Ben Lacy and the one-man groove.
Bacci GuitarsPescia, Tuscany
Watch Ben Lacy once and you spend the rest of the clip trying to work out how. A bass line walks underneath, chords comp in the middle, a melody sings on top, and a backbeat ticks along, all of it coming from one pair of hands on one guitar, live, in a single pass. No loops, no overdubs, no second player.
It is the rarest thing a guitarist can do, and Ben has built an entire voice out of it. This is the story of how, and of the instrument that finally gave his low end a real foundation: a Bacci baritone.
Ben Lacy comes from Lexington, Kentucky. He picked up the guitar at seven, took a single lesson from a classical teacher, and taught himself everything after that, coming up on bandstands across jazz, funk, dance and heavy rock. Around the year 2000 he went solo, and audiences have been walking out dazed ever since.
Guitar Player magazine named him one of its Top 101 Forgotten Greats and Unsung Guitar Heroes. He has shared stages with Frank Gambale and Tommy Emmanuel, and opened for Victor Wooten, Leon Russell and Kenny Wayne Shepherd. Online, it usually takes one clip, and the comments fill with the same disbelief.
The full story, the gear and the Take Five video, all on his page.
What sets Ben apart is a two-hand tapping technique most guitarists never attempt: a driving bass line held down with one hand while the other lays chords, lead melody and percussive accents on top, every voice sounding at the same moment. It is closer to playing piano than guitar.
He turned the method into teaching, with the TrueFire course Two-Hand Groove Guitar, and onto record with his solo album One Track Mind, reviewed by DownBeat in 2003. The harder the arrangement, the more it punishes a weak instrument: bass notes that vanish, chords that smear into mud.
He could be the best guitar player I have ever heard...
Steve Lukather, Toto, 2015That is exactly why Ben reaches for a baritone. A Bacci Officina Nero baritone gives his bass lines a true low end, a tuned-down low B with the weight of a bass guitar, while the top strings stay bright enough to keep melody and chords apart.
The optional dual output takes it further still, sending a dedicated bass voice to its own jack, so the band he plays with his two hands can be split across two amps. For a player who builds the whole arrangement himself, an extended-range handmade baritone is not a novelty, it is the instrument the technique had been waiting for.
Ben Lacy is a self-taught solo guitarist from Lexington, Kentucky, known for playing bass, chords, melody and percussion on a single guitar at once with a two-hand tapping technique. Guitar Player named him a Top 101 Unsung Guitar Hero.
Ben Lacy plays a Bacci Officina Nero baritone, a handmade baritone built to order in Tuscany by Bruno Bacci, chosen so his bass lines have a real low-end foundation while the top strings stay clear.
With a two-hand tapping technique: one hand holds a bass line low on the neck while the other taps chords, melody and percussion on top, so four parts sound at once from one guitar, live and in a single pass.
A baritone's longer scale and lower tuning give his bass lines a true low end, a tuned-down low B with the weight of a bass guitar, while keeping the top strings bright enough to keep melody and chords apart. His technique exposes any instrument's weak spots, so the baritone earns its place.
Steve Lukather of Toto said of Ben Lacy: “He could be the best guitar player I have ever heard...” (2015).
His page features his playing, including Take Five by Dave Brubeck performed on a Bacci baritone, along with the full story and the instrument he plays.
The full story, the two-hand groove, the Take Five video and the baritone he plays, all on his page. The same dual-output Leonardo is handbuilt to order in Tuscany.
Every Bacci is designed, built, voiced and set up by Bruno, one at a time, in Pescia.