Guitar players and critics: How original is Kaki King?

Cafe Society
1

I’m a middle-aged guy and I haven’t seriously studied guitar since I managed to watch Jerry Garcia several times from up close in maybe 1970 or so. But my son has become a guitar player and I’m learning a few things again by having him around. One thing I learned is that Kaki King can do things no one dreamt of in 1970. My son says the technique is called two handed tapping. There used to be a video of it on her web site; unfortunately it’s not there now.

My son tells me that it’s nothing special, that Eddie Van Halen did it all years ago. But then he says that some of it really is original.

So how original is it in 2006? And if anyone else can link to videos, please do so.

2

I know nothing about guitar playing so can’t help you there, but there are a number of videos of her up on youtube.

3

Her stuff is regularly on Youtube, including appearances on late night tv - Conan?

She is very good at what she does, but what she does is pretty specific. There are other well-known two-handed players - the late Michael Hedges and Stanley Jordan both come to mind. This type of player typically creates their own style. In the electric realm, EVH did 2-handed tapping - but so did Lenny Breau and all the hair-metal guys who came after EVH, with the late Randy Rhoads the most well-known.

I enjoy her in small doses and really respect her technique - for her; it’s simply not a style I am interested in learning myself…

4

Thanks so much. I guess I should get into the habit of looking on youtube before I ask questions on the web. It took me a couple of years to learn to google first. Here’s what I was refering to:

Two handed tapping

5

I saw her play live earlier this year and her two-handed technique was completely unimpressive to someone like me who has seen Preston Reed more than once. Or maybe just the particular songs were. I nearly fell asleep. (Imagine that at a Reed concert!)

However, her new experimentation with lap steel and pedal looping is the real thing. Gay Sons of Lesbian Mothers displays the technique but the sound of course doesn’t really come across the camcorder mike or whatever was used to record this.

In person, with the proper amps and speakers, it is awesome. It has the feel of a new type of instrument, or a new type of music, or something truly new and original. Whether others do this particular technique I don’t know, but it isn’t widespread in the mainstream.

Like Reed she probably is a victim of needing to be seen live. Neither apparently can duplicate the feel on a CD.

6

I believe she’s playiing in my home town next week. Sounds like it might be worth going.

Yeah, that’s why I love this board. To tell you the truth I’ve …uh…never seen Preston Reed live or on video for that matter, or even heard of him before I read your post. And other than my son’s guitar teacher there’s no one I know that could answer any of these questions for me. So thanks for the info, I’m off to learn about Preston Reed, maybe buy tickets for KK.