Dr. Dave’s Guitar / Music Blog

Really good guitarists love a challenge, which is great because we get a wide range of interesting styles.Today I am happy to tell you about a fine guitarist who has gone “above and beyond” in the quest for new material for solo guitar.

I have been itching to review Bob McAlpine’s very fine CD Only A Fool Would Play That since it arrived in the mail. This is a terrific set of Steely Dan favourites played fingerstyle on (mostly) electric guitar.

Read my full review here: http://davewalkermusic.com/page2/OnlyAFool_Review.html

There are links to hear previews of the songs as well as to buy them. Take a listen. I think you will really like them!

People can be strange. We can keep asking the same question hoping that we will get a different answer. I saw this most recently at Frank Vignola’s workshop, where he fielded that same basic question over and over: “How do you learn to play that so fast?” Only the “that” kept changing - the answer was always the same. And not only does it apply to different songs, it applies to virtually any instrument.

Frank’s reply to the question was always: “Got a metronome?” While a metronome is useful to help speed things up, at the start it helps to slow us down. Playing at a manageable tempo allows us to concentrate on proper fingering, phrasing, and tone. Then slowly, day after day, increase the tempo until you are playing as fast as you wish.

Many of us already know this, but how many of us actually practise it day after day? Frank’s “secret” for gaining the incredible speed he has is quite simple: a metronome and daily discipline to use it.

Yesterday was an extraordinarily fine one; I was fortunate enough to spend much of it with Frank Vignola. He is one of the world’s great guitarists as well as one of the nicest people you could want to meet.

Fresh from a fantastic performance the night before, he returned to Hugh’s Room in Toronto to give a guitar workshop to a room full of eager guitar players. The instruction was top-notch. Frank Vignola clearly put a lot of thought into his presentation, so that it was both engaging and challenging, leaving us with about two years worth of assignments! It was terrific to study with someone who has given so much thought to pedagogy. If you read my review of Frank’s DVD Vamps, Jams, and Improvisation you will recall that I think highly of his teaching style, and I have to say he is even better in person. Very inspiring.

After a dinner break the Frank Vignola Trio took the stage for an electrifying performance. This trio is a true band. Gary Mazzaroppi on bass and Vinny Raniolo on guitar are both fine soloists in their own right, and Frank gives them ample opportunity to shine. Gary played some incredible solos that had the audience cheering and calling for more. It was also great to see Vinny given several solos where his blistering speed and impeccable technique were displayed to a very appreciative audience. And of course Frank Vignola was astonishing both for his virtuosity and for his incredible breadth of expression.

What really stood out, aside from the astounding virtuosity, was the care that went into this presentation. This was a true show, with carefully planned progression of songs, well-placed comic numbers, always building to a wonderful climax at the end of a set. Great music, great entertainment. Do not miss the Frank Vignola Trio if they play anywhere near where you are! (I drove an hour and a half to see them, and I would drive twice that long to see them again!)

If you are not lucky enough to see them in person, be sure to pick up a few of their CD’s. Here are some that I have reviewed:

Vignola Plays Gershwin

Looking Up

Standards

Just Between Frets (with Tommy Emmanuel)

and of course Frank’s instructional DVD Vamps, Jams and Improvisation

And for all of you who wrote in to ask for a review of Frank’s DVD 50 Jazz Licks You Must Know, I am glad to tell you that a review copy is on its way, and I will review it as soon as it arrives!

And last but certainly not least I would be remiss if I did not thank Randy Finney, President and Founder of fingerstyleguitar.ca for bringing the Frank Vignola Trio to Toronto. Randy has provided us with so much great guitar music that we all owe him a huge debt of thanks. So thanks Randy!

What do most guitarists spend 95% of their time practising? Soloing.

What do most guitarists spend 95% of their time doing on stage? Accompanying.

And yet guitarists make drummer jokes!

OK, I know that there are very few good resources to learn comping, but the game has changed with Robert Conti’s latest DVD / Book - The Comping Expo.

Robert Conti has about 30 DVD’s on the market, and I think that this may well be his best. Clear, insightful, and fun instruction on what is probably the most important yet most neglected facet of guitar playing.

You can read my full review of the Comping Expo in the next issue of Just Jazz Guitar, but rather than make you wait I have posted a mini-review on my web site here: http://davewalkermusic.com/page4/CompingExpo_Review.html

Earlier this week I took some time to head out on the road with Pete Swanson of Dagmar Custom  Guitars. Pete was off to Folkway Music in Guelph, Ontario (http://www.folkwaymusic.com/) to show his guitars to Mark Stutman. Mark is recognized as an expert on guitars and as expected he had some great advice for Pete.

I learned some of the fine points of guitar setup from Mark, and he is definitely the person to ask. One indication of the quality of his shop is that every single guitar in the store is immaculately set up. And in tune! That, plus the expert advice, makes it a great place to shop for guitars and well worth the 3 hours on the road there and back for me.

Mark had lots of nice things to say about the Dagmar guitars, and everyone who saw them was amazed at the amount of work Pete Swanson puts into each one. They are all very special guitars, but I was particularly happy to see Eve again. Here’s Eve’s picture:

You can see more, better pictures at http://www.dagmarcustomguitars.com/

And speaking of pictures, due to problems beyond my control I could not bring my digital camera, so I had to take a FILM camera! Now, if I can find some place that still develops film, I’ll post those in a week or so!

For some reason Bloglines has not been reading my posts the last few days. Other aggregators such as NetNewsWire are still working fine. I realize that this post is of little use to those who are using Bloglines since they won’t see it, but if you do know someone using Bloglines please suggest to them to go straight to the blog at http://blog.davewalkermusic.com

I am disappointed. I have been using Bloglines for years but I have had a number of problems with different blogs, so I am reluctantly switching to something new. For now it’s NetNewsWire.

More music stuff on my next post, I promise.

CandyRat Records has a real talent for finding up-and-coming guitarists with dazzling technique. They have done it again with this amazing CD by Ewan Dobson.

You may know about Ewan Dobson if you follow the Canadian Fingerstyle Guitar Championship (which he won), or the Montreal Guitar Grand Prix (which he won), or probably the most prestigious one of all, the International Fingerstyle Guitar Championship held in Winfield, Kansas (at which he came in third - and you can bet he will be back going for first). What sets Mr. Dobson apart from other fingerstylists, beyond his amazing technique, is his unique style and sound. You really have to hear him to grasp how truly original he is.

If you think you know what can be done with a guitar, I suggest that you listen to this CD. Read my review here: http://davewalkermusic.com/page2/EwanDobson_Review.html

In the last post I apologized to those of you who requested the free lesson from my web site but did not get it. Well, good news! I found my original notes and recreated the lesson. It is now on the web site for all to read for FREE. It is titled “More About Strings” and is here: http://davewalkermusic.com/page3/page3.html

My original idea for these lessons was to include ways for you to save more money than the lessons cost, so I hope that you will find an idea or two in there that will save you money right away.

On that same page you will see another link to Simon Fox’s great DADGAD lessons. These lessons are FREE and will teach you all you need to know to get started playing in this tuning. You might want to read my short review of the site (http://davewalkermusic.com/page3/SimonFoxDADGAD_Review.html), which also includes a link to it. These lessons are a great deal and really worth checking out!

I have to start today with an apology to several of you who have been asking for the enhanced lesson from the Guitar Lessons page of the web site. That page was supposed to have been deleted almost a year ago! At that time I was considering offering a whole series of lessons but as I got reviewing more and more books and DVD’s it became apparent that I would be competing with the people I was reviewing. Since I will not put myself into that type of conflict of interest I decided not to offer lessons through the web site. So  I will restrict myself to occasional special courses like the chord course.

I am apologizing today because I just spent some time going through the web site and discovered a number of unfilled requests for the enhanced lesson from months ago! The person who had been running the web site for the past year not only did not remove the page, but also left the survey up and running without monitoring it. So for the foreseeable future I will be running the web site again. I am leaving the lessons page up, and will be using it to point to some free lessons that I have found on the web. I am sorry for the frustration that this mixup must have caused people.

On a happier note, here is some romantic music for Valentine’s Day, Roland Dyens playing Nuages.

Thanks to everyone for all of the great feedback on Roland Dyens! I am so glad to hear that he has so many fans here!

There are quite a few videos on YouTube by Roland Dyens so I suggest you search on his name and enjoy what you find. For starters though, here is the link to his wonderful performance of A Night in Tunisia.

I guess Tommy Emmanuel is not the only person who can play guitar and drums at the same time!

And one last reminder that the deadline to sign up for the chord course is tomorrow.