#976 👍 says, Rory reminds me of the same feeling when first hearing Danny Gaton back in the late 70's free-jamming pure unadulterated energy all over the fretboard!!! Pure joy to hear again, thank you Rory for your unbelievable talents for this neo-fan...
Rory Hoffman is shown on this video playing his brand new Buscarino 17-inch Virtuoso Oval Hole Archtop Guitar for the first time. Just wait until he gets to practice on it a little! This is what all guitar players could sound like if they could use an extra finger (their thumb) to press down the strings on the neck and had the resulting ability to stretch voicings over 6-plus frets. Forget all that technical stuff - just check out his simultaneous bass lines, chords and melodies, the feel and drive of the music. Rory is an Artist! Watch this in "Full Screen" - you will be amazed, just as I was the first time I saw him play.
It's certainly interesting to analyze his technique. Along the neck, relative to a standard grip, his hand position is reversed: on a single string, the pinky covers the low notes, while the thumb covers the high notes. So he uses his first finger (and sometimes thumb) to do what most players do with their pinkies. Across the neck, his hand position isn't reversed: he reaches across the neck for lower strings. BUT his hand arches over the strings more easily than in standard position, so he can let the high strings ring while manipulating low strings. Also, his right hand picking is pretty outrageous. Most people would fingerpick to play that degree of chord-melody. But at the end of the day, it's all about the ears, not the technique.
Combining Chet/Tony Rice/Stevie Ray/Jerry Reed/Howard Roberts/Tommy Emmanuel/Danny Gatton and a host of the Greatest Pickers to walk the Planet!!!!!--all wrapped into one package-- The Great RORY Hoffman🇺🇸
Rory u are a genius......I was doin my usual tommy Emmanuel search and saw your gig with him and it blew me away .....just seen this and I'm absolutely staggered at ur playing....truly amazing....
Seen him with his gypsy jazz trio at southern steak and oyster in Nashville last weekend. Entranced. Hostess had to tap me on the shoulder to remind me my table was ready.
The music industry showers people like Swift and Bieber with fame and fortune when there's talents like this guy out there? I don't get how that equation works.
The fame and fortune are directly related to marketability, the same is true in most of the arts. It takes a certain degree of musical understanding to appreciate this level of ability, and most people just don't have it. There's plenty of classical composers and performers that reach this level too, but I don't listen to them because guitar is my 'thing'. Compared to the recognition they get, Rory is a superstar, headline performances, people making him custom instruments, interviews everywhere, making a good living doing it. Let's try and keep the desire for capitalist excess away from the arts, because everything that gets richer is ultimately poorer for it. If you're pursuing the dollar you can't also be pursuing the limits.
