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You are here: Home / Archives for guitarist

OMG you gotta hear it to believe it

October 4, 2007 by Chris

Now I already have a good pick-up system in my Larrivee L-03 but when went into my favorite guitar store, the 12th Fret in Toronto, I feel madly in love with the L.R. Baggs IMix.

Now I have been looking to update my pick-up system in my L0-3 lately and found many systems in which to chose from. I have narrowed it down to two items. (1) the Fishman Ellipse Blend vs. (2) the LR Baggs IMix.

When I went in I talked to my favorite guitar guy Tim Cameron. Being the honest guy that he is he immediately directed me to a acoustic guitar pick up god named Nevin. I told him what I was looking for and told him that I was just looking to hear the differences between the two and he paid as much attention to me as if I was going to pick one up right then and there, now that’s service!

He brought me two guitars that had the pick-up systems already in them and put me in their little music room, plugged me in and let me got at them. Wow, was I impressed with both!

First I tried the Fishman Ellipse Blend. It had a real nice sound but I was detecting feed back. I know that I was in a little room but for some reason the feeling and sound was off to me. I realize I am knew at the finer subtleties of acoustic pick ups, but it was a gut feeling. It was very refreshing to see that you can adjust the position of the mic inside.

Then I tried the LR Baggs iMIX. The sound was full, responsive to very fine picking and it can overpower your senses, in my view that is.

imix.jpg

Guitarist realize that since the sound of the acoustic guitar is very complex and fickle, so therefore it is a must to use more than a single pickup to attempt to sense it.

The iMIX uses the Baggs iBeam under-bridge pickup with a Baggs Element under-saddle piezo. The Element pickup senses the strings and provides the presence and feedback resistance of piezo while the iBeam reads the sound inside the guitar and adds natural fidelity, albeit with increased feedback sensitivity. The signals from the the two pickups are blended, in this case via the rotary blend control, on a side-mounted, Baggs iMIX Onboard, pre-amp. This pre-amp also features three slider controls for volume, treble and bass, plus a phase reverse switch for a measure of elementary feedback control. A fingertip pressure releases the battery from its compartment for a quick change when required.

iBeam

ibeam.jpg

Element

element.jpg

Now all that I have to do is get my wife on board!

Keep on Jammin’




Filed Under: Guitar Equipment, Guitars, My Equipment Tagged With: 12th Fret, acoustic guitar, acoustic pick ups, adjust, amp, bass, element, Fishman Ellipse Blend, fret, guitar pick, guitarist, guitars, ibeam, Larrivee, Larrivee L 03 guitar, LR Baggs IMIX, Music, pickups, sound, strings, Toronto

I just came back from Dominic Troiano’s house – his old one that is

September 30, 2007 by Chris

I had tried in vain to locate exactly which house the Legendary Canadian guitarist, Dominic Troiano, lived in ever since my neighbour’s son had told me. I kept asking him if he could remember and he kept saying that he’ll someday soon he’ll go around there to try and jog his memory. I’m still waiting on that one Johnny.

A fellow employee in the hospital that I work with was a great friend to my neighbour’s son John. He too also said that he remembers his brother Dominic trying to play guitar. He had told me that they hung around Domenic’s brother and played cards with him for when they were young. I had met him at work one day after John had told me about our previous neighbour and asked him the same question. He had gave me the same response that John gave me.

I, being the very introverted person that I am, talked to everyone in the area that looked liked they lived here for ages. With the same question that I had for John and his buddy in hand, I obtained the same answer over and over again.

Now 5 years later, I stumbled upon the answer on line by chance. My jaw dropped, I grabbed my wife’s Canon camera and got in the car. In case your wondering I took the car because I didn’t want to be seen taking a picture of someone’s in secret. The owners may have thought that I was casing the joint!

Now I’m finally in front of the ex-home of Mr. Troiano. Like a kid at Christmas, I get out of the car and just stare at it. I just can’t believe that I’m there.

dominictrianox400.jpg

He lived at the house on the right hand side of the picture. This is the type of home that is quite common in our area. It’s a semi-detached white house with brown trim. Small front yard with a small parking pad but just knowing that he lived and grew up here made it fell bigger then what it was.

In the front yard there was a middle aged man with his little dog talking to a neighbour. The man looked like a jazz musician and approachable. So what the heck, I might as well get out of the car and talk to the guy.

It turns out that he really is a jazz musician and very well aware of the history of the home. He told me that he has even approached the Troiano family through e-mail to see if they wanted to re-visit their own home! Now that’s a real gentleman.

He said that the home has not been renovated that much and that the feel of the home was almost the same as when he got it. He also told me that he bought it from the Troiano’s. The molding floor and ceiling was original and so was the front door.

After talking for a while, I asked him if I could take some pic’s for this post and he said yes. The thing that got my attention the most was the door. Imagining Dominic going up to that door and opening it sent goose bumps all over me, wow!

So now I know a little bit more about the history of our great neighbourhood and can share it with you all.

Mr Dominic Troiano R.I.P.

Keep on Jammin’

Filed Under: Canadian, Musicians Tagged With: 356 Sammon Ave, Canadian, Canadian Rock and roll hall of fame, Dom Triano, domenic troiano, Dominic Triano Canadian Rock Jazz Guitarist, East york, family, guitarist, Home, house, I Can Hear You Calling, jazz, Joe walsh, Live, Mandala, Music, musician, picture, play guitar, Prakash John, Robbie Robertson, secret, the band Bush, the Guess Who

Michael Hedges

July 26, 2007 by Chris

This is a player who should be in everyones’ music collection. Michael Hedges is so innovative, crisp in the clarity of his unique style and most of all provides a very refreshing new experience. Just listening to the creative levels of his guitarmanship makes your mind wonder off towards a different level of consciousness. Just listen to the video and you will see what I am referring to.

Just off topic a bit but, I thought that I was the only one who was constantly tuning my guitar between songs. The beginning part is useful to a player who is attempting to play his style of playing, it certainly helped me out.

He refers to his style as “violet acoustic” which is a style that I might be considered to use frequently as well. Actually, aggressive acoustic is more appropriate. Michael Hedges has this gift to be able to dampen strings, which is called “Right hand string stopping” by classically trained guitarist. This is applied to the bass strings of the guitar by your thumb. Michael however, brought this to a new level of playing.

He insisted that you should dampen every individual note that is not worthy of hearing. Michael thought that letting a string ring out is like contaminating the chord structure of a song and not giving the listener the clarity of sound that you want them to hear, and I quote “It’s just, why let it ring by default of any thought? Be responsible! Don’t let things just go on because you started them.” This poses a huge problem for most guitarists. That is, it is very difficult to do this while flying around the fret board at warp speed.

The only way to achieve this level is to apply the old adage “slow down, I’m in a hurry”. Did ya ever hear of that one?

This means that you have to slow down so much that, when you play a piece fast at such slow speeds paying attention to every single minute detail, it allows you to play almost error free. I do this all the time when I practice and I may lose my marriage to my wife one day because of it. Her mind is so agile and crisp that she can do things flying around at MACH 5 and absorb things while executing it almost perfectly.

I have to give credit where credit is do so, thanx Brian @ RiffDreams for this great new guitar experience.

Keep on Jammin’

Filed Under: Guitars, Music, Musicians, Playing Styles, Video Tagged With: Acoustic, acoustic guitar playing, fret, guitarist, Michael Hedges, Music, open acoustic guitar tuning, open tuning guitar, practice, Riffdreams, Right hand string stopping, sound, strings

Fellow Brantford guy does well

July 20, 2007 by Chris

A great friend of the Power family’s son Jessie, is truly the apple of his father’s eye. In a recent article about Jesse from the Brantford Expositor this past Thursday, July 19, 2007, pretty much sums up the bright future ahead for this Brantford Musician. I really wish him the best of luck!

I fondly remember many stories about this man’s son and his guitar playing ability. I recall many stories about him doing the things that kids do over the years but never ever met the guy. He, along with his father, was a player whom I had always wanted to jam with but never had the time to do so. I hope that I can jam with him now that he is a star in the making, LOL!

I just checked out Jesse’s Myspace and LiveVideo and found it quite refreshing. He is just an honest guy doing a honest man’s gig in my home city of Brantford! I hope that this is not his Last Song!

Keep on Jammin’ Jesse

Filed Under: Canadian, Culture, Music, Musicians, Songs to play, Video Tagged With: amp, BBC One, Brantford, Brantford indie guitarist, Brantford Musician, folk and rock guitarist, guitar, guitarist, Home, Jessie Stutsman, Kate Wheeler of Tiger Aspect Productions in London, Music, musician, My YouTube Song, play, playing, Video

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