Archive | March, 2010

Walter Strauss – Ishi

By on March 26, 2010 in Acoustic Guitar, Fingerstyle Guitar, Fingerstyle Guitar Videos, Guitar Technique, Modern Fingerstyle Players, Walter Strauss

Walter Strauss has the most unique style. With strong compositional skills at his command, Walter makes use of techniques he has developed based on West-African music. Walter has thoroughly absorbed the feel of this music and informed it with his own feel for modern fingerstyle.
Playing on an Oneida Guitar also gives Walter a special sound. With the song he played for my camera, the sublime ‘Ishi’, Walter overcomes the ‘seen-it-all-before’ attitude, and amazes with powerful rhythms and intricate picking, with no need for flashy pyro-technics.

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Garrin Benfield – Unbound

By on March 9, 2010 in Acoustic Guitar, Fingerpicking, Fingerstyle Guitar, Fingerstyle Guitar Videos, Folk Music, Guitar Technique, Modern Fingerstyle Players

I’ve known San Francisco based singer-songwriter Garrin Benfield for some time. In the mid ‘oughties’ (this century has turned out sucky for decade names so far,) we were booked on the same bill at a local SF acoustic music showcase night. At the end of the evening, Garrin and I jumped onstage for an impromptu [...]

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