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I tell myself that it's because he started playing professionally at 8 years old.
The mind is such an amazing thing. Imagine all the stuff he's retained. Insane.
Cherokee improvisation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cqKLBsmSqQ&nohtml5=False
The man admits he’s “not good at this stuff” aka theory. He'll also run Yngvie out of the room btw.
Beautiful Rhythm guitar strumming…
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04-08-2016 12:57 AM
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Bireli is one of the absolute best there is.
All the best,
www.henryrobinett.com
Check out my latest CD on iTunes.
I Have Known Mountains by Henry Robinett
https://itun.es/us/pi6C_
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I love these duets with Birelli and Giuseppe Continenza. Songs include C'est Si Bon and In a Sentimental Mood. When I listen to these guys perform, the interplay is just great. Just two guitars. A lot of great understanding between these two. Or as someone called it 'complicity'.
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Originally Posted by henryrobinett
There are quite a few very very very talented guitarists in this world.
If there is a heaven (in whatever form it may be) and we’re all so lucky to visit in another time and place, we’ll find Bireli jamming in the circle reserved for the absolute best guitar craftsmen.
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Bireli Lagrene plays from the heart and soul. He lets his fingers do the talking. I love this man.
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He also plays bass, violin and sings.
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I knew about the Jaco bass playing and the singing but when I saw him playing the fiddle recently, I threw my computer through the window! Originally Posted by christianm77
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LOL!
What can one say about the multitalented Birelli? I love the extant videos of him at eleven or twelve years old or so. Gifted player is an understatement. Giuseppe ain't no slouch here either.
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I only discovered Bireli Lagrene two weeks ago.
There are phenomenal players out there.
And then there are players that are so complete and natural in what they do.
On the American side, one of them is Mark O'Connor.
Ronald
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Besides Birelli and the rest of the phenomenal gypsies, there are several remarkable African guitarists as well, Habib Koité from Mali and Derek Gripper from South Africa among them. Gripper is a "classical" player, but improvises in Djeli style as well as playing transcriptions from the great kora player Toumani Diabate. John Williams was freaked out by him, and I've met and hung out with him in New York City while he was on tour, and I am studying with him via Skype. Lionel Loueke is a ridiculous guitarist and singer, with a jazz style his own, very personal, like Frisell, only not like Frisell.
The guitar, in all its many iterations, is the most popular instrument on the planet, so its not surprising that there are so many really good players, along with a world of music available at the end of a mouse of trackpad, so that influences from all over enter the vocabulary of many players.
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Lionel Loueke and his percussive, clicking, jazzy style is very appealing.
Gripper and Diabate I'll have to investigate.
Pirelli says in a video that he's an auto didact and 100% self taught. Growing up in a musical family didn't hurt I'm sure. Says he never learned how to read music so he relies on his ears. What a concept. Relying on your ears! ;-)
He says he's had only two teachers in his life. They both came to his house once each and never came back again! He doesn't know why they didnt come back. CRACKED me up.Last edited by West LA Jazz; 04-09-2016 at 12:50 AM.
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I once read an interview with Birelli where the interviewer asked him what he plays over a dominant chord. Birelli asked him "what's a dominant chord"?
Here' Birelli with John McLaughlin on French TV.
It's pretty clear he knows what to play over a dominant chord.
Bireli at age 15
Last edited by Flat5; 04-09-2016 at 01:26 AM.
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It's like when people trying to learn English ask me about grammar. Originally Posted by Flat5
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Bireli is the living guitarist I listen to the most (with Doug Raney being a close second). While I enjoy his Django recordings I mostly listen to his other jazz recordings. E.g. The album Blue Eyes. He plays with passion and fire but he is also very melodic. His version of I Got You Under My Skin is one for the ages. I love to listen to Frank's classic version of the tune with Nelson Riddle and then put on Bireli's version. Here is the perfect balance of 'going off' and paying homage to a well constructed tune and how Frank approached the melody.
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Bireli is not from this planet. He is a freak of nature. Dennis Chang was doing the recordings of Bireli for his instructional videos and asked " Do you know "Giant Steps" and Bireli answers "not really , but go ahead I'll try it. At 250BPM he kills it, first take..i
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That'just it...he is very melodic.
I know some players who are techniquely perfect
but they only have one tone, especially when playing acoustic and the notes are mostly linear with hardly
any melody playing, cut notes etc...
But when you have technique, tone and shades...
well, you get people like Birely.
beyond technique it is what they hear in their head and they can conduct this into their instrument.
A lot of that is natural and can only be taught to an extend.
That is total control of what you are doing....not easy
Like I said, I only discovered him two weeks ago, he is one of those players that you don'
t forget
Ronald
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Great stuff. It gives me hope I could learn to be a decent guitar player even with my lack of theory. (If I had 15 hours a day to practice LOL...)
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Originally Posted by Doctor Jeff
True. Same for me and I GAVE UP playing the guitar for a couple of years in favor of keyboards. What was I thinking?!! Bireli says he had a lot of time to practice obviously because he had the urge to play. Says he was never forced by his parents. I guess "genius" = 99% perspiration + 1% talent? LOL
I have just started learning about him from his videos. He's very generous with his teaching. He says that he can read chord charts now as this became a necessity when he reached a certain point in his career. I guess when you show up in Italy to play with Jaco, you better at least be able to scan the chords quick. He also said that he wanted to master the fretboard by being able to play what he heard anywhere on the fretboard so learning the notes on the fretboard also became a necessity. It all makes sense now hearing him talk about his beginnings. I the past I was never really able to get a fix on his electric side. He's essentially an acoustic guitarist who came across to electric land and never forgot his roots as he uses a lot of his acoustic stuff in his electric playing. His chordal playing is SO very instructive - beautiful voicings that I'm in the process of shall we say "borrowing". ;-)
He says he doesn't memorize licks per se. What he does is take melodies from everywhere. From Bach, Mendelssohn, Kanye West (yes that's not a typo) to Wes, Martino and beyond. And then he twists them up 100 times when playing. Those are licks to me but we won't quibble. HA. And then he smiles at the list of players he's shared the stage with. He smiles humbly and says that at this point in his life his "musical baggage" is so large from doing this for so very long that he can improvise at will over anything.
He says not to worry about cliches for they're part of the Jazz vocabulary/language and who you are as in what you hear in your head. Cool teaching by that Bireli dood.
There is a video on youtube of him on tour with Al DiMeola and Larry Coryel. I have the video of one of the concert performances. I remember seeing AL with a huge double music sheet in front of him as they played. I said to myself Bireli has memorized all that stuff cold. He says that learning by ear helped him develop as a musician tremendously and ALWAYS adds that his ears are "WIDE OPEN" when he's playing.
Apparently George Benson is like this also. Many moons ago, he had to do a recording session with an orchestra and almost pooped his pants from stress that he couldn't read. And then the orchestra made a mistake of running through the piece once and George had it. They played it twice and he had it down COLD, he says. LOL
I guess you gotta do what you gotta do to MASTER the fretboard,... however way it comes to you. Desire trumps all. ;-)Last edited by West LA Jazz; 04-10-2016 at 12:34 PM.
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West - You cite a video in which Bireli speaks about his youth and his early playing. Could you link that video?
When Bireli suggests he doesn't know theory, I take that with a little grain of salt. He has played with monster jazz musicians since the age of thirteen or so. I suspect a little theory has rubbed off on him. But as far as licks, I doubt he indulges in too much ice cream. He clearly plays what he "hears" without technical limitations. I am sure he has a great mind for melodies whether from classical music or jazz.
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Originally Posted by targuit
Too many licks on ice cream?? I am going to DEE EYE EEE! I didn't make this "almost not a joke but still a joke" Bireli, he did! Who says guitar Gods all have to be svelte and skinny? Hey, he's not that much of a "big Daddy" in these videos okay? :-)
Check him here playing the YAMAHA SA 2200. Cool guitar God pose if you ask me. HA.
How many owners of Yamaha SA2200 on this board? | Harmony Central
To your question. Yes I have links but alas not they're streaming video only on a paid site. The owner has no plans to offer them as downloads due to rampant piracy so I understand that. Bireli has to get paid. I do wonder what happens if his site goes down. I'll resist the urge to make my own copies but I'll definitely raise the question. They give you the audio if you buy the lesson. Question is, what happens if (God forbid) he gets run over by a truck? Am I __ out of luck?? ;-) The link is below and well worth the $19.99 USD it costs. Thankfully the Canadian Dollar is cheaper than the US dollar so ignore the 24.99 Canadian dollar price.
DC Music School | Downloads / Lessons
You're correct about his knowledge of theory, he says he had to learn how to read chord charts as it became a necessity after a certain point in his career. He also had to learn where all the notes were on the neck to better allow him to express himself and master the neck, And yes, he stops and smiles after Jaco, McLaughlin, Gambale when he tries to list the monster players he's shared a stage with.
In this video of 13 year old Bireli playing with Catherine video, he does these wide positional jumps to bass notes and back that he still does today. Interesting to see some of the early licks survived.
Good stuff!
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I just had to say this. If music is a language and and expressive on at that, to my ears, I hear more of the little subtleties and nuances in Bireli's playing on the acoustic than I hear on the electric.
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I always thought that his electric stuff was more of an attempt to have some commercial success. For a lot of artists it is probably easy to blame them for doing so. In Bireli's case I would probably blame him for not doing it. More people should be aware of his career's work and if they are only interested in electric guitar music they may broaden their awareness for acoustic stuff by latching on to the electric stuff. I saw one of those Coryell, DiMeola, Lagrene shows. Good fun! Originally Posted by West LA Jazz
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You got to see them live?? Oh man that's almost a provocation my friend! Originally Posted by lammie200
I agree with you though. I believe Al Dimeola to be an acoustic guitarist who made his money on the electric guitar. He like Bireli is more expressive on the acoustic than electric. Bireli seems to just plug in the electric and wail unlike some other electric first guys who have managed to craft a specific sound (outside of the sound their fingers produce so to speak). He definitely seems to always be working though.
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Still love his "standards" album!
I saw him at a master class (maybe 10 people in a small room!) about 20 years ago; not only did he claim not to know theory well, he said he wasn't a good teacher, and asked us if it would be OK if he just played for a while. We sat stunned for the next hour or so while he "just played."
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Great blazing saddles! I'm not sure I can handle all these I saw him plays maaaan. And YES...His standards album is a Killer. Originally Posted by marcwhy
I think he would benefit from a savvy producer like Don Was who runs Bluenote these days and who can help him make record that would race up the charts. A double album maybe half acoustic half electric. Birelli has what it takes.
I noticed the archtop he was playing is a TREMBLAY. I googled and found a Scott Tremblay luthier. Anyone know??
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