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Rick Foster
Saturday, December 3rd, 2005 at 7:00 PM
At the debut of the Contemporary Christian Music scene Rick Foster was in the forefront
as a solo classical guitarist playing an entirely sacred repertoire. He was the first to play a full concert of sacred music on the classical guitar. He was also
the first to arrange and record an album of sacred music for solo guitar. That album, Hymns for Classic Guitar, was a milestone in guitar recordings,
drawing rave reviews and many expressions of appreciation from his listeners. Not only were his listeners pleased with the peaceful quality of his music, but
fingerstyle guitarists around the world appreciated being able to obtain arrangements of some of their favorite hymns and sacred music, which up to this time were
unavailable. At present, a companion book of arrangements is available for each of Rick's recordings.
Rick's skillfully crafted music has drawn a Dove Award nomination from the Gospel
Music Association for Gospel Instrumentalist of the the Year. He appeared as a guest of the 3 Angels Broadcasting Network. Many readers of Fingerstyle Guitar Magazine have enjoyed his columns regarding various aspects of performing and arranging sacred music for the guitar.
Rick Foster comes from a Christian family and has enjoyed the great hymns of the
Christian faith since he was young. His love for both sacred music and the guitar led to a search for solo guitar arrangements of his favorite hymns. Unable to
locate such arrangements, he set forth upon a lifelong goal of creating a repertoire of sacred music for the classical guitar.
Rick began playing the Hawaiian steel guitar at age eleven and shortly thereafter took up
the 6 and 12-string guitars, playing with a flat pick. At age 14 he began playing electric guitar in a surf-rock band in Southern California. About this time he
was exposed to the fingerstyle recordings of Chet Atkins and Andres Segovia, and began using a thumb pick in an attempt to play both the bass and melody notes at
the same time. He taught himself to read guitar music and shortly after graduating from high school began trying to play some Sor studies from an old Segovia
manuscript, still using a thumb pick since he did not realize that no picks are used in classical guitar technique.
During Rick's first year of college he attended a recital by the great classical
guitarist, Andres Segovia. Highly inspired, he enrolled as the first guitar major in the newly formed guitar department at Cal State College in Fullerton,
California. At age 18 he began teaching guitar. During the next 20 years he made his living teaching and playing in restaurants, all the while developing the
playing and arranging techniques that led to his first album of hymns. That album, Hymns for Classic Guitar, was to become the first in a series of albums
that eventually resulted in enough arrangements for Rick to present a full length concert of sacred music on the guitar.
On a personal note - Rick and his wife, Wendy, and their daughters, Jody (22) and Tobi
(20) reside in rural Southern Oregon where they have an organic garden and orchard in which they grow most of their food. The whole family has accompanied Rick on
his music tours which are limited to the winter and early spring. Summer and fall are spent growing the garden and preparing for the next tour. Both children are
currently in college.
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