Animation by designer/movie maker Pedro Allevato McClau.

GuitarEvolution from Pedro Allevato McClau on Vimeo.

Hat tip to Amanda for sending this. Hannes Coetzee is a South African guitar player whose style of “spoon-in-mouth” slide playing technique is called ‘optel and knyp‘. Not sure, but this clip is probably from David Kramer’s doc ‘Karoo Kitaar Blues‘. Will definitely be looking up that DVD.

Stevie Ray talks guitar.

Wanted to give you an idea of what’s in this video I’m editing. Shot on location at Joe’s Pub, the short documentary also has interviews with these musicians you see on-screen – Biel Ballester, John Intrator, May Bittel & Stephane Wrembel.

Clicke here for mobile version.

Anyone who knows Michael Angelo Batio will know what I’m referring to. The man with the chops, speed, and melody has, for years, taught thousands and thousands of up and coming guitarists how to give their own a workout with his videos and columns. It’s not just speed in those wings, a hummingbird makes a flight look beautiful and effortless. Yes, that’s MAB!

Can we take a moment and thank him? Yes, we can!

If you’re in the business of creating or making sounds, you draw from a pallet you grew up accumulating. More often than not you (we) source our inspirations from the sounds that have influenced us, and almost never the ones that intrude upon us. Either of them finds its way into our sounds (music).

Some things come together in a very pleasantly surprising way. This is one of them. This video came together nicely even though I sat on it for months not knowing what to do with the footage. Lo, it was already there and all I needed was to take time away from it so I knew what unnecessary parts to take out.

What also happened in the mean time is…well, watch this video first and then head out to my photo blog to see what I mean. This story is not quite complete without checking both posts out.

BBC One did an excellent 3-part series on the story of the guitar last year. Tons of interviews and tons of guitar goodness. Below is the first ten minutes of the first episode via YouTube. You can watch the remainder of the first episode (Out of the Frying Pan) here.

Now, why can’t we on this side of the ‘pond’ produce work like this? Recession? You know what, fuck it, I’ll go out there myself and gather stories. After all, if you noticed the subtitle of Guitarkadia, that’s what this blog is supposed to bring to you, isn’t it? I don’t have the might and money the BBC has, but I have a working pair of eyes, ears, arms, legs, and lots of un-lived years and un-burnt energy ahead of me. If James Longley can make Iraq in Fragments all by himself, I should be okay. If I need permission to embark on something like this, I’ve never really wanted to do it.

Other stories:

Tim Brookes, Telling the Story of the Guitar (NPR)

The Story of Jazz Guitar (a great post by Simon Jay Harper with video samples)

All Guitarkadia videos are now slowly accumulating on iTunes. Subscribe and watch them for free. And as always, would appreciate suggestions and feedback. Gracias!

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