This is a drivelapse featuring a cool six minute representation of the 10 hour drive between Lander, Wyoming and Missoula Montana. The drive features hours of quick hitting views of mountain country, one of America’s most beautiful national parks and 30,000 feet of ups and downs in elevation gain and loss. Likes, shares and comments are always appreciated.
Many months ago through the helpful suggestion of mutual friends (shout-outs Chad & Kindi Lantz!) I was put in contact with a modern master of guitar building, Maxwell T. Sipe. I imagine when he reads this, he’ll feel a little bashful seeing phrases such as master, the best, the shizz, and maestro of wooden things thrown his way because despite his unequaled talent as a builder, Max is a modest fellow. Honestly, it’s true, for the last couple weeks I have been playing the best sounding and best looking guitar that I’ve ever seen. As an ambassador for Sipe Guitars (if you don’t click these now, please make sure to visit the provided hot links to some of Max’s other work and to keep up with him on social media) I am going to tell you the story of, and share a ton of pictures showing the process of how my piece of playable art was created. You’ll be seeing this insane instrument in action on all my future projects. When you place an order with Max you instantly feel at ease in your decision. Prior and concurrent to his career as a luthier and guitar repair person, Max earned…
Hey y’all, please help me out with an experiment! It’s been a while since I’ve tried running a post through the Guitarborist facebook page. You may, or may not be aware that as of calender year 2015 FB requires businesses to pay for their posts to show up in their followers timelines. It really stinks for small business, and anybody without a monstrous budget trying to be recognized, or just reach their friends with a tune they’ve been working on. Organic likes and shares seem to be the only way around this new model, and I surely appreciate yours. This video was filmed at a pretty spot on a road trip by my medium (not very little) man about a month ago. The piece is “As it is in Heaven” by Phil Keaggy. For those interested this was recorded in a single take using a pair of AKG 414’s and a direct line running into DTAR soltice via a Strymon Timeline. Thanks for the help getting this into the world, and please check services at guitarborist and tons of cool videos at my gallery.
Season’s greetings friends. My offering to you is one that is truly special to me, and there is a story to be told. The cinematography for this video was done by my very talented friend Nate Shoutis. To see more of his work, and some of our collaborative efforts for fun, and money follow him on Vimeo HERE. We live in different areas of the country so most of our collaboration is done online, but last October Nate asked me to compose something for a holiday video we planned to shoot when he passed through Missoula. I wrote this piece, “Shooting Star”. If you are interested in adding the single to your music collection, or sending it as a gift, it’s on iTunes HERE I did not mention last year that this musical piece was a tribute to my late mother. She passed in October 2011 very suddenly from a brain aneurysm. The great unknown on the other side of life always leaves those of us living with lots of questions about what might be out there. I don’t mean for this post to delve into my spiritual beliefs other than to share a cool story that gives me hope…
This is a short film that I was contracted to score by Alaska Fish and Game. Bristol Bay Alaska is the world’s largest salmon fishery, and truly a great example of how to manage the harvest of wild species without depleting resources. It’s ingenuity, and commitment to the long term future of this precious natural resource sets the standard globally for how consumable species should be managed. ADF&G’s hope is that spreading the word about their practices, and management will help other major fishing operations follow their lead, and be proactive in maintaining the world’s fish populations for posterity. This is IMPORTANT stuff, and I was honored to be able to provide the music to move the message along. If you are interested in adding the score to your own music library it is available on iTunes by clicking HERE. The piece is called Anadromous, which refers to a species born in fresh water that spends it’s life in the sea before returning to it’s birth grounds to spawn, and perish. How insane is that? Thank you for likes and shares!
Alpackalypse 2014 from Water Bear on Vimeo.
Yaaahooooo! For your enjoyment this long weekend, please watch and have a listen to this promotional video for Alpacka rafts newest creation the Alpackalypse. Alpacka has been the leader in the inflatable kayak industry leader for years. The biggest advantage to an inflatable kayak is that you don’t have to carry a rigid boat around with you on whatever adventure you are undertaking. My great friend Nate Shoutis (Water Bear) shot, narrated, and edited this beautiful video. I created the music using an Ableton push. There is no guitar involved whatsoever; this is pure electronic goodness used to propel the scenery along. I recommend viewing (whether it’s the first or 7th time) on the largest screen and speakers you own. The biggest tool that lesser known film-makers and musicians have at their disposal these days is the help of their friends spreading the word. Vimeo hosts this video, and our employers track the traffic it receives. Please help spread the word by liking, and sharing this video so that we can continue bringing these great projects home, and putting food on our tables. If you have a vimeo account and can click the “heart” button, or leave us a comment…
\\\\\\Ah, look at all the lonely people (and crushed cars!)/////// Howdy. Today’s offering from Guitarborist is really, um… let’s say unique. In my life, I have not always been the biggest fan of this song by the Beatles. I started looking at the score for it after a student requested the song as learning material. My whole opinion changed radically, as I was again reminded how visionary and groundbreaking the Beatles were. For those of you with a little music know how, the majority of the 1st and 3rd beats in this song have melodic ties. This works really well for fingerstyle arranging because you can pop bass notes in the middle and make it sound sweet! So anyway, after a little while working, I finished my arrangement of this song. I liked it enough to make a recording, and decided that I liked it best on my baritone guitar. A baritone guitar still has six strings, and plays like a regular guitar, however it is tuned much lower and effectively sounds like a hybrid between a guitar and a bass. For this reason I would suggest viewing this through speakers with some BASS. Trust me it will sound a…
\\\\\\TUMENI NOTES////// This piece is really special to me. Andy McKee is one of the finest and most innovative guitar players composing today, and probably will be viewed highly in the guitar pantheon after most of us have turned to dust. He does everything very well, and writes very technical and difficult pieces of music that are also incredibly beautiful. Andy McKee is absolutely worth tons of listens if you don’t know his playing. Rylynn is one of my favorites. I don’t know that my playing does it justice, but I definitely tried very hard to make it sound pleasant. By anyone’s standards this is really HARD to play, and utilizes a crazy tuning, a capo made for a banjo, slap harmonics, and approximately 9,467 notes weaved into a catchy and soulful melody. I also want to thank all of my friends in social media who help spread the word about my playing, and teaching. The Guitarborist page has seen really incredible growth lately, and that has everything to do with YOU friends passing videos along. It’s really neat getting comments from people I’ve never met on the other side of the world who have generous things to say about…
This is a little outside the norm of my guitar work. The entirety of the score was composed and produced by me using Ableton. It features live piano, guitar, bass, percussion, and custom built midi loops.
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