Audio Demo of D'Angelico Excel EXL-1SH

After some discussion on the Usenet group rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz, I decided to record a demo of the extremely economical Korean-made D'Angelico Excel archtop. Check it out at my Soundclick site.

Music Featured in Podcast

The song Red River, Blue Sky from my 2003 CD Solo Archipelago was featured on No Idle Frets show #70. This podcast focuses on jazz guitar, so I'm appreciative that its creater, Nick Carver, chose to include my music. Check out the No Idle Frets podcast here. I've since been featured two more times on Nick's shows!

Gig Alert Piermont Fine Arts Gallery in Piermont, NY on Sunday, September 3, 2006 and Sunday, September 10, 2006 from 2-5 PM.

Gig Alert

I'll be playing in support of my friend Gary Power at the Beantowne Gourmet coffee house in Allendale, NJ on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 from 8-10 PM.

Roger Placer's 3rd Album - Looking Past The Present - IS HERE!

The new record is finished! After several "almost finished" reports, enough is enough. Get your copy today!

Full Tracks for The Happiness Of Pursuit and Solo Archipelago Uploaded

For your convenience and listening pleasure, I have caved in to popular demand and uploaded the full versions of all tracks for both of my albums. All songs are encoded as 192 kbps MP3 files. Check out the Music section for details.

Neck Pickup Shoot-out

Click here to listen to clips of clean neck pickup tone from most of my electric guitars. I recorded these just for fun, and out of curiosity about how they would compare just as pure sound - as opposed to the total experience of playing each of them.

Construction is complete!

July 25, 2005: We're done. It's hard to believe, but the project finished a couple of weeks early. There are many changes to my whole house, but on this site we concentrate on things musical. The finished studio has been named Lounge L'Orange. It is reminiscent of a funky pad from the sixties, with eclectic mod appointments. After painting and installing a bamboo hardwood floor, I have configured the whole studio and I'm now focusing on running mic cables and setting baseline levels. Not to mention that I have eighteen guitars in various states of misalignment, after four months in their cases. So I'll be busy for a while! But the surprising and fabulous news is that the drums are barely audible in the kids' rooms at the other end of the house. This means that I can actually play them without arranging prior consent, at almost any hour of the day. And that makes this project a total success!

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Demolition!

After nearly 2 years of planning, the wrecking ball is about to land on my house. We are about to embark on a major renovation project that will, among other things, yield a brand new recording and playing space for me. The new room will be 24' x 12'; it will have a higher ceiling and large windows overlooking both front and back yards. Best of all, it will be isolated from the rest of the house by a hallway and double doors. The project is expected to begin in late March and be complete by July. I will have to pick a couple of guitars to keep handy along the way, but the rest of the studio - instruments, cases, drums, "miles" of cable, mixing desks, recording gizmos, and all - will be boxed up and stored in the interim. So work on the new record will have to wait! But I'm hoping to return with lots of new inspiration from my new digs.

Farewell Faithful Studio...(click here to see it)

Gig Alert My mother, Andrea Placer, is an accomplished artist. Her medium of choice is graphite pencil and she creates wonderful, near photographic-quality drawings. She held a solo exhibition of her work entitled "Captured Moments" over a two week period at the Piermont Fine Arts Gallery, 218 Ash Street, Piermont NY. I performed on solo guitar at her two openings, on Sunday March 6 and Sunday March 13, 2005. The gigs went really well. I brought my Boomerang phrase sampler and performed 23 songs. The picture here shows me on the second date, playing my Warmoth "RP Special." I played my '57 ES-175 on the first date. SET ONE Inanimate Immortal Show Me Your Secrets Bordertown Hand In Hand Jazz Dance Theme From A Surrealistic Life Fifty Lives Mystical Adventures Pt IV [J.Ponty] My Baby, My Friend Each Passing Day In Your Eyes [P.Gabriel] SET TWO Teach Someone To Love Living Memory Each Expression From Gray To Black Mark On The World Ten Years Late Sweeping Blade (It's Right) To Break The Rules Alive And Alone Chasing The Future Red River, Blue Sky Toscana

Practicing In Utero
This is a 4D ultrasound picture of my daughter Sage, taken at about 33 weeks gestation. Okay, so the position looks like classical fingerstyle and that she is a lefty... but we can cure those things. Maybe it's in her genes? Can't wait to find out!

Jamming At My Wedding
On October 19, 2002 I got married. I got on stage with the band and jammed on a few disco tunes, like Good Times by Chic. While not a defining performance, it was certainly fun (and I suck at dancing anyway)! The guitar is my custom designed Warmoth Candy Apple Strat. The finish nicely complemented the red satin design on my tuxedo vest.