# Canadian Guitar Festival



## Kenmac

Those of you living in Eastern Ontario may be interested in this upcoming event. I saw this advertised in the pages of Fingerstyle Guitar magazine awhile back. http://www.canadianguitarfestival.com/ Interesting to see that Rik Emmett is one of the performers.


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## Mooh

I went a couple of years ago for the whole weekend and camped on site. The picking was fantastic but the crowds were small.

If you go, check out Josh House guitars, he'll be displaying his acoustics.

Peace, Mooh.


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## Hamm Guitars

Wild T and the Spirit are worth checking out...


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## auger

hey I saw a poster for this event on the weekend...
I am thinking I will attend this year.....if possible....
its just a few kms out of kingston...
should be a good event...

Auger


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## Stephen W.

Oh, you do not want to miss this event. It gets better each year. Small crowds means a very personable and intimate setting. I spent over a half hour speaking one on one with Rik Emmett back in 2004. In fact all the performers are very approachable. Check out the links to the performers and be sure to watch their videos and go to their websites to hear more of their music. Andy McKee had the top rated video on youtube for weeks. Pino Forastiere is one of my favourite European performers. Wendell Ferguson is one of the funniest song writers of all time. You'll fall in love with Brooke Miller and Kristen Sweetland. Be amazed by Don Ross, Antoine Dufour and all the rest. Ariana Gillis is fast becoming the next Averill Levine. Don't take my word for it, come out and see (hear) for yourself.
I'll be there all three days. I'm in the competition on Sunday. My goal is to break into the top ten.


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## auger

hey all....
anyone else attend the weekend activities.....?
it was an eye opener for me.....these fingerstyle players have my utmost respect....they have talent...for sure.....
I arrived about 8pm friday night...to catch Rik Emmett..which as a good show
then I got to see Don Ross for the first time....man this guy can play.....
absolutely amazing.....
we camped the weekend at the park....which was interesting...lol
Saturday was one great player after another......for 12 solid hours.....
though you had to show some endurance to sit in the hot sun for such a long time.....
the highlights for me were David and Ariana Gillis,Kristen Sweetland,Brooke Miller with Don Ross and the top performance for me was Pino Forastiere...
this guy was truely amazing....
the night part of the show was good too....with Andy Mckee....
and last but not least Wild T and the Spirit....these guys rocked the blues tunes......my kinda music.....for a 2 hour set.....

saturday night was a loud and drunken party night for the trailer park dwellers....though the campers attending the festival were well behaved....

sunday was the fingerstyle competition which displayed some new and old talents.....there are some serious players in this country .....
we left before they finished due to the heat and lack of shade....plus I got quite sun burnt...... so I am still waiting to hear who won and placed....

I will try to put up some pictures once I get them uploaded....
I took quite a few shots of the luthiers guitars on display.....

I hope to attend again next year....if possible...to see these great players
again

Auger


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## auger

hey all
I thought I would put up a few shots of the guitars for sale and on display
at the festival....
they were from luthiers belanger, house,saradip and eastwood

























Auger


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## auger

and a few more
































Auger


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## auger

and some electric's








Auger


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## auger

and a couple of the performers
David and Ariana Gillis....this girl has a powerful voice








Kirstin Sweetland very talented








left to right at the work shop
Andy Mckee,Wendell Ferguson,Kirstin Sweetland,Don Ross and Brooke Miller








great show

Auger


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## Tarl

Wow! Looks like fun. I had to work the weekend but it looks like it may be a worthwhile use of some vacation time next year. And it's just around the corner from me.


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## Crossroads

You won't be disappointed...

Perhaps we could even have a little meet and greet for forum members next year..


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## auger

hey crossroads...and Tarl...
thats an excellent Idea...
there seems to be a fair number of forum members in the kingston and surrounding area's...
they have camping in the park,,,,,and some sites have electricity...which would have the makings for an excellent jam..../meet and greet....
maybe the spitfires could join us????

I was hoping to run into some forum members this year but of all the people I
talked to none were from this forum.....
I may have seen Steven W....since he was participating in the competition...
but they only had contestant numbers and no names...

by the way Steven...W...I didnt get to find out who won.. this year...and was hoping you could shed some light on that topic...???????

Auger


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## Crossroads

Steven W was definitely there wearing the hat that he is wearing in his Avatar.

Didn't get a chance to talk to you this year...may see you around a house concert at Louise in the future.


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## famouspogs

Hamm Guitars said:


> Wild T and the Spirit are worth checking out...


I would have liked to seen spirit.


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## nj_lanser

some great pics - thanx for sharing


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## Stephen W.

Hey guys, sorry for not getting back right away. 
Yes, it was another FUNtastic weekend. No rain, lots of sun, (must thank DEL for the huge tent) and what a stellar line up of talent.
I too met and talked with a lot of people but no one from the list. 
I won't be surprised if I learn I finished last. Some of the people in the competition were better then the paid performers.
Anyway here's the winners list.
1st Craig D'Andrea / CT USA 
2nd Don Alder / Vancouver BC CA 
3rd Stefano Barone / Rome Italy 
You can get all the info at the Festival website.
http://www.canadianguitarfestival.com/

Lets make plans for a Canadian Guitar Forum's Meet-n-Greet area for next year.


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## WarrenG

Hi Stephen,

Although I have a rather strong and unwavering opinion about guitar competitions, did you enjoy the experience yourself? Would you do it again? And... is it just me, or is there a disturbing trend of Don Ross-heads (clones) winning this thing year-after-year?


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## Stephen W.

WarrenG said:


> Hi Stephen,
> 
> Although I have a rather strong and unwavering opinion about guitar competitions, did you enjoy the experience yourself? Would you do it again? And... is it just me, or is there a disturbing trend of Don Ross-heads (clones) winning this thing year-after-year?


Hi Warren,
Music, (dance, ice skating...) competitions can be very subjective, biased and the outcome totally without merit. I did Odessa last year for my wife. She seems to think I have talent and wants me to play out, even record a CD. I thought that playing in the competition would show whether or not she was right. It also gave me a series of goals. The biggest of which was to get over my stage fright.
Last year I was a nervous wreck and made lots of mistakes. So it was a big surprise to me when I learned that I had finished 12th. However, there was a very wide range of talent and playing styles. That may have helped my finishing just shy of the top ten. So to answer your questions, I had a BLAST! So much so that I had to enter again this year and will do so again next year. I haven't thought about seeing if there are other competitions around. If I looked and found a couple to enter I might find that they are not as much fun.

This year with the calibre of talent being so high I knew right off I didn't have a chance. So, with no pressure to score high I just let the music flow and enjoyed playing all that much more. And the camaraderie amongst the players gets better each year. I remember seeing guys giving each other the evil eye and playing head games back in 2004. But I saw none of that last year or this. 

I'm not sure I agree with your assessment about the DR clones. It is a "Fingerstyle" competition after all. So, you have to expect lots of hammering, tapping, harmonics and bongo hits. So yes, the winners have been more in the "current vein" rather than say that of a Chet Atkins. But if you check out their music you'll see they each have their own unique styles. 
RobertTaylor 2004
ErickTurnbull 2005
AntoineDuFour 2006
CraigDAndrea 2007
And the runners up have included people from as a diverse group as you can get. Kelly Valleau (2nd in 2006) is strictly a nylon stringed classical player. He doesn't even like to pick up a steel stringed instrument, (until he played my guitar "Fast Eddie"). And David Gillis (top five two years running) is more of a singer, song writer in the Paul Simon / Bob Dylan vein.

come on, try it... you'll like it:banana:


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## WarrenG

Stephen W. said:


> I'm not sure I agree with your assessment about the DR clones. It is a "Fingerstyle" competition after all. So, you have to expect lots of hammering, tapping, harmonics and bongo hits. So yes, the winners have been more in the "current vein" rather than say that of a Chet Atkins. But if you check out their music you'll see they each have their own unique styles.
> RobertTaylor 2004
> ErickTurnbull 2005
> AntoineDuFour 2006
> CraigDAndrea 2007
> And the runners up have included people from as a diverse group as you can get. Kelly Valleau (2nd in 2006) is strictly a nylon stringed classical player. He doesn't even like to pick up a steel stringed instrument, (until he played my guitar "Fast Eddie"). And David Gillis (top five two years running) is more of a singer, song writer in the Paul Simon / Bob Dylan vein.


I'm glad you had fun. That's cool that you've attended years past. I'm surprised we never met.

I'd agree that Robert Taylor and Erick Turnbull march to the beat of their own drummers. Where are they now? The other two - not a chance. The year Antoine placed 2nd (2005), his indy CD was on the PA the day before the comp! I asked Don if this was his new stuff... 'nuff said.

Love Gillis. Liked him a few years ago in the comp (the Spiderman thing had me in stitches). I thought Shawn Trotter and Carter Lancaster were overlooked in years past too. Anyway, I always felt the greatest travesty was Andy McKee not winning - and look at who among the aforementioned has had the biggest impact, to date, on younger players...

Tommy Emmanuel wouldn't win, place, or show at this gig.

You mentioned dancing and figure skating as being subjectively judged. True. But they are evolved competitive activities. The guitar thing I put on the same level as cooking and hairstyling comps. I'm waiting to hear about the Scrapbooking World Championships... I'll send the missus.


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## Stephen W.

Warren, we may have spoken to each other but never introduced ourselves. These photos are from the competition last year (2006). Look familiar?




























I don't understand how anyone could have mistaken Antoine's playing for Don's. Although, since they have been touring together Antoine has developed quite a sense of humour, similar to Don's. He really has come out of his shell and performs now. Whereas before he just played good music.

It's too bad that David Gillis will be known for only two things. That guy who does the Spiderman TV show theme and being Ariana's father. Ditto for Carter and Shawn. I also think Richard Elliot gets overlooked. Anybody who can finger pick a twelve string like he does deserves to win something.

I agree it's disappointing that Andy McKee never won. However, he's become quite a star in spite of that fact. Again, I think touring with Don has helped his career greatly. But WOW... talk about your DR clones, he's the biggest one out there. I think you just disproved your own statement. Even Andy admits he's been trying to imitate Don ever since he first heard him. And now he's doing it better the Don himself. Just listen to his renditions of Don's tune Trite Tight Night. (Either the 3 or the 4 minute versions.)

If Tommy played one of his aboriginal tunes (where he scratches the top with his finger nails and beats on the body with a stick) he'd make the top three for sure. 

Let me know about the scrap book competitions. I have a sister and a sister-in-law that would be shoe ins for a top finish.


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## WarrenG

Hi Stephen,

I haven't attended the show the past couple of years but have been getting the recap from friends of mine (David Carriere and Pat Ang) who've been kicking around. 

What's that rosewood guitar you're playing? I recognize the Andrew White...

Regarding Andy and company, I think the issue may be the thumbpick and its natural rhythms that are hard to get away from. To me, Andy always sounded more influenced by Stephen Bennett.

See if you can hear my Antoine/Don confusion, in Naissance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYv2br1Ic0w


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## Stephen W.

Warren, thank you for bringing this to my attention. No high speed out this way yet. So I went and dug up my copy of Antoine's 1st CD and had a listen. I had forgotten just how good it is.

Yes, I see (hear) what you're referring to. The first two tracks, Naissance and Scratch have a funky DR like groove to 'em and that thumping thumb driving the base line is very evident in there too. 

Ah, you mean the custom cutaway. It was a special order Larrivee with 2" nut and Mermaid inlay. Grant tracked it down for my sister-in-law eight years ago. It was a retirement gift from her to my brother. It didn't draw much attention at Odessa until after I played it. Then I had several people come up to me and ask what it was. They all commented that it was the richest sounding instrument out of everything that they had heard all weekend. That included all the fine hand crafted instruments as well as the Taylors and Martins. You'd almost think it was Brazilian, it has such presence and huge amounts of sustain. But Grant said it was Indian Rosewood. It's a fantastic sounding instrument. I designed "Fast Eddie" based on that instrument. He was to have been finished in time for the competition. And although he was, just... he was sitting in West Virginia and we had no way to get him to Odessa for Sunday. So, I borrowed the Larrivee for the competition. Then I drove down to Morgantown on the Monday to pick up Fast Eddie.


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## suttree

man, you guys are saying don ross clones like it's a bad thing, lol.

i used to play a lot of fingerstyle guitar, it's hard to be from canada and escape don's influence, he's one of the flat out best guitarists this country has produced. i had the good fortune to take a few lessons from him way back in 1990, and i'm still trying to figure out the stuff he showed me, haha (and, not only is he way too good, he's also one of the nicest people in the world). 

i think that i moved away from fingerstyle and into more standard tuning "regular" guitar playing though, because it's so hard to forge an identity in fingerstyle. first off you have these friggin MONSTER players, the hedges/juber/don ross/bruce cockburn/pierre bensusan/etc guys who've covered pretty much all the extended technique stuff completely, secondly most of the workable tunings have been well explored now too. it's also pretty hard to collaborate when you're in a cgdgce variant tuning. i guess it was my limitations though, i've been sort of thinking about putting my guitar back in dadgad for a while, like the old days. i have a yairi that might be nice for that stuff. anyways, no point, just rambling.


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## NB-SK

Are those Eastwood electric guitars any good? They sure look nice.


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