Alex Masi: vertical neon invader


News:
07-03-2008:
Alex Masi has an interview published in the Italian guitar journal "Chitarre"... for those of you who speak italian (or can at the very least read it) the famed italian magazine "Chitarre" just published the interview for the March 2008 issue...

Alex says:
I'm pretty pleased on how it turned out and i want to thank once again Mr.Gianni Rojatti (a fine fiddler in his own right) for a job well done. cheers from the haunted hill.....



23-02-2008:
Alex Masi gives a discourse on his view of guitar lessons in his latest blog post on MySpace:
back when i was still living in Venice i used to teach music in various schools around town...mostly as a substitute teacher as i was barely 19 yrs old and i had just graduated from the conservatory...i wasn't teaching guitar though, it was theory and very basic concepts of harmony...didn't like that experience a whole lot 'cause it was obvious that most of the kids in the class weren't really digging the dryness of the material imposed by the curriculum so one day i decided to bring in albums to play for them...everything from bach to hendrix and suddenly everyone started to show a lot more interest in the "music hour"...around the same time I was also giving private guitar lessons to students whose range of interest spanned from heavy metal to blues to scarlatti and bach...that was more interesting because the guys were actually eager to learn and many times I was learning along with them...

then I came to America....

here I've been giving lessons on and off through the years but mostly it's always been to people who wanted to learn how to play fast licks...I have nothing against fast licks (as some of you may have occasionally noticed) but I really believe that the focus during a guitar or music lesson should be mainly on musicality with a sidedish of technical pointers and not just a list of runs...

I actually enjoy the exchange of knowledge that almost always happens during a class and I hope that if you're reading this and you decide to take some classes from me you'll keep in mind that i will do my best to provide you with the information you wish to acquire but i will also try to give you the opportunity to look at the whole musical experience from a different angle that might expand your vision and maybe offer you new ideas as i also might get some fresh ideas from you ;-)


02-02-2008:
Alex Masi raves about v picks:
...anyone who's ever been to the namm show for as many times as i have through the years will certainly agree about the fact that it tends to be pretty much a repackaging of the same stuff...new shapes and colours and a couple of novelty items here and there but if one is looking for major innovations in the field of guitars and amps (with the exclusion of digital products) the search will be a bit frustrating...that was my mood this year as well up until about an hour before closing time on the very last day, Sunday...i was walking on the lower floor ready to head towards the exit hoping to beat traffic going back towards the valley when i walked by a fairly small booth...V PICKS...the lady in the booth was asking people to try the picks at home...she was handing them out...there were only a few left...it was pretty much closing time after all.

so I took one...



I was a bit sceptical as i have tried so many picks in my life and pretty much made up my mind that only a couple of types work fairly well for me.

I came home and after relaxing for a bit (the namm show is always a tour de force) i reached in my pocket and took out the V-PICK and started to play some lines on a guitar here...right away i felt something different happening to my right hand...it seemed to glide across the strings effortlessly...i felt i could suddenly relax my whole right arm in a way i had never experienced before...suddenly i started panicking though...i started thinking "shit, i better get rid of this pick right now because if i get used to this and i lose it (as i always do with picks) i'll be seriously screwed"...thank god i had also grabbed a flyer from the V-PICKs booth that had a way to reach the guys behind the product.

i got in touch with them immediately...i expressed my joy in having found this amazing new product but also my concern relating to the possibility of losing the only one in my possession...vinni, the man who designed the pick, got back to me the very next day...the coolest guy, he asked me for my address and sent me a bunch of different V-PICKS...at first i thought "i really only wanted the same type i already had" but then i started jamming here trying all of them...unfreaking believable!...they're all fantastic!!!...they all seem to bring out different aspects of my playing and they even affect the tone in a very positive way...i feel it's a lot easier to "shape" each note with these picks...there's a warmth and an very cool type of attack that was missing in the picks i was using before.

look, V-PICK doesn't do endorsements (yet), vinni simply sent me some extra picks so that i can avoid having panic attacks in case i lost the only v-pick in my possession...i'm really excited about these picks!...i really hope a lot of guitarists, bass players etc will try them and spread the word because this truly is the holy grail of picks my friends!

go check them out here: http://www.v-picks.com/


05-11-2007:
Brave Worlds posted, ALEX MASI, RANDY COVEN and JOHN MACALUSO live on one stage MCM : 1900 – Hard Times is a window to what happens during an MCM performance. Recorded at different shows from the trio's live shows throughout the USA and Central America the album is an electrifying showcase of immense musicianship and vision.



MCM : 1900 – Hard Times is the result of spontaneous theme elaboration done on the spot with guitarist Alex Masi commenting, "The only written, composed parts are pretty obvious, most intros, some outros and occasionally some bit in the middle but each piece include at least 80% of improvisation". Masi, Coven and Macaluso find the openness of the MCM material a welcome change to their normal fully scripted studio sessions with drummer John Macaluso stating, "MCM gives us an outlet for our need to let go of all the "do's and don'ts" associated with the life of a professional musician. Sometime the level of synchronicity among us is downright mysterious...when it happens it feels like "something" else is moving our hands and fingers and all we have to do is get out of our own way and let things happen". Bassist Randy Coven's adds on MCM approach, "Its absolute freedom from pre-fabricated structures and disregard of general expectations and that's exactly where we are in MCM, listen with your mind wide open."



The trio's goal in making the album was to try to convey the feeling of an MCM show to a bigger audience and show also a more immediate side than the one displayed on the previous studio album Ritual Factory (Lion Music). The musical influences of MCM come from everywhere - jazz, qawwali, drum 'n' bass, heavy rock, hindu and carnatic music etc yet the freedom shown allows transitions between these genres. MCM : 1900 – Hard Times is freedom of expression at its peak from three of the most distinguished performers in music today.



MCM : 1900 – Hard Times (due out on November 16th) tracklisting: '(1900) Hard Times', 'Raw Extremities', 'River Offering', 'Emergency Poncho', 'Mutual Assured Distraction', 'The Ground Above', 'Them Ain't Us', '30 Seconds Over Your Land', 'Esse'n'Emme', 'Unmatched Fragment', 'House Of Deviants', 'For Every Color You Know'.



07-11-2006:
You can now order "Late Night At Desert Rimrock" from guitar9

Also checked out Alex's site and had a look at a couple of new clips he posted:

http://www.alexmasi.net/tRiO__15_.avi
http://www.alexmasi.net/tRiO__6_.avi

30-10-2006:
Alex Masi continues his rich musical journey with a . The album also features his MCM band mate and former Yngwie Malmsteen, Ark drummer John Macaluso. For more details checkout: http://www.lionmusic.com/masi_desert.htm



Track Listing
1. Vagina Denata
2. You Asked
3 Antistructure
4. Love Is A Resonance
5. Asparagus Piss
6. Disembodied In Mojave
7. Tiktaalik In Evolution
8. The Smess Of Weightlessness
9. Telling England By The Sound
10. His/Her Dosage
11. Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t?
12. Unsolved

31-07-2006:
A big thanks for John Macaluso for posting Masi/Macaluso tour Live in Italy

14-06-2006:
...long time no update...well, that's just life isn't it?
Alex Masi has completed the recording / mixing for his next solo CD "late nights at desert rimrock". The CD features John Macaluso on drums. Look out for a release in the third quarter of this year.

Alex Masi is also working on a new MCM album, "1900, hard times". For more news Check out Alex's web site news page

06-10-2005:
Alex has two new videos:
Alex also features on the new a new CD which you can buy online: Trio Of Stridence.



Featuring:
Alex Masi - Guitar
Jeffrey Alan - Bass
Paul Marangoni - Drums

He is currently putting together a clinic tour with John Macaluso.

05-05-2005:
Alex has released another classical CD "In The Name Of Beethoven" which would appeal to fans of classical music.



Background:

Alex was born in the amazing city of Venice, Italy. He was excited bey music from an early age with parents playing classical and jazz albums and he particularly remembers hearing Bachs "Toccata and Fugue in D minor".

He first played piano, and studied music theory and gravitated to guitar to impress the girls. He was impressed by Ritchie Blackmore and later progressive rock like Yes, Genesis, Gentle Giant and Jethro Tull, etc...

He then studied Allan Holdsworth, John Mclaughlin, Henry Cow, Soft Machinejust as punk was in full flow.

Since then hew moved to America, released a number of band albums and highly respected solo albums and laterly solo classical albums.

He was also a big fan and friend of the late Shawn Lane and his new band MCM have carried on the traditions created by that great musical entity.

Check out many of his releases on guitar9 particularly Ritual Factory if you a fan of Shawns Music.

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