Bluegrass, Folk...Flatpicking

I saw Beppe Gambetta tonight. A charming, disarming man with talent to spare. He describes himself as an Italian Flatpicker.
His role model is Doc Watson. A legendary icon in American music. There are few indigenous forms of music in this country. We are, after all, an amalgam of peoples making one nation...

I had recently been thinking how todays music seems so much more fractured than when I was growing up. There are just many more types, styles, pigeon holes with which to classify music. Or so I thought.

What I found was my age showing. I am a firm believer - there is nothing new under the sun. Nothing, Not one iota. I'm mid fifties and I feel the embrace of high school antics on a daily basis. So too, nothing changes.

Doc Watson may be a flatpicker, or a bluegrass player...it is enough that we take the time and effort to classify it and then argue over it.

So there may be Trance and Ambient and Death Metal or this or that. It is just the anthem of the next generation; I was not meant to follow completely. But the debate will rage on. And people will continue to  neatly arrange all taste and opinion.

As to Mr. Gambetta and his utterly charming wife, Frederica...I was in a word, enchanted. Not that I will rededicate my existence to flatpicking but it certainly will offer things to be incorporated into my own playing style. I heard refrains from my childhood reverberating across a small and intimate setting.
He revers music that on the surface has little to do with Italian melodies...The Mediterranean melting pot.
But if you exclude the instrumentation, he very much resembles a Renaissance man of the highest tradition. Beppe plays the guitar exclusively...but he plays banjo pieces or pieces that sound as if they were made for a lute with equal aplomb.

His English is charming, as are his anecdotes and tales. He was eager to share whatever we wished to know. He uses a 1.5 mm pick.(I use a 3.0 mm). What type of wood made up his guitar. I wanted to know the story behind the red shoes and guitar strap but felt that would be a bit much.

His play was flawless. Polished to the extreme. He easily captivated his small audience for the entire two hours.
He went between straight flatpicking to some limited fingerpicking - his main strength lies however, in his left hand.
He can pull the notes and need not rely on the precision of his picking. This is also something Al taught me to do. Play a piece with the left hand only...no picking at all.
Whether there were lyrics or not, I felt a story being told. I heard a tale being spun.
A definite must see. His tour is extensive and far ranging.

On Thursday October 7th my West Coast tour starts. See you there! Here is the schedule: Oct. 7, San Diego, CA - Oct 8, Culver City, CA - Oct 9, Covina, CA - Oct. 10, Fullerton, CA - Oct. 12, Berkeley, CA - Oct. 13, Newcastle, CA - Oct. 14, Felton, CA - Oct. 15, Berkeley, CA - Oct. 16, Sutter Creek, CA - Oct. 17, Minden, NV - Oct. 21, Bozeman, MT - Oct. 22, Whitefish, MT - Oct. 23, Sandpoint, ID - Oct. 24, Seattle, WA

If you get the chance I highly recommend this gem, no matter what label he uses.