Lenny Breau

[davehtx]

Lately I've become a huge fan of Canadian country/jazz guitarist Lenny Breau. So many great performances on YouTube that I had trouble picking one to post. Here he is at a master class playing his version of Elizabeth Cotten's "Freight Train", and there are elements of other tunes mixed in.

http://youtu.be/DX9re6k9k8c

I can hear Duke Ellington's "Caravan" at one point. someone more knowledgeable about jazz will probably catch more references than I can. Lenny starts off with some country picking with an alternating bass with the low strings muted, gets jazzy for a while, then does some beautiful things with harmonics at around the 3:00 mark, at the very end. I love what he does with harmonics and I'd be curious to get Jamie's thoughts on the proper way to do harp harmonics. Maybe an idea for a future Principles course/book?! I'm so inspired by Lenny's music and the expressiveness of his playing, I hope to one day learn to play one of his solo guitar arrangements. He does a stunning version of "My Funny Valentine" but I couldn't find that one on YouTube. Anyway, maybe someone else on here will check him out and will feel inspired as well!

Here are a few specific things I admire about Lenny's playing:
In the first minute of the video he achieves this great separation between the bass line and the melody. Different sounds, different volumes--they sound like different instruments. I guess this is a basic Merle Travis / Chet Atkins technique, muting the 4,5 & 6 string like that, but still it's just so beautifully done. Like, at once technically and expressively excellent, if that makes sense. Technique never dominates his playing--he's always expressing something, it's never just an exercise.

I feel that in most cases in my own guitar journey I've not been able to get past just learning the notes. To give more info, I'm mostly a fingerstyle player and getting that separation, total independence of the bass from the melody (different dynamics, different timbre, different rhythms, etc.) has been a challenge for me for sure. Lately I've been listening to RL Burnside and John Lee Hooker and am so bowled over by how both of them can play deceptively simple blues and make it just devastating. Anyway, I hope I haven't gone on too long here. Jamie, thank you for providing everyone with this forum. The Principles book has already helped my playing significantly and I'm very excited to be here and get some support from fellow guitarists.