Troy Toma picked up his first guitar at 14 while living in San Jose, California. He mowed lawns until he'd saved enough to buy it — a blue guitar he named Baby Blue. He still has it today.

Years later, Troy walked into college intending to enroll to become an electrician. Then he discovered the school had a music program.

That changed everything.

He spent the next three years studying classical guitar while, outside the classroom, immersing himself in the music of artists like Metallica, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eddie Van Halen. That combination of discipline, technique and raw musical energy helped shape the musician he would become.

But for Troy, music has never been only about playing well.

It's about what happens to people when he plays.

Whether he's performing in a pub or stepping onto a stage in front of thousands, the goal is the same: create the kind of experience that gets people singing, dancing, smiling and forgetting about everything else for a while.

That same love of music is why Troy has spent more than 25 years teaching guitar, bass and ukulele — helping other people discover the joy he found when he first picked up Baby Blue.