Fingerstyle Guitar

with Martin Taylor

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Introduction To The Martin Taylor Guitar Academy

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Underlying Concepts

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Developing Technique & Musicianship

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Fingerstyle Guitar Lessons: Martin's Welcome to the MTGA

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This page contains a transcription of a video lesson from Fingerstyle Jazz with Martin Taylor . This is only a preview of what you get when you take Fingerstyle Guitar Lessons at ArtistWorks. The transcription is only one of the valuable tools we provide our online members. Sign up today for unlimited access to all lessons, plus submit videos to your teacher for personal feedback on your playing.

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[MUSIC]
Hi,

I'm Martin Taylor, and welcome to the
Martin Taylor Guitar Academy.

I'm really pleased you can be here.

I've got lots of things to tell you and
show you,

and it's gonna be a great journey and a
lot of fun to do.

I, I just hope you, you really enjoy this.

And before I start just a, just a really
just a brief introduction and

you can just put your guitars down for
now.

We don't, don't play just now.

This is really for your, your hearts and
minds.

And but this is important information for
you to know.

Probably I should start by just saying to
you, let you know who I am.

I was born in in England in 1956.

And I started playing the guitar when I
was very, very young.

My father was a, a jazz musician.

He was a double bass player.

And the first instrument I got was a, a
little ukulele, a little Hawaiian ukulele.

Red with a palm tree on it, you know?

And it just fascinated me straight away.

We, in the house, there was all the music
of Django Reinhardt,

the Hot Club of France, Duke Ellington all
the great American

jazz musicians, that my parents used to
listen to.

And I became very intrigued with, with the
music and particularly with the guitar and

in particular Django Reinhardt, and I
started listening to his records,

and I used to try and imitate a lot of
the, the guitar solos that he played.

And that's something that you shouldn't be
afraid of is to to imitate people.

Just try and copy what they're doing and
then take that information and

turn into your own and make your own, your
own voice.

So, I started to play the guitar, and I go
along to my dance gigs,

and after a while, I decided that's really
what I wanted to do.

I just wanted to play, play music.

And I joined a band, I left school when I
was 15, and I joined a band.

I came to the States and started to work
here,

then when I returned home I started to
work with

a guitarist by the name of Ike Isaacs, who
was a great influence on me.

And even though I've been playing for a
long time, it wasn't till I met Ike that I

started to get a deeper understanding of
music, and he would,

he passed all his information to me, he
shared his knowledge,

he was very generous, and that's really
what I want to do now.

I want to pass a lot of information that I
picked up years of knowledge for

playing for 50 years.

And a, a great thing happened for me when
in 1979,

having listened to the music of the Hot
Club of France Django Reinhardt and

Stéphane Grappelli, I got a call from
Stéphane to go work with him in France.

And that was really the beginning of my
career as a,

as a jazz musician professional career as
a jazz musician.

And I've traveled all over the world
working with Stéphane.

I worked with made on, made lots of albums
with Stéphane, with Yehudi Menuhin,

and recorded with Peggy Lee and all kinds
of people.

It was, it was a fantastic experience.

Along the way, I also started to develop
my own solo style of playing,

an that became my big fascination.

Because I used to listen to piano players
playing,

like Art Tatum, Bob Powell, Bill Evans.

And I wanted to transfer what I heard
piano players doing onto the guitar.

And the only people I really heard that
were doing that were classical guitarists.

And also Chet Atkins and Merle Travis,

who played the guitar as a complete
instrument.

But I wanted to play jazz solo on, on the
guitar, and

that really became my, my biggest quest in
music.

So I followed this this solo career, and
along the way, made lots of records.

And I've kinda got to the point now where
I've got a lot of things to pass on,

a lot of knowledge to pass on, a lot of
experience.

Which is why we're here, and I'm glad
you're here to be part

of the Martin Taylor Guitar Academy, and I
just want you to enjoy it.

Have fun.
It's gonna be a lot of fun.

Enjoy the journey.

[MUSIC]
>> Teach the world.