„Handmade“ available on Bandcamp.com
Since today „Handmade“ is available on Bandcamp.com and soon will be available on all major streaming platforms and as physical CD.
New album "Handmade" will be out soon
The next album full of acoustic gems will be out soon. Thank you very much Gabor for your wonderful solo on “Bolero Para Marcelo” and to Erna, Toñi and Zoë for their lyrics and beautiful voices.
New studio setup
After adding the new piano I had to rearrange my studio to have a little more space. Amazing result: I can reach the keyboards in seconds with a turn of the chair (which improves my home office activities by far :-))
New studio layout August 2021
Piano switch
Lately switched my Yamaha piano for a new Roland FP-90X
Roland FP-90X
New Toy Ibanez GSRM20B
This is the newest toy - a short scale bass by Ibanez. Looks like a tiny brother of a “real” bass but is so much fun to play with the shorter scale :-)
New album "Pebbles" is out
My new album “Pebbles” is out today, including Zoë’s “You and Me” as well as the new “Petit Paris”. Have fun listening at Bandcamp
Zoë's vocals on new release of "You and Me"
Thanks to Zoë for writing lyrics and singing a new version of “You and Me”.
Debut album online and production finished
My first album is published on several online platforms and also available as physical CD.
Member on Bandcamp.com
Since a few days my music is also available on bandcamp.com
Klick here -> bandcamp.com
Session Horns pro
As a trombone player I was highly attracted by the possibilities a professional sampled horns library would offer. So I composed a little arrangement to bring my new collegues of “Session Horns pro” by Native Instruments onto the scene. The results can be heard here (“Forgotten Encounters”) :-)
Dream Guitar
It should have been delivered four weeks later – but since yesterday I am the proud owner of a phantastic Ibanez RG652. The neck profile is absolutely gorgeous, the finish is perfect and the playability a dream. What a wonderful instrument 😃
Studio Enhancements
After reading lots of reviews I enhanced my studio equipment. The new toys are absolutely realistic sounding HS-7 studio monitors by Yamaha and the little magic box HX Stomp by Line6 which is a complete Helix in a small box. It is unbelievable what sounds this little machine is able to produce and the handling is much fun.
To have even more variety I added Electric Sunburst Session Guitar by Native Instruments, Session Horns pro and Nucleus Lite Edition by Audio Imperia to Logic’s sound library.
Line6 HX Stomp, the magic box :-)
Studio Setup 2020
Flamenco teacher visit from Madrid
After many attempts to find a suitable teacher for flamenco guitar I finally discovered Juanjo’s (guitarraflamencaclub) lessons on YouTube. He is one of the rarely found teachers who are able to serve knowlede in small well structured bites. And although all his videos are in spanish language (which I do not understand a word of) I had lots of fun and really learned a lot.
Two weeks ago he visited us in Wiesbaden and we had a wonderful weekend full of music. He did not only give me some immensely valuable tips on switching from a classical to a flamenco player but also accompanied our friend Gabor (pogello.com) during a gig in a Wiesbaden restaurant and afterwards we had a little flamenco session in a spanish bar.
Thanks for coming, Juanjo. Hope you will be here soon again :-)
Photo: Breakfast concert in our kitchen :-)
Vicente Amigo live!
November 21st 2018 was a special date: we visited a concert of Vicente Amigo in Barcelone. His records are my absolute favourites and this evening gave me motivation to keep on practicing as much as I can. What he does with his instrument is unbelievable and combined with his creativity and sense for harmonies he is one of the great musicians alive. Thanks Vicente, it was an incredible evening.
New Member in the Bass World
Bass legend Marcus Miller supports Korean manufacturer Sire in producing a bass with outstanding quality to help young people getting high quality instruments at an effordable price. Result of their cooperation is the Sire "Marcus Miller V7". I didn't know whether I would keep it when I ordered it last week - but it's so much fun to plug those heavy strings that I decided to spend some time on learning bass too.
I highly recommend the Marcus Miller V7 which I think is the best quality you can get at that price (around 500 Euros in germany).
Practice Gear Complete
After some more "adjustments" my practice gear is now complete :-)
New gear: MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay
After testing lots of boxes I finally decided on the the sparkling green one that produces a nice warm old-school sound.
R.I.P. Leonard Cohen
Another great musician is gone, Leonard Cohen died on Nov. 7th.
His album "The songs of Leonard Cohen" was one of my first vinyl records in the 70's and the songbook with the lyrics and chords is one of the most used in my library.
New toy: Digitech Trio+ Band Creator and Looper
Imagine you have the mega inspiration and no one to accompany your phantastic new chord progression ... huh.
Take Digitech's latest toy - teach it some chords and rhythm and a drummer and bassman immediately play just what you told them.
It's really as easy as that. I won't take this little black box onto a stage - but it's perfect for practicing and "one man rehearsals" :-)
Brand-new CD: "Rising Grace" by Wolfgang Muthspiel
Wolfgang Muthspiels latest CD was published last week and is brilliant. The harmonies of "Triad Song" and "Father and Sun" are breathtaking.
