Kirk Sand Guitar

The guitar is an amazing instrument. From the expressive, lyrical playing of the nylon string virtuosos like Bream, Williams, and Barrueco, to the creative freedom of jazz players like Pat Metheny and Jim Hall, to the high-powered, high-energy antics of the great rockers like Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen, the instrument makes itself felt through all cultures and tastes.

The seventies were the modern golden age of the guitar, the culmination of the rock revolution of the sixties. Every bar band had a great guitarist, many rock guitarists had discovered classical or jazz guitar, and there were great audiences for good live music of all kinds. In the eighties and nineties, though, electronic instruments and more sophisticated studio production techniques began to push the guitar into the background. We lost our place as the premiere rock and pop instrument, and the number of players went into a decline. Now, listeners are beginning to realize that the over-produced, lifeless brand of pop and rock that has been imposed upon us by the multinational record conpanies is destroying the spirit of the music.

There may be hope: we are now in the midst of a giant revival of interest in good, real music made by real people, many of them our own friends and neighbors. Along with this has come a corresponding increase of enthusiasm in the guitar, which is, after all, the most versatile of all the instruments. This site is dedicated to adding to the repertoire of accessible, original, interesting music for guitarists, whether you play rock, folk, jazz, or classical, fingerstyle or with a pick.

My composition is largely experimental, hopefully organic, and usually includes, or is inspired by, improvisation. Here are some of my works in progress:

All of the MP3 and sheet music (PDF) downloads are free. I'd love to hear your comments or suggestions.

Peter Taschuk

Position Playing

After a few years of playing the guitar, learning to read, doing gigs, and learning some of the basics of music, I decided to take the guitar a little more seriously, and began to look for some help in learning some of the finer points of guitar technique, and music theory in general. Learning the higher positions of the fingerboard was a particular problem, finally solved by using the scale system taught to me by the great Canadian jazz guitarist Bob Cairns. For a number of years I developed my reading ability by using these scales to read every kind of music I could find: clarinet, trumpet, and violin methods, Bach cello suites, jazz fake books, bebop tunes, and more.

After several frustrating years of looking for a comprehensive method teaching reading in the higher positions, I finally decided to write one incorporating everything I've learned. I have now published this method and am offering it here. The book consist of a series of exercises and pieces using the five aforementioned scale fingerings. All of the music was written specifically for this method, is all for two guitars, and is in various styles; latin, rock, jazz, classical, and more. Here are some samples:

The book has 59 pages, contains 63 exercises and 15 pieces, all written for two guitars, includes a CD, and is suitable for pick-style, fingerstyle, or classical guitarists. Prices are:

All prices are for single copies with airmail shipping. I use PayPal for secure, easy payment. For multiple copies, or cheaper (slower) shipping, please contact me.

Compositions

Choro Pacifico

This is a new piece for three guitars. (Pacifico refers not to the ocean, but to the beer.) Recording: MP3 2.4 MB Score: PDF 112 KB. Parts available on request.

Prelude

I wrote and quickly recorded this short piece recently. Recording: MP3 1.3 MB Sheet Music: PDF 56 KB.

First Thought

This was written last summer, as a break from working on my Position Playing method. Sheet music: PDF 108 KB Recording (no repeats): MP3 1.9 MB.

Biographical Info

Peter Taschuk

Like many guitarists of my time, I started to learn to play casually while still a student, becoming more and more interested in the instrument as the years went by, but not taking it too seriously. After graduating with a Bachelors degree in Physics, I worked for a time as a computer programmer and analyst, then as an instructor in computer science, while at the same time studying classical and jazz guitar, and playing bass in a rock band.

My first guitar teacher was the guitarist and builder Frank Gay, in Edmonton, Alberta. Frank was a great and versatile swing guitarist, as well as a pretty good classical player. I owned a couple of his fine instruments, and travelled weekly to his house for lessons, which were often interrupted by visits from touring musicians, or by Frank's not infrequent visits to his well-stocked bar. Next, I worked with the wonderful classical guitar teacher Carl Lotsberg. Carl introduced me to the finer points of right and left hand technique, the Sor, Carcassi and Aguado studies, the music of Villa-Lobos, Bach, and Ponce, and Zen in the Art of Archery. He was a terrific inspiration, and many of his students have gone on to have careers in music, amongst them the Canadian guitarist Rachel Gauk.

Carl suggested that I attend the Shawnigan Lake Summer School of the Arts, where I met and studied with the duo Guitarists Ako Ito and Henri Dorigny. After the summer, Ako and Henri invited me to come and study with them at the French National Conservatory of Music in Nice, France. Ako and Henri are wonderful duo guitarists, and are generous and fun-loving (as are most great musicians whom I've met). They were both students of Alexandre Lagoya and the amazing Ida Presti, and are great practitioners of the "Lagoya Technique". While in Nice I worked with Ako and Henri on more Villa-Lobos, Tarrega, the Presti studies, Sagreras studies, and more Bach, Sor, and Aguado.

After buying a 1959 Renault 4CV (the simplest car I've ever driven) and touring through France, Spain, and Switzerland I returned to Edmonton (with my new Ramirez 1A), and enrolled at Grant McKuen College, where I studied jazz guitar with Bob Cairns. After a year I was hired by the college to teach guitar, which I did for the next four years. Throughout that period I did many jazz and classical gigs and took master classes with Manuel Barrueco, Alice Artzt, Peter McCutcheon, George Sakellariou, and others.

In 1980 I moved to Vancouver, BC, and taught guitar at Douglas College in New Westminster. I moved to Salt Spring Island in 1983, where I continued to teach, and play gigs of all kinds, folk, rock, jazz, musical theatre, and classical. Between 1987 and 1996 I played in resort hotels in Jasper and Lake Louise, in the Canadian Rockies, where I lived a marvelous mountain lifestyle, skiing and hiking during the day, and playing music at night. Since that time I've been living on Salt Spring, teaching and composing, and playing jazz and classical guitar.

Peter Taschuk

Notebook

Jan. 3: Added February March, MP3 3.9 MB.

I recently purchased a new CD by my old guitar teacher Bobby Cairns; Indelible, Coda Productions. Bob was a friend and afficionado of Lenny Breau, and has been working on merging Lenny's comping style with his own hip jazz approach for many years. This is the marvelous result of that endeavor.

Aug. 24: Replaced Choro Pacifico with a newly recorded version. I upgraded from Garageband to Logic Express a few weeks ago, and have been spending the summer getting to know this great recording and arranging software. The pieces Le Mistral, MP3 3.3 MB, and A New Milonga, MP3 3.0 MB, are two of the projects I've been working on.

June 3: Added The Creative Practice Session, or How to Steal Ideas from the Great Composers This is the first in a series of articles on how I use pieces and studies as springboards for adventuresome practice. This first one uses Study #1 by Heitor Villa-Lobos.

May 17: Added article Leo Brouwer: The Naxos Recordings.

May 6: Need a break from bashing away at that Villa Lobos study? For some mindless fun, try The Bang a Gong Exercise, Sheet Music PDF 20 KB, Recording MP3 690 KB.

April 26/05: Added my impressions of the Soloette guitar.

Production Tech Notes: Recording done with two guitars; either a Rossco Wright Soloette or a Kirk Sand nylon string classical, through an ART Tube MP Studio preamp, using an M-Audio MobilePre USB interface into Garageband2, on a Mac iBook G4 1.2. Music scoring done initially with Finale Guitar on a PC, now Finale Allegro on the Mac.

"Now I wish I could write you a melody so plain
That could hold you dear lady from going insane
That could ease you and cool you and cease the pain
Of your useless and pointless knowledge": Bob Dylan

Recently I've been spending some time reading The Natural Classical Guitar by Lee Ryan, an essential volume for every classical guitarist. Ryan thoroughly explores all aspects of guitar playing, giving us ways to approach our practice and improve our playing. Ryan is refreshingly practical and undogmatic, which cannot be said for many contemporary players and teachers. The chapter on learning a piece of music (Sor Minuet, Op. 2, No. 4), 35 pages, is alone worth the price of the book.

Tips for the Musician

For a few years I played occasionally at a small restaurant called Sophia's, in Victoria, BC. Beside the cash register was a brandy snifter with the sign "Tips for the Musician". In addition to the coins and bills that patrons kindly left, were a few handwritten notes, offering comments and advice. Two of my favorites were: "Get a haircut and a steady job you f***ing hippie.", and "Look both ways before crossing the street."

The great Canadian poet Al Purdy once wrote this little note for a friend of mine: "Spend a lifetime in a nuance." What a great piece of advice for every artist!

To play effortlessly is the goal of every musician. How do we achieve this? Well, running the risk of oversimplifying, we achieve it by playing slowly. Every teacher tells this to every student over and over, but it is the fundamental truth of learning to play any instrument. Only by careful, slow, controlled repetition of short sections of music do we get there.

"The only thing better than the sound of the guitar is the sound of two guitars." I'm not sure who said this, but it's certainly true, and one of the most enjoyable activities is playing duos, with a friend or teacher. Solo guitar is certainly wonderful, but playing with another musician lets you concentrate on wringing all the beauty out of a melody, or playing the perfect accompaniment, rather than having to do it all yourself.