Takamine

Lance began playing Takamine guitars in 2006 when he noticed a Brazilian rosewood model that had been released.

The rare EF75 guitar, which is his working guitar, has a really wonderful Brazilian rosewood back and sides and sounds wonderful! He calls his guitar “full of mojo”.

Not only is Lance an excellent player, he has contributed his teachings to “Fingerstyle Guitar Magazine,” “Acoustic Guitar Magazine” and “Melbay’s” guitar sessions. Lance has also contributed music gratis, which can be heard on national PBS programs including “Tennessee Crossroads.”

In 2008, Lance was inducted in to the International Thumbpickers Hall of Fame continuing in the tradition of Kentucky thumb picking created by legendary guitarists, Chet Atkins, Merle Travis and Tommy Emmanuel.  In 2009, Lance competed in his first international finger-style guitar contest, held annually in Winfield Kansas. He placed fourth and was acknowledged highly for this.

Although trained in traditional rock music, following in the footsteps of Jimmy page, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Eddie Van Halen, Lance’s first love is finger-style guitar playing. Much like the classical style of guitar playing, finger-style incorporates the bass line, harmony and melody all at once on one guitar.

Lance continues to give guitar instruction from intermediate to advanced classes all over the world either in person or online through live video interaction. His ability to create solo guitar music is fresh, relevant and can be heard in upcoming cd releases   Not only is Lance a motivated and intuitive guitarist, he is very passionate about teaching. He connects with each student and what they are interested in.

We asked Lance some questions about his Takamine’s and here’s what he had to say….

When was the first time you played a Takamine?

I worked at a music store that carried the brand and was really impressed the Garth Brooks model, GB7C.

What made you keep playing Takamine’s after that experience?

The EF75 guitar (mojo) blew all of the other brands out of the water.

In what ways do you use your Takamine?

I use my Takamine for teaching, practicing, recording, and playing live. It sounds good plugged in and is really great in the recording studio. I record many instrumental fingerstyle guitar tunes so it’s important for a guitar to play easily and have depth.

What is special about the relationship between a guitar and the performer?

When you play guitar as much as I do, the guitar becomes more of an extension of your body. It’s another voice, and artistic expression that makes me unique.

What is your earliest guitar playing memory, or an early experience that made you want to stick through the learning and blisters?

I was really inspired by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Clapton. I later got more into acoustic guitar when I was introduced to Phil Keaggy’s music. I so wanted to play like that and desired to do it, so I went for it.

Between composing, arranging, writing, teaching or performing live – where do you get the most satisfaction as a guitarist and performer?

I really enjoy composing and arranging for the guitar. With youtube and all the social media that is out there these days, I can get the word out of certain arrangements that I’ve done and songs that I’ve written

What is the best advice you ever received as a student?

Learn a little bit of everything and always come up with new ideas and remember….guitar is a fun instrument once you get past the initial hurdles of muscle memory and callouses.

Which elements of your own playing do you find yourself refining or working on?

I’m always arranging and writing new music that people can listen to the melody and sing it back. Making creative hooks is always a challenge especially in fingerstyle guitar.

If you could combine all of your influences, heroes and teachers into one ultimate guitar player – which attributes would you take from each?

Thumbpicking and Harmonics – Tommy Emmanuel, Chet Atkins Blues. Pentatonic riffs – Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan too many more to count. Melody and harmony – Phil Keaggy, Stephen Bennett, Tommy Emmanuel, Chet Atkins.

To Learn more about Lance, visit:

www.guitarlancer.com
www.myspace.com/guitarlancer

You can also visit his YouTube channel and watch him play at www.youtube.com/guitarlancer … or go to our video section and view some of the Takamine videos that he has shared with us.