John Fahey and his Amazing Acoustic Guitar
This lens is meant to be a taster of John Fahey's huge and amazing body of work and is intended only as an appreciation of his great music. Those who want a more detailed study can follow the great links down the page.
Hopefully those who have never heard of John Fahey will enjoy exploring his music. I hope also that it will bring back a few memories to those who have forgotten these great tunes - especially memories of the 1960's.
John Fahey - known for his unusual acoustic guitar style - influenced by the blues, the Classical symphonies of Saint Saens, Stepen Foster and the folk fingerpicking sounds of the country and folk players of the 1950's and 60's and even Indian ragas, merged these influences into his own expressive style.
His playing always expressed something deep, a feeling that transcended his brilliant surface technique. There is always a deeper feeling in his these simple repetitive picking pieces probably helped along with the many unusual titles he gave them.
These titles were often an interesting reflection on life and succinctly captured a moment in time. Listen to tracks from the Yellow Princess album such as 'Lion' and 'Irish Setter' which describe the moods of his pets captured in his musical moment. Other tracks such as the atmospheric 'Singing Bridge Of Mephis Tennessee' or the title track 'The Yellow Princess' put you into his world of America - as if looking through his eyes at a changing world - from the old ways to the new.
John Fahey has been classed as one of the pioneers of the New Age, but his music is much more than that and I hope his music will continue to delight new listeners with an open mind for years to come.
The first time I Heard John Fahey's playing was as a teenager. I had got into playing acoustic guitar in a big way by then, a mixture of Classical and Folk styles with a little electric thrown in. Then I heard John Fahey's music - he was a great influence - on a cold, snowy, Sunday afternoon in Winter as the red sun was sinking in the West, with Christmas exams looming and the radio playing in the background, John Peel (Radio 1 U.K.) announces the next tune and suddenly my world changes. The music that's playing is John Fahey's 'Last Steam Engine Train'.
The Last Steam Engine Train
John Fahey plays 'The Last Steam Engine Train'
John Fahey - Contents
Explore
- The Last Steam Engine Train
- Acoustic Guitar Strings - tips, advice and videos
- The Best of John Fahey - 1959 -1977
- The Best of John Fahey 1964 - 1983
- Need help to make YOUR music better ?
- John fahey and Peter Lang do a Duet on the 'Last Train To San Fernando'
- John Fahey guitar method
- Learn How To Fingerpick
- John Fahey - Playing bottleneck guitar
- JOHN FAHEY'S BEST !!!!
- John Fahey and The Yellow Princess
- Have a listen to Track 6 from the album.
- John Fahey in action.
- John Fahey Guitar Tunings
- John Fahey - On The Sunny Side Of The Ocean - Live
- Learn How to play guitar like John Fahey
- Fascinating Books written by John Fahey
- Christmas music on guitar
- The Captain Beefheart Radar Station
- Acoustic Guitars
- John Fahey - Folklore and Religion
- John Fahey - the early years
- Two of John Fahey's early albums
- John Fahey 's album Death Chants, Breakdowns and Military Waltzes - 1963
- NOTE - Titles of John Fahey's Album Covers
- John Fahey the Producer
- Takoma Records
- If you would like to hear more of George Winston's Piano Music
- Yamaha Guitar
- More interesting facts on John Fahey
- How To Record The Acoustic Guitar
- Microphones for Recording the Acoustic Guitar
- John Fahey and the Voice of the Turtle
- Buy The Voice of the Turtle on Amazon - read 5 star reviews at Amazon and listen to short clips.
- American Primitive and John Fahey
- Some of John Fahey's beautiful Christmas music
- John Fahey - Trios
- Other Music Lenses
- Make a comment about John Fahey or about your favourite guitar player - electric or acoustic.
- For The Text In this Lens
- When The Catfish Are In Bloom
- John Fahey plays Poor Boy Long Ways From Home
- This is for my education !
- Try The Lyric Machine
- Albert Einstein
Acoustic Guitar Strings - tips, advice and videos
Looking to buy new acoustic guitar strings
- Reliable information and tips on acoustic guitar strings
- Learn all about acoustic guitar strings. Every guitarist will find reliable and useful information here. Tips here about care and replacing of acoustic guitar strings.
The Best of John Fahey 1964 - 1983
Volume 2
Need help to make YOUR music better ?
Music Tips
Music Production and Recording, Music Software and general tips about guitars and music at Cool-Music-Hot
- Music Production, Software and Songwriting Tips
- Information and tips on guitar, music arrangement, music production, music software and songwriting
John fahey and Peter Lang do a Duet on the 'Last Train To San Fernando'
Last Train To San Fernando - duet Peter Lang and John Fahey
Peter Lang left - John Fahey right.
Recording from Minneapolis Public Television Autumn 1977.
John Fahey and Peter Lang / Freight Train
Recorded at Minnesota Public Television in the Fall of 1977
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John Fahey guitar method
John Fahey 'Best Of' Collections - John Fahey Guitar Method
The books are getting more difficult to come buy - this hardback only version comes in at over a $100
The Best of John Fahey, 1959-1977
Only a hardback version available at the moment - a great book if you really want to learn some of John Fahey's most well known pieces
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The Best of John Fahey 1959-1977
This is a great place to start if your new to John fahey's music. This CD contains many of his great tunes. The Years 1959-1977 - The Best of John Fahey
Amazon Price: $17.99 (as of 12/02/2009)
The Best of John Fahey, Vol. 2: 1964-1983
More great John Fahey - Volune Two covers 1964-1983
Amazon Price: $11.98 (as of 12/02/2009)
Learn How To Fingerpick
Fingerpicking Guitar tuition books
Shake That Thing The Guitar of Mississippi John Hurt, Volume 1 (Mel Bay Presents Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop Audio Series)
Fingerpicking lessons from the master guitarist and teacher Stefan Grossman
"Shake That Thing" is a 32 page book with 3 full hours of audio CD that give you clear phrase by phrase instruction in the style of Mississippi John Hurt.
Included are complete instructions for all the techniques used along with clear music notation and tablature for each of the 14 pieces.
The tunes include - Casey Jones, Shake That Thing, Joe Turner Blues, Got The Blues, Spike Driver's Blues, Can't Be Satisfied, Make Me A Pallet on The Floor, Taint Nobody's Dirty Business If I Do, I'm Satisfied, Richland Woman Blues, Spider Spider, Let The Mermaids Flirt With Me and Loius Collins.
Stefan Grossman has been performing guitar and writing about acoustic guitar fingerstyle techniques for more than 30 years.
He learnt the guitar from the Rev. Gary Davis. He has played with many famous musicians such as Skip James, Mississippi John Hurt, Fred Macdowell, Son House, Steve Katz, John Sebastian (singer/songwriter) and Josh Rifkin (pianist) to name a few.
He went on to write the 5 part Oak series of guitar instruction books because of his interest in collecting and teaching blues, ragtime and contemporary picking. He later went on to form Kicking Mule Records where he produced more guitar instructional material helped by legendary guitar players John Renbourn, Bert Jansk, Dave Evans, Happy Traum etc. He has also done many of the Mel Bay guitar instructional books as well as working on a slide guitar instructional manaul with John Fahey.
Amazon Price: $22.45 (as of 12/02/2009)
The Art of Contemporary Travis Picking: How to Play the Alternating Bass Fingerpicking Style (Bk & CD)
Tha Art of Contemporary Travis Fingerpicking teaches the guitarist all aspects of the figerpicking methods of Leo Kottke and James Taylor. Mark Hanson who has written the book is one of the top teachers in fingerpicking style. On the accompanying CD Mark Hanson plays each piece at Half and Full speed so that you can fully hear and understand the principles behind this alternate bass and melody method of playing the guitar.
Amazon Price: $13.57 (as of 12/02/2009)
GUITAR METHOD FINGERPICKING BOOK/CD/BONUS DVD (Progressive Guitar Method)
Amazon Price: $15.56 (as of 12/02/2009)
Step One: Play Guitar Complete(3 Cds)
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Mel Bay Basic Guitar Strumming and Fingerpicking
Guitar Tuition Book for the Beginner
Includes basic techniques, many strumming patterns and a number of fingerpicking patterns.
This Mel Bay book by guitar teacher and player Nori Kelley will also teach you how to read basic chord charts which will always come in very useful in your future guitar playing - semi pro or pro situations.
An useful book that will give you the basic techniques to enable you to play popular music such as rock, folk rock, alternative styles, modern worship and country music styles.
A CD is included with all 51 excercises from the book. The student is meant to use the CD and excercises so as to gain experience in playing along with other musicians - the aim is to improve their timing skills as this is a problem for the beginner and amateur musician.
Mel Bay - Basic Guitar Strumming and Fingerpicking by Nori Kelley (guitar teacher since 1976 and member of the group 'Wind")
40 page paperback book with full length CD included
Amazon Price: $10.95 (as of 12/02/2009)
John Fahey - Playing bottleneck guitar
John Fahey playing slide guitar - John Fahey always left room for one or two tracks on every album for some slide guitar
He talks about being influenced by classical music when he demonstrates a chord that he has taken from the Gustav Holtz Planet Suite. He explains how he is self taught on the guitar and mentions how he enjoyed doing some improvisation on clarinet in high school. On taking up the guitar he immediately saw the guitar as a vehicle for his own compositions.
In its place have a listen to John Fahey (live) playing in bottleneck (slide) style 'Steam Boat Gwine Round That Bend'. Notice at the end of the video how high the strings are set on John Fahey's guitar. This is essential to get a nice clean slide sound and also gives a nice ringing sustained sound. Notice the right hand finger picks - essential for John Faheys strong sound. Notice how accurate his pitching is and also the use of vibrato which sounds great but also helps the player to disguise any pitch problems - just like a violinists vibrato.
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JOHN FAHEY'S BEST !!!!
John Fahey and The Yellow Princess
The Yellow Princess
Amazon Price: $17.98 (as of 12/02/2009)
Wide ranging album full of experiments, unusual sounds and textures. Tells a story without words - orchestral without and orchestra.
Niko.
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John Fahey and The Yellow Princess
Track Listing - Lots of Open Tunings Used on this CD - have a listen.
2. View (East from the Top of the Riggs Road/B&O Trestle)
3. Lion
4. March! For Martin Luther King
5. Singing Bridge of Memphis, Tennessee
****6. Dance of the Inhabitants of the Invisible City of Bladensburg (See YOUTUBE)
7. Charles A. Lee: In Memoriam
8. Irish Setter
9. Commemorative Transfiguration and Communion at Magruder Park
10. John Fahey Sampler, Themes and Variations
11. Fare Forward Voyagers, 1965
12. Steel Guitar Medley
Have a listen to Track 6 from the album.
Dance of the Invisible Inhabitants of Bladensburg
John Fahey tune played along with the images of Galloping Gertie
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John Fahey in action.
Notice that he uses his left hand thumb by the look of the shot.
John Fahey loved to use open tunings on his guitar.
This gave him a nice ringy sound. He also used open tunings when he played bottleneck guitar.
Thanks to pheezy at Flickr - great photo of John Fahey in full flow.
John Fahey Guitar Tunings
Open Tunings - Lots of information here on OPEN TUNINGS !
- acousticfingerstyle.com
- Benefits
1. Using open tunings on your guitar brings out different resonances from the instrument
2. An open tuning forces you to play something different.
3. The usual cliches and chord changes aren't possible anymore - so it can be inspirational !
4. An Open tuning will usually require you to have some lower notes - can give more depth to the guitar.
5. The guitar can be easier to play.
6. Your guitar playing can sound more flashy - it can sound as if you're a more able player.
7. Your guitar can sound more orchestral.
8. It's often easier to play unisons and octaves. Occasionally by stretching, multiple unisons are possible - depending on the tuning. This effect can give that ringy or chorusey sound I mentioned above on John Fahey's playing style as the unisons can never be bang on in tune. This chorusey sound of course can be easily obtained on a 12 string guitar and is an often used effect by electric guitarists using a guitar FX foot pedal.
Disadvantages.
1. Tuning live can be a problem for the inexperienced.
2. If you use more than one tuning, remembering and physically tuning the strings live can be more difficult.
3. Sounding in tune can be difficult especially if you have dropped your string's tuning too much.
If you've never tried it - please give it a try I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised. Many famous artists have made their name by using open tunings - for example Joni Mitchell.
****Have a listen to the Yellow Princess CD below - lots of open tunings used here.
John Fahey - On The Sunny Side Of The Ocean - Live
An Excellent Example of John Fahey playing Live
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Learn How to play guitar like John Fahey
Want to learn to fingerpick?
American Primitive Guitar
A book of John Fahey's guitar solo instrumentals taught by John himself.
Standard - intermediate.
Fahey's playing has come to be known as American Primitive.
This book comes with 3 CD's and has clear detailed instructions in notation and tablature to help you learn the solos step by step.
1st Lesson : Alternate bass and pattern picking. You get to learn 'In Christ There Is No East Or West', 'Take A Look At That Baby' and 'Some Summer Day'.
2nd Lesson : Learn 'Indian Pacific Railroad Blues(Beverley)'. Demonstrates composition using the fingerpicking style. Also learn the well loved 'The Last Steam Engine Train'.
3rd Lesson : Learn 'When The Springtime Comes Again' and 'The Approaching Of The Disco Void'
This chapter also discusses improvisation and fingerpicking.
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Fingerstyle & Slide Guitar in Open Tunings (Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop)
Standard - Intermediate. Contains 1 book and 3 CD's. The book contains tablature and notation.
John Fahey loved to play in open tunings and was a pioneer in the field.
He teaches a variety of techniques in these lessons.
1st Lesson: 'On the Sunny Side Of The Ocean', 'Spanish Two Step' and the Christmas carol 'It Came Upon A Midnight Clear' demonstrate Open G tuning.
Then comes the 'St. Louis Blues' played in dropped D tuning (an early John Fahey classic).
2nd Lesson: The bluesy 'Union Pacific', the lovely sounding yet simple 'Auld Lang Syne', and the 'Requiem for John Hurt' all use the open C tuning.
3rd Lesson: A lesson on Slide Playing. Interesting technically is 'Steamboat Gwine Round The Bend' in open G, 'Silent Night' (using slide !!!!) and to finish up another John Fahey classic 'Poor Boy Long Way From Home' in open D tuning.
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The Best of John Fahey, 1959-1977
The Best of John Fahey Book 1959-1977 contains complete trancriptions in tablature and notation from the Takoma album of the same name. It also contains Fahey on guitaring in general, strange stories, many photos and a discography of Fahey's material. Note this book seems to be quite rare as there are only private sellers at the Amazon site as I write this.
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Fascinating Books written by John Fahey
John Fahey the author
For the true John Fahey fan
How Bluegrass Music Destroyed My Life
A must read for the true John fahey fan.
This autobiography covers John Fahey's tough childhood and fascinating guitar playing career.
Through Fahey's writing we see his version of America seen through the Blues, Bluegrass, his own music and a good pinch of philosophy.
Remember this book contains no music/guitar tablature. See John Fahey's tuition books if you'd like to play some of his tunes.
Amazon Price: $13.59 (as of 12/02/2009)
Christmas music on guitar
Learn to play Christmas songs in the Style of John Fahey
John Fahey's Guitar Christmas Book [Songbook]
At the moment some of these great John Fahey Christmas arrangements are temporarily out of stock - keep checking
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Mark Hanson's Fingerstyle Christmas Guitar: (Book & CD)12 Beautiful Songs & Carols for Solo Guitar
Some lovely fingerpicking arrangements of Christmas Carols by Mark Hanson
Amazon Price: $13.57 (as of 12/02/2009)
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John Fahey's Christmas Songs for Guitar (with Tablature)
Temporarily out of stock
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The Captain Beefheart Radar Station
John Fahey Special
- beefheart.com
- Contrasting The Yellow Princess and The City Of Refuge by Tony Rigby.
Memories of 1968 when John Peel DJ Radio One first played John Fahey on UK radio.
Acoustic Guitars
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John Fahey - Folklore and Religion
John Fahey and Charlie Patton - Influences
We can see the influence of his studies in many of the titles of John Fahey's guitar pieces, as they often have religious, philosophical or folk influences e.g. from the folk blues orientated music of Charlie Patton. Charlie Patton was major inflence on all the famous blues performers that followed.
John Fahey - the early years
John Fahey - playing 'Lion' - Live version- from the Yellow Princess
Great close ups of John Fahey's left and right hand - shows fingerpicking style style clearly.
Great version!
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Two of John Fahey's early albums
Solo acoustic guitar
The Legend of Blind Joe Death
Classic Tracks on this album
Buy for only $8.99 on amazon mp3 download
1. On Doing Evil Deed Blues
2. St. Louis Blues
3. Poor Boy Long Ways From Home
4. Uncloudy Day
5. John Henry
6. In Christ There Is No East Or West
7. Desperate Man Blues
8. Sun Gonna Shine In My Back Door Someday Blues
9. Sligo River Blues
10. I'm Gonna Do All I Can For My Lord
11.The Transcendental Waterfall
12. West Coast Blues
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The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death
Buy for only only $9.49 on Amazon mp3 download
1. Old Southern Medley
2. The Death Of The Clayton Peacock
3. Bicycle Built For Two
4. Orinda-Moraga
5. St. Patrick's Hymn
6. Poor Boy
7. How Green Was My Valley
8. Beautiful Linda Getchell
9. My Station Will Be Changed After a While
10. Brenda's Blues
11. 101 Is A Hard Road To Travel
12 I Am The Resurrection
13. On The Sunny Side Of The Ocean
14. Come Back Baby
15. Tell her To Come Back Home
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John Fahey 's album Death Chants, Breakdowns and Military Waltzes - 1963
The album's title doesn't quite reflect the upbeat titles of many of the songs on the album. The strangest title perhaps being the 'The Downfall of the Rolling Adelphi Grist Mill' - but that's the attraction of John Fahey's music.
Some lovely music here from early John Fahey - 1963 when the first edition came out.
Track List includes - Some Summer Day, John Henry Variations, When the Springtime Comes Again, Take A look At That Baby, Dance Of The Inhabitants Of The Palace of the King Of Spain, On The Beach At Waikiki, Spanish Dance, Stomping Tonight On The Pennsylvania/Alabama Border, The Downfall Of The Adelphi Rolling Grist Mill, Sunflower River Blues, America, Episcopal Hymn, and Spanish Dance
Great Titles - a varied selection of events and places here
NOTE - Titles of John Fahey's Album Covers
Also check out the titles of the individual tracks - though these are more varied
Popular Songs of Christmas & New Year's
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Georgia Stomps, Atlanta Struts, And Other Contemporary Dance Favorites
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Dance Of Death & Other Plantation Favorites
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Of Rivers and Religion
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The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death
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John Fahey the Producer
Takoma, Windham Hill and the New Age
He also produced famous artists like Bukka White and Fahey's own disciple Leo Kottke.
He is also well known for his link with the New Age record label Windham Hill - where he produced for the pianist George Winston.
Takoma Records
Takoma Records founded by John Fahey in the late 1950's
Takoma Records was named after John Fahey's hometown Takoma Park, Maryland a suburb of Washington D.C. Takoma Records turned out to be incredibly influential for such a small label.
Takoma Records was a small but influential record label founded by John Fahey in the late 1950s. It was named after Fahey's hometown, the Washington, D.C. suburb of Takoma Park, Maryland.
Takoma Records began with a custom pressing of 100 copies of John Fahey/Blind Joe Death, an album of his own guitar playing released by John Fahey around 1959. He had no distribution and sold the pressing mainly to friends, and at music parties. A copy of this record recently sold on eBay for several thousand dollars.
John moved to Berkeley, California, and the label was really launched when John rediscovered the country bluesman, Bukka White. With Eugene "ED" Denson, John drove to Memphis and the pair produced Bukka's first recording in 23 years. Later in 1963 they released it, as well as John's second album of his own music.
Independent labels were a novelty at that period in American musical history, but gradually in the next several years word spread about the music. At the same time independent "folk music" labels like Rounder were springing up, and establishing distribution systems. The content of the Takoma label expanded to include other guitarists, such as Robbie Basho, and other types of folk music. At the same time the label ventured into the avant-garde with The Psychedelic Saxophone of Charlie Nothing. Acoustic guitar music, especially that of John Fahey, remained the mainstay of the label.
Around 1967, Denson moved to full-time management of the rock band Country Joe and the Fish and John became the sole owner of Takoma. He moved the label and himself to Los Angeles, where he was studying for his Masters degree at UCLA under D.K. Wilgus. Leo Kottke's 6 and 12-String Guitar became a surprise hit and the profits funded an expansion of the label which now had a staff.
In 1970 Jon Monday joined the label, first as Promotion Manager, and working his way up to General Manager. The label grew as progressive radio stations played new releases by Fahey and other Takoma artists. In 1973 Charlie Mitchell became Takoma's president. Takoma was one of the founding companies of NAIRD - the National Association of Independent Record Distributors.
Fahey had started a new genre of guitar music, known later as American Primitivism, which comprised traditional fingerpicking steel string guitar techniques applied to neo-classical compositions. The Takoma label showcased such music; its roster included Leo Kottke, Peter Lang, Mike Aldridge, Robbie Basho and already famous Mississippi bluesman Bukka White. George Winston released his first album on Takoma and Mike Bloomfield released several solo albums on the label. American composer and electronic music pioneer Joseph Byrd released three records in 1975-76 on Takoma, which were co-produced by Jon Monday.
In 1979, Fahey sold Takoma to Chrysalis Records, owned by Terry Ellis and Chris Wright, which had artists such as Blondie, Pat Benatar, and Huey Lewis. Jon Monday continued as General Manager of the label for Chrysalis until 1982 when Chrysalis sold the Takoma catalog. During the Chrysalis years, Takoma released albums by The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Maria Muldaur, Canned Heat, Mike Bloomfield, and T-Bone Burnett. The catalog was purchased in 1995 by Fantasy Records, which in 2004 was taken over by the Concord Music Group. Fantasy has a handful of the Takoma recordings on the market as CDs as of this writing in 2007.
The label's best selling release was Kottke's 6 and 12-String Guitar (often called The Armadillo Album because of the cover art). Another influential album on Takoma was the 1974 eponymous compilation LP featuring Fahey, Kottke and Lang.
ED Denson went on to co-found and manage Kicking Mule Records, which similarly featured acoustic guitarists. In 1995, he left the music business and became a criminal defense lawyer. By the early 21st century, the news about the label seems limited to death notices. Robbie Basho died in 1986, John Fahey in 2001, and Charlie Nothing died of cancer October 23, 2007.
If you would like to hear more of George Winston's Piano Music
Reflect on the soothing sounds of Winston's solo piano
- George Winston Piano Music
- Relax to soothing solo piano sounds of George Winston
Yamaha Guitar
Yamaha steel string guitar
Yamaha F-310 Steel String Acoustic Folk Guitar, Semi Jumbo
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More interesting facts on John Fahey
Definitely check out the catalogue at The John Fahey Library
- John Fahey Library
- John Fahey Catalogue - from the International Fahey Committee.
Full discography, books, stories and articles he wrote, videos and teaching material. Also includes various sessions, duets and covers.
Very comprehensive. Amazing !!!! - Guitar Tablature for John Fahey's 'The Yellow Princess'
- The Yellow Princess at Fretplay
- Vibraphones and Vivaldi - Evelyn Glennie
- Something different - a short review about another amazing musician. Her name is Evelyn Glennie and she comes from Scotland. She gradually became deaf as a child but managed to develop an amazing aptitude for pecussion instruments. Check out my short blog about her ablities on the Marimba and Vibraphone.
- Learn more about John Fahey at Wikipedia
- Learn more about John Fahey here
- The IGS Guitar Forum
- Acoustic Guitar and Worldwide Forum - some interesting comments and stories.
- Christmas Guitar Music
- Some Christmas guitar music from John Fahey and Gordon Giltrap (another brilliant acoustic guitar player - this time from the U.K.)
- MUSIC LOGOS
- Music Logos at CafePress
- John Fahey - book review on Fakejazz.com
- John Fahey - How Bluegrass destroyed My Life - published by Drag City
- George Winston's Piano Music
- George Winston was discovered by John Fahey. If you'd like to know more about George and also hear his soothing piano music - try here.
- Another book by John Fahey reviewed on Squid's Ear
- John Fahey - Vampire Vultures (published by Drag City - actually a record label)
Reviewed by Kurt Gottschalk - john fahey interview
- John Fahey interviewed by Stefan Grossman (guitarist and educationalist) - a fascinating insight into John Fahey and his music. Some great black and white photos as well.
- Washington City Paper: John Fahey, 1939?2001
- Washington City Paper's choices for the most intriguing entertainment options of the week
- The Fahey Files - John Fahey - The Fahey Catalog
- Salem Leaving Takoma Park~ 43 Years of John Fahey ~The John Fahey CatalogFrom The International Fahey Committee Chris Downes, Paul BryantMalcolm Kirton, Tom KremerThanks to Mitchell Wittenbergand Glenn JonesLast update: 07/03 Discography Summary Books by John Fahey Articles & Sto
- A tribute to John Fahey by Byron Coley
- A Tribute to John Fahey by Byron Coley, Dr. Demento, George Winston and Dean Blackwood
- What ever happened to John Fahey?
- John Fahey 1939-2001. article by Ben Ratliff which appeared in th New York Times on January 19th 1997.
- John Fahey Guitar Tunings - A Hand Written Lesson In C Tuning
- John Fahey Guitar Tunings
A Lesson in C Tuning by John Fahey
This is a fascinating hand written lesson by John Fahey firstly on how to tune the guitar correctly to an open C Tuning.
The he goes on to describe in words and diagrams how to use certain shapes to get the various chords needed to play a song + strumming action.
Then he finishes off with the chord shapes needed to play Dixie using open C tuning.
This is a five page hand written lesson by the master himself - priceless!
manuscript courtesy of Melissa Stephenson - Bicycle Made For Two
- Short version - one page only of the Tablature of "Daisy" (Bicyle Made For Two)
Transcribed by Mike Zuber - Reinventing The Steel
- Lovely article on the importance of John Fahey and his music by Dale Miller (originally printed in Acoustic Guitar).
Dale goes on to mention how many guitarists spend hours practising the guitar and follow similar routes to get to play a few nice tunes. Occasionally a player will come along who revolutionises the ordinary path and changes the way we think about something. John Fahey was able to do that with the humble acoustic steel string guitar - Worth Reading ! - American Primitive Guitar
- Good review of John Fahey's album Dance of Death and Other Plantatation Favourites - by Mecina on BBC collective Website
- Ballads and Blues and Fahey
- Perfect Sound Forever Online magazine - 2001 article about the important influence John Fahey had on the 'rural folk piano' of George Winston. John Fahey had given George Winston his first break on Fahey's Takoma Record label.
George goes on to tell about the encouragement John Fahey gave him to push his solo career and to record his first solo album called Ballad and Blues. - Johnny Guitar
- A short page rememebering the life and music of John Fahey by David Browne (Entertainment Weekly).
'Despite his cult status, Fahey's impact was sizeable'. - Extensive Discography of John Fahey
- An Extensive and excellent Discography of John Fahey's output. This has been put together by the FolkLib Index.
- Recording King RD-227
- Good link to Acoustic magazine - states that John Fahey used the 'Recording King RD-227' Dreadnought guitar in many of his early recordings. It had a great sound and wasn't too expensive.
- pdf 43 Years Of John Fahey
- PDF File - Salem Leaving Takoma Park
The John Fahey Catalogue - contains the listing of all John Fahey works - discography, books and newsletters and articles written about John Fahey. Very comprehensive.
From The International Fahey Commitee
Chris Downes, Paul Bryant, Malcom Kirton, Tom Kremer.
Thanks to Witchell Wittenberg and Glenn Jones. - John Fahey Quotes
- A link to some interesting quotes from John Fahey
'I had a big background in listening to classical music and I started trying to compose playing the guitar but I heard an orchestra in my head'
This is certainly true of John Fahey's very original playing style and what sets him apart from other folk style fingerpickers. - John Fahey songbooks and sheet music
- Sheet music for John Fahey
How To Record The Acoustic Guitar
Experimentation is the key
2. Use a (large) diaphram condenser.
3. This will handle the higher frequency needed to capture a nice acoustic sound - and will also handle the transients better.
4. Place the microphone somewhere between the fretboard and the Soundhole - point towards the frets and not too close or the sound will be boomy.
5. Get your ears down there if you are able to - when recording someone else for instance. look for that 'nice' sound.
6. To finish add some light compression.
7. Use a good microphone preamp or good mixer.
8. Check whether you need phantom power or not - some microphones have a battery.
9. Putting new strings on can be helpful - though very new strings can slip out of tune and accentuate fret buzz - so be careful with this.
10. If you record in a studio sometimes and you like the sound - check out what equipment the engineer likes for acoustics - but remember every guitar and playing style might need a different approach.
REMEMBER! - EXPERIMENTATION IS THE KEY
Check these models out as an example.
Microphones for Recording the Acoustic Guitar
Dynamic or Condenser ?
Audio Technica AT3035 Condenser Microphone
Amazon Price: $139.95 (as of 12/02/2009)
Sony Professional Portable 24-bit Linear Audio Recorder
Amazon Price: Too low to display (as of 12/02/2009)
M-Audio Luna Cardioid Pattern Condenser Microphone
Amazon Price: $249.95 (as of 12/02/2009)
C03U Recording/ Podcasting Pak
Amazon Price: $181.14 (as of 12/02/2009)
John Fahey and the Voice of the Turtle
Pollution and the Voice of the Turtle
- The Fahey Files 1971-1998
- Fahey's acoustic music calls back the days of the dustbowl - these were troubled times but were simpler times - not as spoilt by pollution as the latter part of the twentieth century.
Buy The Voice of the Turtle on Amazon - read 5 star reviews at Amazon and listen to short clips.
Hear extracts of the Voice of The Turtle - John Fahey released 1996.
1. Bottleneck Blues
2. Bill Cheatum
3. Lewisdale Blues
4. Bean Vine Blues
5. Bean Vine Blues #2
6. A Raga Called Pat, Part III
7. A Raga Called Pat, Part IV
8. Train Listen Listen
9. Je Ne Me Suis Reveillais Matin Pas En May
10. The Story Of Dorothy Gooch, Part 1
11. Nine-Pound Hammer
12. Lonesome Valley
Read the 5 star reviews at Amazon.
The Voice of the Turtle
A later album recorded by John Fahey - yet the voice of the turtle was an older theme in Fahey's music which cropped up from time to time - read the sleeve notes on the Yellow Princess.
Release Date: 04/23/1996
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Amazon Price: $14.98 (as of 12/02/2009)
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American Primitive and John Fahey
Folk Fingerpicking, Ragtime, the Blues, Classical, American Primitive and Charles Ives.
A name I prefer to use is Clawhammer style - this is where the right hand thumb keeps a continuous octave bass while the other fingers of the right hand combine melody and accompaniment notes from the chosen chord - these note are often syncopated i.e. played off the beat. This gives the music a nice rhythmic feel.
Listen to Mississipi John Hurt and Reverand Gary Davies - as early examlpes of this playing style.
2. John fahey also used techniques borrowed from the blues i.e. string bending, sliding and his bottleneck slide which he loved to use on certain tunes.
3. He sometimes combined this with strumming chords and he would often use the carillon (bell ringing)style of playing the guitar - where unison notes would ring against each other, or he would choose notes from out of the scale to produce dissonances - John Fahey has been cited along with people like the composer Charles Ives, his style being likened to American Primitive.
**To hear this effect have a listen to the track Transcendental Waterfall.
4. He was also influenced by some Classical themes and liked to get a big sound from the guitar by using modern microphone techniques with a big reverb sound. He was able to make his solo guitar stand out in this way. In a way that not many other folk players had done up to that time (1960's).
5. Also to get that big clear sound on his steel string acoustic he used the banjo style of wearing thumb and finger picks on his right hand - a way of playing I've found to be uncomfortable for long periods.
**See the picture below of finger picks and metal and glass slides.
Some of John Fahey's beautiful Christmas music
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byJohn Fahey - Trios
Trios
- John Fahey was not just a solo acoustic guitar player.
- He was also involved with a number of other musicians.
- Notably Leo Kottke and Peter Lang - Listen to their great playing on itunes.
Other Music Lenses
Some more lenses mainly about the acoustic guitar
- The Graceful Guitar of Gordon Giltrap
- Lens about the magic solo acoustic guitar playing of Gordon Giltrap from the UK
- The Guitar and Christmas
- Carols and Christmas songs can sound beautiful on solo acoustic guitar. The story of the Christmas guitar and a guide to some Christmas guitar books that you can buy.
- Acoustic Guitar Video Showcase
- Acoustic Guitar Videos
- More John Fahey
- Just some more John Fahey
- George Winston - Piano
- George Winston was discovered by John Fahey and was first recorded on John Fahey's Takoma label
- Spice Girls Wannabe Spice Girls Again
- History and Discography of the Spice Girls and details of their New World Tour and Reunion
- Steel String Guitars
- Nice Wikipedia article all about the steel string guitar. Explains the difference between Steel, Classical, Folk and Flamenco guitars.
Also explained are the various tunings steel string players like to use.
The article goes on to mention construction, the range of the instrument, and the styles of music in which the steel string plays a big part. Not forgetting the brilliant players that have taken the instrument to great heights - Learn To Play 'You Raise Me Up' - Piano and Voice + Guitar Chords
- Learn 'You Raise Me Up'. Josh Groban song - sing or play piano - guitar chords.
Make a comment about John Fahey or about your favourite guitar player - electric or acoustic.
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Reply
- poddys poddys Apr 16, 2009 @ 5:10 am
- This is a really nice lens, 5***** well deserved. I have bookmarked it to listen to some of John's music later.
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Reply
- squiduu squiduu Nov 30, 2008 @ 11:42 am
- Great lens. You've just taken an hour of my life but it was well worth it.
There are loads of acoustic guitars listed here Acoustic Guitars and it has some tabs to download.
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Reply
- Tipi Tipi Sep 12, 2008 @ 1:29 pm
- Very well developed lens. Thanks for adding it to the group SquidWhoForum. 5*'s...and more.
Gotta' check out these Google Ads on your lens!
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Reply
- chemrat chemrat Jun 29, 2008 @ 10:00 pm
- Great lens! Thanks- I lensrolled it and marked it as a favorite. Jim
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Reply
- margin-strategies margin-strategies Apr 8, 2008 @ 2:15 am
- Love John Fahey. This is a fantastic lens. 5 stars.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 License.
When The Catfish Are In Bloom
Requiem For John Fahey by Ed Frankel
When the Catfish Are in Bloom: Requiem for John Fahey
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Hi my name is Niko and this is my lens on John Fahey. John Fahey's music was an inspiration to me and my friends when learning the American fingerpick...
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