Profile
Name:
Ben Powell
Channel Views:
17,885
Total Upload Views:
67,491
Style:
Acoustic
Age:
35
Joined:
Sep 7, 2009
Latest Activity:
1 month ago
Subscribers:
912
Website:
Acoustic Fingerstyle Guitarist
About Me:
www.benpowellguitar.com
FREE TAB available for "February",
Sheet music/TAB for full CD NOW AVAILABLE!
Cheers, Ben
Biography:
At the tender age of 26, Ben stumbled across an album, so bewitching, that it change the course of his life. He downed tools, bought an acoustic guitar, and locked himself in a room with Solo by fingerstyle guitar legend Martin Taylor. Seven years later he emerged, in desperate need of a haircut, but clutching a bunch of original guitar melodies which became Preliminaries (2010). The album has gone on to receive critical acclaim in the pages of Guitar Techniques (UK) and is one of Acoustic Guitar (USA) magazine's Essential Acoustic Album's of 2010.
Prior to his epiphany, Ben was doing philosophy and travelling extensively throughout Asia and the Middle East. This existential and explorative period provides the bedrock for Powell's creative approach to the guitar. An insistence and passion for melody; for making the instrument sing so as to paint giant landscapes, meditative sunsets and romantic moonlit strolls. Powell is no stranger to the extreme technical demands of contemporary fingerstyle guitar, but his mantra remains firmly "melody, movement and magic". The real magic occurs only when technique can disappear into the music itself. The result is, as Celine Keating describes Preliminaries, "a gorgeous meditation, at once ethereal and earthy".
Since releasing his debut album, Ben has performed a whole spectrum of gigs. He recently described played at the Tron Theatre Glasgow to a packed Celtic Connections' audience as "a career high". The summer before he entertained Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood on the sun-drenched streets of Bath whilst out busking. This too, was deemed "a career high". With 2011 set to see Ben team up with legendary guitar journalist and fingerstyle guitarist David Mead, it looks like there will be plenty more of these to come. There might not be time for that haircut.
Record Label:
Yellow Gecko Records
Label Type:
Independent
Influences:
My big influences are: Martin Simpson, Franco Morone, Clive Carroll, Pierre Bensusan, Bert Jansch, John Williams, Paco de Lucia, Blind Blake, Peter Green, Jimmy Smith, Tommy Emmanuel, Peppino D'Agostino, Martin Taylor, Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan and Toumani Diabate.
Hometown:
Currently Bath, UK
Occupation:
Musician
Schools:
University of Sheffield
Channel Comments
Subscribers
(912)
Your website is absolutely great, congrats!
Frank
Best regards from Bulgaria
Thanks for the great album! Your music is great!!!
I pray the future will bring you more success.
I support you from Japan.
Kevin
Best regards =)
Very nice channel!