Just me for now. I've posted some tracks from bands & collaborations here before, I'm probably going to keep with acoustically based solos mostly until I leave the internet in March, 2010. Right now I'm with a modified Alverez Classical guitar, & a custom made electric-acoustic nylon string guitar, a semi-customized electric Bunker "touch" guitar (only a few months old, this guitar can play!). Also 3 12 string psalteries, a glockenspiel, & I'm hoping to find a bass marching drum soon. (for future drum circles, not to parade on Main street with!)
Influences
I learned a little from everyone. Being a child of the 60's, I was listening to Beatles & Psychedelia & Jazz around the same time I started playing drums at around 8 years of age. There weren't any musicians in my family, so I gravitated toward the world of music on my own. I saw Jimi Hendrix from the Monterey Pop movie on PBS as a child, & that's where the"Guitar Player Syndrome" began! When I started playing guitar regularly, I tuned my guitar to the harmonic tones from "Roundabout" from the Yes "Fragile" LP. When I knew I was in key with those songs, the next step was trying to figure them out. It was ambitious to learn music like that, & was a good influence as a self-taught musical classroom. I never learned everything there, but it was a good start! Jimmy Page had an elaborate folksy acoustic style on most of the first 6 Led Zeppelin albums, alot can be learned from that side of his music. If I ever would've played a Stratocaster, I may have sounded more like Jimi Hendrix or Ritchie Blackmore, I sure have listened to them alot. Gravitating to more of an acoustic guitar direction made sense, it was portable, & the sound was more complete. I would've liked to play more keyboards & other instruments also, my right hand & arm got in the way. Playing guitar is one of the few things I can do with my right hand. Even the muscular structure of it is much different, it is like having an intergalactic limb! Early & mid-era Pink Floyd were favorites too, one of the first songs I ever learned on acoustic guitar was "Granchester Meadows" from "Ummagumma". The concert I saw on their "Animals" tour at Chicago in "77 was one of the best shows I'll ever see, I'll never forget that one as long as I can rub 2 brain cells together! One day I thought I was hearing a Black Sabbath song from someone's radio outside. I found out that it was a garage band called "Blizzard" practicing in where else?-a garage! I got to know them, & Dan Ramos, the guitarist was like some kind of prodigy. He could pick up a song while hearing it the 1st time, & could play lead guitar from Black Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix, UFO, Deep Purple, & on & on like it was nothing. They also would go off into long instrumental improvs at band practice, which was great for a beginner like me to see & hear. After I'd been playing awhile, Dan & I played some frenetic crazy improvisions & worked out some arrangements also. He was a great influence & quite a character. I lost track of him when he & a couple of my other Chicago friends transplanted themselves to California. I was very nomadic then & moved around quite a bit for awhile. I've wondered where many old friends are now. Neil Young is somewhat of a father figure to me musically. I grew up hearing his fantastic songwriting & guitar playing. If I were ever going to be in a tribute band, it would have to be for Neil Young. I've been in both original & cover bands, always Neil tunes in the cover bands! He's also got a way of working off of suspended chords like no one else in his songs. I like to sing, although you won't hear it here! When I was around 14, I found myself singing along with "Tarkus" & "Brain Salad Surgery" from Emerson, Lake, & Palmer, so Greg Lake was a great influence--they also got me interested into complex music with a crazed rock beat. Someone who was sounding very individual then were the group Renaissance. Until then, a voice as pure sounding as Annie Haslam had never rang my ears. Songs like "Scheherazade", "Ashes are Burning", "Spare some Love", & "Rajah Kahn" are just a few examples of her 5 octave range as she has perfect pitch with every note! I like vocal harmony alot, growing up listening to the Beatles, Beach Boys, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, along with Yes gave me a good sense of layered harmonies. (My hair's usually too long to fit into a barbershop quartet scene!) Even though some of the music here may sound Classically influenced, I don't know much about that genre. As a teenager, Emerson, Lake, & Palmer introduced me to Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition". Around that time, there was a native Brazilian guitar duet on the Tonight show that I recorded onto cassette. One of the songs they played was magical, although I had no idea what it was--I couldn't understand their accents on the intro! A few years later, I heard a fantastic keyboard player at a bar in Indiana, & I ran the melody of the middle of the song by her. She solved the mystery by telling me the song was Chopin's "Fantaisie-Impromptu. opus 66". (managed to record that from cassette to CD years later--still listen to it!) There are so many composers from long ago & now that you can list a book's worth & leave someone out who someone gets angry about! Liszt, Debussy, Shostakovich, & Schoenberg would begin the list--haven't even heard all of their songs yet! I don't read music, on the other hand I know what key all my songs are in. I tried taking music theory years ago at a community college in northern Illinois, & the teacher told me that 4 whole steps together couldn't happen. (In theory apparently) I'd heard the Beatles, Yes, King Crimson, & Genesis all do the the 4 step progression, so I dropped the class. And I have a few 4 whole steps of my own together too, so There! The possibilities of music are infinite. It's a universal language, which is why I'm featuring instrumentals here. Since there aren't language barriers , the music can translate as far as the land masses will allow!
Sounds Like
This!!!, I can describe my instrumental arrangements as music without boundries of countries or centuries.
I started as noisy kid, wanting to be a Jazz drummer. Next was a synthesizer, & the converted garage-bedroom of the day had plenty of strange noises echoing forth from it. (It was a good idea to stick me out there!) Since then, I've gravitated to guitars--most of the recordings here are "treated" electric-acoustic guitars. They're Classical guitars, although not exactly played Classically. The punchline is if anyone like me with missing fingers could play a somewhat stylish guitar, you have the potential to do better!
I send season's greeting on this Happy Holidays.
I am very grateful to you for the kindness you showed us this year.I wonder what your New Year's resolution is.May your dream come true in New Year.
I heartily send all good wishes for holidays to you and your family.
Candles are a gift of light, A tiny sun, a bit of star. No other dancer in the night Dances with such sheer delight, Little souls serene and bright, Each a glimpse of what we are Shining innocent and pure.
Don't know about freeze dried foods? Well, it can save your life because it has a shelf life of up to 25 years. Check out my site and if you get only the basic 7 day food supply, some food is better than no food. Our ancestors always had food storage in their pantries that would get them through winter. Wisdom then is wisdom now. Anyway, thanks for finding me and I'm wishing you a great holiday season.
The pleasure is all mine! I invite you to join your Prog Community on http://progonline.ning.com/ so we can help you promote your music. See you there ! Patsy from Progressive Rose Promotions
You are being featured on INDIE ARTIST WEEK, so you have been added to my Top Friends for the week! Also, I have posted "Ready For Anything" on my player this week! Keep on rockin'!!!
Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand and melting like a snowflake...
Have a great weekend Kev! Much love Your friend always Uli
Online Now!
