John Della-Torre ‘Passions’

A great new CD called ‘PASSIONS’ has been released by the truly great Australian artist (living and breathing here in Adelaide) John Della-Torre, which debuts his original compositions for guitar.

This kind of offering, from an Australian Classical Guitarist, is quite  unique in these parts, and I believe it should be supported and encouraged through the sales of this CD: WORLD WIDE PLEASE!

For those of you who don’t know about John, you should know that, over the years, he’s been a huge influence on the development of Classical Guitar in Adelaide.

John Della-Torre is one of Australia’s leading Classical Guitarists, and is highly regarded as both teacher and performer. Based in Adelaide, he has held teaching positions as Lecturer in Guitar at both the Elder Conservatorium of Music and TAFE.

In the realms of performance, one of his great passions (apart from solo recitals) is to demonstrate the versatility of the guitar by working in the fields of jazz and contemporary music, and in various ensembles; some of which have been recorded by the ABC.

More recently he has focused on music composition, and in the 2006 Adelaide Fringe Festival he premiered and performed his original works for solo guitar and guitar duo.
One of the compositions, the “Passionata Suite”, has since been rearranged by John for guitar and harp, and is featured on “PASSIONS” along with his new composition “Latino Suite”.

Well..you’ve just got to get a copy of this CD! Apart from John’s great original compositions and superb playing, this offering is unique, and will become an important piece of Adelaide Guitar ‘memorabilia’.

Here’s what you do:
Go to this site and have a listen to some of the tracks from the CD.
http://www.locrian.com.au/passions/passions_music.html
Now, because you’re ‘Guitar Impressions’ people, you can contact John directly (by email or by phone) and he’ll sell you the CD for $20 (postage will be extra), which is a great saving.

John’s email address is: jdtorre@bigpond.net.au
John’s phone number is: 61 8 8336 7790

Kind Regards to you all.

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Buying Your First Guitar

First Choice?
Classical Nylon String Acoustic Guitar of course:

The Classical Nylon String Guitar is styled on the origins of the guitar, and is still (all things considered eg. players technique etc.) the best sounding guitar available.

The steel string can be good, but ultimately it cannot beat the Nylon String for sound quality and character; especially for the ‘Fingerstyle’ Guitarist.

I’m not ‘pooh-poohing’ the steel string guitar completely. It has it’s place in certain styles of playing; and if someone comes to me as a student of ‘Fingerstyle’ Guitar, and wishes to learn on a steel string guitar, so be it: it’s their choice.
But if you really want to explore the great beauty and depths of sound, then go nylon. Nylon is also easier on the fingers: both left and right hand.
If you decide to go with nails on the right hand (and that’s really the way to go), then steel strings will cut them to pieces.

How much should you spend? If you spend $200 to $350 on your first guitar, you will (in this present day and age) be buying a reasonable sounding guitar, which is quite ‘playable’ (string ‘action’, tuners, etc.), and one that is perfect for the early stages of your development.
You can consider getting a guitar in the ‘classic’ style or in the ‘cut-away’ style: either will do at the start. You can even consider one with a pick-up that can be amplified (for those garden weddings).
As time goes by, and your playing demands a guitar of greater ‘character’ and refinement, then more money can be spent on a guitar that will most likely see you through to the end. $1,000 to $2,000 would purchase quite a fine instrument; around $10,000 and up will get you into the ‘concert’ instrument realm: not for everyone, but if you can afford it it will bring you great joy indeed.

Your cheaper guitar will then become a great ‘knock-about’ guitar: in the kitchen while the sausages are cooking (like our friend in the picture maybe) is a great time to play; in the lounge room in front of the TV during the commercials is fantastic for what I call “distracted practice”; or when you go out into the garden, or traveling, or camping maybe, and you don’t want to risk the ‘Guitar of Great Beauty’.

The ‘Guitar of Great Beauty’ will live in the practice room where the environment is controlled, and where the serious playing is done. It can be brought out for the ‘special occasions’: the performances etc.

Kind Regards to you all.

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Latin Jazz Guitar Duo

September 28, 2010

Jeff Sack and Rick Peterson These guys do some really nice improvising: mostly in the Latin Jazz style.  They’re both Fingerstyle guitarists who play nylon string guitars: very inspiring for us would be improvisors. The soloing is very lyrical and tasteful: they never seem to be short of ideas. None of the mind numbing, fast [...]

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Guitar and Voice

September 28, 2010

By far the best accompanying instrument for voice is the Guitar. The Guitar has a versatile range of techniques (strumming, pizzicato, tambour, etc.), tone-colours (ponticello,dolce, tasto); and has a warmth and intimacy that the piano does not (vibrato, string bends, portamento, glissando, etc.). A guitarist can learn so much from accompanying a singer. For one [...]

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Guitar Duo ‘Maccari and Pugliese’

September 16, 2010

Claudio Maccari and Paolo Pugliese are definitely a Classical Guitar duo who really amaze! They use 19th century style classical guitars (gut strings I believe), they play the entire repertoire from memory and, they stand to do it! They leave you wondering why we choose to sit to play.  These animated players add something quite [...]

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‘The Musicians Library’ Resource

September 13, 2010

Now here’s a website to check out that is quite unique indeed, and a great place to download a whole range of reference material: both current and out of print. I don’t know how they do it but they do; and I’m glad they do. The beauty of this site is that once you find [...]

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Improvising with Impro-Visor

September 9, 2010

Impro-Visor The people at SOURCEFORGE keep amazing us all with their generous concept of supplying quality software solutions to us for free: stuff that can easily rival the really expensive alternatives. IMPRO-VISOR is one such program that can be a real help to the student of improvisation.  My students and I use it to create [...]

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What is ‘Fingerstyle’ Guitar?

November 14, 2009

‘Fingerstyle’ Guitar is the technique of playing the guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to ‘Flatpicking’ (picking individual notes with a single plectrum called a ‘flatpick’) or strumming all the strings of the instrument in chords. The term is often used synonymously with ‘Fingerpicking’. [...]

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Joe Pass: Solo ‘Fingerstyle’ Jazz Guitar Improvisation

September 16, 2009

Joe Pass was a true virtuoso when it came to solo ‘Fingerstyle’ jazz guitar. Of special interest was his ability to improvise in this style. A real genius was revealed as he simultaneously played all the elements of a jazz or blues improvisation: melody, rhythm, chord harmonies, bass lines and rapid-fire improvised passages; all presented [...]

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Jazz on the Classical Guitar: Ken Hatfield

September 15, 2009

Jazz Played on Classical Guitar Sometimes it takes way too long to find the people who’re doing the things you only thought were possible in the field of your interests. When you find them it’s really exciting, but many times you wish you’d found them much earlier: during those ‘impressionable’ stages of your development. Ken [...]

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