with gears, powered by mechanics. It's wonderful. Eventually I want to get my hands on one of those old grandfather clocks, those not only tick slowly, rhythmically, piecefully, but chime as well.

Speaking of pieceful sounds, I also really like the sound of a good set of windchimes. Nothing says bliss like some beautiful windswept notes... one of my favorite things ever is to sit out on a covered deck, watch a big rainstorm, drink a cup of coffee, and just hear those chimes clang together. There's nothing better. And let me tell you, I finally found the perfect set of chimes, which I'd been looking for for at least two years. I found them down in Tenessee near Gatlenburg, in a small store that sold jellys, jams, nuts... and windchimes. I found a set tuned in A, and my goodness, do they sound like the definition of peace to me. The entire A major scale has always sounded warm in my mind. It reminds me of springtime.

I don't only like antiques and collecting them, but I also like collecting some other things. Radios are my latest collection, and I'm now infatuated with the way they work. I think radios are great, you don't have to pay for a dang thing, you can just pull free content right out of the air. Hours of entertainment for nothing more than a one time fee of buying a receiver. By the way, don't buy one from Amazon. Get it from radio shack, it'll work much better for you.

I also collect interesting mugs. I like drinking coffee, straight blak, by the way, and so I try to collect all kinds of interesting mugs to drink it out of. Antique stores have some great ones, really neat designs and shapes and I like them.

My Life

I work for a fantastic company called Vortex Computer Solutions which is a small MSP based out of New Albany Indiana. It's a spectacular place to work, excellent people and I love the work I'm doing. Honestly, this is my dream job. A small company, working with a wide array of different technologies and learning lots, and working to support people's IT needs. It checks all the boxes. I could not have asked for a better job, and I'm extremely blessed to have had God line up such a fantastic opportunity for me right out of college.