New Promotional Fingerstyle Video (New Link)

[gitzilla2000]

Hi Chetboard Friends...

I've recently finished a promotional video for some gigs I'm trying to get out of state. I always like to post anything I do in the fingerstyle genre here. I know at least a few of the arrangements on the vid are Chet's.

I'd say about half of all the arrangements I play live are Chet's AND John's (Knowles) It's funny how the names are infamous, but most folks (usually music lovers and not players) don't know the diversity of their arrangements and talent.

For instance- When playing something like, The Entertainer, Vincent, Zorba, Yesterday or even Take Five, people say- "Man, that's a great version" (They usually say version and not arrangement!) and I tell 'em... "Yeah that's Chet's arrangement." Even though the majority are NOT musicians/guitarists, 9 times out of 10 they usually know WHO Chet is just by his first name alone. However,they usually don't know the complexity and versatility of his playing,they just know what they like and it's Chet Atkins!

Hope you enjoy the PR vid....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5PPdtrhet8

Take Care & God BLess!

Tim

[gitzilla2000]

The link in the original post will work just fine!

Tim

[John Knowles]

Tim, Great to see you putting the music to work. I hope your video leads to new gigs and appreciative audiences. John

[Randy Finney]

Hi Tim,

Well, I am not sure if you posted this purely for our enjoyment or to solicit opinions. I am going to assume for both reasons.

On the enjoyment side, thank you. You are a great player and have a wonderful touch and feel.

Detaching myself as fan of yours for a moment, and donning my Guitar Music Salesman hat - which is what I do up here in Toronto - I offer you the following comments on the functioning of your video as a sales pitch for getting gigs "for parties, restaurants, festivals or any occasion."

I spend much of my time trying to sell unknown guitar players to people who do NOT play guitar, who have never been to a solo guitar concert in their life, and who, in all likelihood, don't even know what solo guitar "is". So, before watching your promotional video, I put myself in the frame of mind of someone like this who is looking for music for their wedding reception, or whatever.

I decided that what I would want to see is how your thing "works" in a situation as close as possible to the one for which I would be hiring you. In other words, I wanted to see you in action in a room full of mingling people and how this contributed to the ambiance you speak of. I wanted to see this right of the mark.

I clicked through to your video. This was not the first thing I saw. It was not the second thing I saw either. In fact, I watched all four minutes and 52 seconds of your video and didn't see it.

Now, regardless of how good your video actually is - and how good your playing is, which is very good - as a "shopper" I come away disappointed because I didn't see what I wanted to see.

So, my suggestion is to kick off your video with a scene of you actually playing in a room crowded with people mingling about. Keep the volume of your playing more in the background. Text scroll on the screen is something like, "Timothy Price playing at such and such". (This can be staged although it probably less expensive to just film it for real with the patron's permission.)

Then cut your playing from the audio mix, mess with the colour of the video (remove some of it), and scroll text on the screen something like, "This is the same event without Timothy Price playing".

Bring the colour and the guitar audio back up (guitar to the forefront this time), and make your sales pitch verbally as a voice over. Keep it short. The gist should be that you are a great player, you have a vast repertoire, and you are honest and conscientious about you do. I would scroll 100 or so of the most polar songs that are likely to be requested vertically through the screen (kind of like those those late night Time-Life commercials that used to air), while you are talking.

The entire video should be a minute and a half - definitely not more than two.

This next comment sounds a little harsh but, I would nuke the "scrapbooking" feel. I personally like it because I am a fan but, anybody who is not already a fan just doesn't care this much about your life. They care about their own life and what you can do for them right now.

If this video is meant to get you the types of background music gigs that you mention, it is not a vehicle for you to get "fans", it is a vehicle for you to get "clients". You will collect your fans from the client's clients while getting paid by the client.

As I said, I don't know if you wanted any advice/opinion from me or anyone else but, none the less, you are getting it.

Randy

[gitzilla2000]

Thanks John! I really, really do appreciate it! Loved your clinic B4 CAAS a few years back! I still talk with a few of the gentlemen I met at it! Also love your playing and it was such a treat to attend your concert! Also loved your Lenny stories! Hope to see you again soon!

Thanks Randy! Absolutely I appreciate your post as well! As a matter of fact, I believe I'll keep this video availble for now until I can create more of a "LIVE" situation(s) promo vid because yup as you stated, a lot of the performances are different. Some are wallpaper and some are full blown concerts (with everything in between)

And thank you for the kind words!

Tim