Phil Haymes

Here are some of the fine folk that I’m listening to lately for inspiration:

Guthrie Govan: Erotic Cakes

My tutor Dave pointed me at Guthrie a little while back and I was blown away. Guthrie is probably the best guitarist on the planet from any standpoint, mastering pretty much every style as if he’d been playing it for 50 years. After a watching a few Youtube Vids, I very quickly picked up his album, Erotic Cakes and was mesmerized from the start to the finish. I can’t recommend buying this enough and if you aren’t convinced already then watch the following Youtube clip of Guthrie doing some improv over a Larry Carlton style backing track. Then go watch a few more vids and do yourself and Guthrie a favor – buy the album – you won’t regret it!

George Benson: Collection

I’d always been intruiged to hear George as his guitar was one of the 3 Ibanez Y2K signatures that my own Jem DNA belongs to. I found this album in a record store on Saturday for the measly price of £1 so couldn’t pass up the opportunity and thankfully I wasn’t dissapointed. Great guitarist, great musician and totally inspiring.

Chris Cornell: Carry On

I’m a huge fan of Chris’s work in Audioslave and Soundgarden, the guy has one of the best voices in music in my opinion! I’ve picked up all 3 of his solo efforts but this particular album really stands out and begs to be listened to constantly. This almost became the soundtrack of my life whislt spending time working in Russia last year and I haven’t stopped listening to it since. Each track has the perfect dose of rhythm, riff and melody with some truley great lyrics and vocal performances by Chris. It also features a unique cover of Michael Jackson’s ‘Billy Jean’ as well as the Casino Royale theme ‘You know my Name’.

Metallica: Death Magneitc

Everyone needs some metal in their life whether they know it or not and Metallica knows best how to deliver it. Seriously this is a great album from start to finish and has some of the most fun guitar riffs known to mankind in there. I’ve had a great time transcribing most of this album over the last few months!

Dire Straits: On Every Street

Ironically, even as a huge Dire Straits/Mark Knopfler fan I never really got into this album but I picked it up again a couple of weeks back on iTunes and it has me hooked. I guess that since I started exploring other styles of guitar myself such as Jazz, Fusion and Blues, this album really speaks to me on a level that it couldn’t previously. Album high for me is ‘Planet of New Orleans’, such an atmospheric piece of music.

Seether: One Cold Night (Live)

I was first introduced to Seether via the soundtrack for 1080 Snowboarding a few years back and the included song ‘Fine Again’ just instantly resonated with me. I immediately went out and picked up their first album on the back of it and was treated to many awesome songs of equal quality. I saw this Live album whilst browsing through CD’s at the weekend and had to pick it up. It’s an Acoustic set and includes many of my favourite songs including ‘Fine Again’, ‘Plastic Man’, ‘Driven Under’ and ‘Broken’.

Here’s a Youtube clip from that set: