Chicken Pickin Lesson: Picking
Another great tip from our favorite Chicken Picker, the great Austin, Tx based, John Lere....!
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John Lere: "Adventures In Chicken Pickin'"
John Lere: Brent Mason lick.
Another great Brent Mason lick from our favorite Chicken Picker, the ADVENTUROUS the AMAZING John Lere.
John Lere: "Adventures In Chicken Pickin'"
Cool Country Lick
John Lere here again with a very cool Country lick.
John Lere: "Adventures In Chicken Pickin'"
LessonsCountry
"Hot Wired"By Brent Brent Mason.
Who Is John Lere?
John W. Lere Jr. was born with a guitar in his hands. Not really, but it's a romantic thought and seems very fitting if you're familiar with him. Whether banging on different toys with a pencil or plucking around on various beginner guitars as a child, John Lere has been making music his entire life. He began traditional study on the guitar at the age of 9, taking weekly lessons from Art Gomez at Vesley Music in Las Vegas, NV, learning the fundamentals and written language of music. John started giving his own lessons to neighborhood kids or friends at school and loved everything about the guitar. As a freshman in High School he joined the Stage Band and was introduced to jazz music. The piece of music given to him to play for his audition was 'Birdland' by Weather Report. All of the sudden an obsession with this different type of music took over and John went on to play in many different High School Jazz Ensembles around Las Vegas, constantly learning and improving.
He was accepted to the Las Vegas Academy of International Studies and Performing Arts after his sophomore year and the study of jazz music went into overdrive! This new learning environment was a dream come true to any kid that wanted to play, practice and study music all day and that is exactly what John did. LVA Jazz band director Alan Lawson, introduced John to legendary & local guitar instructor Hap Smith(RIP Hap. You will be forever missed) and was taught a deeper lesson in discipline and music theory. John continued regular study With Hap Smith during his junior and senior years, and began teaching part time(mostly to kids and beginners) at local music shop Pat's Desert Music. With College just around the corner, John set his sights on a school on the other side of the country. Being Alumni of Berkeley School of Music in Boston, Hap helped John prepare an audition piece and gave a very gracious letter of recommendation. After much consideration however, the decision was made to stay in Las Vegas For College and he accepted a scholarship from The University Of Nevada Las Vegas. Over the next few years John studied with jazz great Joe Lano, focusing on chord inversions, chord solos, different picking techniques and smoking cigarettes.
John Played in many different bands, many different styles and genres, toured around the country many times, teaching along the way where ever possible. He has worked for Carnival Cruise Lines and traveled to Mexico and Canada, but never really feeling satisfied with what he was doing. That would soon change! Even though John had listened to and been a big fan of country music throughout his whole life, when he heard the music of The Hellecasters he became totally intrigued by the many different sounds, that in the right hands, the Telecaster could produce, and so began the journey towards Tele-mastery. All of the sudden that fire and enjoyment of playing the guitar was back! A desire to teach was also resurrected and a feeling of responsibility to give back to anybody aspiring to learn the guitar.
John Lere has dedicated his life to music and of all the many different instruments in the world, the one that chose him was the Guitar. He has acquired an extremely large amount of knowledge and skill and he continues to strive for new things on the guitar as well as in Life. Fortunately, it is all available for purchase for a great low price! LOL
Welcome to Adventures in Chicken Pickin’
Guitar Players, aspiring Chicken Pickers, professional musicians and everyone else who love things guitar related, this is the place for you! Be part of an online community of guitar players, teachers, collectors, luthiers, and other enthusiasts. If you’re interested in learning how to play guitar or want to improve upon what you already know, Sign up for the Academy of Chicken Pickin’ and we will plan out a structured course of study that’s designed solely for you with the aim at getting you to the level of playing you wish to be. Or just hang out and chat with others about your favorite players and bands. Stay tuned for more adventures and cool stuff to be added very soon. Thank you!
John Lere
Player News
NewsAcoustic
Exclusive Interview with Spanish Guitarist/Composer, Russ Hewitt
It has been quite a year for guitar virtuoso Russ Hewitt with his current CD, ‘Cielo Nocturno’, showing all the signs of becoming a run-away success. Shimmering with the rumba flamenco rhythms and lightning guitar runs that have become trademarks of Hewitt’s distinctive style, the album includes a stellar line up of returning musicians including percussionist Raphael Padilla (Miami Sound Machine, Chris Isaak), drummer Walfredo Reyes Jr. (Santana, Steve Winwood, Chicago), bass player Bob Parr (Cher, Barry White), guitarist Alfredo Caceres (Gipsy Kings All-Stars) and most notably Larry Carlton who features on the delightfully easy grooving ‘North of Home’. The radio single featuring Larry Carlton was a mainstay on stations worldwide.
The recording was mastered by Chris Bellman who, in his time, has worked with the likes of Van Halen, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and Elton John while completing the lineup are guitarist Ardeshir Farah (Strunz & Farah) on the fiery ‘Persian Sky’ and accordion player Vladimir Kaliazine.
Bellman mastered Hewitt’s two previous releases, ‘Bajo el Sol’ and ‘Alma Vieja’ which not only garnered outstanding reviews from around the world but also drew fulsome praise from his peers.
Accolades are coming from all over the world in forms of press and reviews including making the ballot for the 59th Grammy Awards (Best Contemporary Instrumental Album, Engineered Album, Instrumental Composition ‘Persian Sky’); Two silver medal’s from the Global Music Awards in the instrumental category for the song ‘Presido’ and album category for ‘Cielo Nocturno‘; Nominated for ‘Best Acoustic Guitar Album 2016’ from One World Music Awards; Nominated in the Best Jazz Single category from RoundGlass Music Awards (‘Samba Sao Paulo’). The latest CD also made several ‘Best of’ lists including #2 by Vincent Furnier at Soundcheckdfw.com, #4 by Travis Tutwiler at at Soundcheckdfw.com (‘Persian Sky’ featuring Ardeshir Farah was at #6 for his song of the year), #5 by Michael Debbage at MainlyPiano.com, Kathy Parsons at MainlyPiano.com (She did not put number orders to her selections) and honorable mention from Scott Itter at Dr.Music.org.
In addition to the ‘Best of lists’ several reviews added their own score rating: 9.5 of 10 by Arthur Gonzales at Rock N Roll Industries; 8.1 of 10 by James McQuiston at NeuFutur; a (perfect) “EQ” (energy quotient) rating of 5.00 by Rotcod Zzaj at Contemporary Fusion Reviews; 4.0 out of 5 by Matt Jensen at Divide and Conquer; Five Starz by Scott Thomas at Guitarz Forever.
In fact the favorable opinion gained from Hewitt’s debut CD, ‘Bajo el Sol’, rapidly translated into prolific airplay and a ten-week stay at #1 on Music Choice. It took up residence on the Smooth Jazz indie charts for 16 weeks and the first track to be released to radio (the dazzlingly Latin flavored title cut) climbed rapidly into the Top 20.
The follow-up single, ‘Lydia’, enjoyed similar success, peaking at #15 and storming into the Billboard’s Top 40. Not content with that, Hewitt then made it three for three with ‘El Beso’ which also made it onto that same Top 40 listing and was named as one of the top smooth jazz tunes of 2009 by www.smoothjazznow.com.
In addition, ‘Bajo el Sol’ was generously acknowledged by the music industry. It was included on the ballot for the 52nd Grammy Awards in the categories Best Pop Instrumental Performance, Best Pop Instrumental Album, Best Instrumental Composition, Best Instrumental Arrangement and Best Engineered Album whilst elsewhere Hewitt gained an ‘Honorable Mention’ for the album’s title cut at the 2009 International Songwriting Competition.
When Russ’s sophomore project, ‘Alma Vieja’ came long in 2011 it delivered two more Top 40 smooth Jazz singles, ‘Pacific Sunrise’ and ‘Samba Samba’.
Not surprisingly, Russ has endorsements from a wide spectrum of suppliers and manufacturers. These include Godin guitars, Radial Engineering (Tonebone), Analysis Plus Cables, Morley Pedals, V-Picks, Neunaber Audio Effects, Voodoo Lab, BBF Pedal Boards, Primacoustic, Mission Engineering and DLS Effects.
Always striving to extend his boundaries into sound tracks and commercial work, Russ contributes artist interviews and a monthly guitar lessons column to ‘The Sound’ magazine whereas his prowess as a composer has resulted in five Telly Awards (for ‘Parent Compass’) and the DVD companion to the New York Best Seller ‘The Harbinger Decoded’ by Jonathan Cahn. Russ has written the music for the upcoming feature film ‘Thirst: Mission Liberia’ which has already won a Silver Telly in the Spiritual – Faith category and a Bronze Telly in the Documentary category.
