You know what’s really cool?  When a guitarist translates the vocal melody of a song onto their instrument.  Whenever I hear someone do it, my reaction is always the same: “Oh shit! How’d they do that?”  It’s as if they’ve cracked some kind of code and it reminds me that voices are nothing more than biological guitar strings.  Here are some choice examples from Tommy Emmanuel, Jeff Beck, and John Mayer…

If you’re just going to watch one, make it this. Tommy Emmanuel will make you go wee-wee in your pants.

John Mayer – No Woman No Cry (stream)

…in Vollendung….,

Ob Richard Thompson der beste Gitarrist der Welt ist, wie Lindwurm sagt, lassen wir mal dahingestellt, wenn wir Tommy Emmanuel gehört haben.

Classical Gas

Poznati australski gitarista Tommy Emmanuel 18. studenog stiže u Dom sportova. Ulaznice možete nabaviti na prodajnim mjestima Eventima, te klubu Purgeraj na Ribnjaku.

Od prvog pojavljivanja u Hrvatskoj 2003. godine Emmanuel je kod nas stekao kultni status nastupajući po manjim koncertnim prostorima i pružajući ljudima jedinstveni i nezaboravan show za koji se uvijek tražila karta više.

Ovaj australski pulen Chet Atkins-a, dvostruko nominiran za nagradu Grammy a višestruko nagrađivan po mnogobrojnim svjetskim festivalima i časopisima, autor je 18 glazbenih izdanja, od kojih su neka posvećena isključivo instruiranju nadolazećih naraštaja gitarista. U karijeri koja se prostire na četiri desetljeća, teško da postoji glazbeno ime od važnosti a da Tommy Emmanuel s njim ili njom nije surađivao, nastupio ili bio inspiracija.

Il Teatro Lirico di Cagliari (via Santa Alenixedda Cagliari) ospita il concerto di Tommy Emmanuel il 29 Novembre 2009 alle ore 20,00.

E’ possibile acquistare i biglietti preso il Box Office

di Viale Regina Margherita n° 43.

Info:

- tel. Box Office: 070 657428

- tel. organizzatori : 328 4884902 / 328 4884627

- web: www.boxofficesardegna.it

S.P. / L.U.

Last week my friends Bob, Jim and I were fortunate to see Tommy Emmanuel perform at the Sheldon in St. Louis.  Emmanuel is considered “one of the greatest guitar players in the world”.  That’s not even my quote…that’s from Chet Atkins!  Emmanuel is awesome and I suggest that anyone who has the opportunity to see him should.  His paying and showmanship is second to none.  I remember we saw him in 2001 at the Sheldon, and after paying for about an hour he asked the crowd “how many guitar players are here tonight?”  No one would raise their hand!  Then everyone laughed realizing after watching him perform and being mesmerized with his playing that none of us were even worthy of raising our hands (even though, like us, most of the crowd were guitarists).  He plays many Beatle songs in his set.  He played his rendition medley of “Here Comes The Sun”, “When I’m 64″, “Day Tripper”, and “Lady Madonna” with perfection.  Once I looked at his YouTube video on how to play that medley.  It would take me weeks to get the first minute of the song down perfectly like him.  Just realize, though, I don’t believe there is anyone like him. I’ve attached a video of him doing the Beatles. Enjoy!!

Not much posting lately.  The GRE is staring me down right now, & i am reading a great book on Bonhoeffer’s concept of “accepting guilt.”  I have really enjoyed it, & hopefully when i finish i can reflect on it a bit.  Here is something to tide you over until i can write something of substance:

Alright, I’m going against my tendencies here. Which are to simply write, ‘Delay. That is all you ever need know.’ Which is, of course, true. But I’m actually going to post a video that shows one of the most creative uses for delay that I’ve seen a while. Now if you don’t like delay…………no. You do. Even if you don’t……you do. A close friend of mine turned me on to this video, and I believe Randy who posts here on this blog is a big fan of this guy, too. (Randy, if I got that wrong, my apologies. But you get some free linkage out of it! ) Notice this guy’s ability to take the same delay tempo and integrate quarters, untimed, and dotted eighths. This piece is beautiful. And it makes me feel things for this man that I don’t want to deal with. (And if that statement frightens you, just pretend you didn’t read it. You’d be surprised how well that technique works. I’ve used it for years every time someone says, ‘I don’t use delay.’ Nope. You do.)

Splendid.
Karl.

We all need a bit of Blues in our lives. Blues makes the good times that little bit sweeter, and there isn’t a person more saccharin than Tommy Emmanuel.

Go on, have a little listen to Tommy, trust me; you’ll be hearing the opening lick all day.

Dré

When I need a break from the bickering of politics I’ll relax and listen to Tommy Emmanuel among others:

But I’m not gonna stop the pursuit of Change the Congress in 2010.

Llevaba tiempo buscándolo, y por fin lo encontré. Una labor facilitada gracias a una página alojada en Geocities, en donde pude comprobar el capítulo exacto en el que salía Tommy Emmanuel, considerado hoy por hoy uno de los mejores guitarristas acústicos del mundo, en la serie Heartbreak High (en España, “Los rompecorazones”), y gracias a la página tusSeries por facilitarme la descarga del capítulo en cuestión.

En su día vi el capítulo, y aún hoy lo recordaba bastante bien, pero de aquellas no conocía muy bien al artista. No estoy seguro de si tenía ya su disco The Journey, o no. Pero el caso es que me acordaba de su aparición en la serie. De la cuál, por cierto, debo decir que es australiana, igual que el famoso guitarrista.

El vídeo no deja de ser una curiosidad, así que tampoco os esperéis un lucimiento desmesurado del artista. Su actuación, junto con la de uno de los protagonistas de la serie, dura poco. Y tuve que pegar varios fragmentos porque los enlazaban con otra trama de la serie que no venía a cuento.

Espero que lo disfrutéis, que no muchos saben de la existencia de esta aparición de Tommy en esta serie. Ni siquiera en la página IMDB hablan de ello, así que…

Su forma de ser en la serie es fiel reflejo de la realidad. Una persona muy cercana y muy humilde. Tuve la inmensa suerte de verlo hace varios años en Madrid, tanto en concierto como en master class privada, y fue todo un lujazo. Ah, y se sorprendió al ver que tenía su disco The Journey en edición de coleccionista, que por aquel entonces (no sé ahora) era muy difícil de conseguir. Y sí, me lo firmó, además de hacernos varias fotos para la posteridad.

Por cierto, ¿alguien recuerda una serie que echaban en Buzz a finales de los noventa de un guitarrista joven? Es que no recuerdo el título y me gustaría revisionarla.

Vídeo | Youtube (el primer vídeo que subo a esta página)

There is this strange sort of shared humor amongst musicians (at least amongst the ones who take music seriously and nothing else) that tends to crop up from time to time. Sometimes they come up in the oft-repeated-at-band-rehearsal one-liner jokes, sometimes they come up in those special conversations between musicians and music retail store employees shortly before the subject of a discount is brought up, and sometimes, just sometimes, they come up when two guitar legends decide to come together and make an album just for the hell of it:

Yes. Just yes.

Now, just in case you don’t know who either of these two characters are, I have arranged guitar lessons for you so that you will find out within about 5 minutes of talking to someone who already knows how to play. Basically, both of these men, for their respective generations, represent that master class of musicians that regular people don’t ever seem to know they’re already a fan of.

Take Chet Atkins, for example. One of the first words my dad (an accomplished finger picker guitarist whom I have always aspired to play like) taught me in my youth was “Chet Atkins”. If you’ve ever seen a case of hero worship that could rival my own with Johnny Cash, it would be my dad with Chet Atkins. Chet’s finger picking style, an absolute novelty in Country music back when it was just becoming a “thing” to listen to in the South, is kind of a bastardized version of the way Merle Travis (another Country legend) played guitar, with his thumb playing bass notes and 2 or 3 fingers handling the chords or melodies. Thing is, Chet mastered this style long before he discovered that Merle was only using one finger, and like in some Star Wars metaphor I don’t have time to remember, the pupil became the master.

Basically, Chet’s “style” was to essentially play 2 or 3 guitar parts all by himself, because the internet had not been invented yet, so he was just going with what he heard on the recordings. What he was listening to was actually multiple instruments being tracked together, but what he heard was “this” many sounds, and so he had to learn “THIS” many notes. He got so good at it that, by the time he started actually working in music, he was continually getting fired for playing music that wasn’t “Country” enough, he was simply too good, and folks didn’t like that. He was actually an early guitarist for The Carter Family, but rumor has it that the Family based their operations in Missouri because Nashville wouldn’t let them in without getting rid of Chet Atkins first, because they were worried he’d take all their jobs. That’s right, Chet Atkins was a liability to the entire Music Capital of America because he was that good.

So, instead of sulking about it, he became famous anyway and eventually became a producer, ironically the inventor of “The Nashville Sound”, which is what your Brad Paisleys, Keith Urbans, and Garth Brooks of the world are forced to conform to in order to keep the still-close-minded Nashvillians from kicking them off the charts. In conclusion, Chet Atkins re-invented Country Music in such a way that it hasn’t changed since. For this reason he is Country Music’s greatest innovator, and History’s greatest monster. Not bad for a poor finger picker who couldn’t figure out music right!

Chet Atkins’ influence, both as a guitarist and a producer, is one of the most widely heard in music, despite the average joe really knowing that much about him. One above-average joe who knew all about him was an Australian kid called Tommy Emmanuel, a guitar prodigy who pain-stakingly learned Chet Atkins’ sound so well that he was able to carve out his own circle of wannabe-guitarists who will dedicate anywhere up to 3 hours in a Guitar Center trying to learn his stuff while an impatient employee taps his foot and swears to himself that he will not give this outrageous ass a discount.

So, through apparently no other reason than the sheer will of God, these two legends, 30 years of age apart, decided to come together and record an album of Chet Atkins’ original music, in fact the very last set of original music he would commit to tape before tragically dying in 2001 at the age of 77… of AIDS (citation needed).

It should probably go without saying that this album is incredible, but I’m going to say it anyway. As a guitarist who spent his first few years exclusively learning “finger picking” style and still utilizes it to this day, this album is something that is extraordinarily rare in the scope of music I listen to: it’s music that I have no hope of being able to play. Everything is clean, precise, and impossibly complicated. From the opening “Borsalino”, a song written by a famous French Jazz pianist, to the closing original, “Smokey Mountain Lullaby”, every song is something of a revelation, and yet everything isn’t totally sterilized by Atkins’ production values (think “elevator music”).

The great thing about Tommy Emmanuel is that he balances being an expert guitarist with having a bit of a “rough” attack, so when his parts come up, they can catch up with Chet’s always-perfect strokes, but they rather mischievously play the young student giving the old teacher a hard time. Of course, this interplay is so subtle it might as well had been written in invisible ink. Instead of that, I am going to talk about my two favorite songs, because a track-by-track commentary of an instrumental album is almost as ridiculous as a blog writeup of such, ahem.

There are two songs that contain actual words on this album, and both of them are awesome. The first is the title track, which takes its chord progression and melody from a certain kind of “descending minor key” blues that is rather iconic. The best example of this kind of blues is probably “Minnie The Moocher” like on The Blues Brothers, or Albert Collins’ “Don’t Go Reaching Across My Plate”. Either way, the words are an absurd ballad about finger pickers taking over the world, but not in the violent way depicted in the album’s awesome cover, apparently. The song, which is sung by Chet and Tommy switching off, subtly reminds the listener that Chet made the style popular, but when Tommy actually name-drops Chet you can hear Chet say “Awww shut up”. It’s kind of great, I ain’t gonna lie.

My favorite song on the whole set is “Ode To Mel Bay”. Mel Bay, if you didn’t know, is the author of all those books that you see on how to learn guitar (you know, before the internet). He’s got books on guitar, bass, fiddle, mountain dulcimer, oud, flute, octopus, zebra, fence-post, helicopter, banjo, just about everything. The best part about his books are that they’re basically crap and reading them might actually make you worse at guitar. Either way, Mel Bay is rightfully associated with “beginner guitarists”, so this playful ode by two master guitarists is incredibly fun. Again, the song is sung by Chet and Tommy, switching off and occasionally harmonizing, and trading licks (guitar licks, you pervert). The best part is that the “licks” they’re trading are basically terrible, emulating perfectly a “beginner” style, not only on guitar, but on violin as well! The little lead parts are atrocious, to the effect that the song becomes a wonderful joke as well as a fitting tribute to the idea that everyone has to start somewhere.

Really, the entire album is great and you should listen to it, especially if you’re a musician, because then you’ll not only get the jokes, but won’t get bored halfway between them with all the masterfully precise guitar music which, to the grand majority of people, is an absolute snooze-fest.

It’s been a while since we’ve “revealed” anything.  Possibly, it’s because the Universe has been a bit quiet and, therefore, so have we.  That doesn’t mean that we haven’t been putting ourselves out there is search of an answer as to our next who, what, when and where.  We already know the why and, hopefully, after having spent a bit of time with us, you know that, too.

Anyway, we saw this recent “Thoughts” posting on Jorma Kaukonen’s website (www.JormaKaukonen.com) and, in light of our recent – and fourth – Couples Weekend at his music haven, Fur Peace Ranch, we thought we’d share it with you.  It may give you some insight as to why we have put a good bit of our energy into promoting not only his guitar camp but also the incredible musicians that have served as instructors there and, in doing so, have helped to bring it into its 12th year of superb operation.  So, here goes:

A thoughtful note from a soul who cares about humanity and my response:

Hello-

Today I saw a clip on Youtube. It was Jorma Kaukonen performing at Woodstock,wearing a swastika. Was this supposed to be cute or sarcastic? I’m disgusted and my image of Jorma is forever tarnished. How insensitive can a person be? Being near New York you can bet there were people in the audience who lost family members to the Nazis. They must have loved it.

What a self-absorbed jerk.

Peter Edelman
Hastings-on-Hudson, NY

Dear Peter:

My wife forwarded your letter to me this morning and there are, of course, a number of recurring lessons for me. This is good. First let me tell you a little about myself.

My maternal grandparents left Russia in the late 1800’s escaping the pogroms of the time. My grandmother, Vera Joseph (it was Americanized at Ellis Island to Joseph from Haskevitch) served two years in a Czarist Gulag for being a Jew who spoke up. Her family came from the St. Petersburg area but she grew up in the forests of Karelia. My grandfather, Benjamin Samuel Levine came from the Ukraine… much the same story.

They and their families move to Ellington, Connecticut where there was a historically interesting collective of Jewish intellectuals and farmers. They grew tobacco. They read the Torah. My grandfather Ben got his PhD from Brown University and was a noted research bacteriologist in his time. He is in the U.S. Medical Who’s Who. My grandmother Vera, got her degree from Trinity College in Connecticut. Obviously they left the farm. My great grandfather Shmuel was a Rabbi and the Torah that he inked in the late 1800’s is still in the little Orthodox Shul just outside the cemetery in Ellington, Connecticut. The first electric guitar that I first played with the Jefferson Airplane was purchased with Israeli Bonds my grandmother purchased for me in the early 50’s. This is a typical Jewish immigrant story, I know. My father’s parents came over from Finland. Everyone thought it interesting that a Finn and A Russian got together. Another story for another time.

I am a Jew. My wife is a life member of Hadassah and our three year old daughter is being raised in the Jewish tradition.

Now we get to the twisted cross of the Woodstock film. I’m not sure what ‘your image’ of me ever was. That doesn’t matter. Self absorbed jerk in that time? Absolutely! Guilty as charged. Insensitive? Undoubtedly! I’m not going to devolve into a discussion about semantics here. When you and others see that pendant, you see a swastika. So be it. It is a piece on Navajo pawn silver that I bought at a trading post in the early sixties. That’s what it meant to me… The symbol of the four winds, four seasons etc. The overriding power of symbols is undeniable. Is it important what it meant to me as opposed to what you and others think when you see it? At the time, I would have said ‘Yes. I know what it means to me and it doesn’t matter what you think!’ Would I say that today. Absolutely not. At 68 years old I would recognize my responsibility to educate from the side of a higher moral ground and that intentions mean nothing… only the reality of actions. I would not let my children wear anything that even vaguely resembled a Swastika or any other Anti-Semitic symbol, Fascist or otherwise. I would not associate with anyone who did the same regardless of their explanation. That is where I am today. Life for me is progress not perfection.

One of my Rabbis has said that it is a mitzvah for me to have to explain this repeatedly and that perhaps the most important lesson is that of taking responsibility… that all actions have consequences good and bad. I accept this.

I do not know in what spirit you will take this letter. I do, however, honestly thank you for giving me the opportunity to address this one more time. Given the context of what we are talking about, I will sign it with my Hebrew name:

Zei Gesundt

Yuri Liron

We hope that this inspires you in some small way.  We always find Jorma’s words to be soothing and encouraging and, for us, it’s a mitzvah to pass them along.

We’ll be back soon when more will be revealed.  Until then, please be good to each other and keep supporting live music.  It would be incredibly quiet without it!

Den här mannen gör mig så jävla lycklig varje gång jag ser o hör hans gitarrspel!  Det blir något slags “jorå, kan jag garva o må bra av det här, så blir det nog fan bra imorrn också”!

Lo5e!

Fonte: “Corriere di Como“

Mentre Claudio Baglioni rigenera Questo piccolo grande amore, il figlio Giovanni (nella foto in alto), che sarebbe nato dieci anni dopo quel famoso album del 1972, debutta con un progetto discografico molto ambizioso, frutto di una spontanea passione per la chitarra acustica, che verrà presentato dal vivo domani, 30 luglio, alle 21.30, al teatro all’aperto Licinium di Erba in via Crotto Rosa (ingresso 12 euro). «L’Accademia dei Licini ha accolto con entusiasmo la proposta di ospitare, in collaborazione con il Comune di Erba, Giovanni Baglioni – dice la presidente dell’Accademia dei Licini Luisa Rovida De Sanctis – La commistione tra generi così diversi, ma accomunati dall’eccellenza artistica, è un importante valore aggiunto all’offerta culturale complessiva».

Nel lavoro di Giovanni è complice, più del padre, la musica virtuosa del chitarrista Tommy Emmanuel. «È proprio così – ricorda Baglioni jr. – Mi aveva molto impressionato la sua tecnica fingerpicking, anche se oggi il mio stile di chitarra contemporanea è molto più vicino al suono di Michael Hedges».

Un genere impegnativo, cosa si aspetta da “Anima Meccanica”, il suo primo disco’

«Le vendite stanno andando molto bene e per un lavoro di chitarra strumentale è un fatto incoraggiante. Ma non mi piace pensare alle mie canzoni come a un prodotto di nicchia per orecchie virtuose. Mi piacerebbe invece dimostrare, con umiltà e semplicità, che anche questo tipo di musica può arrivare a tutti».

Un po’ come è successo per il giovane Giovanni Allevi’

«Qualcosa di simile, certo. Lui è molto bravo e lo ha dimostrato bene con il pianoforte».

Come nascono i titoli di brani che non hanno parole’

«Il processo credo sia esattamente uguale a quello di una canzone che si basa sulle liriche: sensazioni, pensieri, storie che si traducono in musica».

Rubik sembra perfetta per ricomporre il famoso cubo.

«Sì, il ritmo è proprio quello giusto. Bloody Finger, ad esempio, rappresenta invece la dimensione parallela in cui vivo quando suono, le note mi assorbono completamente».

Solo con la sua chitarra.

«Esattamente, anche se ogni tanto me la prendo con lei quando qualcosa va male. Ora è da un liutaio, aveva bisogno di qualche coccola».

Oltre alle canzoni del disco, in concerto quali composizioni si ascolteranno’

«All’inizio, e se mi chiedono un bis, finora per fortuna è sempre successo, suono due canzoni di Michael Edges, è il mio modo per ricordare e ringraziare questo grande artista scomparso nel 1997».

Si dice che suo padre Claudio sia molto orgoglioso.

«Siamo stati reciprocamente discreti. Io quasi gli nascondevo le mie canzoni, lui mi incoraggiava senza mai spingermi. Diciamo però che si entusiasmava quanto sentiva i miei progressi e mi diceva con stupore: “ma come fai’”. La stessa cosa che avrei potuto dirgli io per decine delle sue canzoni».

A proposito, cosa dice del nuovo progetto che l’8 settembre porterà Claudio Baglioni anche a Cernobbio’

«L’ho sentito solo in fase embrionale, quando papà, come sempre, è molto nervoso. Credo che sarà un disco molto bello».

Maurizio Pratelli

Well, you know, Sean, Tommy Emmanuel wasn’t the only group I saw at Worldfest. I saw a duo called Bluehouse there, too, and bought a cd by them. And looking at the cd, Tommy Emmanuel was playing backup for them a bunch on it.

I found a clip of both of them playing together. The song, in this case, is Walls.

Well, I’m stumped. I don’t know what to post today. So I’ll just keep the Tommy Emmanuel train going, with Pegao by Jose Feliciano, seen on Michael Johnathon’s WoodSongs show.

Courtesy of guitarsoul.

Sorry about not playing a follow up yesterday, but I was pretty much exhausted; I went to work straight from the airport getting back, which is not a good idea, especially when your work sleep schedule and vacation ones are different.

Back to the posts, I can stick with Tommy Emmanuel, I suppose. Here he is with Richard Smith at Glasgow, Scotland in 2006. The two of them performing together is amazing.

Oh, dude, anyone who can make sounds like that on an acoustic guitar deserves a little more love.

Here’s Tommy Emmanuel again, with something more conventional – and more delicate. This is Saltwater, taken from the same performance as Initiation. You might want to crank this one.

Courtesy of BeautifulGuitarMusic.

And yes, I know, it’s the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon and I’m supposed to say something about it in my blog. Well, I just did.