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Shawn Lane

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brett garsed chord progression chord progressions electric guitar guitar tech john coltrane mike stern rob balducci scott henderson shawn lane tony macalpine
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#21 ·
Dee said:
Huh? Wasted his life? Shawn died because he was ill with psoriatic arthritis.
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Of course it's anecdotal, but I've heard it from people in the business that his condition worsened due to little regard from him for his health, his chain smoking and his substance abuse.

Even, for the sake of argument, if you dismiss any notion of him using drugs, his chain smoking alone was reckless and he showed no indication of letting up even when he was in the worst of health.

Point being, that when you're that talented its a tragedy to deprive the world of the joy you could bring them from your music because you've got a self-destructive streak.
 
#22 ·
Well, I know he smoked weed to relieve the effects of his condition, but I wouldn't go as far as calling that substance abuse. I have never heard of him taking "drugs", as in hard drugs. I know he smoked cigarettes and due to his illness he could barely walk, never mind reach a decent level of fitness, so all things considered, it's no wonder he died. There are lots of conflicting stories about his death, though, some will say it was because he smoked, others will say it's because of the illness he had since he was 13 that finally made him crumble. I think a combination of both is accurate, but I believe if he was fitter in the first place and not so ill with psoriatic arthritis he might have lived longer.

Damn. Who knows. But yeah, it is a tragedy indeed and I wish he was still around. A lot of great musicians have a destructive streak, I think.
 
#24 ·
It was both. The meds he took for his psoriasis caused him to gain massive amounts of weight, and we all know that extra weight can put a heavy toll on the body. Combined with his weight and his heavy smoking, he developed severe breathing, heart, and lung problems and subsequently passed away.
 
#25 ·
I met Shawn Lane back in 1993 at a clinic he did in Miami. Sadly Shawn was one of those individuals who gave the world much more than he ever got back in return. Once you got past the fact that he was a world class pianist,composer and guitar virtuoso you were shocked to find out how friendly and humble he was. All instruments have that elite group of people whose genius transcends anything we thought possible before their arrival on the scene: violinists had Paganini, piano players had Franz Lizst and Art Tatum, Saxophone players had Charlie Parker and John Coltrane, Bass players had Mingus and Jaco.
No Matter what personal demons Shawn wrestled with in his life-the only person he ever hurt was himself. I'm always reminded of the magic of music when I hear Powers of Ten: that it can take to places you'd never think about without it. In a world where theres no such thing as too much anymore and on an instrument where egos and fingers have the tendency to run wild-We may never see that rare combination of incomparable virtuosity and humility again.
I'd like to think about the music and inspiration he gave us all during his brief life not the factors that contributed to his premature demise.
 
#33 ·
Nice story NYK, thanks for sharing it.

One thing I've always admired from Shawn's life story is that he spent two years of his life almost totally isolated just working on taking his technique up to another level. Gosh, where he took it to! It is the spirit of an artist trying to refine his art and become better at what he does. I take my hat off to anyone who shows such dedication and commitment.

Shawn will always be missed.
 
#40 ·
Dee said:
http://donniebshawn.com/v-web/bulletin/bb/index.php

Cool forum. Absolutely tons of Shawn Lane media to download (after you've got 10 posts!). I have GB's of stuff already.
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Wohoo, that sounds cool :) I tried to get cds of him in the internet (y'all know where ;) ), but I never suceeded, cause they were always getting too expensive for a poor person as me ;) I heard some things of him, when I did not know about shredding and was really like: "Hell, what's that?" And some months later, when I got to know some very good guitarists here around, I was suprised, that they did not even know him... I did not meet many persons who do.
 
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