Bill Hall has been a dedicated Guitar Player reader for decades. Picking up the guitar at the age of ten he quickly fell in love with the instrument and was playing in bands and teaching by the time he was a teenager.
Drawing inspiration across a broad range of genres, Hall skilfully blends myriad styles from rock, jazz and blues to Spanish, classical and beyond.
Performing unique cover versions with a nylon string acoustic guitar, his virtuosic arrangements have seen him win numerous guitar competitions over the years while a new album of original material, Shadows On Empty Spaces, appeared last year.
"I love playing now as much as I did when I first started...even more so!" Hall tells us. "I am a real fan of music and have many different influences."
Hall's passion for playing and sharing music is palpable. And as this recent Facebook post shows, his solo performances attract thousands of listeners from music lovers the world over.
In this mesmerizing live performance, Hall is using a Breedlove acoustic-electric guitar.
Speaking of his new acoustic album, Shadows On Empty Spaces, Hall says, “I recorded it all during the pandemic, so it has a really introspective feel. And it’s all guitar – no other instruments – and just two tracks: one guitar part on one side; the other guitar part on the other side.
I’m just a huge fan of so many different styles. I blended them all together on ['Shadows On Empty Spaces'] and I think it turned out really nice
Bill Hall
“I’m doing all the stuff I love. All my influences come out from Ritchie Blackmore to Yngwie to Al Di Meola to John McLaughlin, Vinnie Moore…All that stuff is in there.
“I also mix in world influences; there’s some Spanish and flamenco…Some middle eastern-sounding stuff. I’m just a huge fan of so many different styles. I blended them all together on this album and I think it turned out really nice.”
For a great example of Hall's incredible technique check out this acoustic rendition of Pink Floyd's "The Great Gig in the Sky" from their landmark 1973 studio album The Dark Side of the Moon.
Hall performs the piece using a Breedlove Pursuit model.
With a price tag well below a grand, Breedlove says these guitars are, "The perfect professional grade instrument for players looking for an all-in-one guitar that can stand out and carry the rhythm or be soft, sweet and nuanced when played fingerstyle."
