IMPORTANT NOTE - I'm not the same Jeff Miller that has released the "Something Different" and "Trying to be Cool" CDs also available on CDBaby. I apologize for any confusion.
Jeff has been playing guitar and performing for over 24 years. He has played in a variety of bands. His music influences include bluegrass, country, jazz, blues, rock and metal. Jeff's main guitar influences include Tony Rice, Roy Clark, Chet Atkins, Albert Lee, Eddie Van Halen, Paul Gilbert, Eric Johnson and Brent Mason.
Jeff began playing guitar by learning country and bluegrass standards. In his early years, he was primarily influenced by his parent's record collection. This included Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, Porter Wagner, Ernest Tubb, Hank Snow, Hank Williams Sr., The Carter Family, Roy Clark, Johnny Horton and Merle Haggard just to name a few...
While still in his teens, Jeff formed a country band with school classmates and his sister on bass guitar. This group performed nearly every weekend at the clubs and dance halls in the area. After graduating high school, Jeff was hired by a Top-40 rock band comprised of seasoned musicians nearly twice his age. He gained valuable experience while performing with this group.
When the Metal scene surfaced, Jeff was inspired by the new level of musicianship. He studied players such as Eddie Van Halen, Paul Gilbert and Yngwie Malmsteen and began a six hour per-day practice regimen. After emerging from the woodshed, Jeff submitted a demo to producer Mike Varney. Jeff was featured in Mr. Varney's "Spotlight New Talent" column in Guitar Player magazine in 1991. Jeff was later featured in the "Hometown Heroes" column in Guitar World magazine in 1992.
Jeff's guitar style is best described as a mixture of country, blues, jazz-fusion and hard rock. He incorporates all of these influences into one impressive package. There's string-skipping, double-stops, bluegrass inspired melodic lines, blazing fast scalar passages, soulful blues licks and jazzy chord comping in abundance. You never know what he'll play next! Through all of this, Jeff still somehow manages to blend everything together in a truly musical fashion.
Read more...