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Jim Goodin

You don't realize its power at first. It creeps up on you like a rolling fog on a starless night revealing itself only under the brilliant glow of a midsummer's moon. The subtle complexity of the music woven by acoustic guitar master Jim Goodin lulls you, draws you in and welcomes you to a comfortable, secluded spot. While a sharp ear may spot Ralph Towner's and Michael Hedges' influences in Goodin's elegant fingerstyle techniques and inspired harmonic textures, reducing Goodin to a simple clone doesn't do him, or his music, justice. Make no mistake: Goodin's acoustic creations have zest, zeal and originality. Goodin's blend of acoustic Celtic/New Age/world music showcases a percussive attack rife with pull-offs, tantalizing tapping and multi-layered, multi-cultural musical voicings. "The tapping that I do, such as in my recording of The Path from the CD, Celtic Journey To The Path, is done with my left hand performing pull-offs on the high D-string in combination with tapping fretted notes along with the right hand," says Goodin. "You get more sustain with the pull-offs when they are added to the tapping. Many of the greats - Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai, Stanley Jordan, the late Michael Hedges, and Richard Leo Johnson - all use this technique to great success."

The Arkansas native's musical path has been shaped by his search for truth and beauty through music. Because of this, Goodin has not only attained a high level of technical proficiency on his instrument, but has never ceased to shut off that inner voice that beseeches him to create compositions through incredible blasts of energy. "Growth as a musician is about inspiration and vision, not the length of time you have played," says Goodin who transplanted to Brooklyn, New York in the early '90s with his wife and family. "At least, that¡s really where it has been at for me." So eloquent is Goodin in his discussion of guitar-playing technique, it's surprising to find that his first exposure to music was through woodwinds and piano. "In high school I became very interested in jazz," says Goodin. "It wasn't until I was in college that I was fully convinced that I should become a guitar player. After hearing an old Michael Hedges record, the skies opened."

Goodin, who attended Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas and earned a BA in Music, was diligent in studying classical guitar, learning from the masters of the form. But the masters' works, no matter how inspired or inspiring, can never fully substitute for one's one creative voice. Stirring within Jim was the desire to write his own music. "By the time I graduated college, I began to interpret some of the beautiful passages created by Turlough O'Carolan, a 17th Century Irish harpist," says Goodin. "I incorporated some of O'Carolan's compositional style into my own." It was in the late 1980's that Goodin began seriously exploring the many musical possibilities that open tunings presented to him. Goodin found that he could capture the mood of composers such as O'Carolan through the use of different tunings.

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Tags

Primary Instrument

Guitar

Willing to teach

Intermediate to advanced

Credentials/Background

Individual and group teaching (workshops on fingerpicking and other guitar technique) experience. available Saturdays $50/hr, $40/45 min.

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Found

Wood and Wire Music
2007

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