I came late to Wes Montgomery. I was influenced by those who followed him long before I ever actually got into the man himself. I have loved jazz all my life, but only in the last decade have I truly tried to play it and feel it. To do that, I realized that an appreciation for Wes is essential. He directly influenced such greats as George Benson, Grant Green, Pat Martino, Allan Holdsworth and Lee Ritenour. Pat Metheny has said "I learned to play listening to Wes Montgomery's Smokin at the Half Note." Even amongst his contemporaries, which included such talented guitarists as Johnny Smith, Jimmy Raney,Tal Farlow, Herb Ellis, Barney Kessel and Kenny Burrell, Wes was recognized as something special. Fellow guitarist Joe Pass referred to him as one of only three real innovators on the guitar, the others being Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt.
If these names are new to you, consider this an invitation to explore the amazing world of jazz guitar. Go and start listening to some music by every one of these greats. But start and end with Wes. Why?
Why do guitarists as diverse as Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana and Eric Johnson feel such a strong influence from him? Why did Frank Zappa say, "If you want to learn how to play guitar, listen to Wes Montgomery."
The year 1960 was when he first came to public attention, but he was no newcomer. Indeed he was almost 40 years old and had been playing for years before he hit the big time. After a brief run with Lionel Hampton in the late 1940's Wes had been toiling in obscurity in Indianapolis, working a day job, raising a family, and gigging three or four nights a week at local clubs. It takes passionate commitment to voluntarily stay out until 2 in the morning playing club dates, night after night, knowing you will go home, get four hours sleep and then get up and go to your day job. But Wes was not just surviving during this time, he was thriving, growing, maturing. He was developing an amazing technique and a style all his own. Clearly Wes loved what he was doing and was utterly devoted to his music. Watch the short clip below for some great insight into how, in spite of the indignities of segregation, Indianapolis provided a nurturing environment for Wes, a safe haven for him to allow his talent to grow and blossom.
So put on "The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery" and listen. Get past the relatively primitive recording quality and picture the scene. Wes shows up at the studio with a group of musicians, they set up their gear, the producer puts some microphones around, and a few hours later, the record is done. This is the sound of jazz records of the time. You get a sense of being there, hearing exactly what happened on that day: the sound of real people playing music. The tape recorder was just like the fly on the wall, eavesdropping on the moment. There was no studio trickery or post-production magic to sweeten the sound; what they played that day was what went on the record. And what went down that day was so good, it is still considered one of the greatest jazz guitar albums of all time.
Every time I return to Wes, I still marvel at his command of jazz vocabulary, his impeccable rhythmic precision, and his endless melodic inventiveness. On top of all that, there is his tremendous sense of swing, and a laid back, relaxed feeling that underlies everything. He infuses his playing with his unique character - a gentle, fun, relaxed quality that balances out the thoughtful, intense nature that overtakes a lot of jazz.
Then there's the thumb. Watch some video and try to get your mind around how he accomplishes all that with only the thumb of his right hand ever striking the strings.
Wes had the whole package: technical mastery and musical depth, all wrapped up in a warm inviting package that jazz critic Stanley Crouch referred to as "the true welcome." Music has never been more true, or more welcoming, than it was with Wes.
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During his years in Pink Floyd, David Gilmour delivered a string of epic, powerful, brilliant performances that established him as an all-time guitar great, indeed coming in at #14 on Rolling Stone's list of 100 Greatest Guitarists.
"Wish You Were Here," "Comfortably Numb," "Shine On You Crazy Diamond," "Another Brick in the Wall," "Run Like Hell"...and that doesn't even include anything from Dark Side of the Moon.
I consider several of his solos essential for all my students who aspire to play lead guitar, because of their phrasing, bending, vibrato, and his ability to mix from-the-gut blues riffs with well thought out note choices over the chords. I rarely have to suggest it - the songs are usually requested!
Gilmour's diversity is often obscured behind the massive guitar heroics of those songs. His creative use of effects, his tasteful fingerstyle work, the ease with which he integrated funk and blues into the music of what would seem a most un-funky, un-bluesy band. And just for good measure, he was quite proficient at lap steel guitar, which permitted him to add some wonderful parts that contributed immensely to the tracks on which they appear (for example, "Breathe," heard in the clip above). All give evidence of a powerful creative force who took every opportunity to push the boundaries of what was possible within the confines of Pink Floyd.
Here's one of my favorites, "Poles Apart" from The Division Bell. It features a gorgeous finger-picked acoustic guitar part, a graceful and gently building song structure, culminating at 5:17 in a classic Gilmour solo.
Over-arching it all is his tone. Gilmour's approach to his sound has
always been in a state of evolution and development, but every step of
the way, he has produced guitar tones that are always clear, beautiful, powerful and distinctive.
Gilmour has re-emerged in the last ten years with a superb solo album, On An Island, and a series of tours, documented on two terrific DVDs, Remember That Night and Live in Gdansk. The live performances, especially, exemplify the maturing Gilmour: less notes, deep feeling, huge sound. His tone has become gigantic, and every note is well considered and given space to express its deepest feeling. Case in point: "On An Island." Bonus: Graham Nash and David Crosby on backup vocals!
Gilmour is a great guitarist not content to rest on his laurels - still evolving, still creative and vibrant; a powerful presence we are lucky to have. http://www.davidgilmour.com/
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George Harrison's career has so many high points, I have two playlists on my iPod for him: Beatles and post-Beatles. Great guitar work abounds at every point. When I was a young guitarist, it was hard rock and intense technique that captured my attention, but as years have gone by, I have developed a much greater appreciation for George's skills, stylistic diversity, his sheer professionalism. I have always admired his ability to express, through music, his honest and humble pursuit of higher meaning and purpose in life. And most of all, I love his dedication to making great songs, and always placing the guitar in service to making every song the best possible piece of music it can be.
Here's a trailer for the fantastic documentary, "Living In The Material World," essential for understanding this deep and complex man:
I always come back to "Something." It is a magnificent song, and the performance and production as heard on the Abbey Road album show the level of absolute mastery the Beatles had achieved at this point, their final album together. The solo epitomizes George's best qualities. Every guitarist who has tried to play it knows that it is tricky, because it is completely devoid of cliches or typical guitar tricks. George's confidence and skill on the guitar allowed him to go past technique to create a gorgeous solo melody of timeless, haunting beauty. A true classic.
His solo catalog is full of songs that are enriched by such great guitar riffs and solos, including some masterful slide work. For example, check out some of my personal favorites: "Here Comes The Moon," Give Me Love," "Blow Away," "My Sweet Lord," and the wonderful "I'd Have You Any Time:"
And that's just from the "post-Beatles" playlist. This is music to return to over and over, because it comes from the heart, and touches the heart. http://georgeharrison.com/
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From Wikipedia: "Terry Alan Kath (January 31, 1946 – January 23, 1978), born in Chicago, Illinois, was the original guitarist and founding member of the rock band Chicago. He died in early 1978, eight days before his 32nd birthday, from an unintentional self-inflicted gunshot wound."
Terry Kath was an amazing guitarist and singer in what was once
an amazing band. He died tragically, much too young. His praises have never been sung enough and he
deserves far more tribute than he's ever got. Kath was a huge inspiration for me in my formative guitar playing years. Like the band itself at the
time, he was so full of creative energy, musicianship and soul that it
still takes my breath away.
Kath is well known for the blazing guitars that permeate the early Chicago hit, "25 or 6 to 4."
That performance left no doubt that he could hang with the best guitarists of the time, and considering the competition in the late 60's-early 70's, that is saying quite a lot. And he did so while retaining a very personal and unique approach that made him unmistakable. Even more to his credit, he did so without acquiring the "guitar hero" ego, preferring instead to make brilliant and heartfelt contributions to the powerful group he was a part of.
Here is my favorite live version of one of my all-time favorite Chicago songs, "Introduction," written and sung by Terry, which encapsulates everything I've tried to describe about him into one awesome performance:
"In The Country" is another Chicago tune I always loved; surprise, it's written by Terry Kath. As usual, Chicago packed more musical content into one song than most groups today have in a whole album. And they did it with style, fire and soul. Here's a great live version:
And here's an excellent 20 minute documentary about the band, from 1970:
His daughter Michelle has created a wonderful website tribute, http://www.terrykath.com/ ,
and is producing a
full documentary about Terry. Hopefully it will raise awareness of his talents and
contribution, and give him the wider recognition he truly deserves.
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As you might have read in my previous post, I am using my webcam to expand my teaching business online, through the magic of the Skype video calling program. The idea is to reach people who can't get to Coffey Music to study with me in person. It has the potential to connect me with guitar students all over the world!
Even if you're not interested in lessons, you can be a tremendous help by simply watching the 4-minute video I have created to promote my teaching business. Please click on the video title to open up the clip on YouTube's site:
The more people that watch it, the more likely it is that other people will find Ben Sherman when they search for this topic. This will help me to reach lots more people who want to take lessons via Skype.
If you are really motivated and want to do a little more, here's what you can do:
1. Watch the video all the way through.
2. Click the thumbs up icon to give it a Like.
3. Leave a nice comment.
4. Add the video to your YouTube favorites.
5. Share it with your friends by email or on your Facebook, Twitter or Google+.
6. Put up a link to the video or embed it, if you have any place it would be practical to do so. Please let me know if you do this, so I can be sure to return the favor!
If you have wanted guitar lessons with Ben Sherman but couldn't get to Coffey Music in Westminster MD, there's good news: I am open for business again with live one-on-one guitar lessons via Skype! Any level, any style. 30-minute or 60-minute sessions available. No long term commitment required.
SKYPE
Skype is a free, live webcam communication service. To use it, you will need:
1. A good internet connection
2. A webcam, a computer and an e-mail address.
3. Skype (free internet video calling software). Go to http://www.skype.com/ and click on "Downloads."
4. A credit card or PayPal account.
If you need help with any of the technical issues, contact me, I'll help.
Here's what to do:
1. Contact me (see below) - we'll work out all the details: day and time, lesson plan, etc.
2. I'll send you an invoice and you can pay for your lesson - via credit card or PayPal.
3. Be ready at the scheduled time.
4. Have fun!
GUITAR LESSONS
I offer lessons for beginners to advanced, age 10 and up, providing instruction in:
acoustic, electric, rock, jazz, classical, advanced techniques, improvisation,
and specializing in teaching music theory in a practical, easy to understand way.
With Skype and me, there's nothing stopping you from accomplishing what you always wanted to do with the guitar. Contact me to get started!
UPDATED, Feb. 2017:
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of my first CD, First Light, I'm going to go track by track with my recollections about the songs, the gear and the people that made this project a reality.
Track 1: You Ain't Right - This song features the album's core rhythm section of Angelo Cammarata on bass and Carl Hupp on drums. The three of us had a group together in the mid 1990's called XYZ, and had the rare good fortune to get a regular gig in which we were given carte blanche to play all our favorite instrumental rock and jazz fusion covers.
Ben, Carl and Angelo in the studio, 1996.
And so we did, cranking out everything from Joe Satriani to Weather Report, with plenty of Jeff Beck, Eric Johnson and much more like that. (A video tape of us from 1994 has recently surfaced, hope to share some clips with you soon.) "You Ain't Right" was written based on a riff from Angelo that I developed into a completed song, did a demo version at home, and brought it back to the guys to learn and expand on. I was excited about the collaborative process, but we only got a couple songs done this way before Angelo and Carl got sidetracked by other personal and professional commitments. I had to continue developing the rest of the music on my own and with other musicians. But happily, the guys were able to still be part of the project, playing on this and several other songs on the CD.
"You Ain't Right," CD clip:
Later on, I played on a track from Carl's solo CD, Hyper Statue. To check it out click here.
Track 2: Three Wishes- Three Wishes is a completely different story. This track is a fairly faithful re-creation of one of my earliest recordings from the 1980's, back in the day when I had first got my home studio equipment and started making demos in the tiny living room of my first apartment.
Excerpt from home demo, 1987:
For the version on First Light, I called Barre Lankford, the bass player in my first band Spectrum and a good friend since high school, to play bass. Frank Young was recommended to me to do some drum tracks. Both guys were wonderful because they were able to remain true to the content of the original demo while adding tons of personal style and flair. The guitar parts are great examples of the crisp clear tones of my 1974 Fender Stratocaster.
Here's a clip from the final CD version with Frank and Barre:
Track 3: Chickenfish - This song goes back to the line-up of the first track. Written with XYZ in mind, it started with another Angelo bass riff. I joined that up with a melody from another very old demo of mine, and it evolved from there.
Excerpt from "Streets of the City," home demo 1985:
I was feeling a lot of creative freedom, which included being willing to deconstruct my old songs and integrate some of the ideas with new ones. It was exciting, and the finished track has a feeling I really like, a mingling of relaxed sophistication and playfulness.
Clip from "Chickenfish," final version from the CD, with Carl and Angelo:
I played my 1996 PRS Custom (practically brand new at the time) on this one, for that super thick lead tone, and whammy bar goofiness.
Hectic Red 1990's promo pic
Track 4: The Shadow - this was another song I had fully developed in home demo form in the 1980's. For the album, this one seemed perfectly suited to Hectic Red, the group I had already been with for ten years at that point (and is still going strong today!). Our keyboard player, John Suchy, also did all the recording and mixing for the entire album at his studio, Such Sound. The huge influence of Steve Morse on me is easily detectible by anyone who knows his style.
"The Shadow," CD clip with Such, Rich and Danny from Hectic Red:
Barre
Track 5: Horizons - the only cover tune in the project, came from an old album by Genesis. It was a lovely Steve Hackett solo piece that had been in my repertoire for years already. I had developed an idea for a multi-track arrangement, but the final result went far beyond my expectations. Besides layering multiple electrics, 12-string, steel string and nylon string guitars, I also asked Barre to add a bass part to it. He came up with some ideas on a fretless bass that were just stunningly beautiful; we were blown away.
"Horizons," CD clip with Barre:
Track 6: Hour Of The Wolf - This song was in an unfinished state until near the start of recording. I wanted to take this one in a slightly jazzier direction, and adding piano and percussion to the mix really helped to give it the right vibe. Brian Comotto played the keys and Hoppy Hopkins added the percussion. Another fine drummer, Brett Hayes, played on this track, and Angelo was on bass.
"Hour Of The Wolf," CD clip with Angelo, Brett, Hoppy and Brian:
Brian, Brett, Angelo, me
Track 7: Countdown - A very similar situation to Hour of the Wolf. I had an incomplete demo I had never been able to finish. But I got a ton of inspiration and motivation from how well the recording sessions were going, and I came up with what I needed to flesh out the song. Brett and Angelo again provided a superb rhythm section. The whole song was very much inspired by Joe Satriani, but I worked hard at investing the middle solo with my personal style and passion.
Early demo from 1987 with basic parts worked out:
Final CD version, new parts added:
Track 8: Nightmare on Church Street - This track was another one I had fully developed at home in the late 1980's, long before this album was conceived. I basically did it as an experiment in multi-track guitar overdubbing, which was a challenge back in the day when recordings were made onto physical pieces of tape. I had my Tascam Porta Two cassette recorder, a drum machine, a bass and a few other items like reverb and EQ. I went to work piling on the guitar tracks. I also was working with the timed echo concept to create the very mechanical sounding guitar parts that percolate through the song. I used super distorted tones, super clean tones. It was everything I could think of. Underlying it all, I had a very simple bass line and a repetitive drum machine part, just trying to keep out of the way of the mushrooming population of guitars going crazy.
Frank
When it came time to record it for the album, I did the bass myself because it was so simple. But Frank Young came in to do the drums for the song, and this was another case in which the part the musician came up with dramatically improved the song. And as I recall, he did it all in one take on the second try.
1987 demo excerpt:
clip from final CD version with Frank on drums:
Track 9: Last Best Hope - Now back again to collaborating with Carl and Angelo. Both guys took solos on this song, and really put all their skills and their hearts into it. You can really hear the intensity and emotion we all were expressing.
"Last Best Hope," CD clip:
Track 10: First Light - a solo acoustic instrumental in an alternate guitar tuning I had recently discovered: C G D G A D, or "C-Gad" as I like to call it. I have always pursued many aspects of guitar, because I simply love the diversity of sounds and expressive possibilities offered by different styles. Playing quiet finger-style on a steel string acoustic is a unique timbre, related yet very different from classical finger-style on a nylon string, as in Horizons. The unusual tuning further helped me drop into a very meditative, even spiritual zone. It took a while to get this track done, because I wanted the phrasing and articulation to be just right.
"First Light," CD clip:
In order to get going with this CD project, I had to get over the
fact that several of the songs I planned to do were not finished. There
is a saying: "leap and the net will appear." For a very long time, I
just couldn't believe it, and so I remained stuck in a very frustrated
state of wanting to do something, but not being able to get over a
writer's block that was nothing more than useless insecurities and
self-criticism. Thank goodness I finally found the courage to take the
leap into the unknown. Once I committed to going forward, I found myself
meeting and interacting with new musicians, all wonderfully talented,
enthusiastic and creative people. They helped me find the inspiration to
develop and finish those old unfinished songs, and their performances
took the songs to new heights I never would have imagined possible. This
was one of the greatest joys of making this CD.
Another stumbling block was the worry that my songs
sounded too much like the artists I was influenced by. I was paralyzed
by the fear that I was not original at all, but merely a good
imitator. Again, I had to overcome what were really irrational fears and
baseless self-doubt. Once I got the nerve to let go of worrying about
it and allow my influences to show, I started to notice that actually, I
did have a style and sound of my own after all. Well, what do you
know...
Pick up a copy of First Light, or download MP3s on iTunes and from CD Baby.
