[ATTACH=CONFIG]196886.vB5-legacyid=6526[/ATTACH]Vancouver, BC – As one half of the largely undefinable but agreeably brilliant musical duo, “Prester John”, Radial artist and guitarist Shawn Persinger is embarking on the promotion of his latest project. It’s not a performance CD but rather a book. A book called “The 50 Greatest Guitar Books”.
Persinger is equally pragmatic as he is true to his artistic self when describing his endeavor. “I’ve been buying and studying guitar books since I was 18 years old. It dawned on me at 40 that I had unintentionally done 22 years of research in the realm of guitar education. Believing this knowledge would be useful to others I decided to present it in a way that is entertaining, as well as educational. My book gives you the best of the best. I like to think of it as a restaurant guide with free samples!”
Persinger wanted to bring a book to market that stood apart from anything else and that was also relevant to guitar players of all levels. “Most music books that dig deep into pedagogy are too academic. The word “pedagogy” itself has the ring of dry, theoretical, boring facts. I wanted to teach guitar players about music in a way that is much more accessible and entertaining. While most of the books I have chosen to include are intellectually challenging, at the heart of each is a sense of fun and creativity. The musical examples I composed are designed to give readers a better sense of the books, while also being fun to play. And you can’t always be playing or practicing. So why not read about music when you can’t play it.”
To support the project Persinger will be embarking on a book/performance tour while continuing with his Prester John performances, teaching and writing. “When music is your passion all of these avenues blend together – performing, writing, composing, talking about music – they all complement each other. Finding a balance is easy enough. Which one is giving you the most pleasure at any given time? Pursue that one.” It would seem for Persinger teaching is a particular passion and “The 50 Greatest Guitar Books” is the tangible result of this commitment. “I am a huge Leonard Bernstein fan. I’d like to continue my career using his as a template. He spent a considerable amount of time teaching. And at his peak Bernstein was presenting “The Young People’s Concerts” to elementary school children. All the while he was conducting, composing, and writing.”
As Persinger prepares for his time on the road he is sure to pack along his Radial Tonebone PZ-Pre (combination PZ booster and preamp) and explains why. “Here is the thing it took me years to figure out. I could never understand why some fingerstyle players sounded so good with one type of pickup or guitar, and some other singer-songwriters would be strumming away, with a different pickup or pedalboard set up and sound just as good. Yet when I played their gear, it rarely sounded good. What I had failed to notice is that many acoustic players either strum, or fingerpick, or play leads, but rarely do all three in the same set, with the same guitar. I do all three all night, sometime in one song. I have found that the PZ-Pre evens out my sound for all these techniques. Whether I am strumming hard on fat cowboy chords; fingerpicking, capoed at the 7th fret; or playing fast solos with bends and tremolo picking, my tone is consistent throughout. This is only possible because of the PZ-Pre. I also use all of the output features on the PZ-Pre. I use the “main output” for my “live” sound, the “out post-EQ” for my loop, and the “out pre-EQ” for extra effects. I run all of this into my Bose L1. The PZ-Pre is the heart and soul of my pedal board. It gets me as close as possible to sounding acoustic, but loud.”
With such a versatile and diverse player such as Persinger one might expect he has dreamt up some other type of magic product to appear in his kit. His suggestion comes in the form of a “turn the rest of the band down” pedal. “I’m actually not a huge pedal guy. The reason I love the PZ-Pre so much is because no one knows I’m using it.”
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