Tag Archive - Rumba Flamenco

A look back at 2010

This was a good year for me as I discovered the power of Social Media. I created a blog, discovered reverbnation, twitter, facebook, blah, blah, blah… All really wonderful tools for the independent musician.

I’m now on the top of the heap when you Google “flamenco” or “flamenco guitar” how cool is that! I’ve also tripled my web traffic which is a really big accomplishment. For years I studied and bought e-books on developing web traffic, online marketing, etc… With very little success. I gave up until I discovered Ariel Hyatt’s “Music Success in 9 Weeks” That book made my year!

As a nylon string guitarist, discovering the Fishman Aura 16 acoustic imaging pedal has been a massive find this year. For years I have been frustrated with my live guitar sound and thanks to Fishman my guitar sound is better than ever! I currently play a great flamenco guitar built by Jeff Sigurdson. I installed the LR Baggs classical element pick up, which string balance and gain make it the best nylon pickup ever! And I’ve tried a lot! You can read more about the fishman aura pedal in my previous post.

2010 was also the year I disposed of my glasses. Thank you IRIS! You guys are the best!

IRIS has been playing my music in their retail outlets so when they found out I would be a good candidate for laser eye surgery, they offered it to me and I accepted.

I now live my life in HD and it’s fantastic! No more dirty glasses. I can walk and run in the rain! No more contact lens’s, etc…

This was also the year I performed with Benjamin Woods. What a great guitarist and I’m really excited about playing with him again in an upcoming 2011 performance.

2010 was the year I performed for our Winter Olympics. What a great experience! I had multiple performances with my rumba flamenco, latin jazz quartet as well as performances with Vancouver Gypsy Jazz quartet Gypsalero.

I’ve been performing with Gypsalero for years and the year was the first time I was in the studio with the guys to begin recording a new Gypsalero cd.

This year I also began performing with Gabriel Mark Hasselbach. Gabriel is a fantastic musician that I have looked up to for years and it’s a been a thrill for me to now be gigging with him!

This year I began this blog that gives my fans a behind the scene window of what it’s like as a working musician and guitarist.

This year I’m also back to being my own manager and have began booking my own tours. I’m still looking for management however it’s been a breath of fresh air to be back doing it myself.

So first up for the new year will be my new online guitar school that new guitar students can study with me from anywhere in the world. The new site is already up but will be officially announced in January.

Performance for Merit Consultants International Inc.

Today I’m off to perform for Merit Consultants International Inc. Once again I’ll be providing my fiery rumba flamenco christmas solo guitar classics for another fabulous corporate christmas event.

I love these gig’s as I have no idea what the event, location and people will be like. It’s always a total adventure and best of all I get to live the adventure playing my guitar!

So for today I’m already packed up and will hit the road at 3:30pm to find my way to the event location. I plan to arrive at 5pm and I am to begin playing at 6pm. Originally I was to be playing from 6pm until midnight however, the hours have been rolled back to playing from 6pm to 10:30pm.

Wow! This home I’m playing at is amazing and so is the food! I arrived shortly before 5pm and set up my sound system. What a fantastic place and such a great sounding room. I began playing at 6pm and took my first break at 7pm. I began again at 7:15 and took my next break at 8:45pm. During this break I was able to have a bite to eat while everyone was receiving gifts. This was really a wonderful group.

Once again it’s best to be prepared for anything and intuition is a very funny thing. For some reason I felt a though I had better bring along my christmas fake book and sure enough, this gig I wound up accompanying a few christmas carol singers.

Also, this is a first, one of the guests brought a cajon so we had a little jam session at the end of the night!

So that’s my night playing solo guitar for Merit Consultants International Inc.

I really love this job! It’s so much better than rebuilding engines. (That would be my old job which now feels like a life time ago.)

Stay tuned as tomorrow I’ll be returning to the Willowbrook Mall for performance #5…

A Christmas performance at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver

Today I’m playing guitar for a private event at the Fairmont Vancouver Hotel with my fiery rumba flamenco “christmas” quartet.

Brent (bass), Andre (guitar), Lyndon (percussion) and I hooked up last Sunday to review and rehearse all my Christmas music and we’re all set to play it all for our client tonight.

I’m really looking forward to this gig as it will be the first time I’ll be using the Fishman Aura 16 imaging pedal with the quartet.

So, the gig went very well and so did the Fishman Aura!

I arrived at the hotel at 2:30pm to begin setting up. The room Pacific Ballroom was set up as a winter wonderland. Every thing was white with real christmas trees every where covered in snow.

Our stage was in the middle of the room surrounded by snowy christmas trees.

We began our performance at 4:45pm, there was a quick speech at 6:15 and we were done at 7:15pm.

We were playing a mix of popular rumba flamenco tunes, a little latin jazz and a bunch of instrumental christmas classics.

We had a blast and we received a lot of great feedback.

Tomorrow it’s back to Vancouver for an office Christmas party gig, then to Langley for another Willowbrook Mall performance.

Performance at Taverna Gorgona with guitarist Benjamin Woods

Guitar Duo set up at Taverna Gorgona 

Guitar Duo set up at Taverna Gorgona

Once again I’m back performing at Taverna Gorgona and what a great night it was. We had a great turn out and I had a blast performing with Ben Woods. What a great guitarist!

If you haven’t heard Ben or listened to his guitar playing you really need to check him out. You can visit Ben online at www.spanishguitarplayer.com

Next I would like to thank everyone who came out to see us!

Ben and I first met years ago, online. We were both nylon string guitar players and band leaders both trying to learn from each other how to better market our music through website link exchanges, etc… We also met in person at the LA Namm show a few years ago.

As you may know I have been working with guitar luthier Daniel Turner in Victoria and Daniel was also a big fan of Ben’s guitar playing. Daniel thought it would be really great to have Ben and I play as a guitar duo so he set it up.

I had invited Ben to stay with us while he was here to work on the music for Daniel’s project and I had also created a performance here at Taverna Gorgona.

Our performance at TG was so much fun, not only were we playing my music, but we had also performed some great rumba flamenco style metal classics. Music from the Scorpions, Iron Maiden and Malmsteen.

The gig that night was from 6pm to 10pm. Then afterwards I sat and relaxed while Ben and flamenco dancer, vocalist Stephanie Pedraza entertained us with a wonderful intimate table side acoustic flamenco performance.

Next it was off to Victoria to shoot the video for Daniel Turners Sola guitar project.

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