Rick Shubb
Encyclopedia
Richard Shubb is best known as the inventor of the Shubb Capo
, a very popular guitar and banjo accessory. His 1978 patent is cited by Sterner's Capo Museum as being one of the most significant improvements in the development of the capo
. He also invented the lever-operated banjo fifth string capo, the compensated banjo bridge, and holds several other U.S. and international patents on musical instrument accessories and improvements.
He is also a noted and influential 5-string banjo
player and teacher. He was among a handful of young West Coast musicians to discover and popularize bluegrass music
, which was already well established in the Southeast. During the folk boom of the 60s he played in coffeehouses and taverns in Berkeley and San Francisco, playing with such musicians as Doc Watson
, David Grisman
, Jerry Garcia
, and others. He later went on to develop a distinctive swing-influenced banjo style, which he performed and recorded during the 70s and 80s.
Rick Shubb also is known as a graphic artist. During the psychedelic era he drew posters for the Carousel Ballroom, one of San Francisco's hip rock palaces. Three of his posters are included in The Art of Rock, the definitive work on rock posters. He was a featured artist in various underground comic books, including his own Brain Fantasy published by Last Gasp
, and his popular poster Humbead's Map of the World was regarded as an integral part of the folk-rock culture of the 60s.
Rick Shubb currently owns and operates his own company, Shubb Capos
, which manufactures various guitar and banjo accessories.
Shubb
Shubb is the name of a company that specialises in producing top-quality capos for all kinds of stringed instruments. The company was formed in 1974 by Rick Shubb and Dave Coontz. Both are practising banjoists.-Capo Design:...
, a very popular guitar and banjo accessory. His 1978 patent is cited by Sterner's Capo Museum as being one of the most significant improvements in the development of the capo
Capo
A capo is a device used on the neck of a stringed instrument to shorten the playable length of the strings, hence raising the pitch. It is frequently used on guitars, mandolins, and banjos. G.B...
. He also invented the lever-operated banjo fifth string capo, the compensated banjo bridge, and holds several other U.S. and international patents on musical instrument accessories and improvements.
He is also a noted and influential 5-string banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
player and teacher. He was among a handful of young West Coast musicians to discover and popularize bluegrass music
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
, which was already well established in the Southeast. During the folk boom of the 60s he played in coffeehouses and taverns in Berkeley and San Francisco, playing with such musicians as Doc Watson
Doc Watson
Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson is an American guitar player, songwriter and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues and gospel music. He has won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Watson's flatpicking skills and knowledge of traditional American music are highly regarded...
, David Grisman
David Grisman
David Grisman is an American bluegrass/newgrass mandolinist and composer of acoustic music. In the early 1990s, he started the Acoustic Disc record label in an effort to preserve and spread acoustic or instrumental music.-Biography:Grisman grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey...
, Jerry Garcia
Jerry Garcia
Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead...
, and others. He later went on to develop a distinctive swing-influenced banjo style, which he performed and recorded during the 70s and 80s.
Rick Shubb also is known as a graphic artist. During the psychedelic era he drew posters for the Carousel Ballroom, one of San Francisco's hip rock palaces. Three of his posters are included in The Art of Rock, the definitive work on rock posters. He was a featured artist in various underground comic books, including his own Brain Fantasy published by Last Gasp
Last Gasp
Last Gasp is a book and underground comix publisher and distributor based in San Francisco, California.- History :Founded in 1970 by Ron Turner to publish the ecologically-themed comics magazine Slow Death Funnies, followed by the all-female anthology It Ain't Me Babe, Last Gasp soon became a major...
, and his popular poster Humbead's Map of the World was regarded as an integral part of the folk-rock culture of the 60s.
Rick Shubb currently owns and operates his own company, Shubb Capos
Shubb
Shubb is the name of a company that specialises in producing top-quality capos for all kinds of stringed instruments. The company was formed in 1974 by Rick Shubb and Dave Coontz. Both are practising banjoists.-Capo Design:...
, which manufactures various guitar and banjo accessories.