Richard Smith | |
|---|---|
 Richard Smith at a 2021 event in The Villages, Florida. | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 12 December 1971 Beckenham, England |
| Origin | Nashville, Tennessee |
| Genres | Country, bluegrass, gypsy jazz, western swing, classical, folk |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar |
| Website | richardsmithmusic |
Richard Smith (born 12 December 1971) is an English guitarist.
Smith was born in Beckenham, England. He picked up the guitar when he was five years old after watching his father playing an Atkins and Travis version of "Down South Blues". He begged his father, a longtime Atkins admirer, to introduce him to the fingerpicking style. Smith soon became a child prodigy on the guitar. As a kid he could play the entire discographies of Django Reinhardt and Chet Atkins. At the age of 11 he shared the stage with his idol when Atkins invited Smith to play with him at Her Majesty's Theatre in London. [1] [2] He was also influenced by guitarist Big Jim Sullivan and briefly studied jazz guitar with Shane Hill at Warlingham School, Surrey.[ citation needed ]
He formed the Richard Smith Guitar Trio with his brothers Rob and Sam before marrying American cellist Julie Adams and moving to Nashville, Tennessee in 1999. [3] He founded the Hot Club of Nashville, a jam band with a varying lineup that included John Jorgenson, Pat Bergeson, Bryan Sutton, and Stuart Duncan, combining gypsy jazz and western swing. Smith performs as a solo act and a duo with his wife. His repertoire includes country, bluegrass, blues, ragtime, folk, jazz, pop, and classical music. [4]
Smith plays a signature instrument made by luthier Kirk Sand from Laguna Beach, California. The Richard Smith Model is an acoustic-electric nylon-string guitar. [5] He also endorses steel-string models by Stonebridge Guitars. [6] He prefers German-built AER amplifiers for his guitars. [7] Richard uses D'Addario strings and accessories.
Smith won the National Fingerstyle Guitar Championship at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas in 2001. [8] The National Thumbpickers Hall of Fame named him Thumbpicker of the Year in 2008 and 2021 and inducted him into the Hall of Fame in 2009. [9] He received the Golden Thumbpick Award by the Association of Fingerstyle Guitarists. [10]
Solo:
With The Richard Smith Guitar Trio:
With Jim Nichols
With Julie Adams
With Aaron Till
With Joscho Stephan:
With Joscho Stephan: & Rory Hoffman:
Winfield Scott Moore III was an American guitarist who formed The Blue Moon Boys in 1954, Elvis Presley's backing band. He was studio and touring guitarist for Presley between 1954 and 1968.
Merle Robert Travis was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and guitarist born in Rosewood, Kentucky, United States. His songs' lyrics often discussed both the lives and the economic exploitation of American coal miners. Among his many well-known songs and recordings are "Sixteen Tons", "Re-Enlistment Blues", "I am a Pilgrim" and "Dark as a Dungeon". However, it is his unique guitar style, still called "Travis picking" by guitarists, as well as his interpretations of the rich musical traditions of his native Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, for which he is best known today. Travis picking is a syncopated style of guitar fingerpicking rooted in ragtime music in which alternating chords and bass notes are plucked by the thumb while melodies are simultaneously plucked by the index finger. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970 and elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1977.
Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar or bass guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking. The term "fingerstyle" is something of a misnomer, since it is present in several different genres and styles of music—but mostly, because it involves a completely different technique, not just a "style" of playing, especially for the guitarist's picking/plucking hand. The term is often used synonymously with fingerpicking except in classical guitar circles, although fingerpicking can also refer to a specific tradition of folk, blues and country guitar playing in the US. The terms "fingerstyle" and "fingerpicking" are also applied to similar string instruments such as the banjo.
Mark O'Connor is an American fiddle player and composer whose music combines bluegrass, country, jazz and classical. A three-time Grammy Award winner, he has won six Country Music Association Musician Of The Year awards and, was a member of three influential musical ensembles; the David Grisman Quintet, The Dregs, and Strength in Numbers.
Donald James Ross is a Canadian fingerstyle guitarist. He was the first person to win the National Fingerstyle Guitar Championship twice. His album Huron Street reached the top ten on the Billboard New-age chart.
William Thomas Emmanuel is an Australian guitarist. Originally a session player in many bands, he has released many award-winning recordings as a solo artist. In June 2010, Emmanuel was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM); in 2011, he was inducted into the Australian Roll of Renown. In 2019, he was listed by MusicRadar as one of the 10 best acoustic guitarists in the world.
Tommy Crook is an American guitarist who lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in 2007.
Flatpicking is the technique of striking the strings of a guitar with a pick held between the thumb and one or two fingers. It can be contrasted to fingerstyle guitar, which is playing with individual fingers, with or without wearing fingerpicks. While the use of a plectrum is common in many musical traditions, the exact term "flatpicking" is most commonly associated with Appalachian music of the American southeastern highlands, especially bluegrass music, where string bands often feature musicians playing a variety of styles, both fingerpicking and flatpicking. Musicians who use a flat pick in other genres such as rock and jazz are not commonly described as flatpickers or even plectrum guitarists. As the use of a pick in those traditions is commonplace, generally only guitarists who play without a pick are noted by the term "fingerpicking" or "fingerstyle".
Tim Sparks is an American acoustic guitar player, singer, arranger and composer.
Richard Royall "Duck" Baker IV is an American acoustic fingerstyle guitarist who plays in a variety of styles: jazz, blues, gospel, ragtime, folk, and Irish and Scottish music. He has written many instruction books for guitar.
Muriel Anderson is an American fingerstyle guitarist and harp guitarist who plays in many genres. She is the first woman to win the National Fingerpicking Guitar Championship.
Matt Schofield is an English blues guitarist and singer. His band, the Matt Schofield Trio, play their own material, a blend of blues, funk and jazz, as well as covers of blues classics such as Albert Collins' "Lights Are On, But Nobody's Home".
Doyle Dykes is an American country acoustic guitarist from Jacksonville, Florida. He is influenced by a wide variety of musical styles and musicians such as Chet Atkins, Jerry Reed, Duane Eddy, to the Beatles and U2. Cited along with guitarists such as Tommy Emmanuel as one of the best fingerstyle guitarists in the world, he is also known for his capability of playing proficiently with a wide range of different guitar tunings. Some of his best-known works and interpretations are "Wabash Cannonball", "Country Fried Pickin'", "U2 Medley", "Be Still", "Amazing Grace" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". Dykes is a devout Christian and has served as a minister in a small church in Florida; the influence of Christianity is present in much of his work. He was a major endorser of Taylor Guitars and Rivera Sedona amplifiers, with his own signature models of each. In 2013 he began endorsing the Guild Guitar Company. Since 2015 he has touted his custom steel-fret Olson guitar as his "favorite guitar."
Antoine Dufour is a Canadian acoustic guitarist currently signed to CandyRat Records.
Pat Kirtley is an American fingerstyle guitarist, composer and guitar educator.
Edgar Cruz is an independent classical and fingerstyle guitarist from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Having recorded over sixteen CDs in styles ranging from classical to flamenco to pop to jazz, Cruz is perhaps best known for his fingerstyle arrangement of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody". Additionally, Cruz was featured in an OETA documentary entitled "Spanish Blood - The Guitar of Edgar Cruz". Cruz took second place in the 1991 Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas in the fingerstyle competition as did his brother Mark Anthony Cruz in 1993 & 2001. Cruz's career began when he followed in his father Manuel Cruz' footsteps playing for restaurant customers as a strolling guitarist. His marketing strategy was taken from his father who said, "play what your audience wants and they'll pay you well".
Joscho Stephan is a German jazz guitarist who is known for his lightning fast plectrum picking and interpretation of classical, jazz and pop standards in the style of Gypsy jazz. He began playing the guitar at the age of six, influenced by his father who had been a member of a cover band.
Henno Althoff is a German record producer, recording engineer and studio owner, best known for his association with Australian fingerstyle guitarist Tommy Emmanuel.
Adam Rafferty is a guitarist and composer. He is known for his arrangements of pop songs by Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, and the Beatles and for the use of beatboxing while playing guitar.
Peter Autschbach is a German composer, guitarist and music teacher.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
