Adrian Legg

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British guitarist Adrian Legg was born in Hackney, East London. He studied the oboe as a child but in teenage years his interest shifted to the guitar. Legg plays fingerstyle guitar, mixing an alternating-bass style with harmonics, banjo-peg retuning and single or double-string bending. Often he will play a piece entirely in arpeggios similar to a classical guitar style. He makes extensive use of altered tunings and capos.

Adrian Legg playing at the Hare and Hounds pub in North London 27 March 1987
Adrian Legg playing at the Hare and Hounds pub in North London 27 March 1987

More recently, Legg has pioneered the use of modelling technology and midi for fingerstyle guitar. His 2004 album Inheritance features extensive use of guitar synthesisers and modelled guitar sounds, in contrast to the previous more acoustic Guitar Bones.

In the early '70s, Legg won both the composition and performance sections of a competition run by the now defunct Guitar magazine, published by Musical New Services of Denmark Street, which led to his being asked to contribute articles to the magazine. From then on, his technical flair produced a stream of articles in UK music press in the '70s and early '80s, culminating in the Kaye and Ward book "Customising Your Electric Guitar", 1981. He spent from 1979 to 1981 as a technician at Rose Morris Ltd., who then handled Marshall amplification, Ovation Guitar and Takamine Guitars, and designed original and well-reviewed passive circuits for the then relaunched Vox guitars. In 1990, he was involved in the prototyping and launch of the highly successful Trace Acoustic amplifiers, and continues to maintain technical relationships with the musical instrument industry.

Legg has more than lived up to the expectations stirred by an ongoing avalanche of praise from critics, fans, top guitar mags and peers alike.

The accolades have come nonstop since Legg's first US release Guitars and Other Cathedrals in 1990, tweaking the ears of guitar fans everywhere. Over the years, he's played at the Montreux Jazz Festival and toured with Richard Thompson, David Lindley, Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson and as part of the G3 Tour featuring Satriani, Johnson and Favored Nations founder Steve Vai.

He's also shared the wealth of his talent and experience with teaching DVDs, videos and books. In recent years, he has also been a commentator-at-large for National Public Radio's "All Things Considered", and even more recently, regular listeners have heard his guitar versions of the show's theme music.

As popular as his catalog of recordings is, Legg's true home is onstage. "Playing live is the whole point", he says. "Everyone makes a journey, an effort; we all come together – me, the audience, the people who run the venue – to share this wonderful, universal, human emotional interaction. This is where music lives."

A significant part of Legg's shows is the very funny storytelling he uses between songs. His distinctive wit is also in evidence everywhere from his liner notes to his tablature books.

Contents

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[edit] Discography

Three early Lps released on Spindrift Records: left is Technopicker (1983), bottom right is Fretmelt (1985) and top right is Lost For Words (1986)
Three early Lps released on Spindrift Records: left is Technopicker (1983), bottom right is Fretmelt (1985) and top right is Lost For Words (1986)

[edit] Solo Recordings

Inheritance 2004
Guitar Bones 2003
Fingers & Thumbs 1999
Waiting for a Dancer 1997
High Strung Tall Tales 1994
Mrs. Crowe's Blue Waltz 1993
Wine, Women & Waltz 1993
Guitar for Mortals 1992
Guitars & Other Cathedrals 1990
Lost For Words (UK) 1986
Fretmelt (UK) 1985
Technopicker (UK) 1983
All Round Gigster (UK) 1976

[edit] Compilations

  • Full Moon (1997)
  • The Ultimate Guitar Survival Guide (1993)
  • Relativity: Here and Now... Musical Masters (1991)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Other Fingerstyle Guitarists