Who are you listening to at the moment?
I’m listening to a range of artists and guitarist who I have been recently introduced to. This year has been fantastic in terms of being introduced to and finding numerous new artists. Instrumental music has become about half of my listening since December of last year. Guitar players that have stood out to me are John Scofield, Michael Landau but mainly Mateus Asato and Mark Lettieri. Asato for his melodies and great rhythmic/percussive style and Lettieri for his baritone series on Youtube, his Blues/Fusion style and original compositions.
Guthrie Govan, Robben Ford and John Mayer are long time favourites of mine but my favourites are three Irish players. Jake Curran, Anto Drennan and Jimmy Smyth.
To me, they have such tasteful, musical approaches to playing. I’ve been lucky enough to see them play live individually quite a few times and each time I’m stunned at their ability. A common trait between the three is (to me) a perfect blend of really melodic playing and technical expertise, I really couldn’t enjoy their performances more.
But also, there are some not so guitar heavy styles I like such as, Niall Horan’s solo stuff, Kacey Musgraves & Bill Evans (the jazz pianist).
I’m a big fan of Miles Davis as well, I have only properly discovered properly in the last year. His album ‘Kind Of Blue’ is a personal favourite. I think it’s important to listen to other instruments as well and adapt things for guitar for sax or trumpet players to create from other interesting perspectives and lines on your own instrument. I like a lot of different genres which I think is always a plus, as I never really get bored of music. If I’m not in the mood of one, there is always something else to listen to.
What do you love about Dublin?
Dublin is a hotspot for talent. It’s a fantastic thing to know that you could go to any venue or even a pub that does live music and 9 times out of 10, you’ll find something worth staying two hours or more for. It’s also great for connecting with people and being able to meet like minded musicians. I’ve been fortunate enough to meet some people I really admire from events, gigs and masterclasses that have been put on in Dublin. It’s always nice to be able to say you’re proud of where you’re from.
Why Guitar?
I chose the course in BIMM to learn in depth how my instrument works, what I could get out of it and how I could freely express myself through music. One of my favourite parts of BIMM is the theory aspect, learning how music works, how to create the sounds I’m hearing in my head and being able to recognise what they are and how I can play them; it’s an extremely satisfying thing to learn. All the traits of a high level musician are taught in this course and I look forward to learning it all. I also chose this course because I plan on teaching in the future at college level, completing this course, taking tutorials and going on to do the PGCert at BIMM Brighton is an exciting goal to me.
An added bonus to the course is the fantastic people I’ve met, both tutors, students and others. Being able to play with musicians of a high standard is incredible and will never stop being interesting.
