Yasmin Williams (born May 31, 1997) is an American composer and solo performing finger-style guitarist [1] [2] [3] from northern Virginia. She plays several instruments such as the kalimba, harp-guitar, and guitar with the strings facing up while on her lap. [4]
Yasmin Williams | |
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Born | Virginia, United States |
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Years active | 2012–present |
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Website | www |
Williams grew up in Northern Virginia. Throughout her childhood, William's would hear a number of musical genres played in her household from Hip-Hop to Jazz. [5] In December 2017, she graduated from New York University with a degree in music theory and composition. [6] [7]
In 2009, after playing the video game known as Guitar Hero 2 , Williams became inspired to start learning guitar on her own. After being gifted her first electric guitar and amplifier, Williams would practice by ear until the release of her first EP Serendipity as a teenager. The project's production and recording were entirely handled by Williams herself. From there Williams went on to develop her skillset, by becoming proficient in bass, 12 string, and classical guitars, before deciding to adopt her primary instrument of the acoustic guitar.
She later developed her unique style of playing the guitar by setting it face-up on her lap, tuning the strings to be in harmony, then playing it similarly to a piano utilizing a finger picking technique. She also adds in other elements such as two handed lap-tapping for added rhythm in her mainly instrumental compositions. [8] Pitchfork described her musical approach, "Williams’ inventive style, which has also involved wearing tap shoes and taking a cello bow to her instrument, has made her stand out in the field of solo guitarists." [8] Rolling Stone describe her songs as "textured, harmonious soundscapes". [9]
In 2018, Willams independently released her first studio album, Unwind, honing her signature finger-style technique, as well as her work with non-western instruments such as the Kalimba. Yet despite the development of William's increasingly complex skill set, the album also featured the more simplistic composition "New Beginnings", which she had written while still attending high school. [10]
William's second studio album, Urban Driftwood , was written during 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown and was influenced by the Black Lives Matter protests during the summer. [11]
Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that reflect characteristics of the human singing voice. It typically involves playing the guitar in the traditional position with the use of a slide fitted on one of the guitarist's fingers. The slide may be a metal or glass tube, such as the neck of a bottle, giving rise to the term bottleneck guitar to describe this type of playing. The strings are typically plucked while the slide is moved over the strings to change the pitch. The guitar may also be placed on the player's lap and played with a hand-held bar.
A steel guitar is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conventional guitar in that it is played without using frets; conceptually, it is somewhat akin to playing a guitar with one finger. Known for its portamento capabilities, gliding smoothly over every pitch between notes, the instrument can produce a sinuous crying sound and deep vibrato emulating the human singing voice. Typically, the strings are plucked by the fingers of the dominant hand, while the steel tone bar is pressed lightly against the strings and moved by the opposite hand.
Mbira are a family of musical instruments, traditional to the Shona people of Zimbabwe. They consist of a wooden board with attached staggered metal tines, played by holding the instrument in the hands and plucking the tines with the thumbs, the right forefinger, and sometimes the left forefinger. Musicologists classify it as a lamellaphone, part of the plucked idiophone family of musical instruments. In Eastern and Southern Africa, there are many kinds of mbira, often accompanied by the hosho, a percussion instrument. It is often an important instrument played at religious ceremonies, weddings, and other social gatherings. The "Art of crafting and playing Mbira/Sansi, the finger-plucking traditional musical instrument in Malawi and Zimbabwe" was added to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2020.
The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar or Lap Slide Guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of playing a traditional acoustic guitar, in which the performer's fingertips press the strings against frets, the pitch of a steel guitar is changed by pressing a polished steel bar against plucked strings. Though the instrument does not have frets, it displays markers that resemble them. Lap steels may differ markedly from one another in external appearance, depending on whether they are acoustic or electric, but in either case, do not have pedals, distinguishing them from pedal steel guitars.
A guitar solo is a melodic passage, instrumental section, or entire piece of music, pre-written to be played on a classical, electric, or acoustic guitar. In 20th and 21st century traditional music and popular music such as blues, swing, jazz, jazz fusion, rock and heavy metal, guitar solos often contain virtuoso techniques and varying degrees of improvisation. Guitar solos on classical guitar, which are typically written in musical notation, are also used in classical music forms such as chamber music and concertos.
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.
Kaki King is an American guitarist and composer. King is known for her percussive and jazz-tinged melodies, energetic live shows, use of multiple tunings on acoustic and lap steel guitar, and her diverse range in different genres.
Afro rock is a style of rock music with African influences. Afro rock is a dynamic interplay between Western rock music and African musical elements such as rhythm, melodies and instrumentation. Afro rock bands and artists in the late 1960s and early 1970s included Osibisa, Assagai and Lafayette Afro Rock Band.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to guitars:
An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, resonating through the air in the body, and producing sound from the sound hole. While the original, general term for this stringed instrument is guitar, the retronym 'acoustic guitar' – often used to indicate the steel stringed model – distinguishes it from an electric guitar, which relies on electronic amplification. Typically, a guitar's body is a sound box, of which the top side serves as a sound board that enhances the vibration sounds of the strings. In standard tuning the guitar's six strings are tuned (low to high) E2 A2 D3 G3 B3 E4.
One String Leads to Another is the third solo recording by American guitarist Tim Sparks, released in 1999.
Pat Kirtley is an American fingerstyle guitarist, composer and guitar educator.
Guitar picking is a group of hand and finger techniques a guitarist uses to set guitar strings in motion to produce audible notes. These techniques involve plucking, strumming, brushing, etc. Picking can be done with:
Mary Flower is an American musician and music educator on the independent Yellow Dog Records label. A blues and ragtime fingerstyle guitarist and vocalist, she combines intricate syncopated Piedmont style fingerpicking with lap-slide guitar.
Donald L. Alder, or Don Alder, is a Canadian fingerstyle guitarist, singer, songwriter, composer, and speaker.
Christian Lee Hutson is an American singer, musician and songwriter. He began his career as a member of The Driftwood Singers, before signing to ANTI‐ as a solo artist in 2019. Hutson has since released two full-length albums: Beginners (2020) and Quitters (2022). Both records were co-produced by his friend and fellow musician, Phoebe Bridgers.
Mike Dowling is an American roots music guitarist and songwriter who is best known for his solo arrangements on the Grammy Award-winning composition CD Henry Mancini: Pink Guitar. In 2005, Dowling was ranked as one of the twelve best fingerstyle guitarists in the United States.
Marcin Patrzałek, known mononymously as Marcin, is a Polish percussive fingerstyle guitarist, composer, and producer. He is known for combining fingerstyle, percussive guitar techniques with modern electronic and orchestral production. He first gained popularity in 2015 after winning the ninth edition of Polish talent show Must Be The Music, the prize for which was 100,000 Polish złoty and an additional 100,000 złoty for promotion of his music on Polish radio station RMF FM. After local success, he went on to release his debut record HUSH, the release of which was accompanied by singles including Patrzalek's percussive arrangement of Isaac Albéniz's "Asturias"; the video of the arrangement was released through fingerstyle label CandyRat Records. In subsequent years, Patrzałek's popularity grew rapidly beyond Polish borders due to multiple viral releases online. His videos were posted and discussed by notable publishers such as Rolling Stone, Metal Hammer, Classic FM, Guitar World, Billboard as well as independently. Patrzalek's performances have amassed over 150 million views online, the main contributors to this number being his solo acoustic guitar arrangements of major classical pieces such as Moonlight Sonata or Beethoven's 5th Symphony, as well as popular music, rock arrangements, and original compositions.
Urban Driftwood is an album by Yasmin Williams released under Spinster on January 29, 2021. The album was written and recorded during 2020, and was inspired by the George Floyd protests.
Marisa Anderson is an American guitarist and composer based in Portland, Oregon. She is primarily known for mixing American primitive guitar with various genres from throughout the United States and the rest of the world, and for her largely improvised compositions. Though primarily known for playing acoustic and electric guitars, she has also played keyboards and other instruments on her albums. Anderson grew up in Sonoma, California, and after dropping out of college, travelled around the United States and Mexico for several years before settling in Portland.