Eric Roche

Infobox musical artist
Name = Eric Roche


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Born = Birth date|1967|12|04
Died = death date and age|2005|9|6|1967|12|04
Origin = New York City, USA
Instrument = Guitar
Voice_type =
Genre = Fingerstyle
Occupation =
Years_active = 1990s – 2000s
Label = P3 Music
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URL = http://www.ericroche.com
Notable_instruments = Avalon L10 Custom
Lowden O10, O23 & O25 custom
14 fret OM Nick Benjamin Guitar

Eric Roche (December 4, 1967 in New York City – September 6, 2005)cite web|url=http://wc09.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:0pfoxqesldae~T1|title=Eric Roche > Biography|publisher=Allmusic|last=Ankeny|first=Jason|accessdate=2007-12-23] was an Irish fingerstyle guitarist

Biography

Eric Roche was born in New York City, but his family soon moved to Tralee, County Kerry, 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:

*'Jump' by Van Halen
*'Higher Ground' by Stevie Wonder
*'Killer' by Seal
*'Blue in Green' by Miles Davis
*'She Drives Me Crazy' by the Fine Young Cannibals
*'Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)' and 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' by the Beatles
*'Take Five' by Dave Brubeck
*'Smells Like Teen Spirit' by Nirvana

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, Eric was able to play in multiple keys on this tuning without the need for a capo.

Eric Roche died from throat cancer aged 37 and left his wife Candy and his two children, Stefan and Francesca. [ [http://www.ericroche.com/news.php "News" - page at Eric Roche's website.] Retrieved on December 23, 2007]

Eric 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. 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.

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, 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 (Shehans Music)

References

External links

* [http://www.ericroche.com Official site]