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  • Martin Taylor....... my favourite solo fingerstyle guitarist

wowo what can one say.... when talking about favourite players...

i love so many different styles and techniques....

but i have in the last years settled myself in the solo fingerstyle type style of playing and the list of awesome players in this genre is incredibly long .... and the skill levels through the roof as this is a very complicated genre that requires the complete use of the musicians instrument ......and one where a musician can't ever "fake it" and need the multi tasking and multi rhythmic ability that drummers have of doing more than one thing rythmically at the same time , and that is years of rehearsal in itself...

so out of all the fingerstyle players who are all hot and highly skilled (doyle dykes/don ross/tommy emmanuel/justin king/ antoine dafour/antonio forcione/ stephan king/ .......... ect ect ect ) and
not one can be flawed with bad technique or lack of musical understanding .....

but one guitarist who is perhaps not the flashiest or the fastest but in my mind the most complete solo guitarist is MARTIN TAYLOR.... (like all solo guitarists he does do ensemble work too )

this choice is mine personally and if you don't know him or have not listened to him play yet he has a ton of dvd's on you tube....

so why do i put him top of the list....

well he plays from the soul you definitely feel every note....

he plays the most complex jazz bass lines , that any jazz bassist would kill to be able to play live ...but he does it while playing chords and a melody and soloing ....

until he breaks it down you can;t believe it's one guitar.... when i hear don ross or doyle dykes in fact most of the other solo fingerstyle players you or i as musicians can hear "how he does it" ....even if it is beyond our ability ...we can still hear the parts and go well yes i hear it .....

but when i heard Martin Taylors 1st solo album Artistry i initially only heard it on cd...and swore he was doing overdubs... cos in parts he had frantic walking bass lines descended (which surely sounded like it took more than a pedal thumb to do ...while melody's and improv were ascending and chords were stabbing like a pianist would in a jazz band ...and all at the same time in the piece.... i truly thought he was faking it .........no way is this physically possible

until i saw the dvd of him live ....... i was so blown away and rewatched it solidly for about a month .... and became a believer...

and he makes it look so easy ... by easy i don't mean he plays easy parts you can see just how complicated but how he effortlessly plays these complex parts is amazing .... he does not break a sweat or pull funny faces .... just sits quietly and plays to perfection......

incredible talent ......

i won't bore you with his biography .......you can read his full biography ect at www.martintaylor.com

but at 14 he was playing major jazz clubs in london ....he replaced django reinhart (i can never spell his name but you all know who i mean) as stephan grappelli's guitarist for about 10 years at a young age.... wowow

anyway if you wanna see how he does what he does he has a 3 min short tutoral or actually just showing how he does what he does... by breaking it down .... watch it and i will be surprised if you unimpressed... the complexity is through the roof but it remains 100% musical..he never gets lost in technical playing.... but uses it to achieve what he does....

( i personally hate over technical players who think being technical can make up for being musical... then it becomes nothing but "musical masturbation" or should that be "technique maturbation" )

this entire discussion is my personal view and so i wanna make it clear i'm not saying he is the best ...

lol i'm sure i'm not the only one of you who get the giggles when people compare guitarists like that and actually decide who is the BEST heheheh since who would dare judge other peoples art in such a way ...

BUT WE ALL ENTITLED TO A PERSONAL FAVOURITE AND MARTIN TAYLOR IS MINE.( and the choice is quite strange since he is a steel string player while i favour nylon string over steel string personally ....and prefer him over paco di lucia or earl klugh ......just some useless info )

everyone be fabulous and like with every post i invite acoustic musicians in jhb area or anywhere in fact to contact me.... networking is my thing

peace and light
Keira WitherKay
    Wow 8)

    Really liked that. Not familiar with him, so I've found someone new to check out.

    Any particular CDs / DVDs you can recommend as a good intro to his work? I see he recommends the Best Of on his site, but Gypsy also seems interesting based on the description.
      Martin taylor is brilliant.
      I have a CD "Artistry" and a DVD "the Four Martins" where he performs solo and with the other Martins.
      I love his guitar sound
        in reply to Riaan ...

        the cd "Artistry" is in my mind his early but classic album...the one to have if you ever only buy one of his..... he has a full list of releases on his website but i see no mention of the guitar and voice duet album he did with Alison Burns.....(jazz vocalist) the cd's called "1am" and is awesome... (some vids of them playing the material live is on you tube" ) i reccommend that .....

        also he has a new CD just released where he plays guitar duets but with himself...... i have not heard the whole cd but will include a link to you tube of one of the tracks.... how he managed to even record with himself ...since he would have to have laid one track down at a time...and still have the interplay totally confuses but astounds me.. it's easy to play a duet off someone when they play with you but to put down one part and have to imagine for the entire album where the other part would be.... is mindblowing since there is constant interplay ....




        and another favourite of mine which on the surface sounds like a gimmick song but try play it it's about 7 layers or diferent parts that interplay to get this right .....and he makes it look so so simple....




        hope you enjoy them as much as i do...

        peace and light
        Keira
          Big fan of MT as well - but here are some others I really dig...

          1. Tuck Andress:
          2. Charlie Hunter:
            Oh yeah - what about the masterful STANLEY JORDAN!!! More of a tap master than traditional fingerstyle - but still worth a mention.. ?

              hey charlie hunter is so unique... i will def look up more of his work... but personally it's a bit too much effect and gimmick..hehehh i'm a purist ... meaning i love seeing someone play a normal guitar no effects or electronic aids... and just use their skill to make it sound incredible.... in fact what charlie hunter does reminds me a lot of harp guitar players like john doan who play what is a classical guitar with bass harp strings attatched..... cahrlie is just doing the electric version of that ... but hes awesome ...as i said i will google him and check him out



              thanks for introducing me to charlie hunter

              peace and light
              Keira
                Thanks - and likewise for John Doan - I'll see what I can find on him.
                I hear about the purist bit.. but in all fairness CH is using an 8 string guitar, so no real FX?
                I love experimenting with detuning on my VG8 - that is more gimmicky if you want, as the extra bass strings do not exist?

                I should upload some om my noodlings some time... good for a laugh :?
                  shall I point out the Guitar Irony in his name ? ? That vid is insane.. I'm inspired
                    I'm not too clued up on finger picking guitarist as I'm not as exposed to it as much as I'd like to be ☹

                    But I recently have been introduced to John Butlers stuff.
                      All great players, some I haven't heard of before. Interesting, those oblique frets on Charlie Hunter's guitar...as if it's not difficult enough to play regular frets! Never seen that before. For finger style greatness, also check out Tommy Emmanual - he's all over YouTube. The man is phenomenal. Also Laurence Juber, at one time Paul McCartney's guitarist during the Wings days. Really good. It's sad that few people outside of the guitar enthusiast circles can name even one of these great players.
                        C.LYDE wrote: I hear about the purist bit.. but in all fairness CH is using an 8 string guitar, so no real FX?
                        Masses of chorus on the high strings there. Nine strings by my count, with the top 3 being bass stings (note the Fender Precision pickup on the body and the bass tuning machines on the top).
                        Riaan wrote: Interesting, those oblique frets on Charlie Hunter's guitar...as if it's not difficult enough to play regular frets!
                        It's called fanned frets and it means that the lower strings have a longer scale length than the higher ones. Tonally it works very well, especially for really low strings.
                          well i'm glad that so many people who had not heard of these players are now aware of them.... yay since it is quite a 'forgotten " style.... but as soon as anyone ... musician or just audience actually sees what a "solo guitarist" gets out of one instrument they ussually are super impressed.... but it's so not a mainstream style unless you buy your cd's from "candyrat records" who produce and record like a list as long as my arm of superb but unheard of players.....

                          so anybody in jhb interested in that style or that plays it contact me cos i'm an absolute solo guitarist junkie.... and would love to share and learn from others who play the same style... since thats the style i perform professionally solo .... and love to meet others who love this style.... (and BTW if you want to learn how to play multiple parts on guitar simultaneously ......i do teach "multi part solo fingerstyle guitar playing " ... and actually thats my "speciality" that i teach the advanced ,ussually acoustic players...who come for lessons ) but it's only for players who can handle the frustration of relearning how to approach their instrument both mentally and physically..... heheheh not for the faint hearted lol


                          but back to the question of me being a purist..... i was discussing with C.LYDE by a purist i mean i ussually prefer artists who play a "stock" acoustic/electric guitar and use no chorus or other effects....or have extra strings or other what i term gimmicks/add on's built onto the guitar .......

                          in my travels i saw a brazillian player i forget his name now ...who had a nylon string guitar that had midi triggers and a lot of them built into the top of the instrument...and he triggered a drum sampler and played percussion on it...it sounded mind blowing .... BUT DID NOT IMPRESS ME AS MUCH AS WATCHING TOMMY EMMANUEL OR MANY OTHER PLAYING PERCUSSION ON AN UNMODIFIED GUITAR ...AND USUING THE NATURAL CHANGES IN TONES ON THE INSTRUMENT BODY TO GET THE REQUIRED SOUND.... so i will never say someone with a 8 string guitar or midi triggers is a "bad " musician or cheating" but thats their thing NOT MINE.... i feel the same about loop stations that many solo guitarists use... i seen it used all over europe... but i lose interest ... heheh oh and don't get me started on any musician or band that uses back tracks .... thats nothing short of Kareoke hehehh ....

                          WHAT CAN I SAY I'M A PURIST IN WHO I LISTEN TO AND ASPIRE TO BUT THATS JUST MY PERSONAL VIEW...and does not mean i can't see or even appreciate the skill that is required to play a 23 string harp guitar or a an 8 string hybrid bass/guitar just i would not rush out and buy the cd's ............. AND LAST TIME I CHECKED THATS JUST FINE TO FEEL THIS WAY ...........hehehehh


                          everyone have an awesome weekend .... and so glad to find so many people who enjoy guitar in whatever style or shape as much as i do....

                          blessings and wish's of peace from your local guitar Junkie
                          Keira Witherkay
                            Keira WitherKay wrote:
                            but i have in the last years settled myself in the solo fingerstyle type style of playing and the list of awesome players in this genre is incredibly long .... and the skill levels through the roof as this is a very complicated genre that requires the complete use of the musicians instrument ......and one where a musician can't ever "fake it" and need the multi tasking and multi rhythmic ability that drummers have of doing more than one thing rythmically at the same time , and that is years of rehearsal in itself...
                            It's an interesting challenge for a guitar player. There's a long-running joke about people who go to their first Richard Thompson concert. Thompson plays mostly solo these days (he tours with a band, but not every year). So our typical RT Newbie sits there for a while and then asks "why isn't the other guitarist on stage?". Thompson has this skill that Keira is alluding too... being able to keep multiple parts of an arrangement going. In his case the challenge is a little different because a lot of what he's doing is songs that were recorded on an album with a band, so there's a strong rhythmic component as well. Given his reputation as a player the punters want to hear the solos, but then has to render the song in a way that it's still recognisable, lay down a bass part and still get the solo on top.

                            And whilst I agree with the point that Keira is making, that this kind of multi-tasking is a big challenge for a player, I think she has understated this challenge ?

                            A couple of years ago Thompson took part in some radio series where musicians would talk about what a record that influenced them. He nominated some compilation of pieces by jazz pianists. He said that to do what he was trying to do on a guitar the guitarist has to mimic what the pianist does - melody on one hand, bass or rhythm with the other. But of course you can't assign the hands in that way on a guitar. (Well... Ok, the Stanley Jordans of the world can, but then you have to do a lot of tapping and that means sacrificing other things.) So, Thompson continued, because you have one hand having to finger both sets of notes, and the other hand having to provide the timings of the two parts, what the guitarist has to do is not seperate the function assigned to each hand but to split the function of each hand.

                            Which, when you think about it, is quite a job.

                            Guys who can do this are not to be pooh-poohed. And again Keira is right - this must take years of assiduous work.
                              yeah BOb you right it is quite a "job" as you put it .......takes lots of skill /rehearsal / and i found some musicians can't make the mindshift to play parts within parts... as guitar players we are used to playing parts in a linear fashion of rhythm sections and then solo's

                              but you failed to mention the up sides of being a solo musician............!!!!!!!

                              "you don't have to pay a band .............and you never have to worry about your bassist hitting on your girl friend... "

                              hey bob hope to see you at a gig sometime ....doing wed and sun this week and maybe thurs...

                              peace and light
                              Keira


                                Alan Ratcliffe wrote:
                                C.LYDE wrote: I hear about the purist bit.. but in all fairness CH is using an 8 string guitar, so no real FX?
                                Masses of chorus on the high strings there. Nine strings by my count, with the top 3 being bass stings (note the Fender Precision pickup on the body and the bass tuning machines on the top).
                                I was actually referring to the bass sound not being produced by electronics, but rather true to the guitar itself. As for the string count - It is an 8 string Novax : http://www.novaxguitars.com/sales/ch8.html
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