R.I.P. Hal Wylie (1930-2014)

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Sprung Circle

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For fans and students of legendary banjo player and innovative teacher Roger Sprung

49 Members, Created 4/4/2011 -

Administrators: Rich Weill (owner)

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From Rich Weill on 10/14/2014 11:31:49 AM

Roger Sprung’s long-time musical partner, Hal Wylie (of Roger Sprung, Hal Wylie, and the Progressive Bluegrassers) died on September 20, 2014 after a short illness. He was 84. I spent many hours with Hal discussing all sorts of things, mostly having nothing to do with music. He was a fascinating guy – principally because he was fascinated by so many different things. He spent his career as engineer (without an engineering degree, as he had to drop out of Cooper Union before graduation), specializing in designing production systems of various sorts. Hal was a problem-solver of last resort – the guy you went to when no one else was able to figure out how to get something done. He was also an inventor, a therapist, a hypnotist, a dabbler in the occult, etc., etc. Hal was endlessly fascinated by the highways and byways of the human mind.

As for his music, he was always a vocalist and rhythm guitarist. He never played lead. Nonetheless, even into his 80's, he tried to expand his guitar horizons, working with the pentatonic scale. Most recently, he was in the process of inventing a specially designed fingerpick for the classical guitar.

Hal also was unceasingly encouraging. I recall once his noticing that I had not joined in on one song a bunch of us were playing together informally. He asked me why. I said, "I don't play that fast." He responded: "Yet. You don't play that fast yet. Add 'yet' to the end of every statement like that and you turn a negative into a positive."

What a great guy. He will be sorely missed.

Another friend of Hal’s put together this musical tribute. Watch.

3 Comments
	banjomikey says: 10/14/2014 12:19:32 PM Sorry to hear this news. Mike
	vmarkant says: 10/14/2014 2:13:50 PM Nice tribute, Rich. He surely will be missed.
	From Greylock to Bean Blossom says: 10/14/2014 6:55:11 PM Sounds like a great guy who lived a full and good life. Please give Roger my sympathy. Tough tough tough to lose a friend and partner that good. Ken
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