A truly free jazz player! Sonny Sharrock was an American Jazz player, one of few guitarists in the first wave of free jazz in the 60s. He was known for his heavily chorded attack and his highly amplified bursts of feedback. A peculiar thing was having a saxophone playing in harmony with the guitar line […]
Tag Archives: fusion
Wayne Krantz
Wayne Krantz is an American jazz fusion guitarist. He has played with top artists such as Steely Dan, Michael Brecker, Billy Cobham, and others, but is most active as a solo performer. Interested in his sound and gear? His main guitar is a slightly modded Tyler Studio Elite w/ Suhr Vintage single coils, Duncan Full […]
Richie Kotzen
I am sure you have heard of the band called Poison or Mr. Big, they were/are two American hard rock bands which contributed to the Glam Rock-Metal scene at the end of the 80s and beginning of the 1990s. Richie Kotzen played the guitar for both bands. He recorded one album with Poison in 1993 […]
John Scofield
John Scofield is one of those guitarists that can surprise you very easily. He is super versatile, and he can play it freaking good! Jazz, Rock, Funk, Soul, Blues. I own only two CDs that I bought without knowing what to expect and both of them are completely different. One is a full on jazz […]
Ernest Ranglin
The Godfather of Ska Summertime for some, the best season to enjoy the sun, the beach and listen to some good reggae and ska music! If you agree with me, Ernest Ranglin should definitely be on your playlist! Ernest Ranglin is a Jamaican guitarist and composer who helped give birth to the ska genre in […]
Luis Salinas, Magic Fusion!
Last week I introduced you to Rod and Gab, those innovative, guitar explorers doing great stuff. Now, I want to introduce you to another Latin American guitarist, Luis Salinas from Argentina. He is of course very well known on that side of the World, but he has also been doing his thing on stages in […]
Paul Ubana Jones Fingerpicking
In the late eighties Paul and his family moved to New Zealand, which is still their permanent home. He has continued to perform internationally, to growing acclaim. Concert performances include opening for the likes of Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, Taj Mahal, Keb Mo’, Tuck and Patti, and Crowded House.
Understandably Paul’s “off the hook” skills aren’t something that’ll come to you overnight, unless you’re friends with the devil, but, to compliment the awesome Blind Blake style fingerpicking lesson from Jim Bruce, Paul’s approach to fusion expands upon an already eloquent vocabulary.
So, here is Paul discussing one of his clawhammer thumb picking patterns.
Whilst this may be out of your playing depth technically Paul describes some helpful techniques in approaching fingerpicking such as focusing upon a relaxed hand and extracting and concentrating upon the the rhythm of the left hand – it`s well worth spending some time in trying to apply Paul’s advice to your own picking practice regime.
In a world of increasing homogeneity and gratuitous eulogising of the mediocre by the media simply for what appears to be the sake of having something to talking about, it’s a rare sight to behold aberrations to the normal especially in the form of unique and uncompromising talent.
Bill Frisell – glacial effects
In a recent post featuring Adrian Legg I slyly suggested that Bill Frisell was definitely another idiosycratic guitarist to look for in your listening research. Bill has always been an exponent of an healthy array of effects – most notably delay, reverb, chorus and more rarely pitch shifters to create unique tones and sounds; a uniquity exaggerated by his jazz leanings combined with clean sustain and an emotionally oblique sense of melody.
He does however ensure that his use of processing, or effects, don`t colour his sound in a way that might obscure the emotional intent or message. and seems incapable of descending into gratuitous, meaningless affectation. Bill often sounds as if his notes are shards of ice slowly melting as they descend through warmer water and the overall impression is of a glacial and ambivalently jazz-blues fusion. It`s a novel approach to sound, feel and melody that conjures up a sense of constant ideation. Use it…