Niiice. Mr. Van Esp is actually a favorite of Mr. Chapman. Great fretboard knowledge from an important jazz guitar figure.
Harold is a master as well. I've had the honor to play duets with him on a number of occasions. He's recorded a ton and played Sean Penn's guitar parts in Woody Allen's Sweet And Low Down movie.
Two virtuosos creating great orchestral chemistry.
Thanks

Steve A

I still have my LPs of George Van Eps' artful solos, "My Guitar" and "Mellow Guitar", I think they were called. His 7-string guitar technique encompassed bass, chords and melody - my dream.

He lead me on the path of departure from guitar, he and Jimi Hendrix, that is. Van Eps had the intricate counterpoint and orchestration right there in his fingers on all the jazz standards he played. Hendrix had the extremes in expressive lead melody. I had to have both.

Van Eps had the melody as part of the overall harmony, but without expressive focus (how could you do it all with one fingering hand?). I admired his jazz sophistication and creative chord progressions, not to mention the counterpoint popping out from every sector. I had to have the harmony.

Hendrix made his guitar into a toy, so easy to play. Thin strings, playing the air (the standing waves on stage), bending up while nosediving down with the whammy bar, he made his instrument a part of his body and soul.

You lose an element of string expression with the thin strings and snaky LH hammaring embellishments, but you gain a whole new world of expression. I had to have that.

For me, it was Van Eps and the great jazz pianists Oscar Peterson and McCoy Tyner, plus the lead lines of Hendrix, Beck and Clapton, that lead me to the two handed "freedom guitar" in 1969 that became "The Electric Stick" the following year.

How to resolve a contradiction? You have to really want it. My discovery of the "Free Hands" two-handed tapping method on guitar (leading to The Stick) was the way out.

I still have my LPs of George Van Eps' artful solos, "My Guitar" and "Mellow Guitar", I think they were called. His 7-string guitar technique encompassed bass, chords and melody - my dream.

He lead me on the path of departure from guitar, he and Jimi Hendrix, that is. Van Eps had the intricate counterpoint and orchestration right there in his fingers on all the jazz standards he played. Hendrix had the extremes in expressive lead melody. I had to have both.

Van Eps had the melody as part of the overall harmony, but without expressive focus (how could you do it all with one fingering hand?). I admired his jazz sophistication and creative chord progressions, not to mention the counterpoint popping out from every sector. I had to have the harmony.

Hendrix made his guitar into a toy, so easy to play. Thin strings, playing the air (the standing waves on stage), bending up while nosediving down with the whammy bar, he made his instrument a part of his body and soul.

You lose an element of string expression with the thin strings and snaky LH hammaring embellishments, but you gain a whole new world of expression. I had to have that.

For me, it was Van Eps and the great jazz pianists Oscar Peterson and McCoy Tyner, plus the lead lines of Hendrix, Beck and Clapton, that lead me to the two handed "freedom guitar" in 1969 that became "The Electric Stick" the following year.

How to resolve a contradiction? You have to really want it. My discovery of the "Free Hands" two-handed tapping method on guitar (leading to The Stick) was the way out.