Today we’d like to introduce you to Isaac Biver
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My story thus far with the guitar is a vast one. Music and the guitar has been and will continue to be one of the most important parts of my life and continues to bless me with an incredible journey. I am thankful everyday for the guitar and all the experiences and opportunities I’ve been very fortunate to have received over the past few years. Here’s my story.
My journey began around 4 years ago. I was in the last few months of my 8th grade year in middle school. I was big into basketball when it all started and had no musical interest or aspirations in the first place. A friend of ours, Jason Valentine, whom I am still great friends with today, was starting guitar lessons at my school. I thought I would try it out, not knowing it would change my life forever. The lessons were every Thursday evening at my school and there was a few others starting the lessons as well. The more I started to learn basics and fundamentals, the more obsessed I got. Slowly, the other students began to drop out or quit, and soon I was the last one still into it. I would write down everything Jason was teaching me and practiced at home all the time. I was walking around the house singing tunes by musicians I adored like The Beatles, Johnny Cash, John Prine, Tom Petty and many others. Eventually, I quit playing basketball altogether to just play guitar all the time. The obsession was quickly beginning.
A little later, I graduated middle school and entered high school. Around this time was when COVID started to hit. This was the big deal for me musically and what seemed to change everything. My mom showed me a video she discovered of the South Korean Fingerstyle Guitarist, Sungha Jung playing an arrangement of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” on Youtube. I was instantly hooked. For the next year or so, in the midst of COVID, my guitar playing and musical journey expanded so much more and my technique began to grow. I was instantly focused on the art of Fingerstyle Guitar and the act of playing like a “one man band”. I studied Sungha for hours at a time, watched hundreds of his videos on Youtube all the time, and absorbed as much as I could. At first, I wasn’t great at all. Before then, all I knew were simple chord structures & shapes, some tunes, and some basic melody lines. This stuff was technical and I had to work for it. Eventually, I got Alaska Fingerpicks because I saw Sungha used to use them a while back, and eventually thumbpicks. This took at least a few weeks to get a hang of and I still use them to this day. I would stay up late at night writing out tablature for tunes and arrangements I loved from Sungha, and other great players I began to love including Tommy Emmanuel (who later I would get to know and play with), Andy McKee, etc. I was completely obsessed. This stuff took up all my time.
Shortly after, I happened to stumble across a video of Sungha playing the Jerry Reed tune, “Jerry’s Breakdown”. I was flattered as I watched. It was nothing like I’d ever seen before. Fast tempo, banjo rolls, pull-offs, etc. I was instantly hooked on that. I searched up the tune and saw a video that would then change my life forever for the better. I saw Chet Atkins and Jerry Reed performing the tune on a TV recording. This was my introduction to other sides of Fingerstyle and Thumbpicking guitar, as I was introduced to my greatest hero still to this day, Chet Atkins. I was then introduced to guys like Jerry Reed, Merle Travis, Leo Kottke, Doc Watson, Hank Marvin, The Ventures, into Jazz players like Django Reinhardt, Lenny Breau, Les Paul, etc. I tried learning Jerry’s Breakdown at first, realizing it was very advanced piece and would take some work. I figured out other tunes like “Cannonball Rag” by Merle Travis, known as the “Thumbpickers National Anthem”. I already knew of Tommy Emmanuel, who is in the complete shadow of guys like Chet, Jerry, and Merle. His hero was Chet as well & he gave Tommy one of the 5 CGP “Certified Guitar Player” awards. I was learning the art of Thumbpicking and was already at an advantage as I had the Fingerstyle background already, and was working on getting my thumb “independent” from my fingers.
Fast forwarding a bit, I soon landed my first gig. My mom had been working to try to get me to play at the Vine Street Farmer’s Market in O’Fallon, Illinois. I got the text from her saying I got it while at a Cross Country practice at my school. I was excited beyond belief. It was one of my first real chances of performance. It was a 3 hour gig, and I was prepared. I was hooked on performing and knew this is what I wanted to do.
Ever since my first gig, its been quite the ride and adventure. I’ve accomplished feats I never would have dreamed of. Today, I’m busy with many gigs I’ve acquired through creating social media pages and getting my name around the area. I’ve gotten to play bigger stages at places like the Mocassin Creek Music Festival in Effingham, Illinois and Little Grassy Get Down Festival in Makanda, Illinois. I’ve also had the chance to play on international broadcasts several different times. I’ve been on the Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour TV and Radio Show 5 separate times. The show is filmed in Lexington, Kentucky at the Lyric Theatre. It’s set up in a concert setting but is broadcasted out to most of the countries in the world. One of those times, I had the ultimate honor of being asked to be on with Tommy Emmanuel, Larry Campbell (Bob Dylan’s guitar player for several years) and Teresa Williams. Today, I would still consider that one of my major accomplishments. Among that, I was also the 2023 International Home of the Legends Thumbpicking Champion in both the Traditional and Junior competitions at the Merle Travis Center in Powderly, Kentucky. I’ve been so blessed to have met and now am great friends with many of my heroes in the Chet Atkins and Fingerstyle Guitar world including Tommy Emmanuel CGP, John Knowles CGP, Gareth Pearson, Jim Nichols, Richard Smith, Brooks Robertson, Pat Bergeson, and many more. I’m forever thankful and grateful for that. I have so many great friends in the world of Chet Atkins through events like the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society Convention (or the CAAS as many of us call it) in Nashville every July since the 90s (an event I dreamed of attending since I got into Chet) and the Thumbpickers weekend. I was blessed with another great honor this past summer as I was one of the performers at the CAAS this year. It was an incredible honor and a dream. I did a few sets of old 50s Chet arrangements with my great friend and mentor, John McClellan, and another hero of mine the great Guy Van Duser on bass. The CAAS is now one of my favorite weeks of the year and a true highlight.
In the few years since getting into Fingerstyle Guitar in the first place, my musical personality has continued to expand greatly. About a year or so ago, or maybe a bit more, I got hit by the Blues. I think it may have been a Stevie Ray Vaughan tune that I’d heard for the first time, or quite possibly Eric Clapton (I had always loved Clapton). This was a whole new direction as I had grown so accustomed to playing with thumb and fingers all the time and really hadn’t touched a straight pick in so long. This was my introduction to improvised music and improvisation with the guitar and my first small introductions to music theory. It continued my ability to learn things by ear that I already had began to develop through Chet and Jerry Reed. It took me many hours of studying, absorbing and obsessing over the great Blues musicians and players to become the Blues player I am today. Many of my greatest heroes today come from the Blues. Eric Clapton, BB King, Albert King, Freddie King, Mike Bloomfield, Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Guy, Jeff Beck, Otis Rush, Peter Green, Albert Collins, Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Lee Hooker, Duane Allman, Ry Cooder, Elmore James, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Johnny Winter, Robben Ford, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, etc, just to name a few. Today, I would say I play with a thumbpick, straight pick, and bare fingers just as much as each other. My musical language has continued to expand so much. Along with the Blues, I continued my interest in many of the great Jazz players. Wes Montgomery, Lenny Breau, Johnny Smith, Pat Martino, Joe Pass, Charlie Chrisitian are just a select few of my heroes today, but my I found that absorbing and transcribing things great horn players like Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, etc is just as great and maybe even greater.
My love for great songwriters and songwriting is another thing. I got huge into guys like Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Townes Van Zandt, Neil Young, (was always obsessed with The Beatles, and was now getting into The Rolling Stones), Richard Thompson, Joni Mitchell, Mark Knopfler, Bruce Springsteen, (was already big into Tom Petty and Johnny Cash tunes- I used to walk around the house singing them in my earlier days with the guitar), etc. I started to appreciate all of that so much more around the same time I was getting into the Blues, which also led me to great Soul, Funk and R&B. I’m a complete connoisseur for everything Stax Records, Motown, Otis Redding, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Ray Charles, the list goes on and on. Ultimately, through friends and connections, I was exposed to so much more great music and am forever grateful for that. It has expanded my knowledge, appreciation for the history of great music and has continued to inspire me everyday. It has also continued to expand my love for many styles on my beloved instrument including things like Slide Guitar. Along with my obsession with guitar playing, my obsession with music in general is just as important to me. I’ve come to love vinyl and collecting records and turning to music in so many different situations. All of this thus far is the soundtrack of my life. All of it builds up my musical personality to this day.
My musical journey has been incredible so far, and I can’t wait to see where it continues to take me as I have recently moved to Nashville to attend Lipscomb University with a major in Commercial Music- Performance. I can’t wait to continue to connect with more fellow musicians here in Music City and continue to build the great friendships I already have. The adventure continues!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Along with all the great days as a musician, there are many obstacles and challenges. Some include ruts in your playing. I’ve had many, many times where I’ve either played too much, or just don’t feel inspired to play or practice. Sometimes, you feel like your playing has hit a plateau and you don’t know where to go to next. I’ve learned different tactics to overcome these feelings, but a lot of it just comes with the life of a musician. You’ll have days like this. It is also a struggle to try to fit music and the guitar into my daily schedule along with all the other things I need to take care of. It is beneficial to find a good balance and to have a life outside the guitar as well. There have been many challenges throughout my musical life thus far, but every one has been worth it.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/isaacbivermusic?igsh=MWVnemtheTIwcmdlYw==
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/isaacbivermusic?mibextid=ZbWKwL
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@isaacbivermusic?si=bqWEs6yIa1y5hFFm
