Sebastien Ginaux lessons / Bireli / new website

dennis

hey folks! once again sorry to spam.

A few people asked me if the Sebastien Giniaux lessons were ready as I forgot to remove an almost ready notice on my website. Well the lessons have been 100% ready since August.

Here's a clip (links are found in the description)



In two weeks, I'll be working with Bireli . There's a Canada tour/workshop with the Gipsy Project, and then we do a bunch of instructional videos.

The videos will focus on his acoustic guitar playing , his bebop electric guitar playing, his fusion playing, his solo guitar style (both acoustic and electric), some violin, bass, etc...

Lastly, I finally have a personal website, where I will be constantly adding lessons/ articles/etc www.denischang.com

Thanks folks!

Micheal Irwin

I have the Sebastien lessons and they are great. Also got to meet him at a gig in Paris. Also met Dennis briefly at Samois who was kind enough to submit for a photo with some of his friends. The Bireli project should be incredible. Thanks Dennis.

anthon_74

The value contained in each lesson is off the charts. For a very low cost, you get a whole bunch of etudes, tabs, talks and more. I was shocked at how much one single lesson purchase contained.

Such a great service.

dennis

thx guys!

here's more info on the upcoming Bireli videos! It's gonna be massive!!!

http://denischang.com/index.php/2015/09/17/producing-bireli-lagrenes-instructional-videos/

BillDaCostaWilliams

Been working from the Sebastien Giniaux lessons - excellent material and an inspiring resource!

Karlo

A few words about the Sebastien Giniaux videos (well, Vol. 1 and Vol. 3 for now): regarding those that aren't etudes, they're also chock-full of material for anyone willing to learn ("teach a man to fish" and all that).

For those interested in Balkan rhythms, Giniaux is excellent (Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria). The few that he doesn't cover (Romanian 7/8 and Serbian 9/8) are available within In the style of Tcha Limberger - Guitar. It is also interesting to note their differences in interpretation (the two do not overlap!!).

Thank you Denis Chang for making it happen!

dennis

thank YOU for the support

Here's a first video from Bireli

Buco

Ah this guy...Dennis, see if you can get him to tie his shoelaces and play a killer solo all at the same time!?

dennis

Well I spent 2 weeks touring and recording with him, i got to know him very well humanly and musically.

Musically, he's extremely spontaneously, i really pushed him in the studio. I had already spent two months preparing the lesson plan for him, and I am happy to say that my "psychological" assessment of bireli's musical mind was spot on.

Bireli doesn't know any licks in the traditional sense. He is someone who has trained his ears since the age of 4. He has perfect pitch and an incredible sense of relative pitch. He 's been serious about music since a very early age, and he worked hard (obviously).

His knowledge of theory is very limited, he knows the notes of the fretboard, he knows the basic names of chords... For instance Cm7, Bb7, etc... but he wouldn't necessarily know stuff like C13b9.

If he plays something that sounds like a lick, it's not because he's saying "Oh I'll play X lick because it works over Y chord", he plays it because he hears it in that moment. He plays very much in the moment. If he plays a lick, and u ask him to play it again, he'll probably come up with something similar but not exactly the same, and he can come up with near endless variations, that's the way his mind functions. He's always trying to go for something different even if he is repeating himself.

As part of the lessons, he improvised 40 minutes of solo guitar music for me, spread over 16 songs .. 8 on gypsy guitar, and 8 on archtop. 100% improvised. That said, of course , he has certain clichés and has lots of tools from his enormous musical toolbox, but the songs themselves are very spontaneous. All done in one take!

I could write a whole lot more about my experience with him, but maybe another time...

One last thing, I know that there are lots of not so nice rumors surrounding him that are very much public, but i got to hear his side of the story, which i'd rather not share, out of respect for his privacy, but suffice to say, the guy hasn't had the easiest life, and lots of people have tried to exploit him since a very young age. He didn't have a normal childhood, and it's not easy for him to trust people, because everyone wants a piece of him. It's lonely at the top. I don't defend any of the bad things he may have done in the past, but he is only human, and i can certainly understand where he is coming from.

That said, for a guy who didn't have the most normal childhood, he turned out quite alright compared to other people like him... When people treat him properly, he is extremely professional and kind. He was 100% cooperative with me in the studio and he agreed to do everything I asked him to do (and i really pushed him), so for that, i'm extremely thankful.

Bob Holo

I'm glad you enjoyed the experience, Dennis - what a fun thing to be able to do.

And yes, I also found him to be a very nice person. He's a very bright guy and a good conversationalist. I cannot imagine how he or any other well known person deals with being recognizable, but I'm guessing that it takes the patience of a saint. More power to him, he handles it better than I ever could. Neat guy and wonderful musician. Thanks for helping him create lessons - can't wait to get them.

Micheal Irwin

Bravo Dennis, I've been studying with Larry Coryell for a few years now. He's known and toured/recorded with Birelli as I'm sure you know. His response when I mentioned Birelli was "He can play anything". Really looking forward to your work with him.