Originally posted by lalimacefolle
I read somewhere that depending on the civilization we live in, we are more inclined to see emotion in melody (pitches and harmony of the notes we play) or rhythm (when we play them) and that article said that if an Afro Cuban listened to Al di Meola, with his very percussive technique, he might just find it really beautiful, just like some western guys love Bach's praelude in C (no rhythm changes, just tension due to harmonic changes)...

Al di Meola (Seems his name keeps poping up)
(Here's a little history on Al di Meola from Frets mag:1983)
By the time Al was in his mid teens he was playing country
music.(Al di Meola says below:)
Coping the licks of Doc Watson and the late Clarence white.
I wanted to become the fastest guitarist in the world."he
laughs."That was my goal then;now i haven't thought about it in years.I played bluegrass for a while when i was 14 or
15.Listening to Doc Watson helped deveop my speed i thought
he used a flatpick all the time.Then when i saw him live,
I was astonished! I'd been trying to do with a flatpick things he was doing with fingerpicks."
I actually did learn how to use fingerpicks during an affair with pedal steel guitar that coincided with my country music period.
Reluctantly ,i gave up pedel steel for good after i realized that it was draining energy away from my 6-string
work.It sounded so beautiful 'he says, "and i was becoming
quite good at it.But things were getting so i wasn't even
playing 6-string guitar anymore,and i thought that was stupid after having played it for something like eight years.So i sold the pedal steel .I had to --it was the only
way i could get away from it.

mARK
Also i forgot to mention his guitar teacher started him
out on ventures guitar music plus had him work on
all styles which made him the great guitarist he is today!








[Edited by skee1 on 03-05-2002 at 02:24 PM]