Herman Mendez

Professional Musician/Teacher

Fullerton, CA

“I’ve used Myers Grip and Feather pickups and I’m impressed by how well they capture the natural timbre of my guitarrón and by how well they are able to capture the bass tones. I love that fact that their pickups are easy to use and there is no need to modify my instrument. Myers pickups are ideal for live performance, as well as for use in a recording environment.”

To utilize the same setup as this musician, order the following:

BIO:

My first exposure to the deep sound of the guitarrón was at our Mexican family fiestas. There was often a musical group performing mariachi music, and the guitarrón served as the bass voice of the ensemble. The bass sound of the guitarrón was responsible for the frequent shifting between the syncopated and on-beat rhythm of the music.

In recent years, there has been a great interest in music from around the world and a desire by musicians to explore the use of instruments from a variety of cultures to create new sounds, develop new genres of music, and to celebrate the rich music traditions of other people.

My guitarrón method book will provide the reader with a foundation in the fundamentals of music. The goal is to bridge the gap between playing by ear, which can often be the case with non-traditional western instruments, and playing by reading notated music. Additionally, there is a benefit to standardizing guitarrón performance technique, as it provides for improved performance in the areas of intonation, rhythmic accuracy, and note fingering, for example. Finally, the book can serve to expand the inclusion of the guitarrón’s rich bass voice in other genres of music beyond the mariachi by increasing its access to a broader range of musicians.