Well , I sure feel like I took this thread way OT ...Oh Boy , as they say , in for the bean
all in for the burrito I have listened to Bella Fleck .....great player ...very expressive and unique ....
I was talking more along the lines of where some players fall into some sort of specialty type of expression where they get locked into it and they cant play anything but that ...It could be genre specific or just the way they happen to play ... I had the good fortune of being very good friends with a few guitar players that were way out of my league ...
A few off the top of my head were Joe Pass , Emily Remeler , Ed Cherry and Tony De Caprio ... to name a few
I would sit down and jam with each of them all the time and they would leave my a$$ in the dust ...I was OK w it ...
I wasn't taking lessons w any of them , we were friends and they were teaching me how to really play by putting me in a situation where I got to play w them one on one where they exposed the full power of the song VIA the thousands of hours of playing the tunes they called on me ...
The foundation they exposed me to left a lasting impression on me .
The first time I played w Joe was at a private diner and he asked me to play my best stuff for him . He fired up a cigar and started batting his eyes at me like Mae West as I went through all my finger contortions and fret board gymnastics ...
When I was done he took the guitar and said to me watch this ...he then proceeded to play Green Dolphin Street using only one chord shape for the whole tune and he sounded 10 times better than I ever could ...
It was the power of the song man and knowing what to leave out
playing the guitar was secondary ...
Each of the other players I have mentioned have taught me the same type of thing VIA different ways ...
IMHO it all boils down the the power of the song and using your God given talents to serve the song first ...
Anyway sorry to go so OT ...FWIW I happen to love Hornpipes , Jigs , Reels and much of the traditional Celtic and other songs that gets played and featured in Bluegrass ...
I have charts on all of them and I don't mind sucking at the mandolin while trying to play them
I guess to bring it back to topic , A guy Like Craig to me is just like a Joe Pass when it comes to knowing his way around a DAW ...for me to say that about myself ....not today that's for sure ...someday I hope ...
nice rapping w you
Kenny