Eric Roche
Encyclopedia
Eric Roche was an Irish
fingerstyle guitarist
.
, Ireland
. He was a learnt accountant
, but practised only for a short time before enlisting for classical guitar
in 1992 at the London Musician's Institute. After his degree he became head of its guitar department in 1996 and released his first CD The Perc U Lator three years later. In 2000 he accepted a position as head of guitar at Academy of Contemporary Music
in Guildford
, where his pupils included Newton Faulkner
. In 2001 his second CD Spin was released. In 2004 Roche issued his third album With These Hands and released his book The Acoustic Guitar Bible, a guide to acoustic guitar playing with a foreword by Tommy Emmanuel
. Roche was a regular columnist for the magazines Guitar Techniques and Acoustic Guitar and did international master classes and workshops.
Eric played many musical genres on solo guitar such as classical
, Celtic
, Folk
, jazz
, blues
, rock
and pop
. As well as being a gifted guitarist-composer, he was also well known for his solo guitar arrangements of other artists' tunes. Some of these solo arrangements include:
A characteristic feature of his playing was his percussive style of playing involving drumming on the body of the guitar to create the sound of various different drums
and sounds similar to DJ scratching
. He was well versed in not only standard tuning, but also in various other altered tunings on guitar, especially DADGAD
. Just like Pierre Bensusan
and Laurence Juber
, Roche was able to play in multiple keys on this tuning without the need for a capo
.
aged 37 and left his wife Candy and his two children, Stefan and Francesca.
Roche's passing was mourned by many of his colleagues. For Eric, a tribute CD, was released shortly after his death in 2005, containing 20 tracks from different artists. In 2006, the Guitar School of the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford was re-named to "ACM Eric Roche Guitar School". Guthrie Govan
dedicated a song called "Eric" in his 2006 album Erotic Cakes to him. Newton Faulkner's song 'So Much' was written as a token of respect for the influence Roche had had in his life. In 2006 Roche's Tablature Collection #1 was published, jointly produced by Roche and his close friend Thomas Leeb
, who dedicated his work to Roche and his part of possible income to the benefit of Roche's children.Youtube guitarist, 'Robert Castellani', wrote a song in tribute to Roche entitled, 'Song for Eric'.
A radio documentary on Roche's life, featuring his brother Bryan, was broadcast on the Irish station RTE
in February 2009.
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
fingerstyle guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
.
Biography
Roche was born in New York City, but his family soon moved to Tralee, County KerryCounty Kerry
Kerry means the "people of Ciar" which was the name of the pre-Gaelic tribe who lived in part of the present county. The legendary founder of the tribe was Ciar, son of Fergus mac Róich. In Old Irish "Ciar" meant black or dark brown, and the word continues in use in modern Irish as an adjective...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. He was a learnt accountant
Accountant
An accountant is a practitioner of accountancy or accounting , which is the measurement, disclosure or provision of assurance about financial information that helps managers, investors, tax authorities and others make decisions about allocating resources.The Big Four auditors are the largest...
, but practised only for a short time before enlisting for classical guitar
Classical guitar
The classical guitar is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones...
in 1992 at the London Musician's Institute. After his degree he became head of its guitar department in 1996 and released his first CD The Perc U Lator three years later. In 2000 he accepted a position as head of guitar at Academy of Contemporary Music
Academy of Contemporary Music
The Academy of Contemporary Music is a music academy located in Guildford, Surrey, England.The school differs from more traditional music academies by its focus on rock and pop music, and its vocational approach...
in Guildford
Guildford
Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
, where his pupils included Newton Faulkner
Newton Faulkner
Sam Newton Battenberg Faulkner is an English singer-songwriter and musician from Reigate, Surrey. Known for his guitar playing, which involves rhythmically tapping and hitting his guitar's body, Faulkner came to prominence in 2007, with the release of his debut studio album, Hand Built by Robots...
. In 2001 his second CD Spin was released. In 2004 Roche issued his third album With These Hands and released his book The Acoustic Guitar Bible, a guide to acoustic guitar playing with a foreword by Tommy Emmanuel
Tommy Emmanuel
William Thomas "Tommy" Emmanuel AM is an Australian guitarist, best known for his complex fingerpicking style, energetic performances and the use of percussive effects on the guitar. In the May 2008 and 2010 issues of Guitar Player Magazine, he was named as "Best Acoustic Guitarist" in their...
. Roche was a regular columnist for the magazines Guitar Techniques and Acoustic Guitar and did international master classes and workshops.
Eric played many musical genres on solo guitar such as classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
, Celtic
Celtic music
Celtic music is a term utilised by artists, record companies, music stores and music magazines to describe a broad grouping of musical genres that evolved out of the folk musical traditions of the Celtic people of Western Europe...
, Folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
and pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
. As well as being a gifted guitarist-composer, he was also well known for his solo guitar arrangements of other artists' tunes. Some of these solo arrangements include:
- "JumpJump (Van Halen song)"Jump" is a song by the American rock group Van Halen. It is the only single the group released in their career to reach number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. It was released in 1984 as the second track on the album 1984...
" by Van HalenVan HalenVan Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. The band has enjoyed success since the release of its debut album, Van Halen, . As of 2007 Van Halen has sold 80 million albums worldwide and has had the most #1 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart... - "Higher Ground" by Stevie WonderStevie WonderStevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
- "KillerKiller (Adamski song)"Killer" is a song by Adamski and Seal. Written by Adam Tinley and Seal and produced by Adamski, "Killer" was Adamski's breakthrough single, but is now more notable for introducing Seal as a vocalist. A major hit in the UK, it reached number one, spending four weeks at the top of the chart in May...
" by SealSeal (musician)Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel , known simply as Seal, is a British soul and R&B singer-songwriter, of Nigerian and Brazilian background. Seal has won numerous music awards throughout his career, including three Brit Awards—winning Best British Male in 1992, four Grammy Awards, and an... - "Blue in GreenBlue in Green"Blue in Green" is the third track on Miles Davis' 1959 album, Kind of Blue. One of two ballads on the LP , "Blue in Green"'s melody is very modal, incorporating the presence of the dorian, mixolydian, and lydian modes...
" by Miles DavisMiles DavisMiles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,... - "She Drives Me CrazyShe Drives Me Crazy"She Drives Me Crazy" is a song recorded by the Fine Young Cannibals, included on their 1989 album The Raw and the Cooked. The song peaked at #5 as a single in the band's native UK in January 1989 before hitting #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US on 15 April 1989...
" by the Fine Young CannibalsFine Young CannibalsFine Young Cannibals were a British band formed in Birmingham, England, in 1984, by bassist David Steele and guitarist Andy Cox , and singer Roland Gift... - "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)"Norwegian Wood " is a song by The Beatles, first released on the 1965 album Rubber Soul....
" and "While My Guitar Gently WeepsWhile My Guitar Gently Weeps"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is a song by George Harrison, first recorded by The Beatles in 1968 for their eponymous double album...
" by The BeatlesThe BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr... - "Take FiveTake Five"Take Five" is a jazz piece written by Paul Desmond and performed by The Dave Brubeck Quartet on their 1959 album Time Out. Recorded at Columbia's 30th Street Studios in New York City on June 25, July 1, and August 18, 1959, this piece became one of the group's best-known records, famous for its...
" by Dave BrubeckDave BrubeckDavid Warren "Dave" Brubeck is an American jazz pianist. He has written a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic, reflecting his mother's attempts at classical training and his improvisational skills... - "Smells Like Teen SpiritSmells Like Teen Spirit"Smells Like Teen Spirit" is a song by the American grunge band Nirvana. It is the opening track and lead single from the band's second album, Nevermind , released on DGC Records...
" by NirvanaNirvana (band)Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
A characteristic feature of his playing was his percussive style of playing involving drumming on the body of the guitar to create the sound of various different drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
and sounds similar to DJ scratching
Scratching
Scratching is a DJ or turntablist technique used to produce distinctive sounds by moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable while optionally manipulating the crossfader on a DJ mixer. While scratching is most commonly associated with hip hop music, since the late 1980s, it has been used...
. He was well versed in not only standard tuning, but also in various other altered tunings on guitar, especially DADGAD
DADGAD
DADGAD, D modal tuning or Celtic tuning is an alternative guitar tuning most associated with Celtic music, though it has also found use in rock and other genres. Instead of the standard EADGBE tuning, the six guitar strings are tuned, from low to high, DADGAD...
. Just like Pierre Bensusan
Pierre Bensusan
Pierre Bensusan is a French-Algerian guitarist. As a sephardic Jew, his family came from Spain, Spanish Morocco and French Algeria. The genre of his acoustic guitar music is often characterized as Celtic, Folk, World music, New Age, or Chamber jazz. He has also published three books of music and...
and Laurence Juber
Laurence Juber
Laurence Juber is an English-born guitarist who currently lives in California. Born 12 November 1952 in Stepney, East London, he was raised and went to school in North London...
, Roche was able to play in multiple keys on this tuning without the need for a capo
Capo
A capo is a device used on the neck of a stringed instrument to shorten the playable length of the strings, hence raising the pitch. It is frequently used on guitars, mandolins, and banjos. G.B...
.
Death
Roche died from throat cancerEsophageal cancer
Esophageal cancer is malignancy of the esophagus. There are various subtypes, primarily squamous cell cancer and adenocarcinoma . Squamous cell cancer arises from the cells that line the upper part of the esophagus...
aged 37 and left his wife Candy and his two children, Stefan and Francesca.
Roche's passing was mourned by many of his colleagues. For Eric, a tribute CD, was released shortly after his death in 2005, containing 20 tracks from different artists. In 2006, the Guitar School of the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford was re-named to "ACM Eric Roche Guitar School". Guthrie Govan
Guthrie Govan
Guthrie Govan is a guitarist known for his work with the bands Asia , GPS, The Young Punx and The Fellowship as well as Erotic Cakes...
dedicated a song called "Eric" in his 2006 album Erotic Cakes to him. Newton Faulkner's song 'So Much' was written as a token of respect for the influence Roche had had in his life. In 2006 Roche's Tablature Collection #1 was published, jointly produced by Roche and his close friend Thomas Leeb
Thomas Leeb
Thomas Leeb is an Austrian fingerstyle guitarist.- Biography :Thomas Leeb grew up in the small Austrian mountain village Turracher Höhe, Carinthia, as the youngest of four children of a hotel-owner's family. Over a period of thirteen years he taught himself the electric guitar, then switched to...
, who dedicated his work to Roche and his part of possible income to the benefit of Roche's children.Youtube guitarist, 'Robert Castellani', wrote a song in tribute to Roche entitled, 'Song for Eric'.
A radio documentary on Roche's life, featuring his brother Bryan, was broadcast on the Irish station RTE
Raidió Teilifís Éireann
Raidió Teilifís Éireann is a semi-state company and the public service broadcaster of Ireland. It both produces programmes and broadcasts them on television, radio and the Internet. The radio service began on January 1, 1926, while regular television broadcasts began on December 31, 1961, making...
in February 2009.
Discography
- The Perc U Lator - 1999 (Inner Ear Music)
- Acoustic Avalon (live compilation) - 1999 (Inner Ear Music)
- Spin - 2001 (Inner Ear Music)
- Eric Roche in concert at The Electric Theatre (DVD) - 2003 (Inner Ear Music)
- With These Hands - 2004 (P3 Music)
- Live + Inspirational (posthumous) - 2006 (P3 Music)
Books and sheet music
- Ballads for Classical Guitar - 1998 (Wise Publications), ISBN 0-71197-175-7
- The Acoustic Guitar Bible - 2004 (SMT/Bobcat Books Ltd.), 243 p., ISBN 1-84492-063-1
- Eric Roche Tablature Collection #1 - 2006 (Sheehans Music)