Peter Pupping's Original music
Saturday Morning
About "Saturday Morning"
A new instrumental guitar experience
People often ask me “what I like to play for fun?” For many years I’ve often sat around the Saturday morning breakfast table with my wife and kids improvising on my guitar just for fun. Whatever came to me I would play between conversation, coffee and the smell of breakfast being prepared.
One Saturday morning my youngest son Hans asked if I could record an album with the music I play on Saturday mornings. To translate, that means improvisations with my most beloved Lowden acoustic steel string guitar which was made in Ireland (a very soulfull guitar) and my Giannini Brazilian nylon string guitar (my daughter’s favorite). Typically I would wander through various musical styles from new age sounding “chordscapes” to musings with traditional American and Western folk songs, Blues, Latin and a lot of other ethnic music. I have written all the music with all of the above influences in mind. For this recording I assembled a unique group of guitars like an Oribe steel string classical guitar, a Moog electric guitar, an electric sitar guitar, an octave guitar and not mention a couple of beautiful Spanish guitars. In addition, I haven't made it too public that I play the Native American Indian flute which appears on the the the song "Desert Miner". My goal was to write music that relaxes but doesn't bore, comforts without sadness and has a lift to it!
ABOUT THE SONGS
The Music Tree
On a trip to the mountains of Mammoth with my daughter, I noticed an unusual tree. The trunk had split open just enough to fit my guitar inside. And so it is with every guitar. A living tree, together with human ingenuity, gives life to one of its most beautiful creations: the guitar. This piece has an earthier acoustic guitar sound using a deeper tuning, while drawing on folk and blues traditions.
Desert Miner
While writing this piece, I imagined both the coal miners from the East coast, and the Native Americans of the Southwest, and blended the traditional mountain sound with equally traditional flute sounds. It is a piece about people working the land, searching for different treasures, and bound by common needs of survival.
Brother's Blues
My brother Hans encouraged me to listen to the song “Lenny”, written by blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, both because he loved the song, and because Lenny is the name of our youngest brother. The appeal of Vaughan's music is the space he leaves for the melodies. It is often said in music circles that it's what you don't play that brings the magic. This piece reflects the kind of spacing inspired by both Vaughan and B. B. King. The blues leaves space to release frustration, and inspires that “it's gonna be ok” feeling. I dedicate this song to my brothers, Hans and Lenny!
Iron Men
This piece is inspired by two vintage American folk songs: “Spike Driver Blues” and “Old Joe Clark”. It's the driving 'can-do' spirit searching for freedom that infuses this arrangement of the original songs, woven through with my own composition.
Various claims indicate that “Joe Clark” may have been a moonshiner from the Virginia hills, or a veteran of the War of 1812, or a banjo player from Clay County, Kentucky. Or all three.
“Spike Driver Blues is a song of protest. The worker in this song is throwing his hammer down and leaving the exhausting and dangerous work of driving steel spikes on the railroad. This song makes frequent mention of the folkloric figure of John Henry, invoked as a workingman's martyr. Here is a small portion of the lyrics:
John Henry was a steel drivin' boy
But he went down
This is the hammer that killed John Henry
But it won't kill me; but it won't kill me
Chet's Walk
Chet Atkins was always a great inspiration. When I became aware of his Travis picking style, I saw and heard a connection between ragtime, country, country blues and contemporary acoustic guitar styles. In this piece, Chet's Travis picking style is juxtaposed against the Latin nuevo flamenco style that resonates on much of my music. Interestingly, later in Chet's career, he explored some Latin styles along the smooth jazz line. Perhaps Chet's Walk came full circle.
Refugio
Camp Refugio sits on the beachfront just north of Santa Barbara, California, on the outskirts of Goleta. I noticed that the shoreline there is shaped like a large horseshoe and could be considered a very large cove, making for very gentle waves and warm breezes, bound by a long line of palm trees. In this song, I evoke feelings of a palm tree paradise by combining Latin jazz and Spanish guitar sounds, and ending with a musical version of waves gently rolling a few inches above the water line.
Children Dance
Often, when I play at a resorts, children will come close and watch me play and then begin to dance to the music. Warm breezes, extraordinary views, a patio restaurant next to a pool, relaxing conversation, and the exuberant children, all say “carefree”.
Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
This J. S. Bach piece has been performed in hundreds of ways and is one of those melodies that people throughout the world recognize. It is a disarming melody that brings out the kindness in the most hardened of hearts. This arrangement by David Qualey took my breath away.
Variations on a Bach Chaconne. The original version of this piece by Johann Sebastian Bach is my favorite piece of music of all time. The formula for a chaconne is simple: a short chord progression with a variation over each chord sequence. Bach’s genius is that he can carry on for fifteen minutes, and make each section of the repeated chord progression sound compelling.
Bach composed the Chaconne sometime between 1718 and 1720. Historians speculate that he composed it after returning from a trip and finding that his wife had died. Bernard Chazelle, author of Discovering the Cosmology of Bach, suggests that Bach created for the glory of God alone. He also gives this insight: “Bach's Chaconne conveys universal, complicated and essentially human grief. You can tell from his music that his emotion is raw. It is so controlled, but it is so profound. This is a man who truly grieves. I mean, you'll hear the chaconne. It's a dance. But it's a grieving dance. I know, it seems like a paradox. But it's extremely moving and the creation of somebody who clearly has enormous feeling”.
My arrangement introduces the poignancy of Bach’s composition while improvising over the repeated chord progression with an octave guitar-bass. Bach’s original work is my favorite piece of music of all time. If you love guitar search for an Andres Segovia’s version, settle in with some headphones for the full fifteen minute version and be transported.
Chimes
This gentle tune came to me while sitting in my living room with my mother-in-law. She gave it an immediate thumbs-up. With a capo on the 5th fret of one of my specialty guitars - a classical steel-string made by Jose Oribe - the tone of this beautiful instrument acquires a chime-like-quality.
Ease West Line
During my college days, I had the great opportunity to study the sitar with Indian artist-in-residence Aloke Dasgupta, who nurtured in me a great appreciation for Indian music. Many years later I discovered an instrument called the “sitar guitar”, which is a guitar with the sympathetic ringing strings found on a sitar. The result is a guitar sound with all of the tonal qualities of the sitar.
"Saturday Morning" CD available!
Purchase direct from GuitarSounds by check/mail or email a request for a phone order to [email protected].
$20 per cd includes tax and shipping.
or available for digital download at CD BABY
Please make checks payable to:
Guitar Sounds (memo-"Saturday Morning")
Mail to:
GuitarSounds
4407 Manchester Ave., #104
Encinitas, CA 92024
About "Saturday Morning"
A new instrumental guitar experience
People often ask me “what I like to play for fun?” For many years I’ve often sat around the Saturday morning breakfast table with my wife and kids improvising on my guitar just for fun. Whatever came to me I would play between conversation, coffee and the smell of breakfast being prepared.
One Saturday morning my youngest son Hans asked if I could record an album with the music I play on Saturday mornings. To translate, that means improvisations with my most beloved Lowden acoustic steel string guitar which was made in Ireland (a very soulfull guitar) and my Giannini Brazilian nylon string guitar (my daughter’s favorite). Typically I would wander through various musical styles from new age sounding “chordscapes” to musings with traditional American and Western folk songs, Blues, Latin and a lot of other ethnic music. I have written all the music with all of the above influences in mind. For this recording I assembled a unique group of guitars like an Oribe steel string classical guitar, a Moog electric guitar, an electric sitar guitar, an octave guitar and not mention a couple of beautiful Spanish guitars. In addition, I haven't made it too public that I play the Native American Indian flute which appears on the the the song "Desert Miner". My goal was to write music that relaxes but doesn't bore, comforts without sadness and has a lift to it!
ABOUT THE SONGS
The Music Tree
On a trip to the mountains of Mammoth with my daughter, I noticed an unusual tree. The trunk had split open just enough to fit my guitar inside. And so it is with every guitar. A living tree, together with human ingenuity, gives life to one of its most beautiful creations: the guitar. This piece has an earthier acoustic guitar sound using a deeper tuning, while drawing on folk and blues traditions.
Desert Miner
While writing this piece, I imagined both the coal miners from the East coast, and the Native Americans of the Southwest, and blended the traditional mountain sound with equally traditional flute sounds. It is a piece about people working the land, searching for different treasures, and bound by common needs of survival.
Brother's Blues
My brother Hans encouraged me to listen to the song “Lenny”, written by blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, both because he loved the song, and because Lenny is the name of our youngest brother. The appeal of Vaughan's music is the space he leaves for the melodies. It is often said in music circles that it's what you don't play that brings the magic. This piece reflects the kind of spacing inspired by both Vaughan and B. B. King. The blues leaves space to release frustration, and inspires that “it's gonna be ok” feeling. I dedicate this song to my brothers, Hans and Lenny!
Iron Men
This piece is inspired by two vintage American folk songs: “Spike Driver Blues” and “Old Joe Clark”. It's the driving 'can-do' spirit searching for freedom that infuses this arrangement of the original songs, woven through with my own composition.
Various claims indicate that “Joe Clark” may have been a moonshiner from the Virginia hills, or a veteran of the War of 1812, or a banjo player from Clay County, Kentucky. Or all three.
“Spike Driver Blues is a song of protest. The worker in this song is throwing his hammer down and leaving the exhausting and dangerous work of driving steel spikes on the railroad. This song makes frequent mention of the folkloric figure of John Henry, invoked as a workingman's martyr. Here is a small portion of the lyrics:
John Henry was a steel drivin' boy
But he went down
This is the hammer that killed John Henry
But it won't kill me; but it won't kill me
Chet's Walk
Chet Atkins was always a great inspiration. When I became aware of his Travis picking style, I saw and heard a connection between ragtime, country, country blues and contemporary acoustic guitar styles. In this piece, Chet's Travis picking style is juxtaposed against the Latin nuevo flamenco style that resonates on much of my music. Interestingly, later in Chet's career, he explored some Latin styles along the smooth jazz line. Perhaps Chet's Walk came full circle.
Refugio
Camp Refugio sits on the beachfront just north of Santa Barbara, California, on the outskirts of Goleta. I noticed that the shoreline there is shaped like a large horseshoe and could be considered a very large cove, making for very gentle waves and warm breezes, bound by a long line of palm trees. In this song, I evoke feelings of a palm tree paradise by combining Latin jazz and Spanish guitar sounds, and ending with a musical version of waves gently rolling a few inches above the water line.
Children Dance
Often, when I play at a resorts, children will come close and watch me play and then begin to dance to the music. Warm breezes, extraordinary views, a patio restaurant next to a pool, relaxing conversation, and the exuberant children, all say “carefree”.
Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
This J. S. Bach piece has been performed in hundreds of ways and is one of those melodies that people throughout the world recognize. It is a disarming melody that brings out the kindness in the most hardened of hearts. This arrangement by David Qualey took my breath away.
Variations on a Bach Chaconne. The original version of this piece by Johann Sebastian Bach is my favorite piece of music of all time. The formula for a chaconne is simple: a short chord progression with a variation over each chord sequence. Bach’s genius is that he can carry on for fifteen minutes, and make each section of the repeated chord progression sound compelling.
Bach composed the Chaconne sometime between 1718 and 1720. Historians speculate that he composed it after returning from a trip and finding that his wife had died. Bernard Chazelle, author of Discovering the Cosmology of Bach, suggests that Bach created for the glory of God alone. He also gives this insight: “Bach's Chaconne conveys universal, complicated and essentially human grief. You can tell from his music that his emotion is raw. It is so controlled, but it is so profound. This is a man who truly grieves. I mean, you'll hear the chaconne. It's a dance. But it's a grieving dance. I know, it seems like a paradox. But it's extremely moving and the creation of somebody who clearly has enormous feeling”.
My arrangement introduces the poignancy of Bach’s composition while improvising over the repeated chord progression with an octave guitar-bass. Bach’s original work is my favorite piece of music of all time. If you love guitar search for an Andres Segovia’s version, settle in with some headphones for the full fifteen minute version and be transported.
Chimes
This gentle tune came to me while sitting in my living room with my mother-in-law. She gave it an immediate thumbs-up. With a capo on the 5th fret of one of my specialty guitars - a classical steel-string made by Jose Oribe - the tone of this beautiful instrument acquires a chime-like-quality.
Ease West Line
During my college days, I had the great opportunity to study the sitar with Indian artist-in-residence Aloke Dasgupta, who nurtured in me a great appreciation for Indian music. Many years later I discovered an instrument called the “sitar guitar”, which is a guitar with the sympathetic ringing strings found on a sitar. The result is a guitar sound with all of the tonal qualities of the sitar.
"Saturday Morning" CD available!
Purchase direct from GuitarSounds by check/mail or email a request for a phone order to [email protected].
$20 per cd includes tax and shipping.
or available for digital download at CD BABY
Please make checks payable to:
Guitar Sounds (memo-"Saturday Morning")
Mail to:
GuitarSounds
4407 Manchester Ave., #104
Encinitas, CA 92024