Simply put ……. pure talent and artistry
May 18, 2007 by Merri Williams
As a beginner guitarist (which description sounds rather ……… hmmmm, well, oxymoron-ish to me as a musician of almost 50 years now), I am amazed and in awe at what advanced guitarist friends can do effortlessly with their guitars - friends like Kim, Molly, and my own daughter, Bekah. I’m still struggling with trying to remember how to finger C, F, and G7 chords - much less changing smoothly from one to another. I enjoy listening and watching others play, and hope to be able to attain some degree of ability to share with my Kindermusik families in class someday.
Last week I viewed an amazing video post on Molly McGinn’s blog entitled “I aspire” that just completely enthralled me. This artist, KT Tunstall, was literally a one-woman band. I encourage you to follow the link above and check it out for yourself. She is an extremely talented artist and does things that I never even realized you could do with a guitar.
This morning, however, as I responded to an email from a Youtube friend, I found myself reliving music from the 70’s and rediscovered someone there on Youtube that I hadn’t thought of in a while - Phil Keaggy who performed some of the most outstanding guitar riffs/solos of that time and since. Keaggy is the guitarist’s guitarist, if you know what I mean.
And what a pleasure to find out that his artistry hasn’t dimmed one bit over the years. I think he’s actually better than ever - there is a maturity and freedom that is usually only seen in the complete artist when he or she has reached the point that they play simply for the joy of expressing themselves in their music.
So here is a video reply to Molly’s “I aspire”. I can’t possibly aspire to be anything remotely comparable to this man and his talent, but I can keep plunking away at those C, F, and G7 chords and hopefully one day accompany my classes in our “hello” songs.
Enjoy!
Great video!
WOW ! I didn’t know you could do that with one guitar. I love the way he plays a riff, then loops it as a background while he goes on to do more. Aspire.. whoa! I aspire just to watch him some more and go buy a CD if I can find one. There is no way that I could practice as much as it would take to get THERE!
I aspire to accompany myself singing, and to play for my kids, both Kindermusik and my own, and maybe even get good enough to jam with some of my musician friends. If I played that good, no one would want to play with me, they’d just watch, kind of lock jaw like. I am most certainly wowed!
Merri, no wonder you’re getting such great ratings, this has been a most enjoyable evening going through your BLOG. I haven’t been in a while, and I have most certainly missed it. We met at the last conference in the BLOG class, as we both use WordPress, and I wanted to get more info from you. Heck, I’ve just learned how to wrap words around pictures. It’s so easy, and so dumb that I haven’t figured it out until now. I’m definitely contacting you, as I have yet to figure out how to put in the videos. Your great collection is most enjoyable. Although I think the CLASSIC MOMSENSE song is the first thing I want to share with my families on my BLOG.
Hope to talk to you soon!
Merry Melodies,
Debbie Mondale
Glad you enjoyed it, Debbie! I keep coming back and watching it myself - it’s *that* good. Isn’t he amazing?!
Yes, please, shoot me an email and we can share WP stuff. I’m still learning! It’s become addictive.