Winner of two Irish Music Awards: 2011 Top Traditional Group and 2012 Top Duo. Winner of the 2013 Vancouver Island Music Award for Youth Performer of the Year. Also nominated for 3 Canadian Folk Music Awards, a Western Canadian Music Award and 4 Vancouver Island Music Awards.
At a recent international music conference, another artist posted this on their blog: “Quinn Bachand, 16 years old and possibly one of the most talented humans I have ever been in the same room with. Guitar, Fiddle, Banjo… all seemingly effortlessly and at a million miles an hour and all with the friendliest knowing smile you could ever hope to see. He could hop in any jam, on any instrument, at any point, and instantly take it up a dozen notches. For three straights days….” (Toronto, Ontario 2012)
With diverse musical talents and a bottomless pool of creativity, Quinn Bachand is recognized as the “Young Lion” of the Celtic guitar (Daniel Lapp) and “Canada’s top Celtic guitarist” (Ashley MacIsaac). Although Quinn plays a range of styles that include jazz and bluegrass, it is his talents in the world of Celtic music that are drawing the most attention. His virtuosic playing is more than eye-catching fret-board fireworks. A gifted and creative guitar player, Quinn adds a contemporary edge to traditional Celtic music. His unique harmonies, hard-driving strumming, inventive chord voicing and powerful rhythmic effects make even the most well-worn tunes seem new and exciting. An in-demand sideman, Quinn has also toured nationally and internationally with well known musicians including Canadian fiddling icons Ashley MacIsaac and Natalie MacMaster.
Don’t let his age fool you, Quinn already has many impressive accomplishments to his credit. As a proficient multi instrumentalist, he is equally at ease playing Irish tenor banjo, claw hammer banjo, bouzouki, bodhran and fiddle. Many of his fans are unaware that Quinn is a classically trained violinist, having achieved the Royal Conservatory of Music Grade 10 violin level.
Also a respected guitar instructor, Quinn has taught privately and at workshops, music camps and festivals, including Goderich Celtic Roots College (Ontario), Pierre Schryer’s Canadian Celtic Celebration in Thunder Bay, Far North Fiddle Fest (Fairbanks, Alaska) as well as master classes at Lakehead University in Ontario.
Quinn has also done extensive recording for the popular software program “Band in a Box” (www.pgmusic.com). These include the Celtic guitar, Irish bouzouki and bodhran tracks.
With such a diversity of talent and experience, Quinn’s future achievements seem limitless.
Classes:
Celtic Guitar – Beginner Plus/Intermediate: This class will explore approaches to the accompaniment of Irish music. Participants will learn about various popular tunings including Drop-D and DADGAD, strumming rhythms for jigs, reels, slip-jigs and different chords & chord progressions used in Celtic music. Focus will be placed on rhythm, chord selection, chord voicing and right-hand techniques. We’ll go over choosing chords for a tune by ear. Students should bring a capo. An audio recorder is recommended.
Celtic Guitar – Intermediate Plus/Advanced: In this class for intermediate to advanced players, students will learn different strumming techniques to a variety of types of tunes (jigs, reels, slip-jigs), add dynamics to their playing through syncopation and emphasis, chord substitution, finger picking techniques, tips and tricks for playing in sessions, how to work out the right chords for tunes and alternate tunings for the guitar. Students should be comfortable with basic chords, strumming, and have some knowledge of Irish music and of music harmony. Chord sheets in dropped-D tuning will be provided. Students should bring a capo. An audio recorder is recommended.
Gypsy Swing Guitar – Intermediate Plus/Advanced: This class is for intermediate to advanced guitar players who want to explore the Gypsy Swing style. Students will learn about rhythm, left and right hand techniques, using recognized gypsy jazz Django Reinhardt repertoire. Students will also learn about phrasing, moving from slow to fast tempos as well as improvisation and embellishments that are characteristic of the gypsy jazz style. An audio recorder is recommended.