Guthrie Govan Discussion

[alexkhan]

Hey guys, Guthrie and I are in Boston and winding up another great clinic tour which seems to get bigger and bigger all the time (basically, larger and larger audiences). The latest tour started in Southern California during the NAMM convention and it included shows at Tone Merchants and at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood that featured Andy Wood on second guitar, Joel Taylor on drums (Allan Holdsworth) and Mike Pope (Chick Corea) on bass.

Speaking of Hollywood, Guthrie participated in a Lee Ritenour-produced project called Six-String Theory (sponsored by Yamaha) last week right after the clinic-concert at GIT. This is a compilation album that will feature Guthrie, George Benson, Pat Martino, John Scofield, BB King, Joe Bonamassa, Neal Schon, Steve Lukather, Mike Stern, Taj Mahal, Keb Mo, etc., so it's quite an honor for Guthrie to be included with such illustrious company. On top of that, the rhythm section features Vinnie Colauita on drums and Tal Wilkenfeld on bass. Guthrie was naturally thrilled to play with such amazing musicians. They recorded a whole new version of 'Fives' and I must say that it's pretty amazing in a different way. Hopefully, we'll see this project available this spring:

http://sixstringtheory.com/

After finishing up in LA, we headed towards San Francisco where we held clinic-shows at a nice intimate blues club called Biscuits & Blues in downtown SF and another event at the Bradley School of Music in Concord just outside of Oakland. As expected, the events were very successful with Bradley School students playing Guthrie's tunes flawlessly. They sure did their homework!

From SF, we went to Denver for a clinic at Guitars, Etc. in Longmont. The turnout there was 150+ and it was great to see the enthusiasm of the fans who came out to see Guthrie play. Obviously, people were all quite amazed by Guthrie's playing and his sound as well.

Then it was off to Boston and here we are, getting ready for the finale of the tour at a venue called The Knights of Columbus hall in Weymouth, a suburb just outside of Boston. This event is being sponsored by Matt's Music.

The first event was a master class clinic event at Berklee's main performance hall on Jan 28 Thu and there were well over 500 people there, so that was quite amazing. Guthrie also dropped in on a few classes and even jammed with students at an ensemble class. That was quite a treat to see. The enthusiasm and the passion for music permeates the hallowed halls of Berklee and it's quite an inspiring environment.

Last night was the first full-blown concert by Guthrie with the Jon Finn Group. Jon is the top guitar instructor at Berklee and his band is quite awesome. The show took place at the Middle East club in downtown Boston and well over 300 people were in attendance for an all-out rock-fusion fest that included an opening show by two guitar instructors at Berklee. Then Jon Finn Group came up to play 3 of their tunes and Guthrie joined them to play a good selection of Guthrie tunes from the 'Erotic Cakes' album.

Here are some pics backstage before the show. There'll be a lot more photos from the tour shortly.

With the Jon Finn Group


Guthrie Warming up


Yours truly with Guthrie's new set-neck Signature model

_________________
Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc.

[M@]

Awesome!
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"My day job feeds my family, my night gig feeds my ego!"

[alexkhan]

Here are some pics of Guthrie visiting Berklee last week.

Guthrie dropped in on one of Jon Finn's classes to offer some pointers and field questions from adoring star-struck students.










Guthrie also jammed with Jon Finn (Berklee's foremost guitar instructor and professor) during the class to demonstrate some improvisation concepts.







Before the start of Guthrie's main master class and clinic event at the Berklee Performance Center. What an awesome venue it is!



Guthrie holding the clinic at Berklee Performance Center



Guthrie also dropped in on an ensemble class being instructed by Jon Finn for an impromptu jam - including a rousing rendition of 'Wonderful Slippery Thing' with each player taking solos straight off the charts.



The ensemble class poses after the jam. They were awesome!


_________________
Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc.

[alexkhan]

Here are some more pics:

Guthrie rehearsing with the Jon Finn Group in the same classroom in Berklee before the Middle East Club gig in downtown Boston the next night.





Note Guthrie's Riot pedal which he used with the clean setting of a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe in classroom. He loves that thing - especially for occasions like these!




Live at the Middle East Club with JFG - Jan 29, 2010 Fri







Finale Jam with Don Lappin and Scott from Berklee


Guthrie and me clowning around at a gift shop at Boston's Quincy Market


Me, Ryan McBride (Berklee alumni who arranged all of the events in Boston) and Guthrie at Boston's famed Quincy Market


Guthrie, yours truly, Ryan's g/f's sister, and Ryan's g/f enjoying some chocolate chip cookies

_________________
Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc.

[alexkhan]

Here are some more great pics from the very memorable gig on Jan 29 Friday at the Middle East club in downtown Boston. Guthrie played and sounded absolutely awesome and had the crowd of mainly Berklee students gasping and hollering all night. Guthrie really bonded very quickly with his new set-neck Signature Modern. Having grown up playing set-neck guitars, he did say that it felt like "home" to him. As you can see from the pics, he's a pretty happy camper!













Guthrie's rig that night was the GG Set-Neck Sig Modern straight into a borrowed Cornford Hellcat (from a Berklee student who kindly offered Guthrie to use the amp for the gig) and borrowed Laney 1x12 with V30 - nothing else - well, except for the new TC Electronic PolyTune tuner, which doesn't count. It's very inspiring to hear someone sound so good with just guitar and amp only.



_________________
Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc.

[BIOS]

Great to see what went down. Thanks for putting it all together!

BIOS

[ZeyerGTR]

Very cool - makes me (almost) feel like I was there. Thanks for posting.
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[RoryButler]

Seeing things like this make me feel so bad about being some kid in a terraced house in a no-name town.

But it seems like it was great fun!
Great pics

[Mirth]

Wow, great pics!
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