Dave Munkhoff - Blues Rock Guitar |
Dave Munkhoff "Watch Your Back" CDThe CD, "Watch Your Back" was released in April of 2011. All of the music on this album was written, produced and performed by Dave Munkhoff, except for the song, "Pink Panther", which was written by Henry Mancini. Dave's approach to the Pink Panther Theme on guitar is totally unique from other guitar versions.
Dave Munkhoff Blues CDMy self-titled CD, Dave Munkhoff, was the bluesiest thing I had done up to this point. Even though it has other elements of jazz, rock and even a little country, it's still foremost a blues album. It's what some people would call, "blues with a twist". Check out the mp3 samples for yourself and see what you think. All of my CD's are available at CDBaby.com or through iTunes.
Musical BoundariesI would try to play along with any and everything that came on. In 1964 a radio station’s playlist would play a Sinatra song followed by the Stones then maybe Louis Armstrong followed by the Beatles with some Buck Owens, Elvis and Chuck Berry thrown into the mix. Eventually I started to recognize certain similarities in chord progressions that many of these songs had in common. People didn’t pay much attention to musical boundaries back then, everyone just soaked up the wide variety of styles that happen to be in the Top 40 hits list for that week. As a result, a budding young guitarist would be exposed to all kinds of music. During the seventies I was very much into hard rock, which was actually more or less blues rock. My favorite bands such as Cactus, Jeff Beck Group, Mountain, The James Gang and Zeppelin were dripping with blues riffs. In 1974, I was lucky enough to join my favorite local band, Wale, out of Rochester, New York. In the beginning Wale was mainly a big hair, tight jeans, very loud blues band that rocked. In the 1990’s the world’s definition of hard rock was starting to change as it’s boundary with heavy metal remained undefined. The heavy rock no longer had its roots in the blues or for that matter, any roots at all. Real rock and roll is a mix of blues and country. This explains why the old rockers are now either playing blues or country. 
|
Dave Munkhoff "Grab It" CDMy CD, "Grab It", runs the blues gamut from hard rockin’ blues to light jazzy blues. If you like Gary Moore and Jeff Beck then I think you’ll understand what I’m trying to do. Check out the mp3 samples for yourself and see what you think. Please take advantage of the free mp3 download. This CD is available at CDBaby.com and iTunes.
Electric Blues RockElectric Blues Rock guitarist, Dave Munkhoff, plays his blues mixed with some Funk and a little Jazz. He started playing guitar in 1964 for the same reason millions of other young kids and teenagers started... “The British Invasion”. Seeing the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show playing live and not lip syncing their music was a real life changing experience for Dave. This was the first time he had ever been able to connect the music he was hearing with what the musicians were doing with their fingers. All of a sudden, it all made sense and he realized that, yes, he could do that.
Up until that point, American kids had gotten their Rock & Roll from either Ricky Nelson faking it on the Ozzie and Harriet Show or some bad actor holding a guitar in a surf movie. By the summer of ’64 Dave had been playing guitar for a couple of months and was on a quest to learn the history of Rock guitar. His older cousin, Peggy, gave him her old record player and a hundred or so Rock & Roll 45’s. This record collection included several Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly singles. That summer while the neighbor kids were out playing ball Dave was down in his basement wearing out his Chuck Berry records. When Dave would go out to buy the latest Beatles or Rolling Stones record, he would always check out the bargain bins. He was now in love with fifties Rock & Roll / Rockabilly and was always on a constant lookout to discover new oldies. One of these trips to the bargain bin led him to a new guy (at least he was new to Dave) with a really cool name. Dave figured with a name like Lightnin’ Hopkins this guy has to be a real rocker. When he got home and played that record for the first time he didn’t know what to make of it. After listening for a minute or less he decided this was not Rock & Roll then took it off the turntable. The next day after school he listened to it again, trying to understand what he was hearing. Once again, he decided this was not music for young white kids and put it back in his pile of 45’s. Each day he found himself drawn to this strange sounding record listening to a little more each time. Pretty soon he realized this music was very cool and not so far removed from Chuck Berry and early Buddy Holly as he first thought. Young Dave, while still only 12 or 13 years old, had accidentally discovered the real blues. |
