JasonShadrick

Every summer while on tour with NGW I learn about a new guitarist that either I have never heard of or hear a track that makes me rethink how I listen to someone. Below I have listed 20 guitarists that I feel are appreciated enough and should be exposed to a larger audience.

Go support them. Buy their CD. Go see them live. Even, email them and ask for a lesson. At the very least go to their website and say thanks.

Mary Halvorson – Mary is one of the leading guitarists on the NY improv scene. With an angular, yet melodic style she can fit in with artists from Anthony Braxton to Marc Ribot. Pick up her Dragon’s Head album on Friehouse Records.

Andy McKee – Ok, so maybe you aren’t one of the millions of people who have seen Andy’s videos on YouTube. Drawing a clear lineage from Michael Hedges and Preston Reed, Andy is a modern acoustic master.  He also has TABS available on his website. I wish more guitarists did this.

Jody Fisher – Many of you probably recognize Jody’s names from the many books his has written.  His series of jazz method books still ranks as some of the most popular.  I have had the great pleasure to get to know Jody over the last 6 or 7 years and every time we get together I learn something new.

Bret Boyer – Based out of Austin, Texas Bret has become one of my favorite musicians and people.  When I first met Bret, I knew him mostly as a jazz guitarist specializing in fingerstyle guitar.  One of my favorite albums of Bret’s is Grace, a collection of hyms done on solo fingerstyle guitar.  Later on I discovered that he is also an amazing songwriter.

Pat Bergeson – To those of you who live in Nashville, Pat’s name probably won’t be that new to you.  The first time I heard Pat play was one night in Nashville at a bar.  He was playing with Guthrie Trapp and Dave Pomeroy.  Long jams, lots of improv and tons of guitar.  Years ago, Pat was teaching guitar at NGW when Chet Atkins heard him play and convinced him to move to Nashville.

Ben Lacy – As a one-man guitar army, Ben takes tunes and reworks them to fit for solo guitar.  Many other musicans in this niche usually go the acoustic route, but Ben does his damage with a Brian Moore.  Make sure to stop by their booth at the next NAMM to see Ben in person.

Tim Miller – Remember that guy you went to college with and every assignment seemed incredibly easy to him?  Well, imagine that guy crossed with Alan Holdsworth and you get Tim Miller. Coming out of the long line of great musicians from North Texas, he just recently did a stint at the Village Vanguard with Paul Motian.  Not bad.

Amanda Monaco – Once when someone asked Amanda what her music sounded like, she told them “Have you ever heard a fire in a pet store?”.  I personally don’t think that her music is that avant-garde, but it definitely has a modern New York vibe. For the last few summers, I have spent a considerable amount of time on the road with Amanda and I can’t tell you how many times people of come up to me and said how gifted of an educator and musician she is.  Also, she CRANKS out the CD’s.  Don’t forget her blog as well.

David Tronzo – I first heard of David through Amanda Monaco (I think she first met David at NGW, years ago). He is a crazy mad scientist of a player, but well worth checking out.  Recently he did a gig with Kurt Rosenwinkel at Smalls that I heard was out of control.

Andy Aledort – I knew the name just like everyone else of my generation who grew up on his transcriptions in Guitar World, Guitar for The Practicing Musician and other magazines.  A few years ago I received a call from John Scofield asking if Andy could come to a clinic.  It was great to finally meet him in person and thank him for all the help he gave me growing up.  Nowadays, Andy is holding down the guitar chair in Dickey Betts’ band.

Mike Cramer – When I first met Mike, he was really into acoustic delta blues.  Then he went to UNI and became a great jazz guitarist. I would imagine he was bored with that, because he then took to flatpicking bluegrass guitar and won some competitions.  Scary player, super nice guy.  He owns a teaching studio in St. Paul, Minnesota along with his wife and is an in demand player in many styles.  I hate him.

So make sure to Google their names, look at their videos on YouTube, follow them on Twitter and then let me know who I missed in the comments below.

Below I have linked to 5 different articles that I have been reading and find quite useful.  All of these articles I have passed around to fellow musicians so I felt the need to post them here.  Please check them out and subscribe to these blogs, these guys definitely know what they are doing.

15 Practicing Mistakes that Students Make

Jason Heath was one of the first music bloggers who I really took notice of.  Even though I wasn’t a bass player his Contrabass Conversations Podcast was amazingly captivating.  Many times I spent listening to his interviews while mowing the lawn.  Make sure to dig through his site because he has many, many useful articles that would be helpful to all musicians.

Top Music Pedagogues to Follow on Twitter

Music Education is a big interest of mine, not suprisingly, so the MusTech.net website is one of my most revisited items in my Google Reader.  This article lists a few leading edge educators who combine music and technology in interesting and effective ways.  Right now the list has about 12 educators, but the plan is to keep adding to it to create a comprehensive listing (much like my Twitter Guitar Directory).  This is one to bookmark and revisit.

10 Teaching Tools for Your Lesson Studio

I have been teaching guitar lessons for about 8 years now and I still found this article helpful.  If you are starting to settle into a (hopefully) permanent teaching situation then this list will be very helpful.  My favorite item on the list is the Clif Bars, I can totally relate to getting hungry and still having 3 or 4 lessons to teach before you can leave.

The Unboxing of Sibelius 6

Walt Riberio is one of the leading voices for combining music education and social media.  His videos cover everything from basic theory to gear reviews and even advice on how to best use the internet to spread your message.  I wanted to include this video because I just received a copy of Sibelius 6 and I think it is the greatest notation program available.  There is no way I would of been able to finish my Master’s Degree without it.

How Audacity Can Make Your Practice Time More Effective

Audacity is a great FREE audio editor that can do everything from make loops to slow down tracks at pitch to help with Transcription. NotPlayingGuitar.com is an amazing resource that has many lessons and tips on how to get over the roadblocks that we as musicians sometime fall into. If you are interested in recording some basic tracks and don’t want to spend money, then start with this article.

I was lucky enough to see Les play at the Iridium in New York City over Memorial Day Weekend in 2008.  It was great to finally get the chance to see him.  He was incredibly entertaining and his band was amazing.

From CNN.com:

(CNN) — Les Paul, whose innovations with the electric guitar and studio technology made him one of the most important figures in recorded music, has died, according to a statement from his publicists. Paul was 94.

Paul died in White Plains, New York, from complications of severe pneumonia, according to the statement.

Paul was a guitar and electronics mastermind whose creations — such as multitrack recording, tape delay and the solid-body guitar that bears his name, the Gibson Les Paul — helped give rise to modern popular music, including rock ‘n’ roll. No slouch on the guitar himself, he continued playing at clubs into his 90s despite being hampered by arthritis.

“If you only have two fingers [to work with], you have to think, how will you play that chord?” he told CNN.com in a 2002 phone interview. “So you think of how to replace that chord with several notes, and it gives the illusion of sounding like a chord.”

There is a great documentary about Les called “Chasing Sound”. Highly reccommended.  It chronicles all of his accomplishements over the years and even shows his guitar collection which includes Django’s guitar.

Thank you Les. For Everything.

It always takes me a bit of time to get back into the swing of things when the annual (now my 6th summer) NGW tour begins.  As it has the last few summers we started in McLean, VA at one of my favorite campuses, The Madeira School.

A few of our teachers have already wrote about their experience at McLean.  You can check them out here and here.

The week began with a trip to Blues Alley in DC to see Pat Martino with an amazing group that included Tony Monaco on B3 Organ, Eric Alexander on Tenor Sax and Jeff “Tain” Watts on Drums. Of course the music was amazing and the whole run of shows at Blues Alley was recorded for Pat’s upcoming live CD.  The whole band was very nice and it was really exciting to see them work out some new material.

Once the faculty and students arrived and the workshop began it really flowed pretty smoothly.  The Madeira School always does a great job as our hosts and the view from behind the auditorium is really incredible.

After the shows at Blues Alley ended, Pat came to campus to give an afternoon workshop and then he was going to spend the next day giving private lessons to some of our students.  I have seen Pat give 5 clinics in the past, but this one was by far the best.  He presented the material in such a clear and easy to understand manner (relatively speaking) that pretty much everyone got something out of it.

The handout for the clinic was an article by Jude Gold from Guitar Player, a leadsheet to his composition “Welcome To A Prayer” and an outline of the chord substitutions he would use on that tune.  The clinic was packed full of not only jazz students, but students from nearly every other class as well.  After the clinic, Tom Dempsey and I took Pat and his wife Aya out for dinner and we had a great time.  Both Pat and Aya are incredible to talk to and spend time with and this was likely the highlight of the week for me.

The other guest we had on campus was Alex Skolnick.  You might know Alex from his work in Testament, Trans-Siberian Orchestra or even his jazz trio.  Alex has been a longtime friend of NGW and it was great to bring him back this year.  I picked him up at the airport and we grabbed some lunch and then headed to the campus.  His clinic was a great mix of both his approach to playing metal and his newer jazz offerings.  After his clinic I introduced Alex to Pat and we all shared a ride over to Pat’s hotel.  Alex was in DC less than 12 hours as he was flying out to Amsterdam to begin a five week tour with Testament.

Overall the week was a great success.  I reconnected with some old friends on faculty and was introduced to some of the best guitarists and instructors in DC.  After the week ended, I headed back to CT for a few days and then yesterday I flew to Chicago to begin another workshop.

It seems like I was just here.

@NeilZaza – Neil is a good friend and a great guitarist.  Check out his website, Christmas Show and his newest project.  Currently working on a new album it promises to be full of really good guitar stuff.

@TheRockHouse – If you are into players like Alexi Laiho, Oli Herbert and Alex Skolnick, then these guys are for you.  They make some of the best instructional DVD’s out there.  We are happy to be working with them this year.

@JohnHorneGuitar – One of our most versatile teachers, John keeps busy teaching practice in Ohio.  He has taught for NGW for a few years now and it is always a great hang.