Les Finnigan specializes in composing, recording and performing new original pieces for solo acoustic guitar. His love of different styles of music, his unorthodox right hand technique, and his use of alternate tunings contribute to his incomparable style.
Les Finnigan has independently released 6 CDs and a DVD and has sold over 10,000 copies to fans all over the world. His music is regularly heard across Canada on several CBC Radio programs. His music has also been used in films, documentaries and television commercials. He is a tireless entertainer and is constantly performing at venues ranging from coffee shops and restaurants to concert halls and outdoor festivals. He is also the producer of the West Coast Guitar Night, which has been a popular annual concert in Vancouver since 1999.
He was nominated as "Best Instrumentalist - Solo" at the 2007 Canadian Folk Music Awards and he was also nominated at the 2003 Western Canadian Music Awards for "Outstanding Instrumental Recording". Finnigan was the winner of the National Guitar Summer Workshop's Guitar Competition in 1996 and also the Vancouver Unplugged Guitar Competition in 1996.
He studied at Douglas Academy of Music with David Lund, at the Institute of Communication Arts, and has attended workshops with Leo Kottke, Alex DeGrassi, Pierre Bensusan, Adrian Legg, Martin Simpson, Preston Reed, Ed Gerhard, Seth Austen, Don Ross, Tommy Emmanuel & Kent Hillman. He started playing electric guitar in 1980 and made the permanent switch to acoustic in 1995. He has extensively studied classical counterpoint and jazz harmony, and also played the acoustic drum kit for about 10 years. These individual studies of melody, harmony, and rhythm, combined with his artistic sense of structure and balance, have made him the composer he is today.
"Les Finnigan has been described as a guitar wizard and he gives ample evidence of why - his original instrumentals, employing alternative tunings, are consistently fascinating, and his playing combines leads, complex accompaniment and an unerring beat in such a way that the word soloist seems all wrong."
- Alex Browne, The Peace Arch News
"Once released from the constraints of standard guitar tuning a player with good ears and hands can make amazing music, something Vancouver guitarist Les Finnigan has clearly figured out. His fingers don't just play, they dance."
- John P. McLaughlin, The Province
"Finnigan's use of the tonal palette of his 6-string creates aural images that are at the same time warm and inviting, and dark and complex. It's like a picture of life within a song: beauty tinged with sorrow at unexpected places."
- Kirk Albrecht, Minor 7th
"Finnigan stands revealed as a gifted stylist and perhaps an even more talented composer."
- Alexander Varty, The Georgia Straight
"Finnigan specializes in pretty guitar tunes that could tame such savage beasts."
- Steve Newton, The Georgia Straight
"Finnigan's music is at times soothing, uplifting, exciting and melancholy."
- Corry Anderson-Fennel, The Now
"One jaw-droppingly fine acoustic guitar player…"
-John P. McLaughlin, The Province
Solo acoustic guitar music from Les Finnigan:
The Fiery Cart (2009)
Things My Guitar Said - 10th Anniversary Edition (2007)*
String-O-Vision - Live in Concert - DVD (2005)
All Over the Map (2005)
Steel String Portraits (2002)**
Live at the Cultch (1999)
Stories Without Words (1999)
* 2007 Canadian Folk Music Award Nomination for Best Instrumentalist - Solo
** 2003 Western Canadian Music Award Nomination for Outstanding Instrumental Recording
For more information, please visit: www.lesfinnigan.com
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