Hi, I'm Jim... a songwriter and guitarist living near Atlanta, Georgia. These days I play mostly just for fun, and enjoy exploring multiple genres and increasing my overall appreciation of music, technique, and theory.
In the early 2000's, I was an award-winning acoustic fingerstyle guitarist. If you stumbled across this website looking for my fingerstyle guitar site, an archived version can be found here:
Jim Tozier: Acoustic Fingerstyle Guitar.
As a fingerstyle guitarist, I released three CDs on
Solid Air Records, a Grammy-winning label that specializes in solo acoustic guitar music.
Celtic Guitar is a collection of traditional Irish and Scottish tunes, while
Solo Guitar and
Guitar Pieces mostly feature my original instrumental compositions. I also have an independently released CD,
Castlerea.
In 2006,
Celtic Guitar Solos: Traditional Songs and Airs of Ireland and Scotland, a songbook featuring transcriptions of the tunes from my
Celtic Guitar CD, was published.
If you were looking for more information about my fingerstyle guitar music—or want to chat about music in general—feel free to contact me at
jimtozier@gmail.com.
Now, I'll bet you're wondering about that moose...
"Groove Like a Moose" is borrowed from an idiomatic expression in Finnish (which I enjoy trying to learn in my spare time).
A Finn might say
"Tuo bändi svengaa kuin hirvi!" (That band grooves like a moose!) or
"Tämä biisi svengaa kuin hirvi!" (This song grooves like a moose!) to indicate that it's good—especially if it has a strong beat that makes you want to nod your head or tap your foot.
There's even a Finnish book that collects and explains unusal sayings that uses
Svengaa Kuin Hirvi as the title.
It was a memorable phrase, and one that seemed appropriate for a musician. Especially since I like moose, anyway (my family is originally from Maine).
When it comes to electric guitars, I've always gravitated toward classic brands and designs that have been around since the 1950's... and my current collection certainly reflects those tastes. For many, many years, I was primarily a Fender guy (the Stratocaster in particular was "my" guitar for 30 years), but more recently I've developed a preference for Gibsons and Gretsches.
Most of my guitars are also hollowbodies or semi-hollows, because I love the extra "air" they add to the tone, giving the guitars a touch of acoustic quality even when amplified. I also find the larger bodies more comfortable to play, especially when seated—which is the standard for me these days.
All of my guitars get strung with flatwound 12-guage strings (D'Addario Chromes ECG25) because I love the mellow tone and the silky smooth playing experience. I also find that heavier gauge strings greatly improve tuning stability and intonation—especially with a wound G string. Sure, it makes bending strings much more difficult, but I find that I don't do a whole lot of bending anyway for the styles I'm currently playing.
