Younus: The Six Strings

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

What the Future Sounded Like

If you like electronic music (and I do!) here is a short film about the early days of synthisizers, going back to the advent of the EMS VCS-3, which dominated "Dark Side of the Moon" by Pink Floyd. Very interesting film that shows how the British music scene started using these back in the late 60's and into the 70's. This was all new to people back then.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Monday, July 5, 2010

I will never play guitar as good as these kids...

despite years of practice!

This is making the rounds on the internet - a young girl in North Korea who is advanced way beyond her years!

Here is Haruka Kageyama, all of 12 years old, who does a perfect rendition of a Joe Satriani song.

How do they play this good at such a young age?

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Robert Holmes - Guitarist for "Til Tuesday

I am going to write about a relatively unknown guitarist today. I was looking around for video of his old band and came across some of his work in the late 80’s and early 90’s. I was very impressed with his songs.

Robert Holmes, born in England in 1957, found some success as a founding member, songwriter and guitarist for one of my favorite 80’s-era bands, ‘Til Tuesday. The band formed in Boston in 1982, with members bassist/vocalist Aimee Mann, Robert on guitar and vocals, keyboardist Joey Pesce, and drummer Michael Hausman.

Robert’s guitar work was texture-driven, fairly simplistic and minimal but very effective for the type of music ‘Til Tuesday was playing. The first album, Voice Carry, was a hit on MTV and radio with the song, “Voices Carry.” Other songs on the album, “Love in a Vacuum” and “I Could Get Used to This” featured Robert’s tasteful, echo-laden guitar work.

“Til Tuesday were very popular then and toured all over the world. In 1986 the new LP Welcome Home, was critically received but failed to do much on the charts. Aimee Mann was moving away from the new wave sound of the first album.

The next LP, Everything's Different Now , released in 1988, was not a success. It peaked at #124, while the lead single "(Believed You Were) Lucky" barley made it into the top 100.

'Til Tuesday broke up after that.

Robert went on to form Ultra Blue, with his wife Glenda on vocals. I found some of their songs on YouTube last night and was very impressed with them. Ultra Blue won best new artist at the Boston Music Awards in 1989 and made many recordings. However, they never made it big.

Robert really shows his guitar skills on these songs. He never played like this with “Til Tuesday!

In 1996 he moved to Vermont and formed "Love Bomb" for which he was the leader and lead guitarist. They have built up a following in the Southern Vermont/ Western Massachusetts area, performing at numerous weddings and private parties. Robert is now a free lance guitar player for hire.

I wish Robert was more known in the music world. His guitar playing is excellent, and the songs by Ultra Blue are very good. Here are a few of them. Visit his website to hear more songs.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Johnny Hiland

Johnny Hiland is a guitarist originally from Woodland, Maine, and was born with a medical condition that left him legally blind. He joined his family's band, the Three Js and toured New England under the auspices of the Down East Country Music Association. At ten, Johnny won the Talent America contest, entitling him to a performance in New York City. He expanded his musical interests beyond bluegrass to the guitar rock of players like Joe Satriani and Eddie Van Halen. After high school, he attended the University of Southern Maine as a history major, but ultimately dropped out to become a professional musician.

Johnny eventually moved to Nashville where he worked as a guitarist for artists such as Toby Keith, Ricky Skaggs, Janie Fricke, and Hank Williams III. He has with Steve Vai’s Favored Nations label as a solo artist and to date has released two studio albums, the self-titledJohnny Hiland and Loud and Proud.

The Johnny Hiland Band has headlined concerts and clubs in the US and internationally in Italy, Japan, Canada, England, Italy and Germany. In addition to all of that, he also teaches Master Classes at vschools ranging from Berkley School of Music in Boston to Musicians Institute in California and the Academy of Contemporary Music in England.

Johnny has also released instructional DVDs which highlight his bluegrass and “chickin’ pickin’ style. If you play guitar, you probably know what that is.

Johnny career has really taken off the last few years, as evident by the fact that he has a signature guitar on the market. He played Fender Telecasters for years, then “shocked” the guitar world by switching to Paul Reed Smith guitars, eventually having a signature model named for him. (A few guitar forums went nuts about this!) He just joined the Ernie Ball/Music Man company as an endorsee, using a Music Man Silhouette guitar.

"I think Johnny Hiland is the most versatile guitar player I've ever heard. From Bill Monroe to Eddie Van Halen, he can play it all."

Ricky Skaggs

"I've jammed with the best the world has produced -- Johnny stands spirit to spirit with them all."

Ted Nugent
A few videos to enjoy.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

John Denner - Guitarist

John Denner puts to rest the notion that a physical handicap can keep you from becoming a great guitarist.

I am very impressed by John's music.

Anything is possible if you have the determination to succeed. I bet there were plenty of people who told him when he was just starting out that "you could never play the guitar." Guess he showed them a thing or two.

From his website:
"If you've heard anything about John Denner, you probably know he was born without a right hand.
And if you've had the privilege of hearing him play, you also know he's one of the most phenomenal guitar players in rock today.
These two facts alone are enough to amp up the guilt in your "I can't because . . ." file.

But you can't feel bad around him. There's something about John that makes you want to celebrate ... to marvel ... to wonder what it is about his playing that moves you so deeply."

I can agree with that.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Brent Mason

I am just getting into the guitar wizardry of Brent Mason. I have heard about him for years, and am now just checking him out.

Brent Mason is one of the most recorded guitarists in history, performing on sessions with George Strait, Brooks and Dunn, Alan Jackson, Wade Hayes, Toby Keith, Randy Travis, Neil Diamond, and many others.

And you can add a large percentage of all the songs on top 40 country music stations today, top 40 pop stations, as well as many TV commercials.

He was in demand through much of the '90s, playing on albums by Alan Jackson, David Gates, Brooks Dunn, George Strait, Neil Diamond and Shania Twain, among many others.

Brent was signed to Mercury Records in 1997, and released an instrumental album entitled "Hot Wired" later that year. This was his only major-label album. He broke his contract with Mercury records to remain in Nashville and work in the recording studio as an A-List session guitarist rather than spend most of his time on the road touring and away from his family. He and his brother Randy released a second album, entitled "Smokin' Section," in 2006.

Brent is also well-known in the guitar world for the wiring of his Telecaster. In his younger days, he could not afford three guitars. So he added a mini humbucking pickup to the neck and added a stacked humbucker pickup in the middle with its own volume control, enabling him to blend that midde pickup in with the others. This beefed up the sound of the guitar, but still retained the Telecaster twang. Valley Arts guitar now has a signature guitar named for Brent which duplicates his original.

I have just added a minihumbucker to my Telecaster and am interested in doing this mod to it later, or maybe just building a new Tele with this mod.

Check out Brent Mason if you can. I plan to. I love discovering new guitarists. Even if they have been around forever, they are still new to me.

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