Thanks to a restaurant coupon, J. T. Schlichter began playing guitar with Mike Strickland at the Los Pilares restaurants.

“It was buy-one-get-one-half-off on any meal at Los Pilares,” recalled Schlichter, 18.

Four years ago, Schlichter and his mom visited the restaurant where Strickland was performing. They then began going every Saturday.

Schlichter worked his way into Strickland’s act. “He has a song called ‘Sleep All Day.’ There’s one point that he screams, ‘No, no, no!’ I would scream it from the audience. Then I would help him pack up. I learned all these ways of winding cables. Eight months into that he said, ‘When are you finally gonna ask me about guitar lessons?’ ”

Schlichter bought a $150 Epiphone P150 guitar starter kit. “I had one lesson with three chords and was up on stage with him in one week. The rest of the chords I faked my way through.”

He still takes lessons from Strickland, but his basic instruction was “watching his hands” on stage. “The actual progression of the chords — I learned that from watching.

“We play something close to 800 songs and he knows more. There are some songs that we’ve never played but he knows how to play. So, if he decided to pull them out of his hat or someone randomly requests one, that’s one I learn very quickly.”

A native Memphian, Schlichter’s first creative expression was dancing; he took tap, jazz and ballet for 10 years. He also acted in high school plays, including “Music Man” and “Annie.”

During his gigs, Schlichter doesn’t do much singing. “I’m not much of a singer. I do backing vocals when I’m required to and whenever I get the courage to go ahead and do it.”

He identifies with Ringo Starr, his favorite Beatle. “He’s not much of a singer. He sang one song per album and he always had the other Beatles helping him in the background. He’s not a singer and he gets away with it anyway. It’s the same thing with me.”

Schlichter wrote his first piece, an instrumental, after Strickland left him alone on stage so he could visit the restroom. “The song eventually evolved. I called it ‘Tinkle.’ ”

He recently recorded the song, which will be available on CD for the first time this weekend at his Los Pilares shows.

J. T. Schlichter performs with Mike Strickland 6 to 9 p.m. Fridays at Los Pilares, 6063 Mt. Moriah, and 6 to 9 p.m. Saturdays at Los Pilares, 6249 Stage. No cover charge. Listen Up spotlights area performers. Michael Donahue can be reached at 529-2797.

To see a video of this performer, go to gomemphis.com and click on music.