Yes, in 2004, I performed with Preston Reid and D.R. Auten at the Dunkerque Guitare Picking Festival.  Both my wife and I loved France and would certainly come back if invited.   The shows were put together very well with a fantastic crews and sound engineers who were quite good at getting the most out of the instruments.   The promoters at both festivals were very kind to us and made each trip memorable.  I would happily perform in France again.  

If so , where.On the other hand, are you contemplating setting up some concerts in europ in 2009 !

  I understood that you won the national fingerpicking guitar championship at Winfield  .Therefore , I would appreciate your letting me have the terms and conditions regarding this competition !

  In additiuon to your ability of composing music for both the theatre and the movie, is there any other sources to carry out your programme and with which musical instruments are you using gor that purpose !

 Are you also influenced by well-known artists ; let's say Chet Etkins, Jerry Reed ..  for instance.

 Are you a self-taught musician ! what is your trainng background ! bearing in mind that you have also practised classical music , I think.

 Furthermore, I know that you have issued two cds . Is there a tablature of yours to be given away or on sale through internet, as some of the guitarists do !

  Do you get more contacts through internet to set up new guitar shows !

 Have you also the intention of setting up some video training courses through internet !

Many thanks for our chattering together and let me look forward to meeting you in the future at my place at Bagneux (quite close to paris)

---

 Daniele Bazzani

 

I think that you had the opportunity to attend the Nashville CAAS’s event, at which date!

Caas (Chet Atkins Appreciation Society) is Nasville’s guitar Festival dedicated to the great Chet Atkins, the first time I went there was in 2001, I just heard that Chet passed away and I thought “I have to go!”, Tommy Emmanuel already told me to go there because it was a great thing to do for a guitar player, so I bought a ticket 10 days before the convention, and that was my first time.

I arrived at the airport and Caas’ president, Mark Pritcher, came and picked me up; he asked me if I wanted to play the first day because a player was missing, at that time I never played a solo concert and I said “No, are you crazy?” I could only play four tunes! But I thought about it and decided to go, and that was my first solo show ever. Then he started to invite me almost every year. The great Marcel Dadi died in the TWA plane crash near New York returning from the festival.

 

Do you have any comment about it?

It’s one of the greatest guitar festivals in the world, so many great players, no competition, everyone is talking and playing with the others, Mason Williams (“Classical Gas” composer) once said: “It’s like having 1.000 people backstage”! I’m so honoured to be scheduled there, this year will be my 7^th time. It’ll be a sad one again, Buster B.Jones just died…

 

I would also appreciate your letting me have your impressions when you first met Tommy Emmanuel and in which circumstances. When you have performed some of his transcriptions , was it on his request or on a personal purpose?

I met Tommy in 2000, a friend of mine gave me a copy of his first solo cd “Only” and I started transcribing some tunes, I always did that with music I liked, I could not understand what he was playing, so I figured it out.

He came to Rome a few months after and I went to his show, we met for the first time and I gave him some tablatures of his music (4 songs), he looked at them and he asked me: “Where did you get them?” and I answered: “I didn’t get them, I made them!”.

So he was very kind, he invited me to his hotel to check them out and asked me to play for him some of his tunes; he liked my job and told me that if I wanted to finish the work he could use them on his website for free, I did it and they stayed there for a couple of years. Then the Mel Bay book came out and they had to remove them.

 

Please tell me more regarding the training you are proposing via “skype”

I just use technology: I can see students, they can play for me, I can play for them, I can see if they make mistakes or play in a wrong way and try to suggest them how to improve their playing, it’s fun!

 

As you have made two solo albums together with two tablatures’ librettos , is it important for you to transcribe when playing your cds. Are you contemplating to mention on your website some tablatures on a free basis, as some guitarists do?

My new website is online, there’s new stuff like videos, mp3’s and tablatures, always updated with things like my Fingerstyle Blues Guitar videos, they will be online in a while. It’s a book for teaching I just finished.

 

More information about your musical patch and the way which led you to play the guitar will be quite appreciated.

I started with classical guitar when I was very young, I still have nails on my right hand. I love nylon strings. Then I learnt some fingerpicking and alternating bass from a teacher many years ago.

I have been playing electric guitar since I was a kid and played everything from Stevie Ray Vaughan to Jimi Hendrix, Richie Blackmore and Jimmy Page; I love Blues and all the great players there, as country, rock’n’roll, jazz. I studied music and I know harmony pretty well, that’s what I always teach along with the guitar technique.

I still play electric, you can see a few videos on my website.

I started to play acoustic guitar in the middle ‘90s, but I discovered a few years after that it was another instrument, I used to play it like if it was an electric! Then with Internet I discovered the great acoustic players like Michael Hedges and Leo Kottke, then Tommy Emmanuel, and everything changed.

I started being a fingerstyle player very late compared to other players (I had been a pro for more than 10 years with electric guitar), but I already recorded two solo cds and traveled many countries playing my music, I like that!

 

Tell me more about the acoustic duo “Kozmic Blues”. Do you still play with them?

I still play with the singer Gina Fabiani, we are a trio now and play original tunes in italian, it’s a new project with a very good double bass player, Lorenzo Feliciati, we have a small label producing us and we hope something might happen. Cross your fingers for us!

    

With all my thanks

Yours

Eric

---

Stefan Moenkemeyer

 

Stefan I would appreciate your letting me know how you get to become a guitarist.

 

During my youth I developed a deep love to Blues music. I could hear and feel something in it that I found in no other kind of music before. Especially the guitar sounds and players in that started to fascinate me more and more. When I heard Eric Clapton play for the first time it “grabbed” me. I bought my first electric guitar and never stopped playing since those days.

 

Apart from performing mainly in Germany had you the opportunity to attend the "open stings" festival organised by Peter Finger

 

I just returned from a trip to Australia where I played some concerts. The enthusiasm for my music and the many nice conversations were a great experience. Really lovely people.

I will play a concert at another of Peter’s venues (Lutherhaus) in Osnabrück in October. Gigs in Great Britain (also in October) and Netherlands are planned. And I would love to come to France and play there. Hope that there will be opportunities for me in the future.

 

I think that you play on "Maton's" guitar Is it to maintain your link with Australia .Tell me more about your link with Michael Fix with whom you played together on your last CD

 

Yes, I endorse Maton guitars here in Germany. I love the woods they use and the sound is great. And the staff at Maton is really friendly and helpful to me. I like the Australian mentality.

 

Michael Fix and me played two duets on my last CD “Stringvoices”. Musically, things are very easy and “natural” between us. Michael is one of the friendliest colleagues I ever met. A great guitar player and in the meantime became a great friend, too. By the way, Michael has German roots.

 

Stringvoices" your last cd is mainly made up of compositions. Do you have tablatures that you could mention on your web

 

The request for TAB’s of my music heap up. I think I have to start thinking seriously about writing and publishing a TAB-Book in the future.

Do you think that 'fingerstyle" guitar will find a new public thanks to internet on the other hand , we get to know a lot more guitarists through videos

In my opinion, at the moment, the chances are higher than the risks. Although there is this problem of illegal copies of music dispread through Internet but for Fingerstyle music it is an easy way to expand audiences and degree of popularity. I am curious how this all develops in the future.

 

By listening to your CD ,I found out a transcription from "sting" have you other similar pop musical transcriptions

 

On my first CD “Blue daylight” there is an arrangement of Stevie Wonder’s “You are the sunshine of my life”. And I am working on some new at the moment. But I won’t reveal that now ;-)

What are your plans for 2009! Have you sceduled a musical tour in Europe ? I know that Michael Fix is contemplating to come to france may be you could come , too!

Gigs in Great Britain (October) and Netherlands are planned. And I would love to come to France and play there. If there is a chance, that would be wonderful.

And I want to return to Australia and maybe play in Scandinavia next year.

 

Stefan Mönkemeyer

 

www.youtube.com/stefangitarre

---