A long, long time ago, in a land that seems so far away, I played music with an amazingly talented woman. Laura Williams had the voice of an angel, wrote great songs and played the 12-string guitar. It was a musical match, her 3-octave range and my D-below-middle-C bottom 2 octaves gave us great freedom to explore “wide” harmonies and our 12-strings made a big background sound.

We played a lot in San Diego back then, little places, big places, including, of course, the Del Mar Fair and other local events. We put on our own show at the amphitheater stage in Brengle Terrace Park in Vista, CA that featured a few of my guitar students and it remains a cherished memory for me. I was so proud of them; they did so well.

I found an old rehearsal tape from my garage in Fallbrook. The sound quality was pretty bad. A small cassette recorder with one good mic and one bad mic for two 12-strings and 2 strong voices was all we had to work with in those days. It made a lopsided-balance working copy that I could use to practice to if nothing else.

I didn’t mix the buzz out, nor could I fix the balance. This sound is a memory for me that I’ll share with you because it was an amazing time in my life.

Ever since then, when I hear a female voice in my head singing the “girl part” of a song I’m writing, or a harmony to something I’m singing, this is the voice I hear.

I wish I had better recordings of us, but I don’t. I have a few and I’ll post more songs as I get them done.

She recently found me on Facebook. We haven’t talked in 30 years or so. We discussed and are planning on collaborating on a new project that I will announce soon. I’m so glad she found me. This is going to be fun. We have a great idea and launching it will be a little like old times, a little like the new.

Join us in this part of our story. Subscribe and StayTuned! There’s more…

Enjoy!

DanG

Link: http://sharemyguitar.com/blog/namm-2010-day-four/

Some tasty riffs in this one. My new blog post at sharemyguitar.com

Check out the whole story right here

My youngest son's Facebook status changed to "in a relationship." It made me smile. Later I get a friend invite from the girl. Her status pic is the two of them and they both look really happy. So I friend her and post on her wall "it seems you make my boy smile. I like that."

next is the exchange that followed

how freaking cute is this?

Read more »

Today I got to talk face to face with one of my real-life guitar heroes, Jorma Kaukonen, founding member of two legendary bands, The Jefferson Airplane and the still-touring Hot Tuna.

Not only did I get to meet him, I got to hand him one of my CDs and say "thank you, without you I wouldn't have one of these." He also kindly agreed to sit down with me and talk for a few minutes. A great interview from the Martin Guitars booth on the floor at NAMM. It that needs a little editing and we will post it to sharemyguitar.com as soon as it is ready to go.

Jorma has been teaching me guitar since 1965. He helped me find my passion for the acoustic guitar that, thanks to him and countless other players like him, I now play so well. Few have that passion for music, the dedication to and almost childlike love of playing guitar. You can see it on his face, when he plays and when he talks about it. I asked him to tell us about his guitar hero and what advice he would give to an up-and-coming guitar player. His answers will be good for you. Promise.

He stretched my world and, until today, he didn't even know it..

Thank you.

SMG
I have a new post at sharemyguitar.com, part one of a four-part series about one of my favorites scales:
The Pentatonic Scale – A pent up tonic for your soul
It includes must-see videos. Trust me.

My column has had over 5,000 unique views over the last 3 months. Aside from the main page, Don’t Suck at the Blues, Part 2 was the most-viewed page over the same timeframe. Not bad, not bad.

Next week we’ll be going to NAMM,the ultimate musical products show, armed with press passes and jamming on all the cool new toys. Frank Butler and I will be teaming up to videotape interviews with famous people and attend new-product showcases and sessions with leaders in the industry. We will be backstage at great concerts with headline performers and, later on, we’ll all trade licks at the after-parties.

YouTube Insight
We’re fast approaching 89,000 views overall with nearly 3,000 just last month and 150 subscribers.

Top five videos:
1. Cant Find My Keys
2. In My Arms
3. Dear Daddy
4. Some Windy Road
5. Be Yourself

This is exciting! I don’t want to say too much but there was a cool message waiting there today from a guy in Ireland inviting me to participate in an international music project. Ok, I can’t say any more about that right now, but some very talented people around the world are putting things in motion and I get to be part of it from the start. Oh yeah, and one of my songs… lit the fire.

dangrigor.com
We served up nearly 5,000 pages in December, including lots of video views and mp3 downloads.

I know, I know, I’m blowing my horn a little. Deal with it.
It motivates me. You’re out there. You’re listening. Thank you.

Stay Tuned!