{"title":"Bruce Arnold","description":"\u003cp\u003eGuitarist Bruce Arnold’s passionate pursuit of new ideas and applications for his beloved six-string instrument has taken him from the minimalist landscapes of Sioux Falls, South Dakota to the bustling city of Boston, where he studied and later taught at the Berklee College of Music, to the hallowed halls of Princeton University, where he taught for 30 years, retiring in 2019. Along the way, the music educator and author has managed to document his innovative ideas for guitar on a series of potent recordings that explore the notion of applying highly complex 12-tone theoretical constructs and serial methods to modern American improvised styles. As he wrote in the liner notes to his ambitious 1996 debut recording, Blue Eleven: “All of the work reflects my goal to achieve a balance between emotional expression and formal exploration. ”Throughout his impressive body of work over the past 20 years, Arnold has deftly pulled together a myriad of musical influences ranging from Messiaen, Schoenberg and Webern on the contemporary classical side to Bill Frisell, Pat Metheny and John McLaughlin on the modern jazz guitar side. Furthermore, he has laid out his ideas in clear, concise fashion in the 52 instructional books that he’s written on ear training, theory and technique (including his mammoth, 700-page “The Sonic Resource Guide”). His latest educational outreach endeavor is “Bruce Arnold’s Jazz Guitar Summit NYC,” a series of guitar instructional videos that he oversaw for TrueFire Video (www.truefire.com) which break down specific techniques for aspiring players. Such celebrated New York-based six-stringers as Jack Wilkins, Leni Stern, Sheryl Bailey, Peter Leitch, Mimi Fox, Brad Shepik, Peter McCann, Serbian-born classical guitarist Dusan Bogdanovic and other prominent players were recruited by Arnold for these enlightening instructional videos. As he explains, “This video series is an outgrowth of the New York University Summer Guitar Intensive that I headed up for six years. All of these people were coming in and doing clinics for the students in this program I established, and I just thought, ‘This is amazing! We need to document this.’ These are all great players with a lot to offer to aspiring guitarists who are looking to improve their playing significantly. It’s just a treasure trove of information for guitars of all levels.”As for his own music, Arnold continues his various applications of the classical based pitch class set theory. explains. “This is something that I got into in the early ‘90s,” he explains. “When I was living in Boston, I had been playing in straight ahead jazz groups, fusion groups, rock groups, metal groups, and then when I moved to New York City in 1988 I started doing working with this band Spooky Actions where we played music by Messiaen, Webern and Schoenberg. And since then, this has actually been my baby — this whole pitch class set method. So now when I improvise, whether it’s on a jazz standard like ‘Stella By Starlight’ or McCoy Tyner’s ‘Passion Dance’ on a Webern piece or whatever, I’m using the pitch class sets that they used in the composition. That’s really my thing. ”Arnold’s focus on pitch class set theory since 1990 came after years of drifting between various styles of guitar playing. “When I was in Boston I was like the #1 call guitar player in town. It was like, ‘Oh, you want jazz? You want country? You want free improv?’ Whatever they wanted, I’d just do it. When I got to New York my attitude was, ‘I don’t want to do that anymore. I want to do something that expresses me!’ And that’s when I started exploring this hexatonic thing that McCoy Tyner was using, this idea of using two triads. And when I started teaching at Princeton, I began to realize that Schoenberg and Webern were doing the same thing, just with different sets of notes.” That eureka moment led 1996’s Blue Eleven, where he applied 12-tone constructs to a series of solo and trio “Variations.” After forming Spooky Actions in 1998 with saxophonist John Gunther, Arnold dove headlong into that heady territory on 2006’s Retrospective, which was devoted to the music of Webern, Schoenberg and Messiaen.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"bruce-arnold-candlewood-sessions-side-a-cd","title":"Bruce Arnold - Candlewood Sessions: Side A (CD)","description":"Bruce Arnold turns it up to 11 on \"Candlewood Sessions: Side A,” a hard hitting rock CD that shows off his chops as well as his compositional prowess. 2025 saw the passing of several truly greats of the arts, and Arnold commemorates them here. The CD shreds off with the guitar anthem \"Mike the Miller” an homage to the late great guitarist Mike Miller.  It’s followed by “Jack,\" a composition that Bruce heard in a dream and then wrote down.The tune is named for the seminal jazz guitarist Jack Wilkins.  Next up, \"Dry Ice Burn\" is a hard hitting rock ballad in three quarter time with a distinctive, menacing edge. \"The Painter” follows; a beautiful and thoughtful memorial for the great abstract expressionist painter Thornton Willis.  This track exudes a serene feeling that builds to an aptly “expressionist\" solo.  \"Grey and Brown” is an Arena Rock ballad that shows Bruce letting loose with a fire in his belly crank'n out the tones.  \"Bare to the Bone\" is an uptempo Rock Swinger with a memorable melody and a great groove.  Next is one of Bruce's most recorded tracks; the anthemic  \"Heard Instinct.” This is one you will sway to --probably with a bic lighter held high.  Finally, \"Small Miracle” is a tune by drummer Eric Halvorson, that is a salute to Oliver Messiaen with its cool floating melody and complex chord changes.  This exciting CD’s got great guitar tones, awesome technique and stinging solos, but it has a lot more— it’s got a full spectrum of emotions, and subtle shifts of mood. Enjoy it all.","brand":"Muse Eek Publishing Inc.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52262787088677,"sku":"004853103147","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0758\/1250\/3845\/files\/CANDLEWOOD-SESSIONS-Side-A.jpg?v=1776892741"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0758\/1250\/3845\/collections\/CANDLEWOOD-SESSIONS-Side-A.jpg?v=1776892860","url":"https:\/\/store.spinneymedia.com\/collections\/bruce-arnold.oembed","provider":"Spinney Media","version":"1.0","type":"link"}