Adrian Galysh announces Venusian Sunrise: 20th Anniversary Edition

Noted guitarist, composer (and Guitar World columnist) Adrian Galysh has announced Venusian Sunrise: 20th Anniversary Edition, a re-recording of his 1998 debut album, Venusian Sunrise.

“Venusian Sunrise was recorded in my parents' basement on a single Alesis 8-track ADAT recorder," Galysh said. "While the performances were the best I could do with limited resources at the age of 22—it lacks the richer guitar tones, huge advances in recording technology, and realistic orchestral sounds of today, but most importantly, it lacks real drums!”

“The new version of Venusian Sunrise will be performed and recorded the way I wished could have done back then," Galysh adds, "but with the tools and know how that didn’t exist at the time."

You can find out more about Venusian Sunrise: 20th Anniversary Edition through Galysh's PledgeMusic campaign for the album, which you can check out here.

For more on Adrian Galysh, follow along on Facebook.

Family, friends, and fans…. I’ve spent the last 27 years practicing my passion of creating and performing melodic rock guitar music. My friends and family who know me can tell you how independent, focused, and entrepreneurial I am. I have independently released four solo albums, an album of jam-tracks, and an instructional guitar book.

http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/adriangalysh

While my last album, Tone Poet, was a strong effort, it is my hope that my next album will take me to new musical ground, and even broader audiences. The next album will be squarely focused on bringing a fresh perspective to blues-rock music.

This blues record will be an exciting vehicle to debut my vocals in addition to my guitar playing, as well a feature a number of very special guests.


By pledging you’re not only pre-ordering the album, but you’ll also be getting a very unique all-access pass to the inner workings of the recording process including exclusive updates and behind the scenes video footage.

Partial proceeds exceeding my goal will go to ALS TDI, a charity that funds medical research and therapy for people suffering from Lou Gehrig’s Disease. I hope we can knock it out of the ball park!

-Adrian Galysh

11 Pieces of Advice I Wish I Heard When I was a Music Student

Last week I recently received an email from a guitar student in his freshman year at my alma mater, Duquesne University, in Pittsburgh, PA. He was asking for some advice, stating,"Adrian, … I am a freshman guitar performance major at  Duquesne.  You are an inspiration to me because you are doing exactly what I hope to do one day and I was hoping you could tell me a little about how you got there. Thanks man.”

It’s funny, because I think people’s perception of “success” changes over time, and quite frankly, for some, it never feels like it has been obtained, no matter how much they have accomplished in their chosen field.

So considering this, my response was, “Hello, thank you for your message, I'm flattered. My story is a long one, but I think if you are looking for some career advice, I have some. I'll base it on what has worked for me, mistakes I've seen others make, and even stuff I wish I had done.”

You can see my advice below. After I read it, I wished someone told me some of this stuff when I was his age.


In no particular order:

1. You are at Duquesne, a great music school. I had a lot of fun there and excelled. I can't think of a music class there that wasn't important to my development as a musician... but while music is not a competition, the music business is. Look around to see how much people are practicing, and practice more. 

2. I'll assume you are in choir, which is great. I wish I continued to pursue singing more. If you aren't now, make sure you are working on your vocals. I love instrumental music, playing it and composing it, but the amount of gigs I could have gotten had my vocals been more together could have made a big difference. I am now singing more, and it's paying off. Every band audition I have gone to asks about singing.

3. My general advice to musicians is: Perform as often as possible, with as many people as possible, for as many people as possible. This is important. You will be making contacts that will turn into opportunities much faster the more gigs you play. A band leader, audience member, manager, agent, club owner, fellow musician, etc... will eventually refer you to another, bigger, better gig. The experience of performing, and entertaining is important and something you can really only learn on the job. In addition, you will be expanding your repertoire and musical vocabulary along the way.

4. When you look for a job, try to only do music related jobs... like teaching. I regret taking some office jobs for a few years, it kept me from getting where i am today that much sooner. Your 20s are a perfect time for living on hotdogs and paper plates, so pay your dues then, not in your mid 30s and 40s.

5. Take a performing job at the local theme park, or during the summer on a cruise ship. I didn't, but the guys who did ended up with serious reading chops that will come in handy for session work. Don't be embarrassed about playing goofy "Mickey Mouse" type music there, because your friends will be flipping burgers or working at the GAP... but, you'll be honing your chops, expanding your vocabulary, and meeting other musicians, playing 3-7 sets a day.

6. Buy these books and read them thoroughly: "Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook" by Bob Baker (this book will give you the fundamentals of marketing, and sales, and help you get some success under your belt). "Everything You Need To Know About The Music Business" by Donald Passman (this book will aid you when the industry  start to recognize your success, and keep you from getting screwed). "The Music Lesson" by Victor Wooten (everything you kinda knew about music, but couldn't put into the right words).

7. Learn Jazz, Blues, Classical, Rock, Metal, Country, and finger style acoustic playing. Have a firm grasp of these and you can teach more students, perform more gigs, and record more sessions.

8. As soon as you have enough money saved, move to LA, NYC, or Nashville. In this day and age of internet, a lot is possible, but if you want the referrals and opportunities for the BIG gigs, they happen there. I don't know of anyone from my home town of Fairfax, VA who has gotten that huge tour/gig ... that didn't move to a music mecca first.

9. You can only rely on yourself. This business is rough, it isn't easy. Be focused, keep your eye on the ball. Those with a weaker stomach will quit, thinning "the herd", but you'll be gigging, networking, and getting your reputable name out there. Get a website and start putting together a press kit about yourself. You might not have much to put in there now, but its a start. When networking, it's not about what others can do for you, its really about what you can do for them. However, one day you may want to cash in on all those favors.

10. Be on time, know the material, perform, and know that there is huge value in that. Anyone can play great guitar (just check youtube!), but apparently not everyone can show up to a gig on time and know the material. Be polite, professional, and keep negative opinions of other artists to yourself. 

11. As a professional musician you will have to wear many hats to make ends meet: Teacher, Band Leader, Sideman, Session Guitarist, Songwriter, Producer, Engineer, Composer, Author, Clinician, Solo Artist... get started now.

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Adrian Galysh Reveals Story Behind TONE POET, Track by Track

Tone Poet was two years in the making... maybe even longer, but real recording and writing started two years ago. I'd like to take you through each song, share my thoughts on each of them, and give you an idea of what inspired them, how they were written, and what challenges they may have presented. Below is a preview video, giving you samples of each of Tone Poet's 12 tracks.

1. "Resurrectis" - Track 6 ("Luminae") was so much fun to compose and record that I immediately started another classical/choral composition that turned into "Resurrectis". Shorter than "Luminae", I decided this would be the album opener. Something unexpected for some listeners, I'm sure. The last few measures are lush and beautiful and come to an epic crescendo, which sets us up for...

2. "Brick By Brick" - Another track written early on in the project. The riffs, and the arrangement of the demo were intended to be for a vocal song. Believe it or not, as I was writing and recording the rhythm parts for this song, I kept thinking... "what would Reb Beach do?". I like Reb's rhythm playing, and this is my version of some of his heavier style of playing from albums like Pull and IV. The lyrics were my idea, but Mark Boals wrote the majority of them. He'd send me lyrics, I'd send back some re-writes and revisions, then he'd do his final tracking at his home studio, and send me the vocal tracks to dump into my rhythm section tracks. Drums were recorded last, by Charlie Waymire at his studio, Ultimate Rhythm Studios.

3. "When You Fall" - Having a bit of writer's block a couple years ago, I tried to make things interesting by using an open tuning. The open tuning for "When You Fall" is inspired by Devin Townsend, who plays guitars tuned from low to high: C G C G C E. That is what my guitar is tuned to here. Boy, did this work. The song wrote itself in a day or two. Intro, verse, chorus... done. This started out as an instrumental, and somewhere I have "Morning Rain" with lead guitar over the whole track. However, this was a great opportunity to have a vocal ballad, and I asked Mark to include the idea of rain in the lyrics, as the rain and thunder effects were already a part of the arrangement. The unique guitar solo was 16 measures pulled from the original instrumental lead guitar take, and fit really well. The outro features six tracks of Mark's backing vocals, creating a lush background... Again, drums were recorded last by Charlie Waymire.


4. "Flying" - This was the first song written for the album. The main guitar riff, groove, and choral ending was all written as a demo about 4 years ago. At the time I knew this was going to be a vocal track. I refused to record a guitar melody over this, simply because I knew this would be a vocal song, and that vocalist would be Mark Boals. Mark and I worked out the lyrics over a few short days, trading emails, and some demo vocal takes. The most complicated part of the song is the middle guitar solo section. The rhythm of the riff behind the solo is odd, and didn't feel comfortable to play over, as the rhythmic figure comes back in unexpectedly. I ended up combining two solos, that now are heard as these intertwined parts, and it happened to work out well.

5. "Movie In My Mind" - This song was hard to make work. I had 2-3 good parts written, and they seemed to kinda work together, back to back. I wrote the lyrics myself - my first lyrics ever to make it to tape! After Mark tracked his parts, I took liberty to rearrange the song, putting in the piano intro, which is also found in the new middle section break. I rerecorded my rhythm guitar parts, and must have rerecorded the lead guitar parts 6 or 7 times. It wasn't until after the live drum parts were tracked (by Charlie Waymire), and that Philip Bynoe laid down his bass part that it started to really gel. I then tracked what would be the final lead guitar parts you now hear. I think "Movie In My Mind" is a unique song, with interesting production, and a catchy chorus.

6. "Luminae" - This was the first of the three classical pieces, and was exciting to write and record. Somewhat inspired by the classical work of Uli Jon Roth, this pulls inspiration from composers like Arvo Part and Vangelis. As lush and as complicated as it may sound, a great amount of it was done in just 2-3 days. Later on, before mixing, I returned to this piece to really fine tune all the strings, choir, and guitar. I have not heard of anyone else combining electric guitar with this kind of "epic" style choral composition, and I feel like it is really unique.

7. "La Dolce Vita" - Written around the same time as the classical pieces, this takes those elements of choir and strings and puts it to a beat. My thought process here was to alternate between acoustic guitar and electric guitar. The groove was to have a fusiony drum feel, that Todd Sucherman nailed. For me, the song really came together when I added the 2nd electric guitar part (right speaker) that answers the main electric guitar melody. Listen closely during the "choruses" for the very Italian sounding faux-mandolin guitar parts in the background. The most difficult performance of the recording was the middle acoustic guitar/piano double-time unison part. This alternate picked one-note-per-string arpeggio part with a moving melody was near impossible to play in time, and I even retracked this part (again) after the song was mixed! Todd Sucherman really hit this one out of the park - one of my favorite tracks on the album.

8. "Tone Poet" - An all acoustic effort. My attempt at emulating Ukrainian "Bondura", which is a large multi-string instrument kind of like an autoharp meets a dulcimer. Tons of acoustic guitar tracks, doubling each other - both steel string and nylon (I think 4-5 guitars, some in stereo, some recorded in mono). The challenge here was to be able to perform these multi-tracked guitars in time, as the slightest deviation would make such a mess. The background heard underneath the ascending 16th note guitar part is inspired by Arvo Part's Tintinnabuli composition technique, using simple triads, with a rhythmically simple melody played counter to the three individual notes of the triad, but giving no weight to any particular note... How rock and roll, I know?! Again, Todd Sucherman's drums are outstanding here, and really show off a side of his playing that you don't get to hear when he's on the road with Styx. This song's groove felt much stronger after Philip Bynoe tracked his bass parts.

9. "Epoch" - I debated whether or not to include this composition on Tone Poet. There's no guitar! But I felt that it showed another side to me, and is a breakthrough for me in recording quality orchestral music. I thought about trying to track some guitar, but then thought "nahh...". The biggest challenge of this track was getting the various string parts to sound in time, as they tend to drag a bit with a slow attack. I really like the lead melody violin part, which delivers a very emotional performance.

10. "Echoes of El Greco" - This track started out with the simple 16th note rhythm guitar parts against the double bass drums... just messing with programming double bass drums, really. The big electric guitar part is my take on the not nearly asked enough question, "what if John Sykes were to write an instrumental?"...I wanted it to be "Crying in the Rain" - huge, and then schizophrenically switch to a Latin inspired neo-flamenco guitar solo section. This is a high energy, fun track to listen to, and according to Todd, was very taxing to record!

11. "Ur of the Chaldees" - Another track that got its start from Devin Townsend's open guitar tuning, C G C G C E. The song was written starting with the strummed guitar part, then the acoustic guitar melody. Over the coarse of the rest of the composition, it morphs into a middle eastern, world music inspired musical caravan. Layers, and layers of guitar, strings, choir, violin, percussion, and more percussion. The outro trading electric guitar solos are all the same takes from the original demo, they may not be perfect, technically, but they feel good and have the right energy. Not an easy track to mix.

12. "Spring (The Return)" - There are three parts to this song. The intro/verse, the "prechorus" harmony guitars, and the chorus featuring the arpeggiated guitar melody. But as simple as the arrangement is, boy does that chorus melody pay off. This guitar part was me experimenting with a one-note-per-string arpeggio figure with this moving melody line above. The left hand stretch and the right hand picking was a real challenge. So much so that I probably re-tracked this part a couple times, just to make sure the triplet timing was just right. The outro solo is a single take. The benefit of playing guitar more and more on a regular basis is that I find myself liking the first and second takes, and not laboring to "fix" and "punch in" any trouble spots. Listen closely to hear the background soprano vocal harmonies underneath the 2nd chorus and outro solo.  

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9 Ways to Improve Your Guitar Playing Now

Hello guitar players!

If you are like me and many other guitarists, you love playing guitar. You love practicing guitar. However, sometimes your practice sessions may end up being a little.... boring.

While I like keeping my fingers moving, on occasion I find myself, and my students, falling into a rut, practicing the same routines, scales, songs, etc., and not progressing, musically. So I recently set out to put together a series of lesson videos containing ideas that will take you out of your rut, and help you take your playing to the next level.

You can always visit my Youtube channel at http://www.youtube.com/adriangalysh for all my various video lessons and performance videos, but I wanted to put all my "Rut Buster" videos in one convenient spot for you...

1. "Setting Goals"


2. "Metronomes and Acoustics"


3. "Phrasing"


4. "Syncopated Phrasing"


5. "Playing With Other Musicians"


6. "Get Out of Your Wheelhouse"


7. "Become a "Well-Listened" Guitarist"


8. "Record Yourself"


9. "The Scale That Will Change Your Life"


Keep an eye out here for more in my series of Rut Busters for Guitarists videos...

For more information, visit www.AdrianGalysh.com

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Summer Guitar and Bass Workshop

I had the pleasure of teaching and performing at the 25th annual Summer Guitar and Bass Workshop at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA on July 24-29.

This is the 6th or 7th time I have taught there, and was excited to see fellow Alumni (I graduated in '97) as well as all the familiar staff and instructors, including my old guitar teacher, Mark Koch, adjunct professor Ken Karsh, music technology chair, Bill Purse, and all the others.

The weather wasn't as bad as planned, but the humidity did get bad towards the end of my week.

Besides performing, meeting and interacting with all the great students, highlights of the week for me, were hanging out with guitarist and special guest Rob Marcello (Danger Danger) and sitting in on "Handyman" Joe Negri's jazz guitar classes. He truly is a Pittsburgh treasure, and sounded as great as ever. So much, I picked up his recent CD, I highly recommend it.

My trip to Pittsburgh was sponsored by SIT Strings. I would like to thank them once again for their support. If you are not already familiar with this excellent brand of guitar strings, check them out at www.SITStrings.com

For more information about Adrian Galysh, including video guitar lessons, concert dates, clinics, merch and music, visit: 

www.AdrianGalysh.com

www.facebook.com/adrian.galysh

www.youtube.com/adriangalysh