New Instructor - David O' Toole, Bluesy instructor coming in! Options

[Kristofer Dahl]

Hey there,

I have the honour to present David O' Toole.

David will be broadening your horizons with a bluesy and tone/phrasing oriented style.

I don't know much more about him yet - so I will let him introduce himself more thoroughly.

He gave me whole bunch of sample mp3:s - which I find very tasty, enjoy!

Kris

Attached File(s)

 DavidO_GMC_Guitar_Demos1_MP3.mp3 ( 3.68MB ) Number of downloads: 399
 DavidO_GMC_Guitar_Demos2_MP3.mp3 ( 3.68MB ) Number of downloads: 267
 DavidO_GMC_Guitar_Demos3_MP3.mp3 ( 2.17MB ) Number of downloads: 257

 

[Norven]

This sounds Great!

[David OToole]

This sounds Great!

Thanks Norven glad you liked it.

David

This post has been edited by DavidO: May 20 2007, 02:02 AM

[David OToole]

Thanks 4 the intro Kris - here's a bit of that info to get the ball rollin' ...

***

Well hi all out there at GMC and welcome to my first post at the forums. I thought
I'd spin a few lines giving you a bit of my musical background and whatever else
comes out, so here we go ...

I got into guitar playing back in the '70s (that's the 1970s not the 1870s , when
my big bruvver brought home a lend of an album by a then relatively unknown
young band called Thin Lizzy. This was back in Ireland, my home and old town
Dublin (these days I live in Switzerland cos I married a Swiss frau).

After inspiration from this first album by Lizzy, featuring a 3 piece lineup with the
great Eric Bell on guitar, my first guitar was an unrolled coat hanger played deftly
(I thought in front of a wardrobe mirror in my bedroom. I was an official
Air-Guitarist and that was the start of my journey.

A good friend's dad was the manager of a band, and he used to store instruments
and amps back in the house and I grabbed every chance I could to play this
magic electric. Also my teacher in school was in a band playing guitar and
that an influence on me too. So all this was adding up and the writing was on the
wall it seemed.

I kept up this interest over the next few years and upgraded my coat-hanger to a
Fender Stratocaster copy a few years later. Electric Guitar playing was not so
common then back in green Ireland as it is today. I learned the instrument and
upgraded a few times as I got more into it and became mostly a Strat man.

Eventually I got to gigging and after a few years I was getting better. A lucky
break and some dedication to the instrument landed me a Blues/Rock gig with a
local band which featured Thin Lizzy's "Brian Downey" playing sticks. Gary Moore
even arrived at a gig one night but that's another story.

After that I played in various bands over the years doing both covers and
originals, and I ended up gigging a lot in Spain. I learned how to program
MIDI and earned a living from that with the gigs as a pro musician since then.
That went on for a few years and I can't remember most of it .

Oh yeh as well as that, I always seemed to be giving guitar lessons in Dublin,
different folks from different countries and backgrounds from age 8 to 80.
Well maybe not 80 but it sounds good .

I then got into a lot of home-studio stuff and I learned the electric bass,
keyboards and music/drum programming. This was a great learning curve as I
had to learn how to emulate many different instruments and players from Brass
to Bagpipes. I guess I got an insight of how other instrument players approached
it, and I transferred this knowledge into my guitar playing. I would recommend a
home studio to every player.

I love PCs and like to mix the guitar and music with the computer. Guitar websites
and the like, and of course now with the GMC. Really looking 4ward to that I hafta
say.

And as I mentioned earlier, I met the wife doing a gig in Mallorca and we moved
to Switzerland.

Since then I've been working on the Internet because the music scene here is
virtually non-existant compared to Ireland. But I plan to get back into the
gigging over time. I still play and keep in shape and keep up with improving on
this lifetime guitary/music quest.

I love listening to and playing lots of different styles of music from old
bluesy Fleetwood Mac and crackly Jazz recordings, to Pink Floyd, Thin Lizzy
of course, Uli Jon Roth, Allan Holdsworth, Gary Moore, U2, Coldplay,
Paco De Lucia ... well there's loads really and I'm running out of paper .

So that's a brief bit of background on my playing up to now. Yup I'm really
looking forward to getting stuck into it here at the GMC and I always find that
giving lessons "keeps you on your musical toes" which is a big plus I think.
I have some tasty ones lined up and I hope you enjoy them.

By the way I'd just like to say a big well done to Kris and all the
instructors here - some awesome stuff I've seen so far. I wish the GMC had of
been around when I was starting off !

If I was to offer one general piece of advice to anyone learning the instrument
it would be one word ... "persist!". Oh and make sure to practise on a DAILY
basis - this will make ALL the difference to your playing.

So I wish you the best of luck with your own guitar journey and look 4ward to
chatting to all.

David

This post has been edited by DavidO: May 20 2007, 04:20 AM

[The Uncreator]

Great Music HIstory looking forward to your lessons

[Ryan]

sounds like you ahd a great life so far..i would lvoe to be able to go around and gig..

welcome to gmc

[David OToole]

sounds like you ahd a great life so far..i would lvoe to be able to go around and gig..

welcome to gmc

Cheers Ryan, keep at it it'll happen

D

Great Music HIstory looking forward to your lessons

Thanx!

This post has been edited by DavidO: May 20 2007, 03:05 AM

[Andrew Cockburn]

Welcome David - sounds like you have some great experience, looking forward to some great lessons from you!

BTW, I am also an ex-pat - a Brit living in the USA, and I also have had a lot of fun with my home recording setup, so we have some stuff in common

[David OToole]

Great Music HIstory looking forward to your lessons

Hey it's 4 o'clock in the morning here and time to hit the hay . But I was just bangin out a few bits on the guitar, as you do, and a killer riff came out of nowhere .

It was a "The Trooper" from the lads. I was thinking 'now where did that come from - secretly hoping it was one of me own I'm sure' . But nope it wasn't, I figure it was musta been "inspired" by looking at your Maiden image in your post.

I usta play that toon in a band a few years ago. We used 2 do another Maiden song as well ... what was it? ... ah the name eludes me for the moment. It was the one they used for the Lucozade ad - not sure if you got it where u live? It'll probably come back to me by the morning. Great riff in that one too ... and about 10 tempo.time sig changes as far as I remember.

David

Welcome David - sounds like you have some great experience, looking forward to some great lessons from you!

BTW, I am also an ex-pat - a Brit living in the USA, and I also have had a lot of fun with my home recording setup, so we have some stuff in common

Thanx Andrew

Yeh I miss the ol' sod. Where are u in the US? Where were u in the UK? I've been over to London and Liverpool a few times on holiers and driven through the country a few times from the ferry in Wales down for gigs and all that.

Yeh I love me oul studio, good to meet another fan of the recording - we can swap notes .

David

[MickeM]

Welcome! I very much look forward to learn from you. The demo tunes sounds teriffic, I'm sure you could throw in a few hints on studio work aswell

[Tolek]

Hi David,
your demos sound fantastic and I like your guitar tones. Very melodic ones. The first of sample N°3 reminds me of Gary Moore, one of my favourite guitarists. So, you live in Switzerland? I was there last holiday to practise Judo with a great trainer called Mikami. I was in Fiesch, maybe you know it. All in all, I am looking forward to see your lessons, I´m sure they will be very helpful for us.

Tolek

[Andrew Cockburn]

Thanx Andrew

Yeh I miss the ol' sod. Where are u in the US? Where were u in the UK? I've been over to London and Liverpool a few times on holiers and driven through the country a few times from the ferry in Wales down for gigs and all that.

Yeh I love me oul studio, good to meet another fan of the recording - we can swap notes .

David

I'm in Connecticut - about 40 miles from New York - Married a fine American Girl who rocked my world and we eventually moved over here - used to Live in Hemel Hempstead in the UK.

I've been recording for probably 15 years, working up from a cassette based portastudio, through Fostex Hard Disk to Cubase - I'm a real Junkie, have all the plugins, do all the Midi stuff, and love making produced songs out of basic ideas!

[David OToole]

Hi David,
your demos sound fantastic and I like your guitar tones. Very melodic ones. The first of sample N°3 reminds me of Gary Moore, one of my favourite guitarists. So, you live in Switzerland? I was there last holiday to practise Judo with a great trainer called Mikami. I was in Fiesch, maybe you know it. All in all, I am looking forward to see your lessons, I´m sure they will be very helpful for us.

Tolek

Cheerz Tolek - yup you might find a little Gary Moore in there I'm sure. The 5th track fade out on demo 2 is very guilty and is probably due to gigging Parisienne Walkways too many times ha-ha . The 4th one on demo 2 is a bit Jeff Becky and he's a big inspiration for Mr. Moore and on it goes.

I'm not familiar with that place you mentioned, I'm not too well up on Switzerland I have to say - I'll have to get out more often LOL it's a beautiful place.

I was into the Judo myself a few years back, love the martial arts - big Bruce Lee fan. On that, I like to think in terms of "Guitar Koon Do" - "The Way of the Intercepting Guitar" or should I say "The Art of Style Without Style on the Guitar" .

David

Welcome! I very much look forward to learn from you. The demo tunes sounds teriffic, I'm sure you could throw in a few hints on studio work aswell

Thanx MickeM - yeh I'm sure to be adding a few studio bits in there on some parts of the lessons, as, apart from the interest end of it, I think it's a serious learning tool for guitarists if used in the right way. Watch this space

D

This post has been edited by DavidO: May 20 2007, 02:36 PM

[Tolek]

Cheerz Tolek - yup you might find a little Gary Moore in there I'm sure. The 5th track fade out on demo 2 is very guilty and is probably due to gigging Parisienne Walkways too many times ha-ha . The 4th one on demo 2 is a bit Jeff Becky and he's a big inspiration for Mr. Moore and on it goes.

I'm not familiar with that place you mentioned, I'm not too well up on Switzerland I have to say - I'll have to get out more often LOL it's a beautiful place.

I was into the Judo myself a few years back, love the martial arts - big Bruce Lee fan. On that, I like to think in terms of "Guitar Koon Do" - "The Way of the Intercepting Guitar" or should I say "The Art of Style Without Style on the Guitar" .

David

Fiesch is a town directly linked to the frontiers of Italy. It´s a beautiful place like every corner of Switzerland. Do you also speak "Schweizerdeutsch"? For me, it´s difficult to understand the accent, but when I really concentrate, I´m able to understand a bit. Other question: when is your first lesson going to be released?

Tolek

[David OToole]

I'm in Connecticut - about 40 miles from New York - Married a fine American Girl who rocked my world and we eventually moved over here - used to Live in Hemel Hempstead in the UK.

I've been recording for probably 15 years, working up from a cassette based portastudio, through Fostex Hard Disk to Cubase - I'm a real Junkie, have all the plugins, do all the Midi stuff, and love making produced songs out of basic ideas!

So are you planning on staying over there in that part of the globe?

Yeh similar story here - starting off with a cassette based Fostex and then a Fostex digital 8/16 track which I still use. I mix it in with virtual stuff/plugins on the PC, and yup my first Cubase was on an Atari - great machine for running it. These days I use it on XP + don't see myself ever moving away from it.

MIDI is an artform in itself lol. I spent about 2 years studying it from a huge Cubase manual and with it, made my old keyboards do things they were never intended for . These days you can buy it all!

David

[Andrew Cockburn]

So are you planning on staying over there in that part of the globe?

Yeh similar story here - starting off with a cassette based Fostex and then a Fostex digital 8/16 track which I still use. I mix it in with virtual stuff/plugins on the PC, and yup my first Cubase was on an Atari - great machine for running it. These days I use it on XP + don't see myself ever moving away from it.

MIDI is an artform in itself lol. I spent about 2 years studying it from a huge Cubase manual and with it, made my old keyboards do things they were never intended for . These days you can buy it all!

David

Sure am planning on staying, I really like it here ! Sounds like we have very similar studio experiences and rigs, looking forward to sharing some info, and interested to hear how you get some of the wide ranging tones you use

[David OToole]

Fiesch is a town directly linked to the frontiers of Italy. It´s a beautiful place like every corner of Switzerland. Do you also speak "Schweizerdeutsch"? For me, it´s difficult to understand the accent, but when I really concentrate, I´m able to understand a bit. Other question: when is your first lesson going to be released?

Tolek

Well I speak a bit of high german when I need to mixed in with some Swiss stuff - I'm always on the net working etc and it's all english of course which doesn't help. The Swiss language is much more melodic on the ears than the high german I find. The wife speaks english perfectly so that doesn't help either .

If I attempt to speak to someone here in german or whatever they usually answer me back in english - it's common here to speak a few languages. Where I come from (Ireland) it's not so normal.

The 1st lesson is done, just ironing out the last few details with Kris at the moment - should be up soon. It's a Country/Blues lesson with some mad bends in it you should enjoy.

David

[Gabriel Leopardi]

Hi David!! Welcome to GMC!! Can't wait to see your blues/country lessons!!

gabriel.-

[David OToole]

Hi David!! Welcome to GMC!! Can't wait to see your blues/country lessons!!

gabriel.-

Thanx Gabriel!

[Tolek]

Well I speak a bit of high german when I need to mixed in with some Swiss stuff - I'm always on the net working etc and it's all english of course which doesn't help. The Swiss language is much more melodic on the ears than the high german I find. The wife speaks english perfectly so that doesn't help either .

If I attempt to speak to someone here in german or whatever they usually answer me back in english - it's common here to speak a few languages. Where I come from (Ireland) it's not so normal.

The 1st lesson is done, just ironing out the last few details with Kris at the moment - should be up soon. It's a Country/Blues lesson with some mad bends in it you should enjoy.

David

Ah, high german. I speak it, too, but also polish, luxembourgish, english, french, yougoslawish (is it right?) and next year spanish. It´s very helpful to know so many languages, I find.
Again a blues lesson? Yuhuu. I like blues and playing it.