Homage to David Grier

People are competitive, irrational and subjective creatures. And so are musicians (they are people too). I don’t like foolishness and narrow-mindedness so I try to accept new music with an open mind and to not compete in music, neither to judge it since it’s not a measurable sports discipline. Therefore, you won’t hear me claiming who or what is the BEST (singer, fiddler, band, song, album,…). On the other hand, you can definitely find a piece of irrational subjectivity in me and I’m glad to tell you who my most favorite guitarist is. It is David Grier.

I met David a few times. I did an interview with him at the “Jamboree” festival in Strakonice, Czech Republic in 2006 for the Czech Bluegrass Music Association Magazine (“Bluegrassové listy”). My second chance to see him was in 2011 in the US. We even jammed together. His playing is a huge motivation and bottomless fount of interesting ideas how to approach the acoustic guitar. His “Live At The Linda” album is definitely THE BEST record a guitar player can get!!! (OK, you got me…). I just finished a solo flatpicking guitar arrangement of two songs from his album Lone Soldier: Engagement Waltz and Eye Of The Hurricane.
 

If you play guitar and you like David’s style, you might want to obtain his Lone Soldier Tablature Book. If you’re interested in having a TAB for my arrangement of the two songs shown in the video, feel free to drop me a line.

Ondra Kozák

I’m a musician and tutor who likes asking Why? and talking with clever people. Sometimes I write something. You can learn about what I’m doing now here or from occasional e-mails (subscribe).
Ondra Kozák