Even though I can play other instruments, the
guitar is by far my favorite! I’ve had
the opportunity to record guitar tracks for my older brother, Bird, and other musicians
and friends through the years, but I never seriously pursued recording any music for
myself. With the advancement of computer
recording, making a guitar oriented CD became a feasible objective and goal for me. ‘Guitaria’
is the results of these efforts.
With the exception of the drums, being played by
Frank Farr, and the musicians on 'Dreamscape' and ‘Vectra’, I am playing all of the other parts
and instruments on Guitaria. (see
Pete
Bragg's page about Dreamscape and
Ariel Pozzo's page about Vectra) I
purposely used the keyboard very sparingly for this project since I primarily wanted to
feature the guitar. An Alesis Quadrasynth
Keyboard was used for the bass on the end of ‘Guitaria
Medley’. A Hammond organ patch was used on the end of ‘Interlude’.
Synth bass was also used on ‘Riff
Raff’ along with other keys toward the end of the song. Synth bass, Yamaha DX7 and Hammond organ were used on ‘Farewell’.
With these few exceptions, all other tracks were guitar or string bass. No harmonizers were used on Guitaria. All
guitar harmonies are individual overdubs. Harmonizers
are okay to use live when you have no other alternative, but for recording I much prefer
to record each harmony part individually.
After
completing college I became a full time musician. When
I decided to get married I gave up the music business because I knew it would be difficult
to have a family life being away on the road so much.
Even though I gave up music as an occupation, I still loved music very much.
Even with a demanding job and a family, I have still managed to find a little time
to pursue music on the side. Working on my
Guitaria project has been so much fun. It is
so cool being able to overdub all of these parts and see a song go from just being an idea
to actually sounding like a full band. I only
wish I had more time to find a nicer variety of sounds and more time to perfect each track
I record.
I hope this is just volume one of Guitaria. I
have another CD’s worth of ideas floating around in my head that I would love to be
able to record whenever I can just find the time. I
also received a new guitar built for me by Ron Thorn
on August 13th, 2004. Click here to check out
my Thorn #049. This guitar has a GraphTech Ghost Piezo/MIDI
system in it. I am excited about the
possibilities of being able to play synthesizers with my guitar. I feel that this current CD has exploited what I
can do with straight guitar sounds. I think the addition of the MIDI guitar stuff
will open up more variety and creative ideas for me.
I would like to
thank the following:
The Lord for giving me what talents and abilities I have as a musician.
Chris Youmans, my son, for doing the CD's cover graphics.
My wife, Anne, for putting up with my excessive guitar playing.
My daughter Ariana for singing in my POTW group with me.
My two brothers, Jim (Bird) and Ken, for always being there for me, encouraging me with my
music and the fun of being able to play and create music together.
My high school band director, Bob Barnette, for making me feel like I had a gift worth
pursuing in music.
My parents, Kenneth and Beatrice Youmans for the love and guidance they have given me
through my life.
I specifically
would like to dedicate this CD to my Dad. Even though this music is probably beyond
what he would have related to musically, I am grateful for his guidance and encouragement
that helps me be able to see a project like this through to completion. Dad passed
away on April 16, 2003 from Alzheimers and I want to honor him for the impact he made on
my life. I still love and miss him very much.
If you are interested in checking out the gear I used on this CD, click here for my 'Guitaria Gear' page.
