Conference napalm::guitar

    Stanley Jordan, the first time I saw him I had the same questions
    you have. The guy is really good. He has been playing jazz, but
    he is trying other types of music.
    

    
    	Try his "Majic Touch" record/disk. You'll like!
    
    	Joe Jas
    

    From reading the back of one of his records, Stanley was a street
    musician for quite a while...amazing folks by making a whole band
    come out of a guitar.   I've seen him on TV and heard his LP's.
    The guy is great.   They make a special note on the album to let
    everyone know that he plays all the guitar parts at once. No overdub.
    Next time he comes to town, I'll be there.

    Amazing guitarist!
    
    I first saw Stanley Jordan open up for Bill Cosby.  I'm real glad
    my friend dragged me to that show.  He was just gaining some 
    exposure and then appeared on several talk shows, etc.  This was
    in Procters in Schenectady NY.  He actually walked out on stage
    carrying his amp, plugged it in, introduced himself "Hi, I'm Stanley
    Jordan" and went at it. 
    
    Next time I saw him at a Jazz Festival in Saratoga, too far away to
    see.  Sounded great though.
    
    Last time was almost two years ago, at the Troy Music Hall.  This
    was the best.  A very small, acoustically "perfect" hall, sitting about
    15 feet from Mr. Jordan.  It was very hard to concentrate on listening
    because I was just amazed watching him.   This crowd was very diverse -
    Older folks wearing three piece suits all the way to 15 year olds in 
    tie dyes.  Shows the universal appeal I think his music has.
        
    His first album has some good background information on him.
    Classically trained pianist -> guitar -> Princeton grad -> struggling 
    street musician -> Successful recording artist.  Also, an issue
    of "Guitar World?" did a bit on him.  Check out the movie "Blind
    Date"(I think thats the name) with Bruce Willis.  Other spots in
    this conference.
    
    I've got both his albums.  Very good stuff.  Even if someone doesn't
    like the "tapping" style he uses, or the remakes that he does,
    they still have to be amazed by him just for the amount of talent he
    possesses.  
    
    Steve
                   

    ...and the basketball player is *Michael* Jordan.
    
    Rodney M.

I saw an interview with him once. He explained that he was trained on
the piano, but wanted to expand musically, so he picked up a guitar.
His style was developed by applying his knowledge of the piano to
the guitar. He never had any traditional guitar training. Since
the piano is a 'hammer the strings' type of instrument, he applied
the same methodology to the guitar, using his fingers in place of
the hammers of a piano. He never plucks a string. Very strange, producing
a very unique and sometimes very complex sound.

I wonder if he has done anything unusual in the way of pick-ups or
amplification. It seems to me to be rather difficult to get as much
clean sound (without the noise of amp crankin) from a hammer-on/pull-off as 
he consistantly does without some hardware modifications.

Anybody notice his set-up?

    <re. 792.6>
    
    I don't believe that he uses any special/complex amp setup.  His
    sound live is very clean, without using excessive volume.  As
    I said before, I saw him carry a small comination amp on stage with
    him.  I don't recall what brand, but nothing fancy or complex.
    
    Another time he did use an amp w/speakers+monitor, and a pedal effect.  I 
    would guess that the pedal was a delay or echo just to enhance the sound.
    He never fiddled or turned it off during the show.  
    
    The guitar used was the one he is usually shown with, but I've see him
    pictured with an Ibanez Hollow body.  I don't think that either
    uses any type of high gain pickup because of the super-clean sound
    he produces.  I think he has diamond tipped fingers.
    
    It's an amazing sound/sight live, much better than TV.  The way he manages
    to play a bass line, often impressively fast and complex chord changes,
    all the while tapping out a lead... improvising and adding to classics... 
    How's he do it?  
    
    I also enjoy Alan Holdsworth's style, (I have _Sand_)
    but thats done with a synthaxe, and I haven't ever seen him live.
    Much different than Stanley's 3 part technique.

    C'mon..............My girlfriend asked if he was a basketball player.I
    responded the same way you did.
    
    
    I did catch him say also that he was experimenting with the Casio
    synth. guitar. He fiddled with it a bit and got some fairly neet
    sounds with it during the interview. As far as his amp setup I also
    saw him play an acoustic with the same precision (same style). So
    I've given up hope fiddling with my amp so I could sound like Stanly.
    
    
    
    BK

    
    Re: how he does it
    
    Stanley has described his guitars in interviews and the only trick
    is to set it up for super low action...making it almost impossible
    to play normally as the force of hitting a string with a pick would
    cause fret buzz.
    
    He also prefers instruments with non-wood necks....his main axes
    are a Travis Bean (aluminum neck) and an Ibanez with a Modulus Graphite
    neck.
    
    

What was the name of the show that you saw him on?  I am hoping that
I can catch it if/when it shows up in the Detroit area.

Stairway to Heaven, eh???
Playing a Synthaxe???

This I gotta see!!

    It was on VH1 (Video Hits One, a "soft rock" music video station which
    is affiliated with MTV), I forget the name of the program, but it's
    their jazz (sorta) show. 
    
    I also thought his version of Stairway to Heaven was very nice.
    Not many players could cover that song and have it sound good.
    Stanley did it with a lot of class!
    
    Incidently (for .10), he was not playing a SynthAxe.  It was one
    of the new Casio MIDI guitar controllers.  He didn't use it during
    Stairway.
    
    gh

The VH-1 show is called New-Visions and here in CO. we get it on Sunday 
nights and only on Citizens Cable.

I have heard the "Stairway" cover and I would swear he is using a pick on 
it. What is using in the video? This is from his latest lp. just released 
recently.

Rick�

    It's now been awhile, but I believe that he did pick some of the
    parts on "Stairway", no plectrum, just his fingers though.
    
    Greg

    
    	I agree that Stanley Jordan's an amazing guitarist, but I found
    Stairway to Heaven dissapointing! The *heavy* parts are just too
    messy.
    
    		Ian G.