...new members, new styles, new sounds, more joy in the art

In the last week of April, the Wahkiakum Acoustic Guitar Society meeting was treated to a featured performance by one of our newer members, and our ranks grew a bit with the addition of another local guitarist bringing a bit of a European flair.

Our newest member, Alex Docker, played a number of oh-so-sweet Irish melodies utilizing an alternative tuning that gave the musical pieces a touch of Gaelic feel to the sound (Alex, care to post the tuning you were using here?)

Before we started the featured performance of the evening, each guitarist in attendance took a turn to play a song or so, demonstrating once again the impressive overall range and scope of guitar styles wielded by WAGS members.

As is our way here at WAGS, we regularly ask one of our members to do a featured performance, taking 30-45 minutes to do a set -- sometimes with a bit of description as to the history and styles, sometimes with more music and less talk, playing a only lightly interrupted sequence of songs. Tonight's featured performer was Glen Bristow (nephew of Rick, guitarist in his own right), whose writing, progressions, and fingerings amply demonstrated his own enticingly eclectic and innovative approach.

Glen's engaging performance highlighted his diverse exposure to musical genres, leveraging licks and chord patterns from multiple styles, blending classical and jazz influences that melded into some serious rock with an intense underlying drive to it.

Songs varied from some instrumental expositions, a country style song (complete with lost love angst), to expressive rock-styled constructions whose complexity was complemented by Glen's dexterity with the fingerings and chord patterns.

Glen's integration of familiar blues, jazz, rock, and folk riffs with his original compositions brought a fresh appeal with complexity and innovation.  It seems with each new member of WAGS we add dimension and scope to the styles of guitar being played at our meetings, and Glen was a wonderful example of this -- interesting, exciting, and refreshingly divergent!  If you haven't heard Glen play yet, you will just have to come to wAGS to hear him play...I guarantee that you won't be bored!

The next WAGS meeting has been moved to May 9th (instead of the traditional 1st Wednesday May 2nd) to make the logistics work a bit better for all involved.

See you there!