FingerStyleGuitar.ca

Frank Vignola – March 29 & 30, 2012

Randy — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:34:47 +0000

Some of you may remember Frank. The first time we had Frank here (with his Trio), he sold out two, 200 seat shows. He then played with Tommy in 2010 (he is one of Tommy’s favourite guitar players and they recorded an album together, “Just Between Frets”). The last time we had Frank here was last year with Bucky Pizzarelli (he is also one of Bucky’s favourite players) and they played three sold out shows at Chalkers.

This time he will be playing with Rhythm Guitarist Extraordinaire Vinny Raniolo (Vinny was part of Frank’s Trio). Frank and Vinny are two of the most entertaining guitarists playing in the Jazz and Gypsy Jazz genres. But, as Les Paul said when he named Frank to his Five Most Admired Guitarists list for The Wall Street Journal, “It’s not jazz as we know jazz here in America.”

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Tommy Emmanuel – May 14 & 15, 2012

Randy — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:29:41 +0000

Tommy Emmanuel is, without question, the most trend-setting guitarist of our time. Seeing him perform live is a bucket list experience.

GET TICKETS NOW FOR TOMMY EMMANUEL

About Richard Smith

Randy — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 04:45:14 +0000

Richard Smith was born in Beckenham, Kent, England in 1971. One day, at the age of five, Richard was watching his father fingerpick “Down South Blues” (an Atkins-Travis recording) on his guitar. The boy begged his dad to show him how to play it, and finally he did. Despite the fact that Richard is left-handed and his dad’s right-handed guitar was not designed for tiny hands, by the end of that day, Richard learned and played both the chords and the melody. Within no time, the toddler outstripped his dad’s six-string prowess and it was clear to all who saw or heard him play that Richard was one of those rare phenomena — a child prodigy.

Concentrating initially on the music his father loved – the country picking of Chet Atkins and Merle Travis – young Richard digested everything he heard, learning even the most complicated of these tunes with ease, and confounded everyone with his dexterity. It seemed that, not only did the boy possess amazing physical skill, but a photographic musical memory as well. Often, a single hearing was all it took to get a piece under his fingers.

Richard first met his hero, the “Godfather” of finger style guitar, Chet Atkins when he was only eleven and was invited by Chet to play with him on stage at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London in front of an audience of about a thousand. He played Chet’s arrangement of “Whispering,” and Chet played along with him. Then the audience went mad and Chet asked him to play another one. Before Richard could decide what to play, someone shouted “Little Rock Getaway.” and Richard played Chet’s arrangement of it while Chet, not playing this time, watched him in amazement playing to a stunned and appreciative audience. By the time he reached his early twenties, both Chet Atkins and Jerry Reed began to refer to Richard Smith as their “Hero” – and still do.

There seems to be no limit to Richard’s ability to quickly master whatever guitar style captures his fancy. The complex styles of many guitar greats including Django Reinhardt, Les Paul, and Lenny Breau have proved to be no impediment to his voracious musical appetite. Apart from his guitar virtuosity, he is also an accomplished banjo and violin player.

Richard has toured around the world, surprising audiences everywhere with his genius, showcasing a repertoire spanning an incredible range of musical styles from country, bluegrass, mainstream jazz, modern pop and rock, to classical guitar. Richard also plays several of John Phillip Souza’s marches and, incredibly, comes close to sounding like an entire marching band – drums and all.

In 1999, Richard married the lovely and very accomplished American cellist Julie Adams and settled in the Nashville, TN area. When they play together, it’ll melt your heart – and blow your socks off!

Now thirty, Richard Smith is nothing less than a phenomenon. But, words alone are inadequate to describe his guitar wizardry. You may be a doubting Thomas until you’ve witnessed him for yourself. But, once you have, you’ll be a fan for life!

Here’s what a few of his fellow guitarists have to say about him:

“The most amazing guy I know on the guitar.”
“He can play anything I know, only better.”
Chet Atkins, CGP

Richard Smith owns many instruments, but his most prized is a guitar, which has written on it, “To my hero, Richard” — signed
Jerry Reed and Chet Atkins

Guitar playing at its finest. Don’t miss this one.”
Doyle Dykes

“If you like my playing, you should hear Richard Smith.”
Tommy Emmanuel, CGP

“He is one of the world’s greatest guitarists.”
Muriel Anderson

Discovering Bruce Keener

Randy — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 17:55:09 +0000

I thought it might be interesting to write a series of posts introducing Toronto Fingerstyle Guitar Fans to some interesting (although not necessarily well known), guitar enthusiasts I have crossed paths with in my exploration of this great genre of guitar playing.

For this post, I would like you to meet Bruce Keener. I have not actually met Bruce in person yet, but I sure know him through his many posts on a discussion board I frequent called “The Chetboard” and through his YouTube Channel “drkeener” (he’s not really a doctor but a lot of his friends call him “Doctor Keener”).

Right away you can tell the kind of person he is as he defines himself by what is really important:

“Retired in 2006 after almost 40 years of work. Widower with two children, seven grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.”

Of course, Bruce has a a long list of professional accomplishments but, to the above I will only add that he is a great Blogger, an incredibly knowledgeable Chet Fan – as well as about music in general – and a real fine picker!

What attracts me to Bruce’s playing is that he plays tunes as “Bruce Keener”, not as “Bruce-Keener-Trying-To-Play-Like-Whoever”. He is not afraid to be himself when he plays. With regards to mistakes in his YouTube posts, he says, “I don’t edit them out because it is more like me when they are left in”. Now this is a true Fingerstyle Guitar enthusiast who gets it!

And he is a great guy to learn from as he actually has a real musical understanding of the tunes – i.e. he plays tunes from the “inside out”.

Check his “Amazing Grace (In Three Styles)”:

Here is Bruce discussing how less is more using a Tommy Jones lick from Tommy’s rendition of “Will The Circle Be Unbroken”.

Notes from Bruce: The 6th string is D, and the 3rd string is F#. Where I say “D string pull-off,” I should have said “A string pull-off”.

Get to know Bruce through his YouTube Channel. You will learn a great deal about music, playing guitar and, most important, the true spirit of the Fingerstyle Guitar Genre.

Thanks, Bruce, for being such a wonderful picker and for being willing to share your enthusiasm with the rest of the world. Keep those videos coming!

Adam Rafferty Concert Review

Randy — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 18:11:58 +0000

From his opening number, Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” to his closing number, Lennon & McCartney’s “She’s Leaving Home”, Adam Rafferty completely captivated the sold out audience at Chalkers Pub on Thursday, September 15, 2011.

Rafferty is not a “naval-gazer” guitarist – not only does he stand, he almost dances to his own funky grooves while playing – however, the depth of his musicianship was always front and center.

For example, his first ballad of the evening was a stunningly intricate rendition Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me”, which, Adam pointed out, was proof that even NFL defensive linemen have a sensitive side (the song was co-written by Mike Reid who played for the Cincinnati Bengals). He also pre-ambled this tune with a story of how, after playing it for one of his heros, Tommy Emmanuel, Tommy encouraged him by telling him that this was exactly the kind of tune you need to play in order to touch people.

Throughout the evening, the musical tributes paid were not only proof that there is nothing one-dimensional about his musical talent, but that, more important, he has a definite musical identity all his own.

“The Boogie Man” was a combined tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimi Hendrix, and James Brown. He tipped his hat to the Golden Age of American Popular Song with an enthralling of version George Gershwin’s “Someone To Watch Over Me” and, for me the highlight of the evening, a jaw-dropping rendition of the Count Basie / Frank Sinatra version of “Fly Me To The Moon” (composed by Bart Howard).

Of course, the evening contained a healthy dose of both Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson. In addition to the aforementioned “Superstition”, we also heard fabulous versions of Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely”, “Higher Ground”, and “Sir Duke”, as well as Jackson’s “Billy Jean”, “I’ll Be There”, and “I Want You Back”.

Rafferty learns from his heros and assimilates the best of these lessons with his own musical ideas to compose first-rate original material. We were treated to “Ciao Bella” (written for a fluffy cute white dog), “Gratitude” (a dedication to Tommy Emmanuel), and “America” (A hymn for the victims of 9/11).

Perhaps the evening’s best example of Rafferty’s willingness to incorporate the vastness of musical genres into his own identity began with a story of his first visit to Tennessee and his exposure to the Thumbstyle Tradition of players such as Merle Travis and Chet Atkins. Upon returning to his hometown of New York City, determined to become a Thumbstylist, he realized that music was much more than learning how to play it. The “Thumbstyle Vibe” of Kentucky and Tennessee just didn’t exist in New York City – and without the vibe, there is no music. Undeterred, he “simply” assimilated the Thumbstyle Vibe with a musical vibe that did exist in New York, Disco. This “70′s-Disco-Meets-Thumbstyle-Vibe” was the basis of his truly unique rendition of Barry Manilow’s “Copacabana” and received some of the most thunderous applause of the night.