Archive for May, 2012
Scott Morris’ book ‘Classical Guitar Complete: From Basics to Bach’ Vol. 1 has been so well received that we’ve gotten many requests for Vol. 2. Well, Volume 2 is just about complete, and we have a gift for anyone who would like to pre-order their copy now. The book will be out on June 25, and between now and then if you pre-order Volume 2 you’ll get a free copy of Scott’s CD ‘Danza’, which features works by Paganini, Villa-Lobos and Jorge Morel.
Volume 2 deals with some more advanced concepts, beginning with reading and playing beyond first position and all over the fretboard, musicality, ornamentation, alternate tunings and advanced techniques.
Here’s an excerpt from the book and a couple of MP3 excerpts from his CD ‘Danza’: Jorge Morel’s ‘Peruvian Folk Song’ and Paganini’s ‘Grand Sonata in A’.
In celebration of Memorial Day GSI is slashing 25% off of all web orders of up to $1,000 (max. $250 discount) through midnight, May 28. Just enter coupon code MEMORIAL25 at checkout to get your discount. We’ll be closed over the weekend and on Monday, May 28, so place your orders online to receive your discount.
*Can’t be combined with other offers, and discount does not apply to Guitar Specials.
Big thanks to Ales Pancner for his beautiful painting that we used in the image there.
Here’s guitar #160 from our celebration of Pepe Romero Jr.s’ 200th guitar. #160 is a maple guitar with a redwood top, and Pepe Sr. plays the beginning of Rodrigo’s Fandango.
The Parkening International Guitar Competition takes place in Malibu, CA from May 29 to June 2 this year, and it is one of the more important guitar competitions in the world, not least because it has the largest purse of any guitar competition in the world – $65,000. The fifteen competitors range in age from 16 to 29, and are from all over the world – see the full list of competitors here. There is also a Young Guitarists competition for guitarists ages 17 and younger. They will be judged by a panel that includes Dave Grusin, film composer and jazz artist; Costa Pilavachi, Senior Vice President of Universal Music Group; David Russell, guitar virtuoso; Julie Smith, Classical Project Manager for The Recording Academy (presenter of the Grammy Awards); and Jim Svejda, Classical KUSC radio host and producer. Guitar Salon is proud to be the official media sponsor of the Parkening competition, and you can get updates on the competition’s progress by following us on Facebook.
This past Monday Scott Tennant joined Eva Beneke to record some duets for her upcoming CD ‘In Dulci Jubilo’ at the GSI showroom. This was the first of two such sessions, and they recorded arrangements by Eva and by Mark Small (an amazing arranger who, among many other things, arranged one of the songs on LAGQ’s Grammy winning Guitar Heroes album). Our photographer Felix Salazar took some great shots as always (including some with a funny filter that I just love) and I’ve included a little audio clip from the title track of the CD, In Dulci Jubilo, which is a traditional German Christmas song that dates back to the Middle Ages and which Eva sang in choir as a child – you can read more about it here, on the Wikipedia page. The piece is not properly mixed yet, so the finished product will sound even better than this, but we wanted to share a little bit of the fun of recording Eva and Scott.
Here’s part 3 of our videos of guitarist Capital – he plays Guinga’s Pra Quem Quiser Me Visitar on a new Thomas Norwood ’1910 Manuel Ramirez’ model, and Garoto’s Meditação on a new Teodoro Perez ‘Madrid’ cedar-top. You can find out more about Capital’s comings and goings, where he’s playing and how to buy his CDs at his website.
One of the many highlights of our ‘Valseana’ Live’ concert with Marc Teicholz this past January was his amazing performance of the Bach Chaconne on the 1952 Hauser I’ve written so much about (and that Eva Beneke is using now to record her new CD). The pairing of this guitar and this piece seems perfect, as it obviously did to Marc, who chose to play the Chaconne on that guitar, and the performance is just fantastic.
Here’s part 2 of Capital’s visit to GSI last week (check out part 1 if you haven’t already – there’s some great playing there, too). Here he plays more music by his teacher, the legendary Brazilian guitarist/composer Guinga: ‘Dichavado’ on a 2012 Henner Hagenlocher and ‘Jogo De Compadre’ on a 1989 Miguel Rodriguez.
We had a great session yesterday over at Apogee’s Berkeley St. Studios in Santa Monica with Eva Beneke recording an amazing 1952 Hauser I which I’ve written quite a bit about before. The project is Eva’s CD – In Dulci Jubilo: A Classical Guitar Christmas – that GSI is producing and which will feature Eva playing solo guitar, duos with Scott Tennant and chamber music featuring the ensemble we recorded yesterday: Lars Hoefs on cello; Phil Popham on English horn and oboe; and Moni Simeonov on violin.
A Success Story and an Amazing Letter
If only students here could be touched by the divine power of music as I have.
- Twelve-year-old Guitar Student, Central Texas, April 5th, 2012
I would like to share a truly remarkable letter I recently received from a 12 year-old here in Texas, along with a wonderful story from my friend Bill Ash at the St. Louis Classical Guitar Society.
Several weeks ago the President of the St. Louis Classical Guitar Society, William Ash, shared a link to a heartwarming TV story with me about his work in guitar education. Here is the link. I asked Bill to give me a bit of background:
“We started this program after taking Chris Mallett and Thomas Flippin – Guitar Duo Noire – to visit nine St. Louis City schools. Both students and teachers responded with terrific enthusiasm! We found three music teachers who told us they’d love to start guitar programs in their schools. We sent letters to all our members and contributors outlining the need, and over 20 of them responded with $4400 to buy guitars! We also got a donation of $5,000 from the local Rotary Club. Our local retail store/sponsor Music Folk got us nice Alvarez RC-12 classical guitars at wholesale ($150 ea, with hardshell cases), and we bought and presented them to the first school, Lyon Elementary. This is the first phase, just getting the guitars in the possession of the schools. The kids and teachers are really excited about it!”
