Gerard Slooven is an acoustic guitar player who lives in the Netherlands. After studying physics and spending some time in the army he started working as a software teacher and database publishing consultant. He is currently occupied as a technical author. He started playing the guitar at the relatively late age of 20 (some 18 years ago) and plays spanish guitar, steelstring guitar, 12-string guitar, dobro, banjo and mandoline. He mostly plays fingerpicking instrumentals but tries to hold a flatpick from time to time. Slide guitar is not his thing, although he wished he could play that kind of music. After playing as a street musician and occasionally on stage, he began writing acoustic guitar instrumentals in 1992. As a guitarist, he is influenced by players like Steve Howe, Leo Kottke, Mike Oldfield, Erik Visser and Steve Earle. He also plays some piano and keyboard and occasionally does some singing, but only when he's hiding behind a very big guitar. In 2002 he started a private recording studio, ForestSounds Studio, and around that time the idea arose to record an entire album of guitar instrumentals, containing all original compositions. "12 Significant Others" is the result of eleven years of composing and two years of arranging and recording. Twelve solo guitar pieces were re-arranged for multiple guitars and were recorded, mixed and mastered at ForestSounds Studio in Enschede, The Netherlands. Every single sound on the album (with the exception of some water effects for the album's introduction) was produced by an acoustic guitar, and that includes the percussion that can be heard on some of the tracks. Some pieces remained solo performances, while others were arranged for up to nine guitars! The album contains a wild range of styles, ranging from classically flavoured music to Travis-picking country pieces and even some acoustic symphonic rock stuff. Every song on the album is dedicated to a person important to the composer, so these pieces are truly 12 significant others. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.