#93 Dave "Razz" Rasmussen, guitarist

Published: July 3, 2019, 4 a.m.

Dave \u201cRazz\u201d Rasmussen grew up in a family that played music around the house all the time. His mother was a pianist who played piano until very late in life. His father played the gut bucket, and Razz\u2019s brother and sister played music too. He remembers living in Hawaii at the Navy base where everyone was playing ukulele, but he liked guitar because it had two more strings. He was constantly playing gigs and with people, and when he was twenty-nine went to the Guitar Institute, which really opened up his playing.\xa0

Razz says that, \u201cpeople come together through music \u2026 they can\u2019t help themselves.\u201d He says everyone can play some instrument, that it lowers personal barriers, and helps people get in the same harmonic resonance. He says that music can even relax animals, and Razz at one point remembers playing with a parrot named Wilbur, who would bob his head and whistle and sing along with the music! He believes that meetings of world leaders would be much more productive and beneficial if they started off conferences with jams to set the tone!

Razz has wanted to implement a movement that he refers to as the Harmonic Unity Musical Ministry (HUMM), which would be a global network for musicians to hang out and play together in cities all over the world. Instruments would be provided to those who needed them along with screens and chord charts so everyone could play the same songs together. HUMM would also use, promote, and instill collaborative precepts so that players would be able to play and jam cooperatively, such as \u201cthose that know, help others to grow!\u201d