A
virtual one man band, Colorado based Brandon Campbell goes all progressive
on his 2008 CD Trilogies. Recording guitars, bass, keyboards
and drum programming in his studio, the effect is monumental yet cohesive.
Campbell’s multilayered electric guitar instrumentals are admittedly
inspired by Blackmore and Malmsteen and the sound owes more ‘70s
cosmic Euro music makers like Bo Hansson and Jarre than to the acoustic
Windham Hill New Age era of the ‘80s. Campbell’s meditative,
healing rock should make quick inroads with New Agers and the hard
rock instro crowd as well.
Guitars Center Stage with BRANDON CAMPBELL
Musical Background
I started playing the guitar in my late teens. I was 19 years old.
And that was almost exactly 19 years ago! Earlier, I studied piano
and I also played the cello in the Junior High school orchestra. Although
I was not very good at the cello, I learned how to read music and
I developed a decent vibrato both of which I was able to apply to
my guitar playing quite easily.
New CD
My new CD is called Trilogies. I recorded it over the last
16 months in my home studio. When it came time to have it mixed and
mastered I used Dub Media Recording Studio in Denver, Colorado. The
software used on Trilogies consisted of Sonar Producer and
Adobe Audition for recording, Apple Pro Logic for mixing and Steinberg’s
Wavelab for mastering. After I had been playing for about 5 years,
I decided to work blues scales out of my style. To my surprise, bluesy
playing came back to me big time on this CD. Although the chord progressions
on Trilogies are not blues or blues-based, my solos gravitated
towards using pentatonic scales colored with notes from diatonic scales.
These “Hybrid” licks are now part of my style and will continue
to be.
Favorite Guitars
A few months before recording Trilogies, I took a chance and
decided to get a guitar with a scalloped fretboard. I bought the only
one I knew of, the Yngwie Malmsteen Stratocaster. I used it for about
80 percent of the electric guitars on the CD. I liked it so well,
I built a custom guitar using Warmoth parts with similar pickups and
a scalloped fretboard. The other 20 percent were recorded with Gibson
Les Pauls. My electric tones came from a PODxt amp simulator. I’m
happy with the PODxt, but I’m still searching for the perfect
tone. For strings I use Sub-Zero Boomers by GHS. I play .008s and
even though they get a bad rap, I’m sticking with them.
Musical Influences
The first song I learned on guitar was “Peggy Sue” by Buddy
Holly. I was also influenced early on by Chuck Berry. When I started
to get more into lead styles, Eric Clapton was a big influence. Ace
Frehley and Ritchie Blackmore also influenced my style. My favorite
guitar players are Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Yngwie Malmsteen. I
have been fortunate enough to see all three on playing together at
a G3 concert and it was just awesome!
Web Site
www.trilogiescd.com
brandon@trilogiescd.com
