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Total
Guitar - UK
The clip we’re watching of Preston
Reed on YouTube is impossible. It
can’t be done. There has to be a
logical explanation. A backing track? A
roadie hidden in the wings with a drum
machine? The sale of his soul to the
devil? Something must rationalise how one
middle-aged man with 10 human fingers can
make his acoustic sound like the sum of a
bluegrass convention and a drum-off
between rainforest tribes. But then, how
do you explain the phenomenon that is
Preston Reed?
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more...
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Guitarist
Magazine - Europe
It seems comparatively commonplace these
days, but the technique of accompanying
two-handed acoustic playing with
percussive thumps and slaps was truly
radical when Preston Reed began developing
the style. In June of last year, Reed was
at number eight on iTunes’ Essential
Legends Of Guitar listing – putting
him above Messrs Vai, Satriani and Van
Halen – while mesmerising crowds at
Glastonbury festival. Now it’s time
to speak to Guitarist…
Read
more...
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Acoustic
Magazine - UK
With a dramatically unorthodox playing
style that simulates guitar, bass and
percussion, native New Yorker Preston Reed
is one of the true innovators on the
circuit. Acoustic talks to the man with
the pioneering spirit…
"I’ve always loved playing solo
acoustic guitar,” he begins. “I
started off learning fi ngerpicking from
listening to records by Hot Tuna with
Jorma Kaukonen – a great delta
bluesstyle fingerpicker – and then
John Fahey, who’s a fantastic, simple
and yet fascinating fingerpicker, and Leo
Kottke. But I always wanted to write my
own compositions, so whenever I learned
something I would start composing with it,
and in around 1987 my tendency to compose
outstripped the techniques that I was
using.
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Guitar
Buyer Magazine - UK
While most great guitarists would be
grateful to leave behind a legacy of
classic recordings, fine performances and
blistering technique, US-born Preston Reed
has gone a world further than that by
essentially inventing an entirely new way
of playing the guitar.
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more...
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Guitarrista
- Spain
En comparación, hoy en día
parece algo bastante común, pero la
técnica de acompañar el
toque acústico a dos manos con
pulgares percusivos y slaps era
verdaderamente radical cuando Preston Reed
empezó a desarrollar el estilo. En
junio del año pasado, Reed estuvo
en el número ocho en la lista de
Leyendas de la guitarra esenciales de
iTunes- poniéndole por encima de
los Sres. Vai, Satriani y Van Halen- al
tiempo que encandilaba a las masas en el
festival de Glastonbury. Ahora
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more...
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Akustik Gitarre - Germany
Er ist Blickfang auf allen Musikmessen:
Ein Baum von einem Mann mit wallenden
blonden Locken, der aus einer unschuldigen
Akustikgitarre soviel Groove und
Polyphonie herausprügelt, dass selbst
gitarristisch unbedarfte Zuschauer wie vom
Schlag getroffen stehen bleiben.
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more...
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15 October, 2008
Spirit
Metro UK
by Mike Butler
A steady evolution has made Preston Reed's
latest album, Spirit, seem markedly
different from his debut. Reed started as
a regular guitar virtuoso, picking at
speed while alternating bass on the first
and third strings in the manner of John
Fahey.
A major shift came when he discarded
skipping syncopation and approached his
guitar more like a drummer. The slam-bang
approach peaked with Metal (1995),
which came close to the physical limits of
the guitar.
Now a further refinement has taken place.
"Long Ago" (2005) is like a bluesy
paraphrase of "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" and
anticipates Spirit (2007). Here,
Reed plays a solid-body guitar, and the
dreamy, jazzy mood is suggested by titles
such as "Gershwin" and "Sultry Wes".
Interestingly, electricity brings out the
openness and elegance of his playing. He
sounds much more heavy-metal on
acoustic.
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31 March 2007
Preston Reed - capturing the right
spirit
The Herald
by Rob Adams
A New Yorker in Girvan may not have quite
the same romantic ring to it as An
American in Paris. Since moving to the
town on the Ayrshire coast six years ago,
however, guitarist Preston Reed has found
the kind of inspiration and support that
his artistic compatriots, including Miles
Davis and Dexter Gordon from the jazz
world, discovered in the French
capital.
Much of this has to do with meeting his
wife and manager, Catherine Maguire, in a
beer tent at the nearby Kirkmichael Guitar
Festival. Maguire, a Dubliner with little
or no previous experience of the music
business, has since applied a tenacious
instinct to every part of Reed’s
career, resulting in an increasingly busy
round of tours, concerts and recordings.
Yet Reed simply leaving America has also
played a part in this success story.
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more...
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February
2006
History of Now
BBC Music Magazine
by Gary Booth
A performance by a solo guitarist can
sometimes be more like a freak show. Think
of extraordinary players like Tommy
Emmanuel, whose live sets seem designed to
shock and awe, overwhelming the (mostly
male) audience with their finger twisting
technical prowess.
It doesn't have to be like that. The
American uber-guitarist Preston Reed can
play with the equivalent musical firepower
of a helicopter gunship - and frequently
does. But on this latest album he has
opted for the less-is-more approach,
applying his mastery of the acoustic and
electric axes to a series of gentle but
melodic miniatures. In a blindfold test,
Reed could pass for a guitar duo or even a
trio at times and finger style enthusiasts
will marvel at his casual ability to
simultaneously play rhythm and complex top
lines. But he is musical too and each
short piece evokes a beautifully lit scene
of classic Americana.
Performance * * * *
Sound * * * *
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February
2006
History Of Now (Four Stars)
Outer Bridge Records
Playing any Preston Reed album is
guaranteed to be an acoustic delight, but
on History Of Now he's branched out to
incorporate some electrical moments on the
jazzier outings such as Instrument
Landing.
Always known as a potential hard rocker
playing an acoustic, Preston's two-handed
style ensures inspiration and
astonishment. His unique and percussive
attack supplies the sound of the rhythm
section at the same time as the melody -
no better heard than on Corazon which
sounds more like three players than
one.
And yet, there's always something else up
Reed's sleeve such as the spacious slide
work on the delightful Franzl's Saw -
again using bass note under pinning.
An album full of delights that comes
highly recommended.
--Guitar Techniques
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