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Classical guitar in prog

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URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=95239
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Topic: Classical guitar in prog
Posted By: stewe
Subject: Classical guitar in prog
Date Posted: September 16 2013 at 12:29
I always appreciated elements of classical music in prog. Would love to know some more progressive artists, who also have similar classical/nylon guitar parts or pieces in fashion of
- Steve Howe (Leaves of green, Mood for a day)
- Steve Hackett (Horizons, Blood on the Rooftops intro..)
- Alex Lifeson (Broon's Bane, A Farewell to Kings intro)
- Jan Akkerman (Le Clochard) etc.
Any suggestions worth of checking out?


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Replies:
Posted By: Progosopher
Date Posted: September 16 2013 at 13:11
I recommend Sky, even though the music is not quite so classical in terms of guitar. However, the band featured one John Williams, a protégé of the great Andres Segovia, on electric guitar. Ralph Towner of Oregon fame frequently uses classical techniques. If you like Akkerman, I strongly recommend his album Tabernakle, which features not guitar but lute. Absolutely beautiful and stunning album.

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The world of sound is certainly capable of infinite variety and, were our sense developed, of infinite extensions. -- George Santayana, "The Sense of Beauty"


Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: September 16 2013 at 13:54
^ Sky 2 is a superb album in this regards. Brilliant recommendation.

Stephen Caudel -Wine Dark Sea would be my recommendation for the thread. He is in Prog Archives and it reminds me that I must review this albumSmile


Posted By: octopus-4
Date Posted: September 17 2013 at 00:47
Check out Daniel Bautista (Prog Metal). Almost all his stuff is free to download.

http://www.danielbautista.com/" rel="nofollow - http://www.danielbautista.com/
 


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Curiosity killed a cat, Schroedinger only half.
My poor home recorded stuff at https://yellingxoanon.bandcamp.com


Posted By: tszirmay
Date Posted: September 17 2013 at 01:35
Gordon Giltrap, Anthony Phillips, Ritchie Blackmore are all amazing ! 

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I never post anything anywhere without doing more than basic research, often in depth.


Posted By: The.Crimson.King
Date Posted: September 17 2013 at 01:55
My fave classical guitar prog album is "Sketches of Satie" by Steve and John Hackett.  Beware though, it's not full band original prog.  Just Steve on classical and his brother John on flute reinterpreting solo piano pieces written by French composer Erik Satie.  It's incredibly beautiful. 

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https://wytchcrypt.wixsite.com/mutiny-in-jonestown" rel="nofollow - Mutiny in Jonestown : Progressive Rock Since 1987


Posted By: tamijo
Date Posted: September 17 2013 at 01:57
Originally posted by The.Crimson.King The.Crimson.King wrote:

My fave classical guitar prog album is "Sketches of Satie" by Steve and John Hackett.  Beware though, it's not full band original prog.  Just Steve on classical and his brother John on flute reinterpreting solo piano pieces written by French composer Erik Satie.  It's incredibly beautiful. 
Sounds interesting - great tip

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Prog is whatevey you want it to be. So dont diss other peoples prog, and they wont diss yours


Posted By: The.Crimson.King
Date Posted: September 17 2013 at 03:20
Originally posted by tamijo tamijo wrote:

Originally posted by The.Crimson.King The.Crimson.King wrote:

My fave classical guitar prog album is "Sketches of Satie" by Steve and John Hackett.  Beware though, it's not full band original prog.  Just Steve on classical and his brother John on flute reinterpreting solo piano pieces written by French composer Erik Satie.  It's incredibly beautiful. 
Sounds interesting - great tip

If you like Steve's classical guitar/flute duet "Kim", much of "Sketches of Satie" is very similar in sound.  In fact, I think "Kim" was closely based on a Satie piece.  I got to see Steve's band in the early 90's and after the regular show had finished, he came out alone with a chair and his classical and played about a 20 minute unaccompanied encore...fantastic.  I think he's the best classical guitarist of all the well known prog guitarists.  Howe is better on steel string acoustic, but Steve is the king of nylon string classical.


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https://wytchcrypt.wixsite.com/mutiny-in-jonestown" rel="nofollow - Mutiny in Jonestown : Progressive Rock Since 1987


Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: September 18 2013 at 01:41
^ yep that's a good album


Posted By: TODDLER
Date Posted: September 18 2013 at 09:01
Although there are outstanding guitar solos throughout most of Anthony Phillips' back catalog, I find pieces from his FIELD DAY release to be memorable and you should check it out someday. Interestingly enough there are 2 to 3 minute Classical guitar style pieces existing on many European underground prog releases ..where it is not an area of specialization for these bands at all and those particular pieces astound me. For example on MERLIN by the band HALLOWEEN, there is the most beautiful piece played on Classical nylon string guitar. You might ask yourself.."Who would go the distance to purchase releases that contain only 1 short piece surrounded by a Symphonic epic? However..I stumbled on to many over decades and sometimes value those pieces more than actual overall Classical efforts.


Posted By: TODDLER
Date Posted: September 18 2013 at 09:04
Originally posted by Progosopher Progosopher wrote:

I recommend Sky, even though the music is not quite so classical in terms of guitar. However, the band featured one John Williams, a protégé of the great Andres Segovia, on electric guitar. Ralph Towner of Oregon fame frequently uses classical techniques. If you like Akkerman, I strongly recommend his album Tabernakle, which features not guitar but lute. Absolutely beautiful and stunning album.
Wow! This is the absolute truth!


Posted By: TODDLER
Date Posted: September 18 2013 at 09:11
Originally posted by The.Crimson.King The.Crimson.King wrote:

Originally posted by tamijo tamijo wrote:

Originally posted by The.Crimson.King The.Crimson.King wrote:

My fave classical guitar prog album is "Sketches of Satie" by Steve and John Hackett.  Beware though, it's not full band original prog.  Just Steve on classical and his brother John on flute reinterpreting solo piano pieces written by French composer Erik Satie.  It's incredibly beautiful. 
Sounds interesting - great tip

If you like Steve's classical guitar/flute duet "Kim", much of "Sketches of Satie" is very similar in sound.  In fact, I think "Kim" was closely based on a Satie piece.  I got to see Steve's band in the early 90's and after the regular show had finished, he came out alone with a chair and his classical and played about a 20 minute unaccompanied encore...fantastic.  I think he's the best classical guitarist of all the well known prog guitarists.  Howe is better on steel string acoustic, but Steve is the king of nylon string classical.
Steve Hackett has such a beautiful tone. It's very much like Christopher Parkening's. Steve Howe has a more metallic approach except for the solo from "The Ancient" where he produces at times...a softer tone. Hackett has the most beautiful tone though. I remember hearing Liona Boyd's arrangements of Satie and Hackett definitely has that beautiful sophisticated melodic tone like her.


Posted By: Polymorphia
Date Posted: September 18 2013 at 10:00
Philippe Cauvin, who was involved heavily in the zeuhl scene, has a couple of wonderful, zeuhl-ish albums on classical guitar:




Posted By: stewe
Date Posted: September 18 2013 at 11:58
Thank you all for recommendations, definitely will check those menitoned out!


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http://www.last.fm/user/trevorrabin/?chartstyle=basic10" rel="nofollow">

<a href="http://steveer.ic.cz" rel="nofollow"


Posted By: The.Crimson.King
Date Posted: September 19 2013 at 01:04
Originally posted by TODDLER TODDLER wrote:

Originally posted by The.Crimson.King The.Crimson.King wrote:

Originally posted by tamijo tamijo wrote:

Originally posted by The.Crimson.King The.Crimson.King wrote:

My fave classical guitar prog album is "Sketches of Satie" by Steve and John Hackett.  Beware though, it's not full band original prog.  Just Steve on classical and his brother John on flute reinterpreting solo piano pieces written by French composer Erik Satie.  It's incredibly beautiful. 
Sounds interesting - great tip

If you like Steve's classical guitar/flute duet "Kim", much of "Sketches of Satie" is very similar in sound.  In fact, I think "Kim" was closely based on a Satie piece.  I got to see Steve's band in the early 90's and after the regular show had finished, he came out alone with a chair and his classical and played about a 20 minute unaccompanied encore...fantastic.  I think he's the best classical guitarist of all the well known prog guitarists.  Howe is better on steel string acoustic, but Steve is the king of nylon string classical.
Steve Hackett has such a beautiful tone. It's very much like Christopher Parkening's. Steve Howe has a more metallic approach except for the solo from "The Ancient" where he produces at times...a softer tone. Hackett has the most beautiful tone though. I remember hearing Liona Boyd's arrangements of Satie and Hackett definitely has that beautiful sophisticated melodic tone like her.

Yes.  When Hackett plays classical I never think "there's an electric guitar guy just dabbling on a nylon string acoustic", his tone and phrasing are beautiful and equal those of players who devote their lives to classical guitar.


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https://wytchcrypt.wixsite.com/mutiny-in-jonestown" rel="nofollow - Mutiny in Jonestown : Progressive Rock Since 1987


Posted By: fuxi
Date Posted: September 19 2013 at 07:03
Originally posted by Progosopher Progosopher wrote:

Ralph Towner of Oregon fame frequently uses classical techniques.


Ralph Towner is one of the greats. To all proggers I especially recommend his album BLUE SUN.


Posted By: chopper
Date Posted: September 19 2013 at 07:44
Originally posted by The.Crimson.King The.Crimson.King wrote:

My fave classical guitar prog album is "Sketches of Satie" by Steve and John Hackett.  Beware though, it's not full band original prog.  Just Steve on classical and his brother John on flute reinterpreting solo piano pieces written by French composer Erik Satie.  It's incredibly beautiful. 
Talking of Steve Hackett, I would suggest his "A Midsummer Night's Dream" album ( http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=4176" rel="nofollow - http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=4176 ) which is just Steve on acoustic guitar with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra


Posted By: paganinio
Date Posted: September 19 2013 at 09:28
classical guitar, I don't know, I only know about "acoustic guitar" as opposed to the electric guitar.

Same thing?


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Posted By: octopus-4
Date Posted: September 19 2013 at 09:37
 
 
NO
 


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Curiosity killed a cat, Schroedinger only half.
My poor home recorded stuff at https://yellingxoanon.bandcamp.com


Posted By: timothy leary
Date Posted: September 19 2013 at 11:06
Manuel Barrueco........Nylon & Steel

On this album he plays with Al Di Meola, Steve Morse, Andy Summers


Posted By: timothy leary
Date Posted: September 19 2013 at 11:09
Originally posted by timothy leary timothy leary wrote:

Manuel Barrueco........Nylon & Steel

On this album he plays with Al Di Meola, Steve Morse, Andy Summers




Posted By: octopus-4
Date Posted: September 19 2013 at 11:10
I've already mentioned Daniel Bautista, nylon, steel and distorted electric

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Curiosity killed a cat, Schroedinger only half.
My poor home recorded stuff at https://yellingxoanon.bandcamp.com


Posted By: Progosopher
Date Posted: September 19 2013 at 11:53
Originally posted by timothy leary timothy leary wrote:

Manuel Barrueco........Nylon & Steel
On this album he plays with Al Di Meola, Steve Morse, Andy Summers


Good call. I have this album and it's great. I also had the pleasure of seeing Manuel and Big Al perform together. It was an exercise in contrasting techniques - Manuel maintained a tight control the entire time (similar to Tony Iomi's but with finger picking) while Al had a looser sweeping style. Both were brilliant.

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The world of sound is certainly capable of infinite variety and, were our sense developed, of infinite extensions. -- George Santayana, "The Sense of Beauty"


Posted By: cstack3
Date Posted: September 19 2013 at 16:23
Originally posted by octopus-4 octopus-4 wrote:

 
 
NO
 

Nice!  I saw Sr. Segovia live about 1979, he was sublime!  And, a bit like Bob Fripp:

a) he sat down during the entire show....

b) he was totally focused upon his music, and....

c) when some mope in the audience started to cough, loudly, during a quiet passage, he shot the guy a poisonous glance! 

If you've ever seen Fripp when a flash photo is taken during a song, you'll enjoy that last bit!  RIP Andres!  






Posted By: Progosopher
Date Posted: September 19 2013 at 18:16
I also saw the late great Segovia around the same time. He was fantastic, but sublime is a good descriptor too. The audience eventually took pity on him and only demanded five encores. One of the greatest musicians of the last 100 years.

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The world of sound is certainly capable of infinite variety and, were our sense developed, of infinite extensions. -- George Santayana, "The Sense of Beauty"


Posted By: schizoidman
Date Posted: September 19 2013 at 23:17
I gave this YouTube video its own thread in another forum but can't help thinking that it fits in this thread perfectly!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY0c6qc95oI" rel="nofollow - Steve Howe playing "Mood for a Day"





Posted By: Hercules
Date Posted: September 21 2013 at 06:21
Originally posted by Progosopher Progosopher wrote:

I recommend Sky, even though the music is not quite so classical in terms of guitar. However, the band featured one John Williams, a protégé of the great Andres Segovia, on electric guitar. Ralph Towner of Oregon fame frequently uses classical techniques. If you like Akkerman, I strongly recommend his album Tabernakle, which features not guitar but lute. Absolutely beautiful and stunning album.

John Williams almost never played electric guitar on Sky's albums, sticking mostly to classical/acoustic guitar. The electric guitarist was Australian maestro Kevin Peek.

Williams was a first class classical player, though.

For me, Gordon Giltrap is not only a brilliant player but also composed sensational progressive music, though this site took a very long time to acknowledge that fact. And of course, Steve Hackett is not regarded simply as one of the best electric guitarists, but he has a reputation as one of the best classical guitarists around.

Finally, for stellar playing, get Friday Night in San Francisco, which features Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucia trying to outdo each other for sheer wizardry. 


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A TVR is not a car. It's a way of life.


Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: September 21 2013 at 12:43
Hi,
 
If we're talking just Classical Guitar doing its thing, in rock music, for the most part it is just a bit of color over one passage and not the real thing, for my tastes.
 
The best of the mixes in rock music would be "Carmen" in their 3 albums ... hands down!
 
Anthony Phillips has a duet with one such player in one of his albums, and he stands up with it really well!
 
The spanish bands that showed up in the 70's had a lot of it, and sometimes it was good, and sometimes you went ... what? ... but all in all, I would rather have it than not. But in terms of pure rock music mix and let it all hangout, you can't do a whole lot better than Carmen in my book, and everyone else is just trying to stand up to the really good ones.
 
I'll have to listen to some of those bands again, but the number of them was not small, and many of them were really good in their rock mixes, although you could tell the influences and such in a funny sort of way.


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Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
www.pedrosena.com


Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: September 21 2013 at 12:45
Originally posted by cstack3 cstack3 wrote:

 
 
 
The concert I saw him on in Madison, he was playing a long piece and a string broke, and he just kept on going, and at the end of 10 minutes he ended it and looked at the audience and asked ... "Did that sound alright?" .... and he got a standing ovation!
 
I don't think one needs to know a whole lot more about one's ability after that!


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Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
www.pedrosena.com


Posted By: TODDLER
Date Posted: September 24 2013 at 20:10
I remember Christopher Parkening being a student of Segovia. Segovia was very impressed with his abilities and took joy in teaching him. I remember watching a T.V. show where students performed audition pieces for Segovia. One student in particular that hailed from Georgia performed a beautiful piece with the most magnificent tone. He made 1 small mistake and Segovia told him to stop. The student asked if he could try again..which meant starting the piece over and Segovia said "No, you can leave now". The student then said..."Can I just try again?" and Segovia again replied.."No". A couple of music teachers sitting in the room with me were laughing at the attitude of Segovia and the reaction of the student. I was only about 17 years of age and felt a little shocked by it all. I certainly didn't expect that to happen.Shocked.. Segovia was a master though and it can't be denied. I also liked Julian Bream.


Posted By: octopus-4
Date Posted: September 25 2013 at 03:41
Originally posted by TODDLER TODDLER wrote:

I remember Christopher Parkening being a student of Segovia. Segovia was very impressed with his abilities and took joy in teaching him. I remember watching a T.V. show where students performed audition pieces for Segovia. One student in particular that hailed from Georgia performed a beautiful piece with the most magnificent tone. He made 1 small mistake and Segovia told him to stop. The student asked if he could try again..which meant starting the piece over and Segovia said "No, you can leave now". The student then said..."Can I just try again?" and Segovia again replied.."No". A couple of music teachers sitting in the room with me were laughing at the attitude of Segovia and the reaction of the student. I was only about 17 years of age and felt a little shocked by it all. I certainly didn't expect that to happen.Shocked.. Segovia was a master though and it can't be denied. I also liked Julian Bream.
I remember....I've seen the same TV special on the Italian state TV. It could have been around 1980 or even before. I was actually studying classical guitar after some years of acoustic and Segovia was probably the top world's classical guitarist. In these years I was used to go to see concerts of classical guitarists (surely cheaper than rock bands).

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Curiosity killed a cat, Schroedinger only half.
My poor home recorded stuff at https://yellingxoanon.bandcamp.com


Posted By: SouthSideoftheSky
Date Posted: September 25 2013 at 08:37
Originally posted by stewe stewe wrote:

I always appreciated elements of classical music in prog. Would love to know some more progressive artists, who also have similar classical/nylon guitar parts or pieces in fashion of
- Steve Howe (Leaves of green, Mood for a day)
- Steve Hackett (Horizons, Blood on the Rooftops intro..)
- Alex Lifeson (Broon's Bane, A Farewell to Kings intro)
- Jan Akkerman (Le Clochard) etc.
Any suggestions worth of checking out?

Thank you Stewe for starting this thread. Me too appreciate all of your examples very much, especially the two Steves. I know that both Sky and Gordon Giltrap have been mentioned by others, I would just like to add a couple of specific recommendations from these two that I've reviewed recently:

Gordon Giltrap - Live At Oxford (my review:  http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=941501" rel="nofollow - http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=941501 )

Sky - Live In Concert: Bremen, Germany 1980 (DVD) (my review:  http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=1043821" rel="nofollow - http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=1043821 )

The former I found on emusic.com and the latter is freely available on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzIgJ8fsDnE" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzIgJ8fsDnE

... will think if I come up with some more recommendations in the same style.




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