About Me
My name’s Ben Tankersley. I’m 30. I started playing guitar when I was 9. My mom always said I was drawn to music from a really young age. I used to grab the Mission Impossible CD from the flipbook in our car and throw it in the stereo like it was a ritual. That was my jam.
She signed me up for guitar lessons, and I took to it fast. My teacher told her I had potential and that she should push me to keep practicing. I wasn’t hard to motivate—I was promised the new Grand Theft Auto if I learned “Highway to Hell” by AC/DC. Easy. I got the game. And we’ve all been waiting for a new one ever since.
I kept playing music through middle and high school. I was in jazz band, played soccer, had long hair, carried a guitar. I wasn’t cool, but I wasn’t uncool either. That kind of became my whole identity for a while.
After high school, I went to Belmont University in Nashville. Studied guitar and songwriting, graduated with a degree in Music Business. Since then, I’ve worked in restaurants, played shows, written songs with friends, been in love, lost love, cut my hair, made some bad decisions, started over a few times, and just tried to stay close to the things I care about.
Then COVID hit. The city shut down. I moved back home. Hit reset again.
And that’s when ctrlStrum started to take shape.
So... What Is ctrlStrum?
It’s a place for people like me—people still figuring it out while chasing something that feels real. People who make stuff, think too much, get obsessed, dream big, and actually care about the work.
It’s not just a brand. It’s a hub.
For the creatives, the coders, the lovers, the loners.
The weirdos, the deep thinkers.
The poets and the pornstars.
The ones who never fit into a clean little box, so they just made their own thing instead.
Right now, I’m finishing my second college degree—this time in Computer Science. And I think the mix of creativity and tech is powerful. Beautiful, even. But it’s also something we need to use with care. With intention.
ctrlStrum is where I want all of that to live.
A place for ideas, music, writing, design, code.
A place where I can put stuff out into the world.
A place to grow.
A place to connect with people who are trying to do the same.
Thanks for being here.
Let’s build something cool.
—Ben
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