Category Archives: News

Silent Night – Be vewy, vewy quiet

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Transcription available

Level: Intermediate     Tuning: Standard

ATTD003-silent-night-thumbnail

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If ever there was a Christmas carol that should be played on the guitar, it would be Silent Night.
After all, according to numerous recountings of the songs humble origin, it was first performed
at the Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, 1818, with the musical accompaniment coming not from the church’s organ,
per standard operating procedure, but from Fr. Mohr’s guitar. In the almost 200 years since its creation, it has become a central piece in the Christmas canon.

Stories abound about the reason the organ wasn’t functioning: mice had chewed the bellows, the
organ had broken down and there was no organ technician who lived close by to repair it, and so on. But the role of the guitar
in its composition and first performance remains consistent.

Stille_nacht

Gruber’s original autographed manuscript of the song with guitar accompaniment appears to the right.

This is my humble arrangement of the tune. You’ll find it is a relatively straightforward arrangement, although it does shift positions up and down the neck.



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CAAS 2010 and Artisan Guitars Chet Atkins Tribute Show

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The 2010 Chet Atkins Appreciation Society (CAAS) Convention has come and gone for another year. This was my tenth year to have had the good fortune to perform at it. Ten years? Yikes, where does the time go?

Kicking the week off on the night before CAAS began, Tuesday (July 6), Artisan Guitars held their annual Chet Atkins Tribute evening in Franklin, TN. Over the past five years this show has developed in to a pre-convention tradition. I was honoured to be asked once again to perform as part of that evening, sharing the stage with Muriel Anderson, John Knowles, Thom Bresh, Tommy Emmanuel, Sean Weaver, Andy Walberg and Earl Klugh. Whew! That’s an evening of pretty heady company.

There are so many great players every year at CAAS that you can’t possibly take them all in in one year. So every year I’m making “new” discoveries of players I’m hearing for the first time, even though they may have been there before. The highlights of the “new guys” for me year would include Adam Palma from Poland via Britain playing some terrific fingerstyle funk; the duo of Loren Barrigar and Mark Mazengarb played some stunningly great guitar duets; and Bobby Cochran who displayed a most tasteful and discrete use of a looper pedal to play some fine rockin’ guitar.

If you’re a lover of the guitar, be sure to put CAAS on your list of to-dos. Four days of great guitar music and company. It’s held each July in Nashville. Full details can be found at the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society website

At Last, My Name in Lights!!!

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All performers dream of their name in lights. My turn has finally come.

True. It’s not outside Carnegie Hall. But it is on an 80′ billboard on a major US interstate highway – the I65 heading south out of Nashville, to be exact. And I’m so proud to say it’s not related to some exhaustive FBI manhunt. What more could I ask for?

This is a digital billboard advertising next week’s (July 6, 2010) Chet Atkins Tribute concert presented by Artisan Guitars in Franklin, TN. While this picture shows “Featuring – Bob Evans”, if you stand there for a few minutes you’d also see the following fellow featured artists mentioned: Sean Weaver, John Knowles, Muriel Anderson, Thom Bresh and Tommy Emmanuel. It’s going to be a great show.

If you’re in the area (Franklin, TN), come on down. Tickets for the show are available through Artisan Guitars .

And even if you can’t make it to the show, be sure to drop by Artisan Guitars next time you’re in Franklin, or visit them online. This is one of the best “little” acoustic guitar stores around

Be there or be square.

Killer Thriller – Gareth Pearson

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If you’re a fan of Michael Jackson, you’ve got to check out Gareth Pearson’s latest Youtube posting. It’s a terrific fingerstyle arrangement of Jackson’s Thriller. And be sure to check out Gareth’s many other Youtube entries.

If you don’t know of him, Gareth is a 20 year old (as of 2009) fingerstyle guitarist from Wales. Many people are aware of him from his “boy-wonder” phase where as a teenager he wowed people with his a technical ability beyond his youth and the ability to keep up on stage with the likes of Tommy Emmanuel.

Many kids go through the “boy-wonder” phase of dazzling audiences while emulating their early influences but then can’t seem to move on to the next step of finding their own voice through their own compositions and arrangements. Gareth is making that shift and is emerging as an artist with his own voice. Definitely keep an eye on him.

“4 On 6” Awarded Outstanding Instrumental Album

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4 On 6 was awarded Outstanding Instrumental Album at the 2008 Western Canadian Music Awards this October. Needless to say, I’m very pleased and honoured, and I want to thank everyone for their support.

A bonus for myself was I also met and performed a duet with B.C. slide guitarist Steve Dawson as part of the awards show. I have been a big fan of Steve’s playing for a number of years, and so this was a real treat. If you are a fan of slide guitar (slide, steel, pedal steel, etc) and aren’t already familiar with his music, you owe it to yourself to check him out ( www.SteveDawson.ca ).

In addition to being a fine guitarist, Steve is also a great producer, for which he was named Producer of the Year in the Western Canadian Music Industry Awards the same weekend.

I also want to send out congratulations to fellow Saskatchewanians who also took home awards. Little Miss Higgins received Outstanding Blues Recording for Junction City and Elizabeth Raum received Outstanding Classical Composition for her work Dark Thoughts (How Bodies Make Ecstatic Marks)