Guitar Adventurers

Just wanted to share some music by some great guitar players who are sailing off into the uncharted realms that lie between the frets. I never get over the thrill of discovering players like these, so full of creativity, commitment, talent and exuberance, in such a diverse range of styles.

W.A. Mathieu

I first discovered the work of W.A. Mathieu over 15 years ago, when I came across an audio version of The Listening Book at a local library. Mathieu is an American pianist and musical scholar, trained in jazz, classical, Indian and African music. He also has the gift of explaining deep musical concepts in a way that anyone can understand; his mission is to show that music is an essential part of life itself. Those two cassettes I got at the library that day were life changing because they made tangible what I had always felt but never could quite express: that music is everywhere, in everything. The more you get that, the deeper your personal connection to music can be; this can lead to creative and even spiritual awakening. And yet it's as easy as walking down the street.

Temperament, Equal and Otherwise

If you are studying music, sooner or later you arrive at the question of what "in tune" really means and how it is determined. Especially if you play a fretted instrument like guitar, you start thinking about the notes between the frets, the bent notes, and you wonder, where are they in our musical system? The answer is nowhere. Suddenly a rabbit hole opens up and you are dropped into a new universe of musical concepts. Things you thought you understood, like, you know, notes and chords, are suddenly revealed as incredibly deep subjects. You are obliged to look deeper into the meaning of intervals, overtones and harmonics, and discover their relationship to the history of tuning. You discover Pythagorean tuning, just intonation, mean-tone temperament, microtonalism, the harmonic series, resonance and more. You start listening to sitar music. You finally come to realize what you've known intuitively all along; our whole modern system of equal temperament is wholly inadequate to really describe music. How could this have happened??

March 2012 Newsletter-Schedule

February 2012 marked the loss of the most beloved of gig-mobiles, our 1994 Toyota Camry station wagon. It was the fault of a clueless teenager, not looking where he was going, who pulled out in front of me as I was driving to a gig, forcing a collision. It did minor damage to his rear bumper, but thoroughly smashed my front end.

And of course due to the age of the car, the insurance company wasted no time in declaring it a total loss, and offering a pathetic pittance in compensation. Fortunately I was not injured, and even managed to get my gear into another vehicle and actually made it to the gig. I was probably not at my best, but I do have one simple rule I try to follow in life: show up.
But wait, there's more. Click "read more" to, you know, like, read more - about the really the weird part.

Zen Guitar - Phil Sudo

If asked to recommend one book to musicians, I would offer, without thinking, Zen Guitar by Phil Sudo. It is by far the most inspirational, motivational, practical and concise philosophy of music-making I have ever seen.

Phil Sudo was a writer and guitarist of mixed American and Japanese heritage. He sought to find a way to "blend the wisdom of west and east into a universal philosophy of life." To do that, he decided to write a book that merged his love of rock guitar with his devotion to the philosophy of Zen. The result was a masterpiece.

Ichigo Ichie

I originally wrote this in June 2008 , but it hasn't been available on the internet for some time now so I thought I'd re-post. It's a look back at one fairly intense weekend of gigs, and some thoughts and reflections about the relationship between performer and audience. It also connects with my appreciation of the book "Zen Guitar" and its author Phil Sudo. I have written about that in another blog post, click here to read it. And now, into the archives...

February 2012 Newsletter - Gig Schedule

I bet a lot of you are like me when it comes to music - you like to rock, but you also look for opportunities to hear a variety of musicians and styles.  If so, then my February schedule is going to knock your socks off with the diversity of styles and musical talent I am lucky enough to be a part of this month.
Thanks to all who continue to support my musical endeavors. Music is my calling in life, and it would still be if I wasn't making a cent off it, but this month's schedule really brings it all home that I am indeed one lucky guy. Enjoy the shows! Full details after the jump.