Richard Schuchman's Page

Well, I have to admit, I did question his use of the left-hand thumb in creating a permanent G note on the bass E string when playing Irish melodies. He has very large hands, which many people - including his pupils (and me) - don't have, and it's frankly not possible to do what he does when playing these tunes! He is a very clever, witty and cerebral player. His improvisation is very much along pure melodic lines, unlike me, who depends very much on chord patterns (sigh...). I have to say though, that when I listened to a recording of the concert (we captured it on minidisc), the steel-strung guitars sound much sweeter and clearer than his flamenco nylon model. It's basically (IMHO) not a very good guitar. If you listen to recordings of Charlie Byrd, for example, you'll hear how superb jazz can sound on a good classical guitar. This is not knocking Duck's superb technique or musical ability - just a personal comment on the tonal qualities of his particular instrument.

Hi Richard - thanks for the comment on my version of "Indiana". Duck Baker's version, as you say, is great. I promoted a concert for Duck in April this year and chewed the fat over "Indiana" over supper at my house after the concert. He's a great stylist, and very unusual in his choice of nylon-strung guitar for the jazz stuff he does. He played both my Martin and my Larrivee during the concert - but mainly for Scottish and Irish tunes - the more jazzy stuff was done on nylon.

Hi Richard,

You may want to think about studying with Scott Kritzer. He has a very affordable online system of teaching called "Phases". http://www.scottkritzer.com/Teaching/

I started supplementing my learning with his phases several years ago and l my playing has improved tremendously -- lots of info about technique for good tone production, legato, etc. He is a master player and teacher - studied with Michael Lorimar (student of Segovia), has played major venues around the world including Carnegie Hall, has his degree from San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and also studied under Aaron Shearer.

Several fellow students and I have enjoyed playing at a much higher level because of Scott's instruction. It's online, so it is convenient, and it is very affordable. Each phase he estimates takes about 3 months, but you can take as long as you need.