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I began to study jazz guitar in my 20`s in search of new cord voicing
and progressions. "Lone Witness"
is based on a progression I found in a book. I find that when I add a
melody line, the natural flow will
take my hand to different parts of the fret board where I have to find new
notes and chords to harmonize
with it. In many ways, that`s what I enjoy most about composing.
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"Meditation" is my latest composition and to me it suggests the
relaxed and flowing state that one
achieves during meditation. When the weather is warm I like to take my
guitar and play in our backyard
gazebo, were I can go over old tunes and work on new ones.
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In 1992 I was working for Crestbrook Forest Industries. During a six
week strike I found the time to
put together "Picket Line" and the "Retirement Blues". For me, fingerstyle
blues is the most difficult style
to write in as there are so many well worn cliches that are hard to avoid.
Although these tunes aren`t overly
original, I love playing the blues more than anything else.
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"Forever" is a tune the my wife Lynda likes. She encouraged me to
finish it even though I felt it was
too simple. She said the it`s simplicity is the very reason that she likes
it, and who am I to argue with
my wife.
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"Say It Ain`t So" is my tribute to Chet Atkins and Scott Joplin. Next
to the blues, ragtime is my other favorite style and I`ve written many tunes using the alternating bass technique.
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A few years back there was a contest to write a Victory theme song. I
started on it using the three
syllable sound of Vic-tor-ry as the motif. Unfortunately, I didn`t finish
it in time for the contest and so
I included it here..
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Like many guitarist my age, I was first inspired to play the guitar
the by the Beatles, I wanted to
learn to play Beatle songs. After a year of lessons I achieved my goal and
learned to read music as
well. Later in my teens I happened to catch Frederic Noads half hour TV show
teaching classical
guitar. I studied classical guitar for a few years and thereby learned to
play fingerstyle guitar. One of my earliest compositions was the tune "Downstream". I the mid
1970`s I was on a fishing
trip at Loon lake in BC. It was a sunny afternoon and the fishing was poor
so I took my guitar and
sat on a little wooden bridge that crossed a small stream. At the time I was
just strumming the chords
to the sound of the water. Over the years I`ve added melody parts and bass
lines but the tune is essentially
the same.
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When I was studying classical music, I liked the way that some
composers used dissonance to create
tension and movement in their music and so I tried to do the same in "The
Castle".
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In 1982 we had our house for sale in Vancouver and we were preparing to
move to Kimberley BC. It was
during this time that I put together "Down The Road" and "The Last Stand".
I`ve always enjoyed ragtime
music and "Down The Road" was an attempt to put a ragtime feel to some jazz
type chords.
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CD Information
