Professional Documents
Culture Documents
34
SANDI THOM
With a Farida Signature guitar and a new musical direction, Sandi Thom explains to Julian Piper how shes put Tooting behind her and found the blues.
something new
40 Ed Gerhard
Guitar connoisseurs have long appreciated Eds skill and songwriting. We talk to a man who lets the guitar, not the technique, do the talking.
32 Ben Montague
With airplay on Radio 2 and slots at high pro le festivals and concerts, this is a man to watch.
30 Lauren OConnell
43 Todd Snider 28 Sound of Todd Sniders reputation as The Sirens one of Nashvilles maverick
sons might at times be dangerous, but as he tells Julian Piper, he wouldnt want it any other way.
06 ACOUSTIC MAGAZINE AUGUST 2011
Stacie Huckeba
46 Martha Tilston
With their close harmonies, powerful original material, crisp acoustic guitars and a homemade stompbox, stardom surely beckons
Guitar Techniques
NEW
Gear Reviews
Acoustic keeps you up to date with whats hot and whats not in our gear reviews section.
50 Taylor 914ce
A thing of beauty is a joy forever, so they tell us, and that certainly applies to Taylors top-ofthe-range stunner. David Mead is almost lost for words
Biography
Gordon Giltrap is pioneer of acoustic music in the UK. His extensive discography gives evidence of a skilled musician whose expertise lay in composition and arrangement. His pieces have become acoustic standards, played and enjoyed by young and old alike.
NURSERY CHIMES
A tune from the Giltrap archive that will help you develop and solidify your harping technique
When I first heard Martin Taylor using a harping technique it just blew me away and I was determined to master it. The most important thing with any technique is to do something constructive and meaningful with it and this, I believe, I have done with this piece. Whenever I lead a workshop I always try to pass on the mechanics of harping, and stress that it took me two years to really get to grips with it and before I felt confident enough to use it in a live situation. I also stress three very important factors when teaching this technique:
1. To have a reasonable thumb nail; 2. The correct gauge of strings makes all the difference. If they are too light, the harmonic wont speak; 3. Getting a good sound is most important. I know this sounds simplistic but its true. I remember a classical teacher telling me that half the battle with the classical guitar, for example, is getting a good sound and I believe that to be true. One only has to listen to the Greats to know the truth in this.
The basis of the harping technique is the use of open strings and harmonics. The harmonics have to be played with the right hand index finger placed over the appropriate fret with the thumb plucking the string. Example: open 4th string (D), harmonic 12th fret 6th string open 3rd string (G), harmonic 12th fret 5th string open 2nd string (B), harmonic 12th fret 4th string open 1st string (E), harmonic 12th fret, 3rd string
harmonic 2nd string 12th fret harmonic 1st string 12th fret. I suggest the use of the third (a) finger to play the open strings. Once you have mastered the above you can then move on to mirroring the shapes, twelve frets apart. "This piece is taken from the publication 'TROUBADOUR' published jointly by Gordon Giltrap and Steve Marsh. Contact stevemarsh@ theguitarstudio.freeserve.co.uk for further details."
NURSERY CHIMES
Acoustic Techniques
Biography
Chris is not only a guitar teacher but also a composer and producer having worked on many orchestrations for television and recordings alike. He has many years of experience both in performance and helping others develop their playing potential to their best.
CHRIS GIBBONS
For this month I have written a performance piece very much in the 'Hot Club de Paris' Django style, so the tempo is brisk and with a swing. Please pay very careful attention to the tab fingering, while giving yourself the freedom to choose an alternative way around the notation if you choose. All guitarists are individuals, those long fingered ones amongst us may prefer to stretch to 'out of position' notes, while less digitally endowed will prefer a series of neat shifts and slides e.g. bar 11 where the 4th finger will extend out for the B at the ninth Djangled
110 acoustic magazine JuLY 2011 24/05/2011 15:10 Gordon Giltrap DPS DPS_BC.indd 110
fret and slide back to the Bb in normal 5th position. Also pay attention to passages which incorporate broken chords, e.g the Bb diminished chord starting at the Bb 2nd note in bar 4; The Bb major 7 starting at the Bb in bar 11; the Dm9, Dm7 and Dm descending arpeggios in bars 21-22. This piece should give you plenty
of scope to work up the performance from a slow rehearsal tempo to a fast jazz swing. Remember though, speed is a bi-product of accuracy, not the other way around! Slow and steady attention to detail always reaps big rewards, so until next month, 'keep on keepin' on' ( Curtis Mayfield).
Maximising your musicality for your hardearned moolah; the new 600 series contains some unique attributes. Will you appreciate them?
All guitarists are individuals, those long fingered ones amongst us may prefer to stretch to 'out of position' notes, while less digitally endowed will prefer a series of neat shifts and slides
After an apprenticeship under Ervin Somogyi, Jason Kostal is looking to stamp his own take on an old standard.
Special Features
18 Michael Sanden Construction Diary
As work continues apace on the guitar Michael discusses how he goes about turning wood into a thing of beauty.
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74 Serious Fourplay
Steven Sproat takes a look at the roots of the ukulele.
81 In Depth
Another vintage close up by Paul Brett
96 UK Luthier
This Month: Rob Armstrong
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