Music
Press
Well-Composed, Well-Executed
”Instrumental Rock is tough to pull off. There are no vocals or lyrics, two very familiar aspects of Rock to a casual listener. To make up for those absences, the guitars, drums, and other instruments need to be spot-on for the song to work. This song succeeds.
The piano at the intro set a perfect mood for the song and, while simple, drew the listener in. It slowly built itself up to the introduction of the guitar and beat at :35. After that, it's all gold. The drums built on themselves as the song built energy, and provided a great backbeat. The keyboard added a perfect layer to the whole piece, giving the song depth. The guitar was perfect. While not nearly as complicated as, say, Steve Vai, it expressed emotion and energy. The guitarist never got away from the song, even near the end at 2:58 when the energy was at its peak.
My favorite part of the song was at 1:29, when the guitar seemed in the middle of a soulful wail. It almost spoke. Beautiful work.
The ending was a bit abrupt, but instead of leaving the listener feeling jilted, it leaves the listener wanting more, which I hope was the desired effect.
Solid effort, not a thing out of place, supremely listenable.”
- MartyVBuren from Brighton, Massachusetts on 11May2006
Instrumental Isn't Dead
”This song presents itself as a solid, radio friendly rock song with a solid radio friendly structure. But, instead of vocals taking the lead melody, the lead guitar does. The support of the other instruments is well balanced. The keyboards or organ are never too busy, but just enough.”
- rock_n_key from Denver, Colorado on 7May2008
Wish I had wrote this!
”As a musician, I don't have any higher praise... This is just a fantastic tune with great everything. Is this for sale? I would buy it!”
- KevinKavanaugh from Phoenix, Arizona on 22Oct2007
Vibe Alert!!
”I love the intro to this song. Sort of 70's slow funk with a hint of Santana thrown in. Killer vibe through out! The guitar work here is great. The whole tune is well thought out and the production and mix were awesome. I want to hear more!”
- FOE_1 from Unspecified on 12Oct2007
Emotion over technique
”This is really a fantastic piece wow! The lead guitar parts are fantastic. Great tones man! They take the listener to a lot of different places. A lot of instrumentals I hear tend to get stuck on one thought and abuse it till the end of the song. Not here. Those parts were written very well. The whole arrangement is well written in fact (fact here being my opinion). Solid rhythms, Great bass line. All parts compliment each other and nothing really gets lost. This piece screams of emotion with a nice blend of technique's with out going overboard. Love this song”
- friley64 from Deerfield, Wisconsin on 17Sep2007
That's what I call an Instrumental!
“This song embodies exactly what an instrumental should, a theme explored with different structures/voices/tempos/time signatures, going into another theme explored with different structures/voices/tempos/time signatures, and so on. Kept me interested the whole time. Lead guitar was wonderful, great chops. The arrangement I have to say was great! Great work! Great song!”
- Lazinmyhead from Chicago, Illinois on 8Feb2008
Great style mix!
”Intro rules! Tension is growing up, great arrangement also...That part around 2.30 with piano is really nicely put together with that metal riff after intro..This is one interesting song, lots of mixtures of heavy metal, blues, classic rock, but put up together in a great way. Nice arrangement, mix could be little more defined. Solo guitarist is very good. Keep the good work!”
- Igor_Paspalj from Banja Luka - Prijedor, Bosnia And Hertzegovina on 10Dec2007
WOW
”Guitar was great, thought all was well put together and arranged. The lead line was cool and with the multi-tracks thought it was really well put together. The tapping around 1:20 I think was totally cool, Harmonics were nicely placed threw the jam, kind of an ear-catcher. Overall thought it was really cool.”
- scott3204 from Carrollton, Texas on 28Mar2007
- garageband.com
Discography
"The Ninth Ring" - Bradford, 2008, bradford-music
See http://www.bradford-music.com/music.html for streaming audio samples.
Photos
Bio
Bradford started playing guitar when he was 16 years old. At first it was as much about getting girls than anything else, but he fell into a deep infatuation with the instrument almost immediately and was soon better than all of his teachers.
After high school, he spent some time in the military, where he hooked up with various GI bands, and got his first taste of playing in nightclubs. The military was not kind to these bands, however, and they all went their separate ways.
After returning home to the Denver area, he played out with various different cover bands, including a touring regional circuit band. During this time, he worked extensively on his technique and showmanship, developing a reputation around town as one of the top rock guitarists. Due to the birth of his first child, and complete burnout from the road, he took some time off, assembled a recording studio, and began working on his original material. Bradford wrote a number of songs during this period, including some of the instrumentals featured on his current release, “The Ninth Ring.”
Keeping Bradford away from the stage though was no easy task. The itch returned when a singer from a previous band called him up one day, and he couldn't resist going over and jamming with him and some friends. Thus began Bradford’s one and only original band. Many of the vocally oriented songs performed by this band were written during Bradford's hiatus. This band played extensively in and around Denver local and regional hard rock and heavy metal venues. This band also put out three CDs, all of which were recorded, engineered, and mixed by Bradford in his own studio. The highlight of performing with this band was easily the main stage at Comstock, which is a huge rock festival every July in Nebraska. The band, unfortunately, suffered from interpersonal issues, and it became harder and harder for him to justify sticking around.
For a while Bradford didn't hardly play guitar at all, but once again, the itch re-asserted itself. This time was different, however. Bradford decided that he wanted to produce good, listenable music that was expressive. Not being a singer, but a guitar player, Bradford decided to do an instrumental CD. The challenge was to write a CD that even people who normally don’t listen to instrumental music might enjoy. The approach therefore, was to emphasize the entire composition, and concentrate on the songwriting, so that the songs would sing without a singer. Bradford’s current release, “The Ninth Ring,” was written and recorded over a period of two years, and is packed full of artful and soulful sounds, with a minimum of over-the-top “shred” guitar. This CD is a “must have” for all rock music fans that appreciate well-put together songs, regardless of their genre tastes.
“The Ninth Ring” is available through CDBaby.com, Guitar9.com, and Amazon.com, and all of the major digital download sites (iTunes, Rhapsody, Amazon, etc.).
Links
