He started guitar at 17 and then went studied classical at university.
I think that’s why his technique looks so effortless and smooth with so little finger movement.
I just randomly clicked on Rick’s second channel and saw this video. It’s not perfect, since we can’t really see the pick, but it’s by far the best look at his picking hand.
Damn that is crazy clean and smooth.
He plays similarly to Marshall Harrison right?
I don’t think we should talk about Rick Graham because I don’t want to spend the rest of my life disappointed in myself. Would prefer to just pretend he plays another instrument.
Had a little Q&A with Rick Graham today.
awesome! I’d like to get to watch the whole thing at some point. Were there any notable highlights or points of interest?
Pity he didn’t elaborate a bit more about how much he knows about CtC. It would certainly be very cool to see him interviewed by the CtC team.
Also notice how in the “Come with me if you want to shred” video he is doing the ascending pentatonic fours pattern using one of the approaches Troy worked out?
I talked with him about CTC. He said he had watched maybe the first episode on YouTube and thought it was great stuff, but that he didn’t really know anything about the specifics of it.
I think guys like Rick Graham, or Andy James, or Rusty Cooley, etc, as much work as they’ve all done, there were a lot of things they just intuitively got ‘right’ about slanting and so it’s foreign for them to think about it, or not something they have to think about.
Rick is smart enough and diplomatic enough that I’d be surprised to ever hear him say something disparaging about obsession with slant concepts, but I have heard that from some other folks…basically like “I didn’t need that, so you don’t” which is an issue we’ve addressed here.
I think it’s all super interesting.
Also, as crazy as Rick’s playing is, there’s tons of legato and sweeping, so for that vocabulary I don’t know if the slanting stuff is as crucial.
Exactly, during the livestream that Hank posted Rick says that if Troy can do something to help players, then he is all for it. Also, very cool to see you talking with Andy Wood!
Oh yeah man, that was a blast! I was so flattered he DM’d me asking for a lesson! I got the message right before I was teaching a class and then had trouble focussing, haha. Instagram has been so cool for that stuff. I got him into some harmonic things that were new to him, I’m really excited to see what he comes up with with the concepts.
Not really, he just answered questions the whole time. He had about 300 people in there and he wasn’t acknowledging any of my gear questions. So I figured f*** it, let me be nosey and see if anybody here has contacted him.
@shinjuku he probably seen CTC on YouTube. Isn’t that where everybody hears about it first?
I always mention to Rick that he needs to come on here, however, it can be arranged and get a complete series from his classical, hybrid, Legato, picking slants & tsps, and his beautiful ballads he composes, etc… I also mentioned everyone here brings him up to be interviewed by Troy. This man is beyond talented and I think someone asked him about being in a band and he didn’t really have an answer it’s almost like he’s isolated, gets bored at times but loves to play. He needs a total push out to the public to get him the credit that is due for all the hard work he has created throughout the years. He is definitely one of my favorite guitarists of all time. I would love to see him on here going through all of his many styles and would greatly benefit not only us but himself to be studied as a player. Peace!
Does RG have any albums?
@ChrisX he made appearances in albums from other artists like Andy James. He also has one track on Spotify called “Insideout” check it out. But I am not sure he has a full album yet. But it’s about to change because he is working on one which is very exciting!
@Lodijc it would be so great to have him here. The world needs to know about his pure talent! But I know that he has his own online guitar teaching platform http://www.rick-graham.co.uk/. I don’t know if it’s his company or if it belongs to another organization that would potentially block the opportunity for a CtC interview. I don’t know how these things really work.
I keep hoping that one day we’ll see the magnet mounted on RG’s guitar and get a closer look at his crazy picking!
Cheers \m/
Hello, Rick has a nice group of compositions & guest spots, as well as his website and teaching platform. I don’t know how that works, but I do own a few packages and compositions like this
Called “Home” which is mellow but full of emotion
There isn’t anything I haven’t seen him play and is in awe of the players we all love on CTC like Malmsteen or E. Johnson. He does have an album coming out and just what he shares is fascinating. I hope something can be worked out and I don’t know how that works like mentioned was a guest on Andy James’ album.
P.S On a different note someone like Tommy Emmanuel would be great as he not only a master guitarist in Fingerstyle and picking (Even was on a G3 with Satch)! Lol He learned from my favorite fingerpicker Jerry Reed & Chet Atkins. To follow that country/bluegrass CTC has gone down is great. RIP to Phil Emmanuel & blessings to Tommy’s family for Phil’s passing recently. But Jerry could pick electric and his Fingerpicking is studied today in amazement. Sorry so long but just passionate about players and learning. CTC is fantastic and loved it the first time I saw the Yngwie portion. He needs to come on! Good luck on that I’m sure. Thank you!!
I just learned Home a few days ago. Beautiful piece of music. And it’s also one of the few things Rick plays that I can play too
Yeah man me too and his version of Sound of Silence… That’s awesome, I was just listening to “Inside Out” from his first album I forgot about as an album. Damn that song is a mix of all players lol… I would love to see him here doing a full on intensive, but I guess it depends on his own guitar teaching site and the particulars…Cool!