‘-Do you want to learn? -he said as he approached him the spanish acoustic guitar.
-May I?
The boy blushed as his hands touched the varnished wood, and the unmistakable smell of rosewood made him travel to a new landscape, a new dimension he didn’t know, but which attracted him in a unique way.
He placed the instrument on his knees, imitating the many times he had seen it from his master, in silence. And, suddenly, he noticed that at his very young age he could hardly hold this already sacred object. His hands surrounded the body and furrowed among the strings like the morning dew as it slipped through the leaves of the trees.
–This is a D chord. –he said calmly as he positioned his fingers on the thinnest strings of the guitar.
–You must press hard and make sure your fingers don’t touch the other strings.
When he played the strings, the sound came from the guitar as he had never perceived it. It was something magical. Transcendent. Something that he would keep in the depths of his memory.
That’s when it all started.’
Jose Salvador (Barcelona, 1988), self-taught guitarist, rebel and studious at the same time. He felt that the instrument was the perfect object to canalize and express what is invisible to the eyes. Passionate about hard rock and heavy metal, we could say that the guitar guided him to these influences and not the opposite.
‘The feeling exists. But it’s expressed in multiple ways. You can play just two very slow chords and shed a tear, while transporting yourself into a very personal deep world; or you can play the most complex scale at the speed of light to make the masses go crazy, unleashing an inner fury. In both cases, I’m in a trance, like an altered state of consciousness.’
His musical training arose through self-taught learning, trying to decipher that magical world of notes and arpeggios that fascinated him so much. From a young age he was into some spanish sowngriters (Joaquín Sabina, Miguel Rios) and afterwards influenced by Dire Straits or Creedence Clearwater Revival; Celtic music, quick passages of Vivaldi and Bach, daydreams of Mike Oldfield and aggressive solos of Steve Vai, YngwieMalmsteen and Michael Angelo Batio. But within his multiple influences there was a name that marked him deeply, a band that was revealing in his way of understanding music, of having fun and learning while being fascinated with the infinite possibilities of the instrument. That band, without a doubt, was Van Halen.
His former bands used to shoot on the Catalan scene, and at his young age he had already played in legendary venues in Barcelona as La Ovella Negra, Mundo Canibal, festivals like Sitges GreenSound and made countless performances in great citys and towns around Barcelona. In all of these places there was learning.
As a lead guitar player in Rock On (2011-2013), a classic rock cover band; and By The Face (2012-2014), acoustic duo of rock and heavy metal cover songs, as a main guitarist too; he didn’t stop performing, composing and working on his sound. In these few and intense years he accumulated an interesting experience on live shows. A great experience for the development of his own conceptual work: SixStrings
Jose Salvador was also featured and credited in the 2009 album “Hands Without Shadows 2: Voices” by Michael Angelo Batio, rated the number one shredder guitar player of all time by Guitar One Magazine (2003). Jose performed a guest guitar solo in the song “MAB Forum Shreddathon”
The SIXSTRINGS project
SixStrings is the new project of Jose Salvador, whose first album ‘Cries of the Soul’ was released on January 14, 2019 with excellent reviews in Powerplay Magazine and Fireworks Rock&Metal Magazine UK, and various specialized media and online radios. This album was composed, recorded, produced and mixed by himself. Playing several genres, the album is distinguished by hard rock tunes, with some songs closer to heavy metal and melodic rock ballads that combine with a couple of acoustic themes and a full instrumental song (with a recorded performance in YouTube)
In 2019 the band ‘Sixstrings’, formed by experienced musicians and led by Jose Salvador at vocals and guitar, started with some powerful live performances in Barcelona and seeks to establish itself as a reference in the genre of hard rock. In October 2020 the band recorded the new EP ‘A New Awakening’ refurbishing some of the songs of the first album.
In November 25th, the band published their second studio album titled ‘No Future’, which consists of 6 songs, including an acoustic track dedicated to the kids that are victims of any war, with the collaboration of the English violinist and backing vocalist Anna-Maria Luton. The album, recorded at WheelSound studios in Barcelona with producer Txosse Ruiz, and at Vallestage studios in Parets del Vallés, was presented last December 9th in Barcelona. It highlights the evolution in the compositions and the brilliant quality in the production, creating a modern and powerful sound in line with the current hard rock scene.
During these years, the band has released three videoclips directed by Henry Menacho (Avalanch, Santelmo, Döria) which shows the pyrotechnic performance of live concerts, and also denounces the suffering of children who are victims of war with the shocking acoustic song ‘Kids of the War’
The band SIXSTRINGS are:
José Salvador (Guitar, Vocals)
Ricard Fernández (Bass, chorus)
Juanmi Martínez (Drums)
Anna-María Luton (Violin, Chorus)