Search - Don Latarski :: Fab 4 on 6 vol. 2

When I first recorded Fab 4 on 6 I wasn?t thinking about a volume two. I really thought I?d be doing something else for my next solo acoustic CD. However, the response to the first CD has been so overwhelming and positive that it seemed crazy to not do a follow up disc. (Its not like there weren?t any more good Beatles tunes left.) This new CD deviates a bit from the first one. I?m still playing the same guitar but with a different attitude. I wanted to take a few chances this time around and let my imagination play with the songs. Every since I first took up the guitar I?ve always approached music from a personal perspective. From the start I heard things differently and wasn?t afraid to express these differences through embellishment and improvisation. I was forever changing the notes in the songs I was assigned to play. While this made for more expressive (and in my view ?better? music) it was a source of frustration to my teachers I?m sure. My background is in blues, funk, soul and jazz. But this is not a jazz record. There?s quite a bit of improvisation here, but it is done in the shadow of these other various styles. I?m approaching the songs with a playful attitude that draws on the myriad of influences that make up my style. I?ve certainly been influenced by the blues and jazz greats, but also by the multi-textural, polyrhythmic work of Leo Kottke and Michael Hedges. My fingerpicking approach is not rooted in the traditional Travis-style school and as such I derive my sense of bass movement and internal rhythm more like a drummer or funk bassist. My harmony is also not dependent on open tunings. All of these songs are played in standard tuning with an occasional drop ?D? used on the low string. My harmonic sense is perhaps where my jazz background is evident as I?m comfortable with a wide variety of chordal sounds. What makes these songs work for me is the energy and excitement that I put into them. They are all fun to play and hopefully fun to listen to.