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| Greg Gilbertson Solo Guitar at First Presbyterian |
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| Written by John Abbott | |||
| Monday, 09 February 2009 22:13 | |||
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This latest installment of the free concert series at First Presbyterian was well attended. I took a rough estimate at about a hundred people in the audience. Greg is a shy guitar player, as he fidgets with the microphone constantly adjusting it up and down, changing the angle the height. Not much of a speaker, but today we got to hear his stories behind some of his songs. Usually buzzcut and clean shaven, he was sporting hair and a beard, which he confessed his wife hates. I think this is the second time I have seen Greg play live. The first, was part of the Harmony Courtyard, free concerts on Bridge Street. The church had wonderful acoustics, much better than Harmoney Courtyard did, outdoors only a few feet from Chippewa's main drag. The church had a great sound. The audience was captivated and soundless during songs. Greg plays a combination of slap guitar, where he doesn't pluck the strings as much as to slap them, along with slapping the guitar body. This combination provides melody, rhythm and percussion. Just as jugglers have drop lines, witty little sayings they practice for when they accidently drop a ball, Greg has tuning lines. He spends a lot of the time between songs tuning his guitar to what must be exotic combinations. I have never really seen someone tune the same way he does. He relates this to a pilot who walks around and checks the plane before take-off. It takes a little time, but it is worth it in the air.  Greg doesn't like naming his songs, but has to of course. So, he was often forgetting to tell us what the names were. A musical high point for me was hearing _Eulogy for a Drunk Man_. A slow, dramatic bit of guitar sadness, mixed with upbeat hope and joy. It was a wonderful experience. Greg's CD _Limited Vocabulary_ gets lots of play time here on Sunday mornings. And, I had never heard this song live before. It was great!Greg plays beautiful music with an exotic playing style. It was as fun to watch as it was to listen to. A great show! I look forward to seeing Greg again. If you get the chance to see him, it is well worth the effort.
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| Last Updated on Sunday, 18 October 2009 18:18 |
