Featured Flatpicker for July 2003 - Bryan Kimsey
Name: Bryan Kimsey
Age: 41
Town:
Greenville, NM. Pop. 12. The smallest incorporated town in New Mexico. I actually live on our "north
ranch" 10 miles away.
At what age did you start playing guitar?
I started playing at around 15-16 years, doing John Denver
finger style accompaniment stuff, which was a dumb thing to do
since I can't sing.
First guitar:
A nylon string Goya. Followed by an Alvarez steel string D,
followed a year later by a 1973 D-28 which was the only Martin I
could afford and which is now the "Modzilla" D-28.
Early Influences:
John Denver was my first influence. I tend to listen to a few
artists in-depth, rather than a little of a lot of artists, thus
I pretty much listened to either John Denver or the Rolling
Stones. Everybody messes with guitar at some point in their
life and it was clear that I couldn't play Rolling Stones' stuff
since I didn't have a 20-piece band, so I turned to John Denver.
The acoustic guitar seemed a whole lot simpler (and affordable).
I didn't know the first thing about music and I don't think
there has ever been a more music-illiterate person than me. I
didn't know what "beat", "melody", "rhythm", "pitch"- none of
that stuff- was and I used to put the John Denver song book
down, an album on and just strum away, trying to make the chords
change on the right word. I did that for probably 2-3 years.
I've had a high-frequency hearing loss since about age 7 and I
was totally oblivious to a lot of things that are blatantly
obvious to most people (see "pitch" above). Once I became aware
of such things I was able to train myself to listen for and
eventually hear them, but believe me, it was and is a tough
struggle. Still, I can be incredibly persistent, and something
about the guitar kept me going. I made just enough progress to
feel progress, but it was still frustrating enough to make me
mad enough to keep after it.
In Lexington, Kentucky, where I went thru high school, I finally
saw flat-picking in action. A neighbor down the street was
jamming with 2 banjo players on the back porch and I rode my
bike over to listen. I think that was the first time I'd ever
heard purely instrumental music and my John Denver background
had already shown me the open chords and a similar type rhythm.
I thought "Hey, I could do that! And I wouldn't have to learn
to sing!" I have no idea who the pickers were- the guy moved
like the next day and I never saw him again. But, within a
month I'd sold my Goya and had an Alvarez D and a copy of Happy
Traum's "Bluegrass Guitar" and was on the right road. Pretty
soon, I was "jamming" with banjo students who were at my level
and we were all kind of learning together. I still had
absolutely no ear and I'd have them play the tune to the first
chord change and stop. If we were still together, we could go
to the next chord change. I did that for probably 4-6 months. I
had some patient picking partners!!! But, it got better and
within 2 years I was playing rhythm at jams at festivals in
Kentucky and fairly confidently backing up the various banjo
players I knew.
After high school, I'd been flat-picking for about 2 1/2 years
and decided to go to South Plains College and get a degree in
bluegrass music, just for fun. THAT's where I really learned
about music and I soaked up enough stuff there that it's still
coming out. I started making some actual progress in my playing
and again, it fed me just enough success to keep pushing. Some
24 years after SPC, I'm still playing, still learning, still
working at it. I feel pretty comfortable in my idiom now. I
definitely know where my limits and weakness lie and I'm
constantly working on them. My motto is "Use your strengths and
work on the weaknesses". There are some things I do that I'm
very good at, and so I emphasize those things. There are some
(LOTS OF!) things I'm not good at, and I work at those things
until I get them better.
First gig, if any:
Various talent shows with the various patient banjo players.
The one show I really remember was during my first month at SPC.
Our band was playing at the Lubbock fair (as part of our class)
and we had all our breaks carefully and precisely worked out. I
was only taking 1-2 breaks and just playing rhythm. On-stage,
about the 3rd song, our teacher (Tim McCasland) suddenly started
throwing curve balls. We were doing a tune and he steps up the
vocal mike and said "Guitar break now!". Well!!!! I wasn't
SCHEDULED for a guitar break, but what could I do- he'd
announced it to the crowd!!! So, I stepped up to the mike and
stumbled thru something, I don't know what; I just went on Auto-
Pilot Survival Mode and played some notes. I stepped back,
sweating and red-faced and just wishing I'd die, and.the crowd
applauded. My FIRST applause!! All those precisely worked out
breaks didn't even draw a glance and here this.thing.gets
applause. I was shown a LOT of lessons right there although it
took some time to really learn them.
Acoustic Guitars you own:
Currently, 1973 Martin D-28 (Modzilla), 1974 Martin D-18 (Little
`Zilla), Proulx OM/D.
Favorite Guitar:
Proulx OM/D, although they all have a role.
Your Style, and how you developed it:
My style developed from a realization of my limitations,
acceptance of my strengths, and a strong survival instinct. I
have been blessed with an excellent right hand (although it took
some time to accept this) and I let it lead the attack. Up
`till about 1990, I tried to be Tony Rice with a dose of Mark
O'Connor. That's fine, but it wasn't me and I really couldn't
do it very well. Then I got into a playing situation that was
just me, a fiddler, and my wife on bass. In this stripped down
band, my leads had to
1) keep some sound going- no plinky plinky stuff
2) have some melodic content so they could follow me
3) be strong and confident
4) I had to take multiple solos
We did a lot of tunes that I'd never heard, much less heard
guitar breaks for (.i.e. I couldn't copy anyone), and yet, I had
to take breaks and take several of them. That's when I fell off
of the Tony Rice train and went back to a simpler "fancy Carter
style" of lead playing (see "survival instinct" above). We did
this for about 3 years and during this time, people started
offering favorable comments on my playing (for the first time)
and I gained a lot of confidence in my playing as a result.
Ironically, when I quit trying to be a fast, flashy guitar
player, my speed went up dramatically, my tone and power
improved, and people started asking me how I did what I do.
Practice Regimen:
None. I used to spend a lot of time practicing and doing drills
and memorizing and all that. In the `90's, I was so stressed
out and frustrated that I nearly quit, so I decided to forget
all that and just have fun. If it wasn't fun, I wasn't going to
do it. I had the same attitude change toward hunting- I used to
get up 4 hours before sunrise, get in position, stay out all
day, etc. Now, I just get up whenever I want to, go out when I
want to, and if I want to go back to camp and sleep/read/eat, I
do. It's a whole lot more fun. I DO practice a little when
there's a certain tune or style I want to work at- jigs, or
"Little Rock Getaway" or something like that- but only if I want
to. If I don't feel like practicing, I don't. Sometimes I just
strum G-chords.
Favorite Artist(s):
1) Tony Rice in his singing days- TR's rhythm is the best and I
love his bass runs and strum "pop". 2) Charles Sawtelle- I love
his quirkiness and use of the low bass strings. Charles was my
tone model. 3) Clarence White I - like to say that the better I
get, the better Clarence gets. He does so many things that I
didn't understand until my own playing got better- then
I said "HOW does he do that!!??". 4) Whoever plays guitar with
Ralph Stanley- the Ralph period of '71-75 is what first really
grabbed my ear and gave me goose-bumps. George Shuffler's
intro to "Single Girl, Married Girl" on "Together for the Last
Time" is absolutely one of my favorite breaks. When I sit
around at home, this is the stuff I play. Cross picking rules.
5) David Grier- David is a master improviser and I've learned a
lot about playing attitude from him. I've never copied an
actual break of his, but I've incorporated a lot of his ideas
and approaches- tried to, anyway.
What general suggestions would you give to someone who wants to either start playing guitar, or start playing bluegrass guitar - having come in from another genre?
1) Right hand. Focus on that right hand. Think "tone",
"power", "control". Sawtelle once told me, when I asked him
about these things, "Think about it and it will come". He was
right.
2) Keep loose and don't be afraid to crash and burn. Everyone
does it. Take chances. It's the only way to grow.
3) Spend a lot of time just noodling and messing around with
the guitar. A lot of technique will eventually develop if you
just become friends with the instrument instead of trying to
"master" it.
4) Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Find them. Let
your strengths develop and don't let the weaknesses trip you
up. Use your strengths to find a way around the weaknesses.
I guess I'm really better known for my repair work than my
playing, so a few words about that...I started tweaking and
messing with my own guitars back at SPC. Over the years, I
played some guitars that just played great and others that
didn't. About '93 or so, I started thinking about what made
these two groups different and started paying attention to the
mechanics behind guitar setup. I'd had my own instruments
worked on a few times and was usually unhappy with the results
(especially being a poor college student), so the push to do-it-
myself was there. When we moved to the ranch in '96, I had
time and space to spend seriously messing with guitars, plus I
had a little extra money for the first time in my life and was
able to actually buy 2 more guitars which gave me some A/B
opportunities. I've always been very analytical and I just
applied that towards guitars, taking measurements and specs on
those that played well. That's what really opened up some ideas
for me- getting some first-hand specs on actual professionals'
instruments. Then I had some "standards" to kind of aim for.
I started blabbing about this on Flatpick-l and pretty soon I
was getting calls from people asking if I'd set up their
instrument. I did, word of mouth got around, and the next thing
you know, I'm BUSY. I've been doing repair work and setup semi-
professionally (I DO have a ranch to run, you know.) for about
4 years and in that time period there's been exactly 3 days
when I didn't have someone's guitar to work on, usually 3-8 of
them. I'm very thankful for the work because being a ranch-
hand just barely meets the bills. More than that, though, I
really enjoy making people's guitars play and sound better.
It's a very satisfying thing to take a mediocre, evil-playing
instrument and turn it into a smooth, buttery, guitar. Guys
like Lynn Dudenbostel, Randy Lucas, Frank Ford, Mario Proulx,
and John Arnold have been extremely gracious with their time
and advice. I try to be the same way.
Hear Bryan's Blackberry Blossom clip.
Archives:
Terry Barnes
Paul 'Gus' Gustafson
Gary Smith
Bryan Kimsey
David Dugas
Allen Shadd
