Category Archives: Local Artists

Local Guitar Luthier Jim Blilie – Barbarossa Guitars shows us his B-00 model

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For those of you who missed the last video here is a section of it that I found especially interesting where local guitar luthier Jim Blilie of Barbarossa Guitars shows us his B-00 model guitar. The design is his own. I think this guitar would especially appeal to nylon-string players who want a steel-string guitar because the body-size and length of the B-00 are those of a 20th century classical guitar. Having played one, I can personally attest that they sound great and feel good to play.

Barbarossa Guitars makes many other models, both steel-string and classical, that I encourage you to check out on Jim’s website: http://www.barbarossa-guitars.com/ Also, Jim’s guitars can usually be seen and played at Northern Pine Studio Studio in Lino Lakes, MN.

Local Guitar Luthier Jim Blilie of Barbarossa Guitars (part 1)

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I recently had the privilege of visiting the Barbarossa Guitars Workshop in Shoreview, MN and talking with guitar luthier, Jim Blilie. He told us about himself and the guitars he builds including his own B-00 design which I had a chance to play and can personally attest that it “plays like butter” as Jim likes to say. 

If you want to know more about Barbarossa Guitars, Jim has a very informative website: http://www.barbarossa-guitars.com/

Check back soon for more of my visit to the Barbarossa Guitar Workshop!

Drop D-Tuning with Paul Stiegler

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Paul Shows Us Drop-D Tuning Sheet Music/TAB

I told you I would post the Drop-D tuning chords that Paul Stiegler showed us in my interview with him, and here they are so quit nagging me!

Paul said he uses Drop-D tuning to make his guitar parts fuller and more interesting to back up his singing. Remember, in order to tune your guitar to Drop-D, you must lower your 6th-string a whole step from E to D. Here is the section of the interview where Paul  explains Drop-D Tuning:

Local Singer/Songwriter Paul Stiegler

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This video is the first of (what I hope will be) a long series of interviews with local Twin Cities artists. At the end of the video, Paul Stiegler performs his 2011 UK Songwriting Contest winning love song “If This Was the Last Night We Had” which he co-wrote with Rob Crosby. You can listen to more of Paul’s music on his website: http://broadjam.com/paulstiegler, but I highly recommend that you hear him play live at the Bean Good Cafe in St. Louis Park this Saturday, Feb. 4 at 7pm. He will also be performing in Madison, WI at the Brink Lounge on March 16th.

For you guitar players, check out the section of the video where Paul demonstrates how he uses Drop-D Tuning to make his chord progressions fuller and more interesting. Notice that he uses many of those chords when he performs “If This Was the Last Night We Had”. I will be sure to post some sheet music with some of the chords he uses soon! 

The guitar that Paul uses is a Seagull Performer Cutaway Flame Maple QI which I had the pleasure of playing and was all-around impressed with the volume, fullness and feel especially for the price – $749 at Guitar Center.