Bill Paul + Musician in Madison, WI

SEEKING

ABOUT

Bill began playing guitar as a tweenager, watching Chicago folk musicians perform at a coffeehouse on the Rock River. As a teen, he moved on to electric guitar and the rock of the era, today called "classic rock". Like his friends, Bill played all the Beatles songs.

After high school, he studied guitar at Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. It was an accredited full jazz program then, taking classes and private lessons with some of Milwaukee's top players. Bill does not consider himself a "jazzman", rather his music has jazzy influences and a smooth yet strong swing feel. He enjoys playing Americana, sometimes called the American songbook, or roots music.

Much of Bill's life was dedicated to acoustic guitar, dreadnought or archtop. Today, he is only interested in playing electric guitar music that is not loud and heavily over-driven.

Bill sings lead and background vocals, but hasn't been recording these -- perhaps he will record a couple of demos soon and then will promptly upload.

Please contact Bill: webmaster (at) clubtnt (dot) org

UPDATE 3/19/2021: The 2021 recordings are direct into a Boss Micro BR digital recorder with no amp modeling, effects, or overdrive. Reverb was added in post. They are cleaner and clearer when recorded this way, but do not sound like the same guitar though an amp.

He plays other styles including rock, blues, acoustic, and pre-line dancing country. To hear a more-driving blues style, please listen to video Bill's Bounce (fifth row, second video), Late Freight (with vox, 6th row, first video), or his popular Tribute to Chuck Berry (last video).

Screen name:

Bill Paul

Member since:

Apr 30 2016

Active within 1 week

Level of commitment:

Committed

Years playing music:

45

Gigs played:

Over 100

Tend to practice:

More than 3 times per week

Influences

Jack Grassel (Milwaukee guitarist) and some of the other outstanding area guitarists that, while great in their own rights, also studied with Jack or his mentor, the late great George Pritchett.

Under Jack's advisement, Bill has some guitars set up to sound like a bass (low E & A string) and a guitar (D-G-B-E). This effect is most pronounced when the 2 low strings are flat-wound and the next 2 are round-wound.

Bill began learning Jack's "Super-Ax" style from an outstanding Milwaukee guitarist, Kirk Tatnall, performing bass lines simultaneously with rhythm chords and melodies, sounding like 2 instruments.

You can hear this as the backtrack, using a looper, on Bill's video for On Wisconsin (swing style) and the audio samples for America the Beautiful & I'm a Fool to Care.

Bill can cover bass in a combo or duo as needed should a project move forward sans bass player.

As a guitarist that started playing in the '70s, Bill is influenced by the many greats that were on the charts. Most people listened to AM radio in those days and the programming was music and not talk.

Instrument experience:

Vocalist:

Expert

Rhythm Guitar:

Expert

Lead Guitar:

Expert

Acoustic Guitar:

Expert

EQUIPMENT

Professional guitars and PA -- different options for different sounds and styles. When we talk about a project, I can share more so that we match equipment with the sound we are seeking.

MUSIC