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Connor Thomas
connor thomas
Connor Thomas
Connor Thomas

Connor Thomas

Fingerstyle Guitarist
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Connor Thomas

Rising star Connor Thomas is a fingerstyle guitarist and song writer and has already performed with the legendary Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuel. He's also recently discovered that his previous go-to microphone set-up has been blown out of the water by a certain UK brand…

Connor Thomas
The greatest musician on Earth

My Grandad found an old smashed up guitar in the attic of our house. He somehow managed to rebuild it to perfect condition and this started my love for guitar at nine years old. I was so passionate about from there on out. Music was always in the family and that probably helped.

I began with tunes like Foot Tapper and Apache by The Shadows – they were the tunes that my Grandad taught me to kick-start my guitar adventure. It wasn’t long before I discovered a guitarist called Chet Atkins. He immediately opened my eyes to how broad the guitar is as an instrument. He played a unique style called 'fingerstyle guitar'. It's the art of playing all aspects of music on it at one given time so, for example, playing bass, melody, rhythm and harmony all on one guitar. This is done by utilizing your fingers and thumb independently from one another. Since discovering Chet, my love for guitar and music spiraled out of control.

Through Chet, I discovered Tommy Emmanuel, an Australian guitar player who really pushed the limits of the acoustic guitar. For those who don’t know about him, I encourage you to check him out. His creative song writing, and insane ability renders him one of the greatest musicians on Earth, and certainly the one that inspired me the most. Not only is he a great musician, he’s a down to earth, kind man. I first met him when I was 13, and since then we have stayed in contact. Recently I was fortunate enough to perform a show with him at the Sage in Gateshead.

I’ve now been focusing more on the composition side of music. Guitar will always be my main passion in life – it’s made me who I am today – but I’m always interested in creating. I’m always striving to learn and develop as a musician.

A little bit of this...

I like to keep things simple: a nice recording, a little bit of reverb and that’s me happy.  I use Maton guitars as I feel they’re the most balanced, nicest-sounding guitars. My current go-to rig for recording acoustic fingerstyle guitar consists of two Aston Starlights, one over the bridge position, another by the 12th fret. I then have the Origin sitting in front of the sound hole – the exact position can change from guitar to guitar. I then run the microphones into a rack-mounted Focusrite 18i20, nothing overly flashy. That tends to get me the sound I want. The Aston microphones are an absolute staple to this. It’s important that every single frequency of the guitar is picked up clearly when playing fingerstyle guitar and owning Aston Microphones has certainly helped. They’re class and I couldn’t be happier.

The microphones are so flexible and consistent. I know I can rely on them to replicate the exact sound I want and having microphones I can trust has totally changed what it feels like to record. Before, my go-to rig consisted of Neumann TLM102s and KM184s. The Aston mics for me, blow that completely out of the water. I didn’t want to believe it at first but it’s true! I love the fact that the mics are UK manufactured. There’s nothing better than supporting a brand based in your own country. Complete innovation and they sound fantastic.

I recorded vocals with them the other day with a very talented man by the name of Mark John. He was also astonished by the quality. He has just signed a record deal with Sony. He’s an amazing performer and an equally as good person. The video will be coming out soon and there is a snippet on Instagram using the Aston Origin and Starlights. 

Out-takes

Q. If you weren’t working in music what would you be doing?
A. “That’s a tough question! Honestly, probably nothing inspiring or nothing that would make me as happy as music, but I do have an interest in computer programming, web design and generally techy stuff. I love being on the bleeding edge of technology.”

Q. What would your fantasy mic be?
A. “I'll have to think about that one…”

Q. What are the 4 words you’d chose to describe Aston, or your experience with the brand?
A. “Innovative, reliable, kind and cutting-edge.”

Credits

“One of my favourite artists is Tommy Emmanuel. He’s been one of the biggest inspirations in my entire life. He’s certainly a good role model to have. Other names include Joe Robinson, Jacob Collier, Michael Fix and many many more (I could go on forever!).”

Connor Thomas

Mark John

Amy Hopkinson

Holly Noble

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