Guitar Messenger Competition - Vote Before May 14th

The cool folks over at Guitar Messenger are having a contest with a fantastic panel of judges and a nice line-up of prizes.   

You can view my entry and vote for me here.  Just click "Vote" and you're done!  You can do this once a day until May 14th.

Moto Perpetuo

Download my arrangement of Paganini's "Moto Perpetuo" for 7-string guitar here.

2 New Tabs Uploaded

Check the "Free Tabs" section of the site for 2 new transcriptions:  The first section of "Itch" and the post-solo section of "Delete You".  Or, click here.

4 Tracks from Far Enough Into the Void Streaming + NAMM 2013!!

1)  I'm happy to finally share a few tracks from the album I've been working on!  Far Enough Into the Void will be available later this year... Click here to listen!

2)  I'm also excited to announce that I'll be attending NAMM 2013... 

You'll find me at the Vigier booth. 

I'm thrilled beyond words and extremely proud to be endorsing Vigier guitars!  Quite simply put, they're the best guitars I've ever played, and I've been a fan since I first played a few at a lesson with Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal nearly 10 years ago.  I'm on cloud 9, and I know my new urban blue Excalibur Original will be my main 6-string for many years to come.  Patrice is a true innovator and Vigier continues to produce the finest guitars in the world.

Check out the Vigier main site here, and the Vigier USA site here.

More news soon... It's quite possible I still have at least one very exciting announcement in store...

Far Enough Into the Void Sampler Uploaded

Click here for a sneak preview of Far Enough Into the Void!

NEWS TEASER

There is exciting news coming soon, including (finally) some music from Far Enough Into the Void!  Recording is almost complete, but I think it's long overdue that I finally let people hear some of it.  Stay tuned!!

Brooklyn Autumn Guitar Show, Upcoming Gigs

Today, I'll be at the Brooklyn Autumn Guitar Show playing Vigier Guitars with my good friends and Dark Empire band mates Matt Moliti and Christian Colabelli.  If you're in the neighborhood, be sure to stop by and say hello, and try out the best guitars in the world!

Also, note that I've added an "Upcoming Gigs" section.  It features Google Calendar, so if for some reason it doesn't show up, please let me know by sending me an e-mail via the Contact section.  Thanks!

DARK EMPIRE GIGS, ALBUM UPDATE

The recent Dark Empire gigs (5/20 at Saint Vitus in Brooklyn, and 5/27 at Dingbatz in Clifton, NJ) went well, and the band was invited back to Dingbatz on Thursday, July 5th.  Stay tuned for news on future DE shows.

Vocals for Far Enough Into the Void are complete, and I will begin tracking leads in June.  Progress has been slow and steady, but I am excited, focused, and inspired! 

Far Enough Into the Void - Progress Report

Some news regarding my solo album, Far Enough Into the Void...

Aside from a few tiny edits for a few songs, all drums, rhythm guitars, and bass tracks are complete for the entire album!  The 2 transitional solo guitar tracks, "Less Blue" and "Dabble" will be recorded with leads in the coming weeks.

The next stage will be recording vocals for the 3 vocal tracks, "Disembodied Profanity", "Darkest Place", and "Swam".  I'm very excited to record the vocals for these tracks, and I apologize profusely in advance to my neighbors. 

In other exciting news, I have confirmed 2 very exciting guest solo appearances from 2 amazing guitarists and friends, which will be on the songs "Obfuscation" and "Darkest Place".  I'm thrilled beyond words, and will be revealing more info soon. 

NEW TAB: DARK EMPIRE GUEST SOLOS

I uploaded the tabs for my guest solos in the trade-off section of Dark Empire's "The Cleansing Fires".  Check it out!

http://www.brianlarkin.net/tabs/free-downloads

Dark Empire - From Refuge to Ruin released today, streamed by Guitar World.

Dark Empire's new album From Refuge to Ruin is currently streaming on Guitar World's website.   If you don't have time to listen to the whole thing, my personal favorites are "The Cleansing Fires" (which I wrote melodies and lyrics for) and "From Refuge to Ruin".   For those of you who don't know, I recorded all clean lead vocals for this album.

Check it out here!

"We're kicking off this week with the exclusive premiere of the third album from New Jersey's Dark Empire, From Refuge to Ruin. You can stream the album in its entirety below.

The band's third effort sees them taking their progressive thrash style to its extremes, incorporating 7- and 12-string guitars into the mix, as well as several nods to the '70s prog rock scene in the form of Hammond organ and Mellotron sprinkled throughout.

From Refuge to Ruin is out tomorrow, March 27, via Nightmare Records."

DARK EMPIRE: FROM REFUGE TO RUIN

Hey all,

For those of you who don't know, while my primary focus has always been guitar and writing, I also sing.

In January of 2011, I was approached about contributing lead vocals to my very talented friend Matt Moliti's band Dark Empire's latest effort, From Refuge to Ruin.  Already familiar with the material from Matt sending me demos, I was flattered and thrilled to be asked, and even more excited that I would have the opportunity to contribute creatively by writing vocal melodies and lyrics for two songs ("The Cleansing Fires" and "Lest Ye Be Judged").  After spending a few weeks memorizing lyrics, writing, conditioning my voice, and demoing ideas, I spent 3 days in the studio laying down the tracks with metal production virtuoso Jeremy Krull, and I couldn't be more pleased with the results. 

The album will be released via Nightmare Records on March 27th, 2012.   You can hear the first single, "A Plague in the Throne Room", on the Dark Empire Facebook Page, as well as on Reverb Nation and a few other sites.  Local gigs (in the NY / NJ area) will follow in the spring. 

-BL

New Tabs Available for Download

I've uploaded 2 new PDF files.  One is a packet of alternate picking ideas, the other is a quirky hybrid picking exercise.  You'll find them here.  Enjoy!

Now Offering Skype Lessons!

I am now available to teach lessons via Skype.  For more information, before contacting me, see the lessons section of this page.  All inquiries should be submitted via this contact form.  I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Update

The last few months have been extremely musically busy and productive.  One major project that will be wrapping up this week has been a gig as a session vocalist for a friend's band's latest album.  This also involved writing lyrics and vocal melodies for a large portion of the record, as well as a guest guitar solo.  Another fairly time consuming endeavor has been learning a few classical guitar pieces for another very good friend of mine's wedding, which will be happening on April 30th. 

I'm extremely happy to report the progress on my own album.  As of now, the writing and drums are completely finished. 

Since it's been so long without an update, for the 5 of you who actually know of this site and would be interested in details, here are the working tracklist and track lengths.  Titles and order are of course subject to change:

Far Enough Into the Void

1. Disembodied Profanity (5:27)
   
2. Live it Down (6:35)
   
3. Delete You (4:08)
4. Dabble (1:30)
   
5. Obfuscatory Elusions (7:10)
6. Less Blue (1:00)
   
7. Words Fail (5:25)
8. And Fail Again (7:15)
9. 205 (6:06)
10. Something Inflammable (4:12)
11. Habit Magnet (5:35)
12. Itch (3:05)
    
13. Darkest Place (5:30)
    
14. Swam (8:30)

Tabs now available in "Downloads"

I've transcribed the main solo from "Delete You", and you can download it in PDF format here.  I'll also be uploading a video lesson soon on the quirky diminished section...

On the same page, you can also find tabs of the examples from the mini-lesson I uploaded to YouTube last month.

Guitar Idol III: Vote for "Delete You"

I could use your help in the Guitar Idol III guitar competition.  My entry is an original song called "Delete You" which was one of the first instrumentals I wrote for my upcoming solo effort.

It only takes a few seconds to register to vote here.  And once you've done that, you can watch my entry and vote for it here.   

Favoriting the video would also be helpful.  (You can vote and favorite once per e-mail address...) Thanks!

WELCOME!

Welcome to my site!  Here you'll find all things relating to my music, including updates on the progress of my instrumental album, as well as links to YouTube videos, information on guitar lessons, links to social and music networks, and more stuff I haven't thought of yet.

Chances are, if you just stumbled upon this URL and you actually see this message on the front page, not much (if any) of the above mentioned content has been added yet.  The site will most likely still be "under construction" until my album is complete, but I sincerely appreciate your interest in knowing what's going on with me and assure you there will be plenty of updates and other reasons to check back as we get further into 2011.  

If you have any ideas or suggestions for the site, feel free to e-mail me or leave comments.  Thanks!

Brian L.