creative tapping!

hansmoust

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Hi everybody,

Didn't want to post this in the 'what we're currently listening to' segment, because it is not. However, I thought I'd share it with you acoustic guys because it's definitely different ............. and it is a Guild. Enjoy!

Hans

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbndgwfG22k
 
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Morning Cheer

Thanks, Hans -- YOu made my morning. This guy is really great and I so enjoyed it I went on to find several more of his pieces. Wow! How pleasant - and ON A GUILD, TOO! All the best....dbs
 

dklsplace

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Wow! :shock:

So who was really the first "known" musician to use this style? Stanley Jordan is the first to comes to mind, but surely there have been others? Stanley credits Jimmy Webster in the '50's.
 

GardMan

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That's amazing! (and more than a bit humbling...) I have never seen that style of playing before. I'll have to look for more...
 

john_kidder

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THanks Hans. I've watched it a few times, and I'm still completely unclear on the style - how does he get those high harmonics at different frequencies?

Don Ross (blurb: "Don Ross is a Canadian folk guitarist, known for his unique self taught fingerpicking style. From Toronto, Don is the only artist ever to win the U.S. National Fingerstyle Guitar Championship twice." ) does some of this, in the middle of mindblowing two-handed picking and tapping and whapping an beating and whatever else one might do. The only bits I can find on-line are a video (talking only until 3:40, then a tune), and an audio bit called "3 Hands" which lives up to its name. (Both require Realplayer).
 

songsmith7

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Great stuff! I'm a fan of Stanley Jordan, Michael Hedges, Doyle Dykes (guys who employ ample use of harmonics), but this guy literally plays the guitar like a piano. Kind of makes me want to sell my D-55. Kind of...

I'm guessing the tuning he was using was DADGAD??
 

mnutz

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Interesting bit of history here. Do you know who is credited with inventing the tapping technique? Harry DeArmond, he came up with the style to showcase the sensitivity of his pickups. He taught the technique to Jimmy Webster. Do a google search for Harry DeArmond, or DeArmond tapping or anything related.
 

kostask

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John:

I have had the opportunity to see Don Ross when he was here in February. It was pretty remarkable, fingers flying everywhere. He has a somewhat different approach to playing guitar than most fingerstylists of the Chet Atkins school (I'm not saying better, just different). He blew away the whole room when he just grabbed the neck of his guitar and just gave it a yank to get a vibrato effect, and it was a pretty healthy yank, too.

He said that he uses over 100 altered tunings (I have enough trouble with just standard), and he does the finger tapping thing on the top and sides around the neck block.

I will say that I am a fan, I have 5 of his albums.

His site is at:

http://www.gobyfish.com/

Kostas
 

john_kidder

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Kostask:

Yes, he's a remarkable player. Glad you've also gotten to hear him live - makes me realize just how little use I actually make of a guitar.
Cheers
 

kostask

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John:

I actually got to meet Don Ross at the Healdsburg festival last year. He was there demo'ing for Beneteau, but I didn't know that, or even found out where the demo's/concerts were held until I ran into him on the way back from the lunch tent/area. He's a really nice person, with a good sense of humor. It was then that he told me that he would be in the Calgary area either in the fall or the winter. I just kept visiting his site regularly until the calendar showed his concert here.

We (my business partner and I) also met Don Alder at Healdsburg, who was mentored by Don Ross. He is also a really good fingerstyle player, but is a much more aggressive player. He's from the Vancouver area; you should try to see him if you can. My business partner described Don Alder as the tasmanian devil (from the Bugs Bunny cartoons) playing fingerstyle guitar. He also does some of the percussive tapping on the guitar.

Kostas
 

Cypress Knee

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There was a time when I experimented with trying to get harmonics out of various positions on a guitar. I didn't try it for very long because I lost interest. But here is what I found, and you guys can take it from here:

1: The 12 fret harmonics are halfway between the nut and the bridge, and consequently the 5th and 7th fret harmonics also occur an equal distance from the 12 fret to the saddle. In most acoustics this also happens to be just about over the soundhole area.

2: If you practice enough and your technique is good, you can get just about any 5 or 7th fret harmonic note over the soundhole by applying pressure with your thumbnail and fingernail in certain configurations.

3: Those same configurations will work if you figure out the distance changes when you fret or capo the strings, and still apply the correct pressures in the correct ratios.

I think this guy figured out how to do that in open tunings and good technique. Then the harmonics were just a matter of placing them in the song with good technique.

I never had anything in the technique department, so left it to more advanced pickers.

CK
 

West R Lee

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CK,

Interesting. I'll play with that. Not that it will do any good, but I'll still play with it. :D

West
 
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