Candleblog

Reinhardt. Not Fett.
Today is guitar genius Jean Baptiste “Django” Reinhardt’s 100th birthday.
Treat yourself and listen to some of this music. Django was incredible — and only had two usable fingers on his left hand (that’s the hand that makes chords). Django is on my short list of greatest guitar players of all time.
Seriously, take a [...]

CaseyContrarian is compiling some year-end lists about music for his blog from some of the blog’s contributors, of which I’m one. Along with some best-of lists, Casey asked us to consider who our favorite underrated guitar players are. Here’s what I wrote to him in an email. Your thoughts, Candleblog readers?
Underrated guitarists:
Bruce Cockburn – amid [...]

Back in the early 90s I used to sing funny songs with my friends Spine and Mazur. We called ourselves “Spamnation” and would entertain our friends at parties with a couple of original songs we’d arranged, with me playing the guitar and the three of us singing in three-part harmony. We toyed around with several [...]

Lately I’ve engaged in a new project. I’m finding out as much information as I can about Vermont-made Time Guitars in the hope of maybe making a short documentary about the company, it’s history and influence, and the lingering mystique of these beautiful instruments. I own a Time GS9 and I love it. It’s the [...]

I don’t talk much about it on this blog, but I’ve played guitar since I was about 16 or so. I started playing to impress a girl and when that didn’t work out, I delved into the instrument anyway. I’ve always been mostly a solo player (I’ve never been in a band) and it’s only [...]