David Gilmour's Time Solo

For halloween this year, the Phish tribute I’m in, A Live One, will be covering another band's album as their musical costume. We still haven't announced which album it will be, but Dark Side of The Moon has been a top 5, possibly #1 album of mine, for a long time.

David Gilmour is one of the greatest guitar player’s of all time. His solo’s are incredibly melodic and beautiful. David is the master of using exactly the right amount of notes for what he is trying to express on the guitar. This is very challenging to do!

I find myself, often, over playing, to fill the space, and increase the energy. When I catch myself doing this, I remember to breath, breath in the air, and let that channel open up between myself and the source, from which the magic, and the notes reveal themselves. I will often pick a spot, any spot, sometimes a tree leaf, or street lamp, if outside, or a rafter intersection, or an LED light hanging from the ceiling, if inside, and allow myself to focus on that point, surrendering to moment.

As my guitar playing and taste’s evolve, I have learned that sometimes less is more. I used to want to be able to play super fast… well, I still want to play super fast:), but I realize it’s not the speed that matters, but rather the message or story that one tells. I often compare it to having a conversation with a group of people. Am I listening? Am I leaving enough space for others to talk? Am I speaking in an accepting or uplifting tone? The more I comprehensibly converse with the other band members and the audience, the more we’ll be on the same page:)

Every Time We Meet • A Glimpse Inside My Songwriting Process

Here's my latest song, "Every Time We Meet".

A little background on how I write songs... I find inspiration, somewhere, anywhere, loved ones, nature, experiences, the list goes on and on. It's almost impossible to not fall in love, at some point throughout the day, with all the magic this classroom earth gives us.

From there, I usually sing what comes to mind while thinking on this topic, over some chords on the acoustic guitar. As I find the melody I really like, I write lyrics to fit the melody, and then sing it over and over and over:) Whether this is the chorus, verse or bridge, is still to be determined. Lately I've enjoyed the idea of just writing a cool cord progression with a chorus melody, no verses, no bridge.

Sometimes, in this case, the next step is to write another part that fits with the chord progression. For this song, I originally wrote the chorus: every time we meet, my heart slows down, first, and then decided the song needed some verses for context, and because there was more I wanted to say.

So, I tried several chords and came up with the verse, B to A chords, and worked out a melody that I really liked. Then I drafted the lyrics that fit with this melody.

The next step will be to write drum, bass and keys parts, which usually significantly alter the feel of the song, and quite likely what I'm playing on guitar. We'll see how it turns out as we start developing it with the band. Thanks for listening:)

It's a Forshage!

I often get asked about this strange guitar, well not strange to me, but definitely strange to the first time viewer:) It was built by good friend and amazing luthier, Christopher Forshage of Forshage Guitars about 10yrs ago.

His concept, if I recall correctly, was to make a guitar that was very comfortable and ergonomic, so that the weight and balance was accurate, as to lessen the amount of pressure on the shoulder. Also designed to be very easy to change the guitar strings, not having to endlessly wind up the tuning knobs, and not having to have a tool to cut the strings.

On top of all of this, it sounds and plays impeccably! The action on this guitar is the best I have ever played. It is so very easy on the fingertips. It stays in tune very well and the intonation usually stays in tune for a long period of time. I would guesstimate that I usually like to take it to Chris once a year to have the intonation adjusted.

For those unfamiliar with intonation, it is having the notes at the top of the neck in tune, while the notes at the bottom of the neck are also in tone. So, if you played a note on the first fret of the high E string (bottom string), it will be completely in tune as an E, not flat, not sharp. And then when you play a note on the 24th fret of the same high E string (highest note on the guitar), it will also be an E, not flat, not sharp.

I was originally told this guitar line that Chris makes is called “The Ergo,” but I have also learned over time that he refers to it as “The Orion.” So, which one is it Christopher Forshage? Maybe we can get him to chime in. He’s a busy busy man:)

Overall, I am blown away by this guitar. I had played a few guitars leading up to this one, and had developed very bad upper back, neck & shoulder problems from poorly weighted / heavy guitars. The Ergo, along with a list of amazing Massage Therapists and Yoga:) has been a big help.

It’s pretty much once or more per show, that somebody asks me what kind of guitar that is. I need a shirt that says, “It’s a Forshage” with an arrow pointing down:)