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chet atkins, doc watson, james burton, norman blake, mark o'connor, jerry douglas, mike auldridge, don rich, to name a few that have inspired me over the years, and of course, flat picker tony rice shown here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JFgC3Ub10E
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Quote:
chet atkins, doc watson, james burton, norman blake, mark o'connor, jerry douglas, mike auldridge, don rich, to name a few that have inspired me over the years, and of course, flat picker tony rice shown here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JFgC3Ub10E
Tony Rice certainly is a treat! 
I have a good friend up here in the Chicago Area, Dan Zahn, who is a extraordinary flat picker in his own right. When I watch these flat pickers, like Dan and Tony, my one thought is how do they do that!
An inspirational view of guitar playing, Thanks for the post.
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Or something completely different- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MqzFN5-5jk(Holdsworth-Road Ganes)  So effortless to him. I love when the vocalist becomes the capo..
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Tony Rice has always been one of my favorite guitarists. He inspired me to start flatpicking. I loved the flatted 3rds and 7ths that he uses so often. Tony got the inspiration for his style from Clarence White. Unfortunately, there aren't many good recordings of Clarence playing acoustic guitar. The one's that exist are of poor quality.
Another HUGE influence on Tony was John Carlini. Tony hired John to teach him jazz fundamentals after Tony was hired to replace Mark O'Connor in the David Grisman band. Tony then blended that style of playing with his own. That's what you hear in all of Tony's playing after he left Grisman.
Mark O'Connor was an amazing guitarist before he stopped playing guitar. I was fortunate enough to get to meet him while he was still playing and he played a 15-20 min. private set for me using my custom Martin. I was blown away by what he could do. Chet Atkins once stated that Mark was the "most talented musician that ever set foot in Nashville". Unfortunately for us, Mark had to quit the guitar because it was too hard on his hands. It was affecting his fiddle playing.
I play both acoustic and electric, but I'm way more impressed by someone who can play the complicated stuff on acoustic, because it's so much more physically demanding. There's really no comparison. They are almost like two different instruments. I've seen a lot of acoustic guitarist who can tear it up on electric, but I haven't seen many electric guitarist who can tear up an acoustic.
They do exist, but they're rare.
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Hi Dan, I have always gravitated to the electric guitar players. Al DiMeola was my first experience at hearing what the guitar could do. In fact, although I cannot find it anywhere on Youtube, but he did a television concert like Midnight special where he did that song live. And I saw his fingers crawl up the fretboard like a spider, it blew me away! It was my first exposure to "technique." From there it goes on to everyone from Santana (who knew enough about playing the guitar to surround himself with the best players that made him sound better) to Stanley Jordan. I don't try to emulate them; just get inspired by them that there is life outside of the "formula".
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Quote:
...And I saw his fingers crawl up the fretboard like a spider, it blew me away! It was my first exposure to "technique."
Ditto, and well said. 
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iirc, norman blake wrote church street blues and its on the same page as tony's. frankly, i like tony's interpretation a lot better. his right hand amazes me and his execution of hammer-ons and pull-offs is virtually flawless.
bob, correct me if i'm wrong, but didn't mark o'connor win both the flat picking guitar AND the fiddle championships the same year? at age 13 i think. unheard of. i have the vinyl lp of him winning the flat-picking championship and he brought the house down. as a lad he had a very unorthodox way of holding the fiddle. while seated, he pulled it into his stomach then leaned over it. awkward looking but he certainly could make it talk.
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Don, Short answer is yes. A very short list of some of the contests he won follows. Quote:
Awards: Winner of National Old Time Fiddle Championship, 1973-76, National Junior Fiddle Championship, 1974-77, National Guitar Flatpicking Contest, 1975 and 1977, Grand Masters Fiddling Championship, 1975 and 1980, and Grand National Fiddle Championship, 1979-81.
When Mark was in a contest, everyone else was essentially competing for second place, regardless of the instrument.
Mark not only played in the national contests, he played in state and regional contests across the country. I know he won the Kentucky State Flatpicking Championship at least once and maybe twice. Fortunately for me, he wasn’t there in 1992 whenever I won the contest. I think that was the same year I met him. I didn’t get to play with him because we only had one instrument between us, and that was my guitar. That’s when he played the solo set for me. I really wish he’d had an instrument with him so I could have played with him. Now that would have been something to remember!
In spite of his immense talent on guitar, fiddle, mandolin, etc., he is a very humble person when you meet him. Very nice guy.
I think it was Darol Anger who said that Mark was the only person he'd ever met that as soon as he had a musical idea in his head, he could instantly play it flawlessly!
Last edited by bobcflatpicker; 10/03/10 02:35 AM.
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Tommy Emanuel goes without saying, what a showman and player!
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Quote:
Tommy Emanuel goes without saying, what a showman and player!
I bought a Tony Emanuel "teaching" video once. I say once because I could not touch a thing on the video. Should have been labeled virtuosos only! Even as he would slow down to explain a lick, my only comment was, "..you got to be kiddin"
Honestly, I am not inspired by TE simply because what he does is so so far above me. I actually get a little discouraged. There appears to be a fine line between discouragement and inspiration. 
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Don Ross and Andy McKee are pretty good. LOL watch some of their youtube vids.
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Quote:
Don Ross and Andy McKee are pretty good. LOL watch some of their youtube vids.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7wagf26gJ4 Don Ross - This guy is one wild dude. I'd love to walk into a bar and find him playing for evening!!
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Quote:
Quote:
Don Ross and Andy McKee are pretty good. LOL watch some of their youtube vids.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7wagf26gJ4 Don Ross - This guy is one wild dude. I'd love to walk into a bar and find him playing for evening!!
has anybody here experimented with the style of playing used by Andy McKee and Don Ross? It appears to be mostly open tunings and a lot of percussive/tapping/slapping. If anybody here has developed a similar style, I'd really like to hear an example of your work. To me this style of playing is fascinating but way beyond my ability to imitate it or even approximate it.
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Quote:
Quote:
Tommy Emanuel goes without saying, what a showman and player!
I bought a Tony Emanuel "teaching" video once. I say once because I could not touch a thing on the video. Should have been labeled virtuosos only! Even as he would slow down to explain a lick, my only comment was, "..you got to be kiddin"
Honestly, I am not inspired by TE simply because what he does is so so far above me. I actually get a little discouraged. There appears to be a fine line between discouragement and inspiration.
I agree Dan... and I'll take your observation a step farther. Clearly, Tommy is a gifted player.. but something about his style of playing does not affect me the way other players does. I can never listen all the way through one of his songs without losing interest and clicking away. He just seems a bit too wired for my taste... too much speed and not enough melodic overtones. I'd much rather hear something slow and tasteful than something fast and mechanical.
I speak only as a listener, not as a performer who can do better (Because I can't)
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i love all guitar playing however 'speed' playing leaves me cold. it often gets out of hand in bluegrass and heavy rock genres. i'll take precision playing (chet atkins or george benson) over speed (hendrix or roy clark) any day. i am not questioning their genius at all, its just that i find it extremely tiring to my ears.
bob and i should be embarrassed for neglecting to mention merle travis who influenced chet atkins and doc watson to the degree that they both named children after him, doc, a son and chet, a daughter. merle perfected the alternating bass runs with his thumb while finger picking the melody, often referred to as 'chet atkins style' and mis-attribruted to chet. in fact, merle may have borrowed the style from black delta blues pickers like mississippi john hurt (qv) but merle perfected it and it became synonymous with his name.
forgive us mister travis and rip.
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Don, Quote:
i love all guitar playing however 'speed' playing leaves me cold.
I couldn’t agree more. A lot of flatpickers fall into that trap. A good example would be Steve Kaufman. His instructional material is very good, but his playing is really hard to listen to. I’ve never been able to listen through one CD or sit through one set without leaving. All speed and mechanics, no soul or feeling. It sounds like a good tab program. Enter the notation at a fast tempo and hit play.
Many rock and jazz guitarists affect me the same way. Listen to one song, and you’re impressed by their “prowess”. In the middle of song #2, you’re turning it off. Your term of “tiring” is a very good one.
I knew that Doc had named his son after Merle Travis, but I didn’t know about Chet. Interesting stuff. Merle Travis was a great player, but there’s no doubt in my mind that it was the black delta blues players that gave birth to it.
But we all have our influences, and there’s nothing wrong with that, as long as we make it our own, just like Tony Rice did with Clarence White and John Carlini. And I suspect that Bill Monroe’s mandolin playing also played a role.
Too bad we live so far apart. We could have some interesting conversations. Come to think of it, we are right now.
Last edited by bobcflatpicker; 10/03/10 03:49 PM.
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Too bad we live so far apart. We could have some interesting conversations. Come to think of it, we are right now.
The interesting thing about internet groups is that "birds of a feather" flock to the same forums, and so it is possible to find an abnormally high number of people who like what we like... far more than most of us would likely encounter in everyday life.
Interesting.
Last edited by Pat Marr; 10/03/10 05:36 PM.
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yes bob, her married name is merle atkins russell. don't know much about her but she'd be about 50 by now. first learned of her in chet's bio, forgotten where though.
yes, it would be nice (kewl, in the modern vernacular) to meet and swap stories but be forewarned, an irishman is apt to stretch the truth a wee tad. its an irish law, me thinks. any story passing an irishman's lips over a quaff o'ale must, by law, be well seasoned with leprechaun feces. but, so long as ye have a properly fitted feces filter, t'would be great fun. unfortunately, a stroke left me both paralyzed and mute so this may by the only means of communication available to us.
got anymore pickin' to share?
jazzmandan, consider this thread thoroughly hijacked.
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