Earl Klugh – Playing Great Music on a Nylon String Guitar

When I was looking for videos of Hotel Califormia I did also find some videos by Earl Klugh which made me curious. So I have looked for more information about Earl Klugh and collected interesting youtube videos.

At first I have listened to the following short interview with three live pieces played by Earl Klugh at NPR:

NPR Jazz Guitarist Earl Klugh Stays Humble: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95915219

Earl Klugh was influenced by Chet Atkins, and he was only 17 when he joined George Benson.

While jazz guitarists usually play archtop guitars, Earl Klugh found that he prefers classical nylon string guitar. Eral Klugh has won a Grammy and got 13 Grammy nominations for his recordings and compositions. He has developped his own style which ranges form jazz to almost classical style with influences from Brazilian music and fingerpicking.

He started learning by listening to recods by Chet Atkins on a record player and trying to figuure out how he had to play it. He says that it is important for him that he can follow and improvise over chord changes in all keys without any problem. Interesting is also that he uses the piano for composing songs, because he does not want the those compositions sound too much like guitar. For his solo CDs he has made very interesting arangements of well known songs.

It was interesting to read some interviews (see below) to learn about his playing and also the many guitars he owns and playes at home and in concerts.

Videos

A nice solo arrangement of a tune from The Wizard of OZ (one of my favorite movies…) – unfortunately this video has been removed…you can however find many cover versions at youtube.

Earl has also made a great arrangement of Ding Dong the Witch is Dead from the Wizard of OZ, you can also find cover versions at youtube.