John Fahey, Leo Kottke, Peter Lang, Barbeque Bob, Son House, Bukka White, Bach, Bartok, Beethoven, Gliere and the Russkies, 60's & 70's Progressive Rock, Charlie Patton, Takoma Recording Artists, Tchaikovsky, Bram Tchaikovsky, Helios Creed, Jimi, John Hartford, Old Bluegrass Recordings, Killbilly, Killing Joke, Jethro Burns, Jethro Tull, Fripp and King Crimson, Eno, Bowie, Caterwaul, Thinktree, Dave Mason, Gene Clark, Bill Frisell, Jim Woodring's FRANK, Split Enz, Stranglers(The), Zappa, Captain Beefheart(aka Don Van Vliet), Cocteau Twins, Lush, Bauhaus, Armaggedon, Captain Beyond, Pink Floyd, Yes, ELP, ELO, Dead Can Dance, Hawkwind, Steppenwolf, and many others.
I first took up guitar in the early seventies by learning the Classical technique.
My main inspiration at the time was that I wanted to be able to play like Leo Kottke
on his phenomenal Takoma release "6 & 12 String guitar." Of course that meant an
eventual migration to Steel Strings, though I still own a fine Bostan (Mexican)with
Cedar top and a beautiful tone - model 113.
Learning Syncopated Fingerstyle doesn't
happen overnight. But the discovery of John Fahey's music helped a lot. Around 2000,
my first two cds, "Oak Cake" and "Deep Wood Variations" were self-published and
released on the now defunct 'mp3.com'. I have combined them into a single cd, along
with 3 bonus tracks. It is available at CdBaby, called "Deep Wood".
I do all of my own recording and audio production. I have collaborated with
fellow MySpace Music Artists Pat O'Connell and Charlie Schmidt, and am credited with
audio production on Charlie's Cd "Xanthe Terra" on the Strange Attractors label. I
also have 2 other more recent cds available as well: "Harken", and "Secret Orchard
Apparatus". On these I delve into a little more experimentation with addition of field
recordings, synthesizer, digital echo/sample, and
other accompaniments.
Been awhile since I posted anything here : I have more or less fully recovered from the surgery in Feb. for Ulnar nerve relief Left arm. The challenges of regaining my Fret hand ability has resulted in some changes in my approach to the guitar, I plan to begin some new recordings soon.
from Wikipedia: At the age of 18, Reinhardt was injured in a fire that ravaged the caravan he shared with Florine "Bella" Mayer, his first wife.[5] They were very poor, and to supplement their income Bella made imitation flowers out of celluloid and paper. Consequently, their home was full of this highly flammable material. Returning from a performance late one night, Django apparently knocked over a candle on his way to bed. While his family and neighbors were quick to pull him to safety, he received first- and second-degree burns over half his body. His right leg was paralyzed and the third and fourth fingers of his left hand were badly burnt. Doctors believed that he would never play guitar again and intended to amputate one of his legs.[6] Reinhardt refused to have the surgery and left the hospital after a short time; he was able to walk within a year with the aid of a cane.
His brother Joseph Reinhardt, an accomplished guitarist himself, bought Django a new guitar. With painful rehabilitation and practice Django relearned his craft in a completely new way, even as his third and fourth fingers remained partially paralyzed. He played all of his guitar solos with only two fingers, and managed to use the two injured digits only for chord work." ------- ------- ------- In my slow recovery I can surely identify with this as I am having to come up with new ways to use the fret hand. Which also leads me to discover new and interesting melodic and rhythmic approaches. I seem to have the greatest difficulty with what were formerly easy chords in Standard, one for example being the C chord. Open C as would be expected, is still the easiest tuning.
Not only injury, but the ravages of age(entropy)is something that will affect every guitarist eventually, and cause him/her to revisit the craft in new ways. Something we can all look forward to, if you haven't encountered it already!
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