Website: http://cdbaby.com/cd/johncooper
Songs: Snowflakes (AGF CD 1)
About the Music: "It is a favorite of friends and [small] audiences. Also, it’s in honor of Mike Marler who passed away shortly after building this instrument – he made some of the best guitars I’ve ever heard even though he was relatively unknown. There are about 50 out there – check one out if ever given the opportunity. "
The song was really one of those gifts from above that just seemed to “fall out of the guitar” over the course of a weekend. It was cold and the middle of winter here in upstate NY. The imagery is a take your breath away, clear cold night – you can see the stars here and there, but there is a soft light snow gently falling. To me, this song just sounded like those snow flakes coming down …
Snowflakes – written for some good friends as the processional for their wedding. Have you ever stood outside and captured snowflakes as they swirl to earth only to discover that yes indeed: no two flakes are the same … and yet so similar? What are the chances of any two meeting out of all the billions: uniquely individual, delicately sticking together?
Recording Information: "Recorded by Peter Hopper at Masterview Recording Studios during a session with two other Marler Gutars owners working on a tribute CD for Mike Marler. The recording itself was a happy accident. My low “E” string was a bit dead from the previous week of going back and forth between “dropped D” and standard tuning. It added a slightly muffled quality to the bass notes that seemed just right – the way sounds are quiet and hushed after a heavy snowfall .. yet the high notes are still bright and twinkley. "
Instruments Used: "Recorded on a Marler Dream Catcher – Mike Marler, Luthier. 2004 #88. Adirondack Spruce/Honduran Rosewood Cutaway. I picked out the woods... The guitar is all Mikes design."
Tuning: "DADGAD tuning, Capo 5th fret. DADGAD tuning really helped me make the transition to composing. I resisted open tunings for years assuming that there was more than enough to learn in just standard tuning (there is!). But once I tried it - I was hooked. The freshness of the new sounds and all the open strings to support melodies higher up the neck seemed to open the floodgates for me. As a bonus, this required an additional guitar to dedicate to open tunings."