Ibreathemusic.Com - Brett Garsed Ibreathemusic.Com - Music Vision in Site
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
iBreatheMusic.com - Brett Garsed iBreatheMusic.com - Music Vision in Site Article Print Version - Non print version - More Articles - Back to iBreatheMusic.com Brett Garsed by Eric Vandenberg Prologue and biography You might ask, "Who's Brett Garsed". Don't worry, that is not an unusual reaction, since Brett still is one of the best-kept secrets of todays guitar scene. But let me tell you: he is a very unique player with a great playing technique and a wonderful sense for melody. Since Brett is about to release his first solo-album "Big Sky" in late January 2003, I figured it would be the perfect time to tell you guys a bit more about him. So here it is, a big feature about the man, including a biography, a selected discography, a guitar feature with lots of exercises to explain part of Brett's style, and the best part: a thorough interview with the man, telling you more about his influences, his career, his plans and much more!!! So... here ya go, I hope you'll enjoy it ! Biography http://www.ibreathemusic.com/print/100 (1 of 25)11/11/2005 2:32:45 •• iBreatheMusic.com - Brett Garsed Brett Garsed was born in rural Victoria, Australia and began playing guitar at age 12. He took formal lessons and also taught himself a bit. Soon, he started to develop a pretty unique left hand-legato technique, inspired by players like Allan Holdsworth. In 1985, he was featured in Mike Varney's Spotlight-Column, and shortly after that he auditioned for the job as the guitarist for John Farnham, one of Australia's biggest starts. Brett can be heard on Farnham's "Whispering Jack" album, which was a worldwide success (being the best selling album in Australian history), and several other albums by John. Brett went on tour with Farnham, and stayed with the band until 1989, when he was invited to join Nelson, with them he recorded their debut, "After The Rain", which was another huge success (featuring one #1-single plus 2 other Top Ten-hits). While still touring and recording with Nelson, he recorded the "Centrifugal Funk" album with Frank Gambale and Shawn Lane, and in 1992 Brett recorded his first album with the "Garsed Helmerich"-project (feat. another unique player, 8 finger-master TJ Helmerich). While teaching at the Musicians Institute (GIT) in Hollywood, he released 3 more albums with Garsed / Helmerich (the most recent being "Uncle Moe's Space Ranch", feat. Dennis Chambers, Scott Kinsey and Gary Willis), released an instructional video for REH ("Rock Fusion") and participated in several other recording-projects, such as Derek Sherinians "Planet X", Jenna Music, Bobby Rock and others... In 2002, Brett went on tour as a member of John Farnham's band yet again, this time on Farnham's farewell-tour. Also, Brett recorded his first solo album, "Big Sky", which will be released in early 2003. Discography and a review http://www.ibreathemusic.com/print/100 (2 of 25)11/11/2005 2:32:45 •• iBreatheMusic.com - Brett Garsed With John Farnham: "Whispering Jack" 1986 "Age Of Reason" 1988 "Chain Reaction" 1990 "Full House" 1991 "Romeos Heart" 1996 With Nelson: "After The Rain" 1990 "Because They Can" 1995 "Imaginator" 1997 With Garsed / Helmerich: "Quid Pro Quo" 1992 "Exempt" 1994 "Under The Lash Of Gravity" 1999 "Uncle Moe's Space Ranch" 2001 ( Garsed / Helmerich / Chambers / Willis / Kinsey ) With Others: Garsed / Lane / Gambale "Centrifugal FUnk" 1991 Bobby Rock "Out Of Body" 1996 Jenna Music- dto. 1998 Derek Sherinian "Planet X" 1999 Mojo ( Brett Garsed, Kofi Baker, Ricc Fierabricci )- "Tapestry" 2002 Solo: "Big Sky" 2003 Soundfiles: From John Farnham's "Whispering Jack": "You're the voice" outro solo - CLICK HERE From "Centrifugal Funk": Solo of "So What" - CLICK HERE Guitar-solo, live on tour with Nelson: Brett displaying his trademark hybrid-picking technique: CLICK HERE From the Garsed / Helmerich-album "Exempt" Brett's solo in "Loch Rannoch" - CLICK HERE From the Garsed / Helmerich-album "Under The Lash Of Gravity" http://www.ibreathemusic.com/print/100 (3 of 25)11/11/2005 2:32:45 •• iBreatheMusic.com - Brett Garsed "Bad Luck, Go Away" - CLICK HERE Website: www.brettgarsed.com- The official Website of Brett. Even more soundfiles can be found here, including the demos he sent to Varney way back in the 80s www.johnfarnham.com.au "Big Sky" Review Let me say a few things first: In late 2001, Brett offered some "demos" for free download at MP3.com. I certainly downloaded them and listened to those songs a whole lot throughout the year 2002... beautiful, relaxed, atmospheric instrumentals, with some mind- boggling guitar playing. When Brett informed me that he has a new album coming up, and sent me an advance copy, I was wondering (shall I say hoping?) that some of those tracks I heard from the collection of demos would be featured on the album. When the CD was in the mail and I read the tracklist, I was like "Yes!", cuz the album does feature re-recorded versions of those songs, i.e. "Drowning", "Breathe", "Friend Or Foe". So I put in the CD and it hasn't left my player yet. Not because I wanna listen to it several times so I can write a really fair review... nope, it's just that this album is one of the most beautiful instrumental albums I have EVER heard. And I am not exaggerating. The demos were a good preview of this album. "Big Sky" has 10 tracks (most of them clocking in at above 5 minutes, 2 tracks are more than eight minutes long). Most of the tracks are rather atmospheric, slow tracks, full of beautiful melodies. The best definition IMHO would be "movie theatre for the head". If a tune can project images and scenes into your mind, i.e. pictures of vast landscapes or other scenery, I really enjoy it. And pretty much all of the songs on "Big Sky" do exactly that. I listened to the album with headphones on, eyes closed, really zoning out. The opener is the rather dramatic "Undoing", with some wonderful melodies. The second tune, "Trinity", is a groove-based song, which soon turns into a dark piece, based on some cool low bass-notes. Next, the guitar enters, playing some beautiful little themes, reminding me of the rather mysterious tunes by Joe Satriani. "Brothers" again is a rather dark, moody tune, with some nice clean guitar-sounds and it's a perfect tune to dream away a bit. The song features a very nice fretless bass-solo by bassist Ric Fierabracci. By the way, all drums were played by Toss Panos, a young, very talented player who used to tour with Steve Vai a while ago. "Drowning", the next track, is a song I heard as a demo, and it grew even more... it's a waltz-like dreamy ballad with some wonderful melodies played with a slide (Brett really is a good slide-player too, and we're not even talking about his mind-boggling legato-playing, which is evident on many of these songs). "Fu'd Fight" is a mid-tempo song with a pumping bass, it sounds a bit blues-inspired to me, and is a bit reminiscent of http://www.ibreathemusic.com/print/100 (4 of 25)11/11/2005 2:32:45 •• iBreatheMusic.com - Brett Garsed the self-titled, blues-inspired Joe Satriani album from `95. "Breathe" is another song I had heard as a demo. It features some very nice guitar-layers and sustain notes-overdubs, and the melody was stuck in my head for days. This song goes from a rather relaxed to a rather dramatic sound and back, very nice songwriting here! "Got The Horn" starts off as a rock-song with some cool Leslie-sounds and then merges into a really grooving song with some over-the-top-playing by Brett, where he does not only show his chops, but also his ability to phrase great lines. As I said before, the general sound of the CD is rather vast, slow, relaxed, atmospheric. And the songs really make me think of vast landscapes, stuff like that, like i.e. the excellent "The Myth" and the 8 1/2 minute title-track. I had high expectations regarding this album, and I definitely was not disappointed. It is not your regular kinda "lemme show you my chops"-guitar album. Instead, you get a collection of beautiful tunes, which you'll enjoy listening to a lot. And you should give this CD a few spins, because some of the details and atmospheres featured will come to your attention after a listening sessions (multi-layered is the keyword!). To sum it up, this is a very beautiful, dreamy album by one of the best-kept secrets of the guitar scene. And again Brett proves that he's not only an amazing guitar player, but also he shows another facet of his songwriting-talent... not much complex-fusion stuff here, but some wonderful tunes which will take you to places far away... Guitar-album of the year for me! "Big Sky" soundfiles: 1. "Undoing" CLICK HERE 2. "Brother" CLICK HERE 3. "Drowning" CLICK HERE 4. "Breathe" CLICK HERE The Interview, Part 1 Plans & Farnham Q: Hi Brett, and thanks for answering some questions for ibreathemusic.com. First of all, what are you currently up to? Brett: Well, quite a bit actually! I just finished 3 months touring Australia with John Farnham but most of this year was spent working on my solo album although not constantly as I'm doing it independently and I had to raise the funds by myself so it took a lot longer.