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Eric Keyes

@ericmkeyes

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Musician * Artist * Actor
Song-Driven • Guitar-Forward • Timeless | Independent Pop Artist & Songwriter

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Why I play Guitar
I play guitar because I love to; because I love the places where music is found, which are invariably beautiful and hate the environs where crowds are found like ACL, Coachella and Burning Man because they are invariably ugly, rife with posers and those escaping mediocrity.
The television commercials, political parties and assorted social posturing I thus escape. In a world where most men seem to spend their lives doing the things they hate, my guitar playing is at once an endless source of delight and a small act of rebellion; because music does not lie or cheat but responds only to quietude, humility and endless patience which I have like no other.
Because I suspect that men are heading along a path of self destruction I want no part of. I don’t want to waste this trip mercifully tied to my cellphone and to the opinions of others.
Only in my music can I find solitude without loneliness. Because my Coors Original tastes better in a cold glass mug than a red bull in an aluminum can or Bud Light in a cheap plastic bottle.
Because maybe someday a Mermaid will hear my song and finally not because I regard my music as being so terribly important but because I suspect that so many of the other concerns of man are equally unimportant and not nearly so much fun. Speaking of Mermaids:
I got lucky and my little Mermaid found me 2 years ago and wouldn’t you know a guitar was involved. She even has red hair. I love you Connie. Thanks for believing in me and saving my life.
Sometimes you have to give up the life you planned so the life waiting for you can come to be. The guy in the Little Mermaid is even named Eric. Do something you love to do today. 🩷 🎸 🔥
-Eric
#music #love #art #guitar #erickeyes taken in Dallas, Texas by @ericmkeyes

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a day ago

From the Archives — Houston, age 17.

At this point, the path in my mind was already pretty clear: I was going to become the best guitar player I could and dedicate my life to music.

That's my Les Paul and the white Marshall stack behind me. I had been mowing lawns and saving money, and after I won the talent show at my high school, my parents surprised me by helping me get that Marshall from Rockin' Robin Guitars in Houston.

My Dad actually gave himself a hernia bringing the thing home by himself because they wanted it to be a surprise. Funny how life circles around — at 57 same age he was I've just been diagnosed with a small inguinal hernia myself. Probably from lifting tube amps.

This was a gig at Malibu Grand Prix with Russell DeLeon on drums, Jim Redlin on bass and Costa Liollio on vocals. Russell was also the drummer who would later be there when I met Jeff Scott Soto.

Years later I traded that Marshall for my Martin HD-28. I still have the Martin. The gear changed. The bands changed. The music changed. But the decision I made back then never really did.
I'm still playing, writing, recording and teaching guitar all these years later.

I'm putting together a small 6-week guitar “get in shape” program for players who want to sharpen their ears, fretboard knowledge, improvisation and overall musicianship this fall.
If that sounds useful, just message me GUITAR and I'll send you the details.

57 songs. 57 stories. And quite a few miles in between.

#music #art #guitar #love #erickeyes taken in Dallas, TX by @ericmkeyes

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6 days ago

Learn to Burn

A quick music update and opportunity for getting it together this Fall. In 6 weeks I can get you in great shape to be your best.

It's simple, straightforward and a lot of fun. Especially when we dive into intervals and you can backwards engineer your favorite songs and artist composers easily with my "How you do anything is how you do everything" approach.

Music is like fishing and baseball fun and develops deep patience and confidence. You will definitely become a much better listener.

Message me for details.

-Eric

#music #art #fypシ #love #erickeyes taken in Dallas, TX by @ericmkeyes

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7 days ago

57 songs. 57 stories. 🎸

Here's one of them.

I've decided to start sharing more of the stories behind the music I've recorded over the years.

Full track — link in bio.

— Eric Keyes

#EricKeyes #OriginalMusic #Guitar #Guitarist #IndependentArtist #DallasMusic taken in Dallas, TX by @ericmkeyes

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16 days ago

FROM THE ARCHIVES… Houston, 1987. 🎸

Jeff Scott Soto and me in my bedroom at my parents’ house in Timbergrove Manor.

Hard to believe this was almost 40 years ago. There’s quite a story behind this photograph — and an even bigger story about how the people and music we encounter when we're young can change the direction of our lives.

The story is in the photo.

Great music changes everything.

— Eric Keyes

#FromTheArchives #JeffScottSoto #YngwieMalmsteen #RisingForce #EricKeyes #Houston #Guitar #OriginalMusic #TBT taken in Dallas, TX by @ericmkeyes

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20 days ago

Money-penny

I wanted to share something positive today amidst all of this
vitriol and rubbish that we are constantly bombarded with.

I share a story about a couple of great books Mark recommended to me along with an inherently valuable life lesson from my folks.

The best investment you can make at this time is in your self, your family and how you spend your time. You heard me say many times "I have never seen a hearse pulling a U-Haul" I have stared death in the face twice in my life now. That was enough for me to learn how precious and fragile our time on this blue ball is. Be sure and subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me here so we can be a positive force together. I have all 6 of my albums available on all platforms. We just got my "Lost" up from my first EP. It's a cool track with myself, Keith Carlock on drums, Nikhil Pandya on tabla and Andy Timmons does a smoking guest solo.

Time well spent.

Rock On!

#music #song #fypシ #love #erickeyes taken in Dallas, Texas by @ericmkeyes

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21 days ago

Eric Keyes is a "sick" guitar player.
Yesterday I got a message about a guitar solo reel my engineer mixed for me on my Youtube channel. The listener said my guitar solo on my track "Iblis" off of on my 1st solo release 'Wake Up' was "sick" I got a kick out of it because I know what he means.
I will take it as a compliment however I thought it was funny in an ironic way because if you keep up with me on here you know that last year I was literally a "sick guitar player" All is well now but you got to love the play on words and our funny English language
Which got me to thinking about something funny:
Why do we call workshops where professional guitar players show us their methods "guitar clinics?" I find that hilarious.
I imagine you have to be a little "sick" to play guitar so it probably behooves us to have regular visits to these said "guitar clinics"
Maybe I could open up one in my spare time. I could even have a blood pressure machine in there for when we play too fast?
I guess I was a pretty sickly kid because I went to a lot of guitar clinics. Here a just a few that come to mind I attended growing up
I saw
1. Dr. Vivian Campbell (he didn't even play at his 'clinic')
2. I saw Dr. Frank Gambale at Texas Toms
3. I saw Dr. Tommy Tedesco (he had a great clinic and was funny)
Laughter is the best medicine.
4. I saw Dr. Scott Henderson
5. I saw Dr. Pat Metheny
6. I saw Dr. Vinnie Moore and ate redfish with him afterwards.
7. I saw Dr. Howard Roberts
8. I saw Dr. Clint Strong
9. I saw Dr. Al Di Meola
There were so many visits to these clinics I don't remember them all. This photo is my 1st Stratocaster a 1962 Red one. The same year as Brad Gillis main axe. This is from the Denton Arts & Jazz Festival. I miss that guitar. It is somewhere in Japan these days.
Remember those hilarious Chuck Norris memes? I thought I would start an Yngwie one today. He is a badass like Chuck and deserves his own memes for sure. So here goes:
• Yngwie plays so fast he can't use a guitar cable because his fingers travel faster than the notes down the cable to the amp.
Send me the ones you come up with and we can create a funny thread and I will send it to him. We need a laugh. taken in Dallas, Texas by @ericmkeyes

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22 days ago

I feel that racism is one of the dumbest things on our planet.
You have to so completely ignorant and uneducated to be racist.
I share a few stories that taught me that early on in my life.
Do something great today.
-Eric
#music #love #song #fypシ #erickeyes taken in Dallas, Texas by @ericmkeyes

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23 days ago

Keyes to Life Principle #33

Go back and take a look at your life in pictures. If you do, you will clearly see you are being pushed in a very definite direction.

I know it's weird but I have too many experiences that prove it.

Case in point look at this picture from 1997 I posted yesterday.
Look what popped up in my memories the next day. The same guy, playing the same guitar with a black t-shirt and blue jeans damn near 20 years later. I still have the guitar and similar clothes

I could not make this stuff up If I tried. Here is something I recommend to all of my private students. Pick a point in your life that is significant. From that year pick out 4 photos from that year and then the next nine years. You will have 40 photos or so.

Arrange them in chronological order and then make a montage.
Then just look at it. Of the people I have recommended this to only about 20 % of people will ever do it. It's funny the ones who do it are always in shock. They call me up and can't wait to show it to me. Here is something else I noticed. Almost all of my students who did "do this" have a successful career trajectory.

Information is not powerful at all. Clarity is extremely powerful.

Do it, I dare you. 🔥🎸📸

Message me your results

#dreams #music #song #photography #erickeyes taken in Dallas, Texas by @ericmkeyes

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a month ago

Social Media?

This is a pic of me in 1997 playing my guitar at The Fry Street Fair in Denton, TX. Just a kid with a guitar and dream to see the world

Somewhere in life I just figured that the quality of your life is in your communication. Since I was a shy kid, i found an outlet through art and music. Art was more of a solemn lonely experience for me. I enjoyed creating but missed the camaraderie I had in baseball and basketball. Music hit me hard at 14 and I saw a way to speak out a little louder there. There was feedback.

I also had met Billy Gibbons, saw Edward Van Halen Live and kissed a girl while listening to "Darling Nikki" by Prince in 1984. To say I had found my outlet was a certainty at that point.

Everything was 'word of mouth' back then and people were literally dancing in the streets. Especially when I moved to college

Our world sure is divided these days. I remember reading "Radical Honesty" by Brad Blanton just before I graduated college. That book still radiates in my bones to this very day.

Communication is so diluted and dumbed down these days it makes me even nervous to post something honest like this. For it might be misconstrued and misunderstood. Isn't that crazy?

If you know me you know I enjoy getting together in person. I like to build relationships, bands, restaurants, I even built a record label once Why not? If you know me you have almost surely received correspondence from me in the mail. I like the mail a whole bunch. Communication is so lost and sanitized these days.

I read yesterday that kids are embracing CD's again. Good, hopefully people will leave their homes again soon and maybe even talk to someone and ask them out on a date or ice cream.

I remember Racehorse Haynes telling me at IHOP. "Eric, they have taken the courts away from the people" He was right. They have. I had a company severely damage my car earlier this year. I couldn't even go to the court and file a case. I had to "efile"

Remember when they said the toll roads were a temporary expense and once they were paid off "no tolls"? What happened to that? Now you have to comply and get a toll-tag and be billed?

Crazy taken in Dallas, Texas by @ericmkeyes

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a month ago

The Telecaster

Sometimes you have to give up the life you’ve been planning to allow the life that’s waiting for you to unfold. That’s surely how this guitar ended up in my lap. I loved Jimmy Page, Ted Greene and Prince grown up so I guess it was inevitable I would end up with one of these Telecasters.

#music #song #guitar #Telecaster #erickeyes by @ericmkeyes

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a month ago

Alternate Picking

One of the things fundamental for me in Music is that there are two beats.

1. an upbeat
2. a downbeat

That’s as true as the sunrise and the sunset in our world. 🌎 You can’t have one without the other. It seemed odd to me that a lot of guitar players I grew up with struggled with alternate picking? I even saw it when I played basketball. 🏀 If you can’t dribble it’s a fundamental flaw in your game. Swimming is the same way, treading water that’s how you stay afloat. It’s called paddling.

Today I share a little story about Al Di Meola, Frank Gambale and guitar clinics. As well as a discussion I had about this with Bernard Wright. Nard could put things into simpler terms than anybody I ever met in my life.

Enjoy and remember today’s the first day of the week so get to playing your guitar. Labor Day is no excuse.

-Eric

#music #song #guitar #laborday #erickeyes taken in Dallas, Texas by @ericmkeyes

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a month ago