John Pfeiffer - Guitarist, Appleton, WI
920-284-1997
John Pfeiffer
has performed over five hundred times playing in various bands since
1996. Many performances are in and around the Appleton area with regular appearances
as a Duo with Tom Powell at The Seasons Restaurant. John has also played venues from
Chicago to the UP, also jamming with musicians in California and Cincinnati.
He continues to perform at public events and private parties, including:
numerous wedding receptions, Appleton's Art in the Park, The Appleton Arboretum, The Neenah
Jazz Festival, The Ripon Jazz festival, Appleton's Octoberfest, Bergstrom Automotive,
Fox Valley Animal Referral Center, Fox Valley Home Remodeler's Association, HRH of
Appleton.
John is also owner, engineer, and producer of JCP Recording, a not-for-hire 16-track
recording studio. Please see professional credits or, for a more
personal background history, read perhaps more than you want to
know about me.
Marketing
To subscribe to my monthly music newsletter, or to request promotional materials and a demo CD, contact John@JohnPfeiffer.com or see me at the bandstand.About the Bands
John performs solo jazz guitar, duo jazz performances under the name John Pfeiffer and John Pfeiffer Duo, many times featuring Tom Powell. Group performances are booked with a variety of musicians:Jazz and Variety: The John Pfeiffer Quartet, Island Jazz Quartet or with vocalist Jason Kipp and his All Star Big Band.
"Good Times" Country & Rock: Train Wreck, the band (primarily a vocal band doing favorite classic rock and country songs) led by Tom Powell. This band recently appeared at the
Sherwood Forest Country Club (see late breaking news below).
Additionally, John performs with 'Easy Pieces' (a variety band), led by vocalist and bassist Roger Teske. John is interested in playing with musicians and combo bands of any music background. Other local bands he has performed with - The North Coast Jazz Project, and The Geriatric Jazz Group.
News and Other Late breaking Info
January 27, 2008
I am working on new year's resolutions today (one of which is updating the website after a somewhat long pause). Last year, in order to reduce the space needed to setup our band, Tom Powell built a music lecturn or 'front' that houses all our equipment. The design allows us the option to add separate instrument amplifiers as needed (guitar and bass. The arrangement makes for a very clean stage, see the picture above from "The Seasons". Just outside the picture on the left is a single speaker, resting on a compact sub-woofer taking up about 2 sq ft. The sound has not been comprimised in any way, this is the same gear but better organized! The total space required for the duo is about 18 sq ft. The design also reduces our equipment setup and teardown time; there are less trips to the car and less to hookup prior to playing.OK, so the resolution is now for me to build a similar, if not exactly the same, setup for my gear. Typical for an engineer, I have over-complicated the assignment by designing my gear to use component tri-amplified speakers instead of self-contained units as Tom has. My intent to use my existing amplifier and speaker equipment, and to be able to 'scale up' when we play larger rooms. The design has adjustment for room acoustics, and the ability to use 19" rack gear, which is nice. Honestly, it is very hard to improve on the JBL EON speaker and the unique sub-woofer Tom selected for his design. Stay tuned!
January 26, 2008
Trainwreck (the band) did not play at the Sherwood Forest Country Club last night. My hope is that we do find a regular place for The Trainwreck Band to play. I really enjoy where the music has gone with band; fun, participative music, with a more recent focus on three part harmonies. The Hacker's Pub at the CC is also very nice place (sounds good too) and I highly recommend it. There is always a good local crowd and they have a plenty to do. The bar is non-smoking so the atmosphere is not choked with smoke. We look forward to playing there again and I will post the dates when we know the plans. I will have a picture of the band from this gig on the site shortly (gotta get Joe to send it to me!) Here is a link to a map to get to the Sherwood Country Club.January 24, 2008
The duo and trio bands have had the opportunity to to be part of the Bergstrom Automotive Group customer appreciation events and dealership openings last year. We definitely Appreciate that. I became an entertainer and a participant in their most recent customer appreciation night for the newly opened Bergstrom Subaru dealership in Oshkosh. I played solo for a group of Subaru owners, myself being one of them! A fun part about this job was listening multiple owners bragging or otherwise voicing praise for the Subaru's they drive. My Subaru is certainly my favoroite car. I have only purchased two new cars in my life, my WRX wagon being one of them. I can put all kinds of music gear in this car, and it goes crazy..any kind of weather! When I replaced the original tires, I bought two sets of tires - a set for summer and a set for winter. I have never felt more confident driving through snow in this car (but not ice, one can't expect miracles!). If you ever get an invite to a Bergstrom event, plan to attend. All events are top notch and you will have a good time.January 1,2008
Here we are again, Time fo new year's resolutions! Tom, Roger, and I regret to say we did not play New Year's eve at the Seasons. Not that we don't enjoy it! We have played every New Year's Eve for the last 8 years. Maybe even longer for Roger. This year, we decided to take a break and enjoy the evening with the families. Happy new year to all and wee look forward to seeing you in the coming year.November 1, 2006
Check out Pandora, web music broadcasting based on your personal music tastes. The Music Genome project seeks to quantify music in many ways using a small panel of professional 'listeners'. What a great Job!!!Tips (mostly gear and music)
January, 2008
Another new year's resolution to to re-direct my music practice focus for 2008. I think I could have learned more new songs, learning and then recalling songs from memory is critical. I spent the last year working diligently on breaking my position playing and in developing better right hand technique. Practice time was slanted more toward guitar than to music. This can become a deficiency. Position playing is hard to break and will always be a fallback for me. Playing by spanning 6 frets, playing melodies in key rotations and all string combinations of note enclosures without position changes has helped. My right hand has come along by practicing slow, smooth sweep picking, by 'burst speed' exercises, and catagorized practice of up/down sweep movements. Recently, I have been working onf hybrid picking single-note lines (pick and fingers)and corss-picking (using open strings mixed with fretted notes, both more of a country thing). Lastly, I have started playing slide again. All of this seems to be due to my interest in the Trainwreck band and where the sound is going with this group. I guess I should also say I have been working on singing and harmonizing, nothing fancy. I just don't want dogs to howl (which almost happened the other night!).This year, my approach will be to write down my goals and then align a group of practice patterns that get me there. Last year, most of my reading and playing by ear was done on the bandstand, with practice focusing more on technique. I will reverse this practice in 2008; to improve my reading and my transcribing skills. A second change will be "press record" - do more recording and to also use recorded material for transcribing, arranging, and harmonizing. There is a $12 book by Jerry Coker that describes the concept of selecting practicing content and then most importantly, time management control to reach individual goals. This book appeals to the engineer in me (need for order) and helps keep me focused, at least I think it does! I'm not saying this works for everyone; the approach risks just playing and having fun! For me, having clear objectives and goals moves the needle.
August 15 and September 4, 2007
I bought two amps; a new Epiphone Jr. head, and then a modified Epiphone Jr.combo amp on Ebay. OK, this amp is"The Sound" for me. Why? easy to control (2 knobs, 1 switch), good tone at low volume, lots of 2nd order distortion, and lightwieght (34# combo). The amplifier is also inexpensive. I'm merely tweeking things now.This amp is a single-ended two tube design, 12AX7 and EL84, 6 watts and diode driven. It is similar to the Galaxy amp I have but the EL84 has a brighter, more British sound. The modified amp has Bitmo TRIO mods installed. Simply installing a 3-way switch to change voicing (Fender-Vox-Marshall) and a pull-boost on the single tone control addes HUGE flexibility. The amp actually needs a brake as it can be too loud!. Combined with a microphone or driect box and PA, I can use this amp for any gig and probably for a more vintage jazz sound as well (but I'm working on this, the amp likes single coil pickups better than humbuckers right now).
I purchased two amps because I want to be able to compare various changes to the amp and setup as I make them. I have been experimenting with tube selections and will try sealed 12" and 15" cabinets with the head. Over time, I may change the output transformer (if more bass is needed) and experiment with the supply capacitors (more bit and less sag in sustained notes).