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Denis Taaffe Timeline

1979-current
Here is guitarist Denis Taaffe's m3u timeline with early recordings



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Denis Taaffe m3u timeline 1979-current

The m3u timeline 1979-current is  a Chronological timeline of Denis's progress on Guitar in m3u format with old demo/practice tapes, old bands, basically Denis the early years!!!

Young Denis recording
Time: :59
circa 1979
dstory2.m3u  

unreleased. One of the very first recording with Denis.  Denis stated "Well, I didn't play guitar then and I was like any other kid, you know, I would make up stories and record tapes as if I was a disc jockey, I mean I was 10 years old. I  owned about 1 record at the time, an album that came with the stereo I got. It  had a turntable and tape deck built in..... haah...it had the theme to star wars and to swat, the village people and so on.geez, hahah. So, I was fascinated with music and recording. then again, I also tried to sell this tape to passer by's on the sidewalk hahaha......" Denis states.unreleased,circa 1979

         

 "Noise Maker"
Time: :27
prior to 1980-1981
noisemaker.m3u 

Denis when he was a kid experimenting with tape deck to get sounds. Denis stated "yes, well this was a tape and I was with one of my sisters, Colombe. I was trying to get sounds out of an old tape recorder. I was always interested in getting different sounds so playing guitar eventually would have been a natural extension hahah..geez, what was I thinking?!! My poor sister hahaah....I guess I was having trouble with it making the sound I wanted....  " Denis states. recorded  1980-1981

        

 "Acoustic hum"
Time: :26
prior to 1981-1982
acoustic.m3u 

Denis on acoustic guitar humming?! Denis stated "geez, wow, well, you have to be brave to come out with a recording like this. At this point, I was just playing acoustic and I knew a few chords.I had taken 1 or 2 lessons early on on acoustic but was just to young at the time. I guess I could hear melodies to go along with my open chords haha.... " Denis states. recorded prior to 1981-1982

        

First
recording - electric
Time: 1:04
circa 1982-1983
firstgl.m3u 

unreleased. One of the very first recording with Denis trying to play electric guitar. Demo made  somewhere between 1982-1983. Denis stated "yes, this demo was on cassette, haha,I hadn't taken any lessons yet except on my acoustic. I was messing around with a friend who showed me how to get distortion with a tape deck. Of course we couldn't play but had fun. gosh I think I was 10 or 12 or so, my guitar had three strings on it and the bridge made out of a piece of 2x4 haha.I had just bought the rusty guitar for $15 at a pawn shop. gosh, I feel sorry for my parents and sisters that had to hear that haha.....really pathetic...gosh that is painful to hear. But you must start somewhere!!! " Denis states.unreleased,circa 1982-1983 

                 

"Volcano"
 Time: :59
circa early 1983-1984
volcano.m3u
 unreleased demo taken off of a cassette. Denis on guitar.  Denis stated" ahhaha, that is so sad!!! Well, finger tapping a la van halen was in style and I was learning to finger tap kind of, so I made a song called volcano, van halen had eruption so I had volcano, hahahhah, geez my friends died laughing over that one, I can see why ahahahah" Denis states. unreleased,circa early 1983-1984           

         

"No noise" Demo with keyboardist
 time: :32
circa 1985-1986
br2.m3u
 unreleased demo taken off of a cassette. Denis on guitar and Brian Simmerman on keyboard. Denis stated" this was when I was beginning to play guitar as well. A friend of mine started to play keyboard. We would make noise for hours haha...It was good practice. We sucked of course, but it was fun just to be playing" Denis states.unreleased,circa 1985-1986

        

Denis at an Early Jam Session
 time: :42
circa 1985-1986
earlyjam.m3u 
 unreleased demo taken off of a cassette. Denis on guitar at a jam." Denis states" Well, I would go to jam sessions, and just try to get a chance to play with others. It was quite horrible really, but one of my first experiences with playing in/with a band of sorts. I would play with anybody I could really to try to get better." unreleased,circa 1985-1986

        

Early "blues shuffle" practice tape
 time: :59
circa 1985-1986
ptape.m3u 
 unreleased practice tape taken off of a cassette.  ." Denis states" Well, thus began the long hard road to learn to play. I began taking lessons from Chris Hattingh and he had me make practice tapes to learn to solo over them but also to work on my rhythm. I would make these tapes and play over them for hours. But I was beginning to learn to play properly." unreleased,circa 1985-1986

        

Denis Practicing clean guitar
 Time: :51
circa 1985-1986 dem9.m3u 
 unreleased demo taken off of a cassette. Denis on guitar practicing Denis states" Well, I was really determined to learn to play and I would practice for a long time. As a result, I would also write thing, usually by mistake, trial and error, things that sounded musical to me but they weren't songs at all. In fact, they were hardly guitar parts to songs. But my ear was developing slowly..." unreleased,circa 1985-1986

        

Denis " running scales" early solo
Time: :32
circa 1985-1986
dem12.m3u 
unreleased demo taken off of a cassette. Denis on guitar  Denis stated" Well, I was given a lot of scales to learn and at the time playing them fast as cool, especially for solo's, so  I worked on that, just running scale really, sad to hear now hahha, but I got some technique and getting my fingers used to the fingerboard and I learned the scales as a result, it wasn't very musical at all, that came later" Denis states.unreleased,circa 1985-1986        

        

50's demo with keyboardist Brian
Time: 1:57 
circa 1986-1987
50jamkey.m3u
unreleased demo taken off of a cassette. Denis on guitar and Brian Simmerman on keyboard. Denis stated" Oh geez, pathetic, this was with Brian and it was a parody of 50's rock haha. We knew about major 7th chords but not how to use them. I learned some in my lessons, but couldn't figure out how to use them.  Well, when you are younger, you try all kinds of styles to see what fits you best. This wasn't it obviously, but experimenting gets you familiar with different kinds of music. haha" Denis states.unreleased,circa 1986-1987  

        

writing early original song
 time: :22
circa 1986-1987
1orig.m3u
 unreleased demo taken off of a cassette. Denis on guitar. Denis stated" this was when I was one of my first originals. I was just starting to write original songs...well, ideas anyway, at the time I was influenced by Rush a lot using different guitar parts, I had no idea about music theory yet at all...." Denis states.unreleased,circa 1986-1987 

        

 
Denis with  Bassist Byron
circa 1986-1987
Time 1:35
byronbass.m3u

 

 unreleased demo taken off of a cassette. Denis on guitar and Byron on bass Denis stated" this was when I was beginning to play guitar. A friend of mine started to play bass. We would jam for hours haha...It was good practice though we only played jimi hendrix stuff or blues things, I would try to play like jimi including using the whammy bar and dive bombs and so on hahaah.We played often. ." Denis states.unreleased,circa 1986-1987       

        

First multi-track Demo
 1987-1988 
 time: 7:33
demosuperold1.m3u 
 
unreleased Demo. Denis  played all the instruments. Denis stated" yes, this was my first official demo.  demo was on cassette pulled off a 4 track cassette recorder which I had borrowed for a weekend.. Well, I was taking lessons and being shown all this classical stuff and heavy metal guitar too. so I tried to combine the two which was popular at the time. I also used a guitar synth,a roland gm-70 with terrible tracking and I could only afford a small synth module that could play 4 voices, it was like a Casio cz-101 ...hahah. This was a big deal for me as it was my first real demo. When I ran out of cheapo cassettes, I asked my father to drive me to a store to get more. I didn't drive yet. It was an emergency as I only had the borrowed recorder for the weekend., so I was frantic ahahah, I didn't have any songs worked out, I just recorded my musical ideas, I worked all weekend on it..." Denis states.unreleased,circa 1987-1988         

        

Denis's "Guitar Synth" Demo
Time :28
circa 1988-1989
gsynth.m3u
  unreleased tracks taken off of a cassette. Denis stated" I got scammed into buying this guitar synth when I got my Roland gp-8, I used it sometimes, but not all that often, I did experiment to try to get to work for me, the tracking was crap though and I used it on my first demo and then sold the whole thing, it was lame hahah though it did help to develop my ear and appreciate other instruments, so not a total loss. In a way, I was lucky to have had the chance to mess with one so early in my playing. I wish I still had it haah..." Denis states.unreleased,circa 1988-1989         

        

Denis's "Car" Demo
circa 1988-1989
Time 2:22
cardemo.m3u
  unreleased track taken off of a cassette and 4 track cassette machine. Denis stated" this was such an early demo. I was experimenting with making sounds on my guitar, the big thing was making it sound like a car. I had this amp and I used a whammy bar and it started to sound like a car shifting gears, hitting a bump and crashing and squealing haha.Hey it was cool at the time haha.Well, when your young and starting, you want to see what the guitar can do, what sounds you can get with it., I think it was done on a 4 track I borrowed again for a weekend , the same one I used to make my  first real demo. ." Denis states.unreleased,circa 1988-1989         

        

"Korg Minipops"
time: :28
circa 1988-1989
korgmini.m3u
  unreleased track taken off of a cassette. Denis stated" I got my first drum machine, it was a korg mini pops  hahah.I mean this thing was really old, it was the equivalent of what you would find in an organ, except that they pulled it out and put it in a box. It would be on many of my recordings, to keep a beat. I even used to push several buttons in to get different rhythms, it had bosa nova and stuff, but it helped my rhythm playing and I actually met the original owner years later who was a guitarist and had have it as a kid. I wish  had still had it to give it back to him. I don't know what happened to it, I sold it perhaps?!....Well, I experimented with many rhythm parts...." Denis states.unreleased,circa 1988-1989        

        

"Minipops Hell"
Time :40
circa 1988-1989
hell.m3u
  unreleased track taken off of a cassette. Denis stated" oh yeah, that damn minipops drum machine, it was a korg mini pops machine haha...It is terrible, geez, well, I tried to use dissonant sounding chords and using those sappy whammy bars, geez, what was I thinking back then.. Not about much obviously ahaha.I think I  was influenced by randy rhoads and van halen had a section of a song similar to this hahah..... ." Denis states.unreleased,circa 1988-1989  

        

"Song stuff"
circa 1988-1989
time:1:30
songstuff.m3u
  unreleased track taken off of a cassette. Denis stated" Well, I eventually got the hang of using my 4 track rack mount unit and started recording instrumental songs, along with my trusty korg mini pops haha.. This was great a learning tool and so I started thinking in terms of songs and recording. Oh Yeah, I would use the korg mini pops for the drums and used rca cables to plug in to one track on the multi track. I am surprised at how clean the recording is after some 15 years though...... ." Denis states.unreleased,circa 1988-1989  

        

"proud octaves"
circa 1988-1989
Time:1:08
proud.m3u
  unreleased track taken off of a cassette. Denis stated" oh yeah, the korg mini pops gave me song ideas. I was learning to use octaves and so came up with songs using octaves. I was practicing and learning and taking  lessons. I still wonder how I could hear any rhythm from the korg mini pops that was just kind of there haha.I was trying to emulate jimi hendrix a lot in sounds, like the very last phased whammy bar dive was a  typical Hendrix sound, but try as I did,  I  couldn't play like him though.. haah..... ." Denis states.unreleased,circa 1988-1989           

        

  Denis with first Band playing original instrumental
 time:3:05
circa 1990-1991
bandearly.m3u  
 unreleased recording made around 1990-1991. Denis  playing with first band.. Denis stated" yes, this demo was on cassette and a jam box. Most of the originals in this band were soft really haha. We would get together and play  instrumentals mostly. This is where I had a Lesley rotating speaker and a Roland gp-8 in a stereo setup, but had to use a console stereo for the amp complete with turntable ahah,hey it was a tube amp kind of, I had a big basement, so it was easy to get a band in there and I didn't have to move my gear. Though, I could afford the guitar pre-amp I wasn't able to afford an actual amp haha..I wasn't friends with these guys really, I mean it was all business, we didn't hang out or anything.  they would come in and play and then it was like see you later haha..They were older than me though. Well, we would get together often to play..." Denis states. unreleased, circa 1990-1991           

        

Denis with first band instrumental 2
  time:3:11
Circa 1990-1991
bandorig.m3u  
unreleased recording made around circa 1990-1991. Denis  playing with first band.. Denis stated" yes, this demo was on cassette and a jam box. " yes, we would make up these instrumentals and they would end up just being jams and in fact they all sounded alike haha. these were part of the basement experiments which became my music lab for ideas haha, but this one was a little more lively. I was all excited because I wrote it and got to use my favorite chords which were chords with open strings,, though I had such bad timing, you can hear it on the demo" .unreleased, circa 1990-1991

        

Denis with Band and Singer playing original
song
  time:5:11
circa 1990-1991
bandsinger.m3u
unreleased recording made around 1990-1991. Denis  playing with first band.. Denis stated" yes, this demo was on cassette and a jam box. Well, It was my first band and trying to play some originals. there was a drummer, bassist and a guy who couldn't sing but wanted to be in the band which was ok because we couldn't play well  either haha.When he did sing, he sounded drunk though. We did lots of originals and I found this recording which is the only one with that singer that I know of haha and to be fair, we didn't have any lyrics for him either or a consistent manner of playing haha, for me, it was an original that I had written and hoped the others would join in playing wise. Well, this was an early band, I had been in a couple of bands in Muncie, IN for a while which were much better, I hope to find tapes of those someday, but I was happy to be playing and learning....." .unreleased, circa 1990-1991      

        

"Metal Midget"
time: :43
 circa 1991
metalmidget.m3u  
  unreleased demo taken off of a cassette. Denis on guitar. Denis stated"haha yeah well, after hearing yngwie play I  tried to imitate him a bit, also using the whammy bar was cool back then, so I tried that and harmonics, still didn't help me play haha!!! ahah geez, it's just pitiful, well, trying to get sounds out of your guitar you know..."Denis states .unreleased,circa1991  

        

Band with Denis using milk crate speaker cabinet

Time: 56
Circa 1991

 band0.m3u
 unreleased track Denis in a band playing guitar. Denis stated" haha, .l remember I was playing through one 12" speaker that I had wired in a milk crate and It blew after one session haha.We had no P.A. and you had to be quite loud. I didn't have a speaker cabinet yet. It was a celestion speaker though, what a shame haha,. That drummer was so loud!!! I don't recall there being a bassist....Well,I take that back, there was one but he never really played, I think he wanted to be the singer instead. You know, I started getting fed up with trying to get bands together, I mean 1/2 of these guys, especially the drummers, I would find out were on house arrest who knows for what?! haha geez....." Denis states.unreleased,early 1991

        

Rhythm Practice with new drum machine
Time: 1:12
circa 1991
rythmn.m3u
  
 unreleased Demo made in 1991 Denis  on guitar. Denis stated" yes, this demo was on cassette and it is a practice tape. I had a new drum machine, retiring the Korg Mini Pops for the Alesis sr-16 the old one, haah and when I was playing I really had to work hard on developing a sense of timing .It did not come naturally to me at all really, and so I would work with a drum machine for hours haha. " Denis states.unreleased,circa 1991          

        

Denis early guitar solo
 Time: 1:12
circa 1991-1992
dem10.m3u  
  guitar solo practice taken off of a cassette. Denis on guitar. Denis stated"ah,yes,haha,Well I was working on my dexterity and trying to get a voice on the guitar, a style if you like, when I hear it now, it's seems to be all gibberish, however, it was a good way to learn. I was also trying to develop technique as best I could.." Denis states.unreleased,circa 1991-1992           

        

 Denis Early cover band
"Rush's limelight" kind of....
 time:4 :42
circa 1992
coverband3.m3u 
   
 unreleased track Denis in a cover band playing guitar. Denis stated"haha, ridiculous really, well we tried to do covers. that was off cassette and a jam box. there  was a bassist and drummer too. We never really got any songs down so it didn't last. But it was good practice. I played through a gp-8 and a huge console tube stereo that was rewired to be a tube amp l remember. We played a lot of  Rush tunes or tried too, I tried to be alex lifeson hahaha,well it gave me a chance to work on soloing with a band,but I mean I got the vibe of it even if it didn't sound good, because it did to me at the time, In fact, I made quite  few mistakes soloing wise hahaha" Denis states.unreleased,circa 1992

        

 Denis more cover band - live tunes
 time: 2 :33
circa 1992
cvers2.m3u  
    
 unreleased track Denis in a cover band playing guitar. Denis stated"haha, ridiculous really, well we tried to do covers. that was off cassette and a jam box. there  was a bassist and drummer too. We never really got any songs down so it didn't last. But it was good practice. I played through a gp-8 and a huge console tube stereo that was rewired to be a tube amp l remember. We played some Police, Van Halen, Jimi hendrix and pink floyd songs  tunes or at least tried too I didn't really know the songs first of all and would come up with my own parts for them  hahah," Denis states.unreleased,circa 1992

        

"harmony" Demo
 Time: 1:23
circa 1992-1993
harmo.m3u  
  unreleased demo taken off of a cassette. Denis on guitar . Denis stated" believe  it or not, this particular recording was ground breaking for me in the sense that I started to play over individual chords rather than just playing over chords using one scale. I used a separate arpeggio for each chord. So I was definitely learning and this was the basis for my further progress. I used a guitar to emulate a bass....." Denis states.unreleased,circa 1992-1993           

        

 Denis and Brian the keyboardist Demo
 Time 2:00
circa 1992-1993
briankey.m3u  
  unreleased demo taken off of a cassette. Denis on guitar and Brian Simmerman on keyboard. Denis stated"ah,yes,haha, this is with Brian again. this was in my basement. We were getting a little better, but we wouldn't write songs really  and would just jam most of the time, this was as close as we got to a song. But we were definitely getting better...." Denis states. unreleased, circa 1992-1993           

        

Denis's "Summer" Demo
time:1:57
circa 1992-1993 
dem4.m3u  
 
   unreleased Demo made in 1992-1993. Denis  played all the instruments. Denis stated" yes, this demo was on cassette pulled off a 4 track recorder. I spent my summer recording with my 4track which was a cassette based thing. I got it mail order. It was really old and crusty. You had to use a switch to choose which track to record on, it didn't really have a mixer. I did learn about recording quite a bit with it. I bought it mail order. I was just thrilled to get my own. haha. A the time, they were expensive. I remember calling them up and asking for their cheapest multi track used haah, they said, no problem, that will be $150.00 . It was a rack mount multi track from the stone age. It may have been state of the art tens years prior haha... I had an art processor so was getting into different guitar sounds. My drum machine was a Korg Mini POPS!!! awesome haha..It really was out of an old organ and you could punch in two buttons together to get multiple rhythms, though you weren't supposed to I guess haha. " Denis states.unreleased,circa 1992-1993

        

Denis Solo practice with ADA MP-1 preamp
 time: :40
Circa 1992-1993
soloprac.m3u 
  unreleased recording made around 1992-1993. Denis  playing solo.. Denis stated" yes, this demo was on cassette and a jam box. Well, I was taking lessons and trying to get a handle on playing rhythm then lead and back again. These were my feeble first attempts and I had just started playing straight through an amp without  many effects. I was using an ADA mp-1 pre amp and a mosvalve power amp and I think I had cabinets of some sort, but can't remember what..I remember wanting ADA 2x12's but couldn't afford them" Denis states.unreleased,circa 1992-1993         

        

Denis's "experimental" sounds  demo
 Time: 2:03
Circa 1993
dem11.m3u 
 unreleased track Denis experimenting with 4 track. Denis stated" haha, .l remember I was experimenting with guitar sounds. I had this processor with all kinds of ridiculous sounds on it, so I wanted to try to use as many as possible in a recording. I used my trusty crappy tape 4 track recorder and was messing around with sounds. I was listening to a lot of Jimi Hendrix who used many sounds. I guess it influenced me, perhaps in a bad way haha. Though I did start to learn how to work with effects to get weird guitar sounds and then improvised much like I do now haahh..." Denis states.unreleased,early 1993         

        

A Denis instrumental recorded on a 4 track
Time: 2:18
 circa 1993-1994
ddem.m3u  
    
 unreleased track Denis recording with his 4 track. Denis stated" I was trying to get guitar parts together, so  I always wrote little guitar parts that went together, or at least I tried to get them together. I also worked on the flow of  the song, trying to expand on ideas, it was a start and I liked the repeating motif over the different chords.... " Denis states.unreleased,circa 1993-1994             

        

Jam Band with Denis's amp catching on fire
time:1:04
circa 1993-1994
jamband2.m3u  
    
 unreleased track Denis in a band playing guitar with others .Denis stated" l remember I was playing with 6 other people .they were crowded in my room. I mean we could hardly move.2 keyboardists,1 bass player,1 guy on tambourine and a few friends. I was playing guitar, this was the jam where my kitty hawk tube guitar combo amp started smoking and caught on FIRE haha!!! Man, that was strange. It just burst into flames, no joke!!!  it was a defective combo tube amp I guess.I was quite frightened having my guitar connected to this amp on fire, that ended the jam and you can hear it on the recording. Anyway, It was fun but very cramped. Gosh to think back on that is quite something, that was a long time ago. I thought it was sweet at the time hahaah, I know Byron and Brian were there and the singer and some of his musical friends  from an early band were there" Denis states. unreleased,circa 1993-1994            

        

  4 track demo with Denis on guitar and bass
 time:1:10
circa 1994
dem5.m3u  
   
 unreleased track Denis recording with his 4 rack recorder." I continued recording with my track recorder,  I got hold of a bass and learned how to put down a bass line somewhat or at least to get a guitar part over a bass line. I also worked on song writing and using different sounds. I really enjoyed recording and listening to what I created, sadly much of it I can't stand to hear today ahaha, but it was a learning process. My rhythm was getting better a well..." stated Denis states.unreleased,circa 1994           

        

 " Funk"
 Time:1:17
   circa 1994
         funk.m3u      
 unreleased track Denis recording with his 4 rack recorder." I continued recording with my track recorder, my rhythm was getting better a well. I tried to play some funk guitar and if you hear in the demo I have a comping chord, I was learning about different styles and tried to adapt them to my playing. I had a good time learning some bass lines and then using those for instrumentals. I certainly focused on learning to play some bass lines..." stated Denis states.unreleased,circa 1994            

        

Theatre Old Demo  
  Time: 4:23
Circa 1994
demoold.m3u  
  unreleased Demo made in 1994 Denis  played all the instruments. Denis stated" yes, this demo was on cassette pulled off a 4 track recorder. This is where I began to experiment with volume swells and had discovered the music of tangerine dream who did soundtracks.I was developing as far as playing a little bit. So this is an important recording in terms of my development. I had gotten a summer job at a movie theatre at night, I mean around midnight to 3:30am or so, they gave me a leaf blower and I was supposed to blow the popcorn from each aisle to the bottom of the theatre which took about 5 minutes, but I had to be there for 3 and a half  hours or so, so  I would bring a jam box or a guitar and amp and set it up at the front of the theatre and play music very loudly. This was one of the recordings I did at home and would listen to at the movie theatre  and really I had a good time. My friend who got me the summer job worked at another nearby theatre about 5 minutes away and we would sneak out and visit sometimes on  breaks. Well the job didn't last long though because my friend who worked at the other theatre got scared when someone entered the theatre and he called the police who were not able to catch the intruder which meant he was 'at large' haha.I mean we were alone and it would get a little spooky sometimes. I remember my friend calling me in a panic haha. So we decided that maybe a summer job was not worth while haha. Really, I wonder if he wasn't just making it up to get out of working ,I never had any problems there haha.It was a fun and unique experience and for a summer ,why not?!" Denis states.unreleased,circa 1994            

        

Denis new song Ideas
 Time: 1:21-
circa 1995
       earlysong.m3u      
 unreleased track Denis playing guitar and recording ideas for songs. Denis stated" Well, I would come up with guitar parts that were original ideas for songs a the time. I would play quite a few different ideas in one 'song' hahah, those ideas did eventually become songs or instrumental tracks or I would use them in parts of songs, but I kept writing little ideas for guitar parts. I kind of knew what I wanted things to sound like. This was more of a practice tape too not forget the ideas...    " Denis states.unreleased,circa 1995           

        

"Let's get rid of the bassist?!"  band playing Denis instrumentals
 time 3:42
circa 1995
band1.m3u 
    
 unreleased track Denis in a band playing guitar. He wrote the songs and didn't have a singer. Denis stated" gosh that has been a while haha, .l remember I was playing through the bass players amp because I didn't have an amp of my own at the time. But I had a guitar preamp haha. There was a drummer as well. We played in a tiny room, I had to play out in the hall haha.I was just trying to get a band going, so this is one of many band attempts. I wrote some originals to play with them. The drummer was dead set on firing the bassist, why I don't know. I got talked into going along with it or else the drummer wouldn't play anymore haahah, silly band politics at it's worst, of course that ended the band.I was getting more comfortable playing with a drummer in any case. Well, I went through at least 7 or 8 of these attempts at bands. I even played with some guys from Indianapolis and others from different part of Indiana.    " Denis states.unreleased,circa 1995           

        

Denis's new Demo recorded on Yamaha 4 track
  Time:7:58
circa 1994-1995
1994demo.m3u  
    
 unreleased demo made in 1994-1995. Denis played all the instruments and it was recorded on a Yamaha 4 track tape recorder. Denis stated" Yes, I remember this demo. The master was on a cassette hahah.It was recorded with a 4 track cassette recorder I bought used. I think it was a Yamaha. I also played through a 2x10 stereo chorus peavey amp .I am not sure it worked right though aha. Well, this was a step forward for me because I stared thinking about songs and composition. Still learning to play though haha and this was a period that really set me up for my first CD. My playing got much better song wise for some reason. I started getting song ideas. I would record demo's to play on the cassette deck in my car haha...I would record something and then run to my car to hear it haah,It's odd, because prior to this I hadn't really done much guitar wise, I mean I played sometimes, but maybe a break is what I needed as I got better playing and writing wise. I really had a blast recording my own stuff on this little setup and took it more seriously than others around me at the time imagined. It helped me to really start thinking of songs rather than just guitar jams and learning to program a drum machine too haah...... "  Denis states.unreleased,circa 1994-1995             

        

1'st  Recording Session as hired guitarist
 Time:1:31
circa 1995
1sessin.m3u 
    
 unreleased session  made around 1995 or so. Denis was hired  to play guitar on a demo." Yes, I remember that I was teaching guitar in a music store and in the basement was a recording studio. I would sometimes get hired to add guitar to some recordings. Mostly demos, but it was a big thrill for me at the time just to get to play in  the studio. I mean for me, I just loved being around the gear, the recording mixer and to get to play and contribute. I mean it meant a lot to me. Only one recording that I have exists of this period. It was the very first session I was hired for. They gave me a tape and I was to find a solo part for it. It had a vocal part as well. They wanted a blistering solo when in reality they already had a basic guitar melody that I thought was good enough. In any case,  I was into speed guitar leads at the time and getting into heavy metal playing. Gosh I don't remember it as this cheesy though hahah"  Denis states. unreleased, circa 1995 or so            

        

 Denis Band with No Drummer
 Time:1:16
circa 1996
bandnodr.m3u  
    
 unreleased demo made around 1996 or so. Denis played guitar with a bassist. Denis stated "Yes, I remember I was playing with this bassist, I think his name was Steve and we didn't have a drummer so we used a drum machine. nothing ever came of it really but we had  fun anyway and we did have a lot of enthusiasm .I remember the bass player calling slow songs "panty melters", I cracked up as I had never heard that before?! I think if we had gotten a drummer, we would have a played for a while and a lot better too ahah"  Denis states.unreleased,circa 1996 or so            

        

 Eric & Denis Demo
 Time:1:22
circa 1996
eric.m3u  
    
 unreleased demo made around 1996 or so. Denis and friend Eric Thrasher played guitar. Denis stated" I remember I was playing with my friend Eric Thrasher and he had been playing a while. when I started playing he showed me some things on guitar. This is the only times we collaborated on a track. We had good times talking about guitars and trading licks. One time Eric told me that he went into a music store and there was a poster of Frank Gambale and he told the salesman, man that guy's bald and the salesman bent over and pulled his toupee off and said so am I hahaha...oops, well Eric is a good friend and he is just well Eric. When we recorded this , he had this sweet paul reed smith guitar.."  Denis states. unreleased,circa 1996 or so             

        

first digital mutli-track recording
 Time:2:09
circa 1996-1998
96dem.m3u  
    
 experimenting in the studio. unreleased track . Denis also played all the instruments. "Oh yeah, this was a fun track, though I never finished it, I was getting used to the new digital recorder instead of the analog recorder. The stage was set to be sure, I mean what do you  do when you just get a new digital recorder and then quit your dead end job? Well, you take a year off and make a debut CD of course ?! hhah....I was starting to think about doing a CD, still my lead playing still had that whiny tone haah,I grew out of it eventually. But this track really got me thinking of making an album using the digital recorder, I was so pleased with the sound quality, no hiss and so on!! Now there was a learning curve to get the digital recorder to sound good, but this was really the beginning of it. Don't forget I was upgrading and experimenting with different guitar gear as well. I must have tried 10 amps and rack setups at least. Something happened to me in this period, in that, playing wise and writing wise even more, things just came together for me, my writing of songs got much better and more flowing.. haahha.." Denis states.unreleased,late 1997-1998            

        

 "Winter Passage Alt. take"
Time 1:57
circa 1997-1998
 winteralt.m3u
 

Unreleased track.circa 1997 Denis  played all the instruments." Yes, I love to hear this because it was really the beginning of doing my first CD and this was the alternate take of "winter Passage" which was a track on the first CD and this demo is how I got the basic framework of the song. Though when I recorded it and got the idea for it, I had not set out to record a CD. This was recorded on a Fostex reel to reel 8 ch mutlitrack machine in analog format. I had an analog  alesis 16ch mixing board and the reel to reel was analog.You can hear how the track speeds up and down ever so slightly, that's because of the reel to reel. Still I could record and always dreamed of having an 8 track recorder as you could record an album with it. I didn't have the fostex reel to reel long though, as I think 2-3 weeks later I sold it and got the digital 8 track that had just come out with digital editing wow!!!! haha Before I had a digital recorder. But you can hear the analog warmth of the track, granted it's off a lousy tape deck recording. This was the groundwork for the song. The actual finished version is digital (recorded on a roland digital recorder) and ended up on the CD.Modern guitar vol.1:Abducted by aliens. This was one of the happiest times of my life though I didn't know it at the time. just focusing on recording songs, not knowing that it would become my  first CD and in fact when I hear it now it brings back that feeling of excitement and I was focused. You know, everything was new for me recording wise. It's a conventional recording with no loops, but it was magical, I mean like a drug almost, just the excitement of  it, I still use that digital recorder even now. I think it was obscenely expensive when it came out, now it can be had for peanuts just about haha " Denis  remembers.unreleased,1997-1998         

        

 "Adrenaline" Alternate version 
 Time :48
circa 1997-1998
adrenalt.m3u 
    
 unreleased demo made around 1998 or so. Denis played all the instruments. Denis stated " Yes, this was on a fostex reel to reel 8trk recorder and it was the basis for the song "Adrenaline" on my first CD modern rock guitar.volI 'Abducted by Aliens'. This recording was the early foundation for that track which I rerecorded on my digital recorder and expanded on. The truth is, that the digital recording is much better because you can hear the different guitar parts better. But,I still like this version as it was hard to recreate it for the digital version. Also the drums at the beginning were much different on the version on the CD. A conventional recording without loops.I do recall really trying to get the rhythms down for this track. I like the digital track must better, but this was the basis for the song.   Denis states.unreleased,circa 1997-199

        

"Adrenaline" radio air play
 Time 1:01
circa 1998
radioairply1.m3u  
    
Denis radio airplay from WFHB community radio."Well, I was eagerly awaiting to hear a track from my debut CD, which wasn't out yet, on the radio. It' sounded good, however, I was so disappointed when he said my last name wrong, he said "taafy" instead of "taaffe (pronounced tayf) and then he pronounced the name of the song wrong. It was "adrenaline" not "adrenalize" haha..well no matter. It was fun!! the Station wouldn't come in very well though." Denis remembers.unreleased,1998           

        

Denis's 2000 "almost my 2nd CD"  Demo
Time 5:22
circa 1999-2000
2000dem.m3u  
    
 unreleased demo. "Well, I had completed my first CD and this was material that was going to be my on my second CD, though it was scrapped and it never made it to a CD as I had discovered looping. Wow, it's sounds metal but I do like some of the material, the guitar tones and song ideas. But yes, I then discovered looping and these traditional recordings went out the door, though I actually have the entire demo which has some vocals on it, well vocals from hell haahh, though song writing wise it was ok, the guitars were ok and they were full structured songs with vocals. I had to fix the cassette as that is all that is left. on this demo you can here some problems in the recordings but I got those fixed after putting the tape in a different shell.. I actually put the full songs in the Archive Albums m3u's section of the dtguitar.com  website " Denis reflects. unreleased,1999-2000           

        

Mike Parsons Demo (Denis- electric guitars, bass, drum machines)
 circa 2001  
    

unreleased studio demo for singer/songwriter Mike Parsons.Denis played the electric  guitars, bass and drum programs and Mike wrote the song ,sang and  strummed the  acoustic guitar." I agreed to help this guy make a demo because he was going to Nashville, TN. It's not my style but I tried to play some country guitar. It was very foreign to me. It turned out well and I learned quite  bit about country actually. We did three or four songs. Enough for a demo. It was interesting to do this session though, I had no idea what to expect. He wrote the song. I  just tried it and recorded him first with acoustic while I played the bass to a drum machine track and then he sang... I then added the electric guitars. Well, he got his demo made for Nashville, I had a good time trying this out and it was fun to try a different style." Denis stated.. unreleased,2001

           

More...  To hear more of Denis: The early years, check out Denis's Modern Guitar Archive albums Vol. I , II and III  albums. They are a collection of old unreleased tracks and early recording. Most were recorded before Denis's first 1999 debut album Modern Rock Guitar Vol. I 'Abduced by Aliens'. Click here to go to the album selector!!!