Player Spotlight - Mrs. Smith
By Strings Direct – 29 August, 2023
In this edition of the Player Spotlight we find ourselves downtown at the centre of the universe, New York.đ¤ A place in the world with endless opportunity and limitless possibilities. But, to make yourself known and stand out, you really must have something truly unique to catch the eye of the masses.
Charisma is everything ..
Ticking all the appropriate boxes, multi-faceted professional actor/artist/musician David Hanbury had a very strong and diverse skill set, however, competition in an industry meant he needed a unique selling point. What better way than an alter ego... enter Mrs. Smith.
âMrs. Smith is the creation of a reclusive artist who prefers not to be identified or directly quoted so as to maintain the separation between themselves and the character, who they envision as an entirely different autonomous entity.â
Eric Shorey - nylon.com
The incredible show-stopping appearance of Mrs. Smith displays a loud and 'in-your-face' character before the first note has even been played. What you see is a "tongue-in-cheek" humorous character in classy Broadway Drag, but what you hear really is something else.... Mrs. Smith can shred like no other đ¸ âĄď¸ .
Leaning heavily on influences Mrs Smith doesn't hold back in any way.
âBetween crazy dive bombs and quick finger tapping, Mrs. Smith emulates the 'out-of-this-world' talent like her heroes Steve Vai and Eddie Van Halen while simultaneously immersed into a cat-loving comedy of an Upper East Side socialiteâ
She made her first TV appearance auditioning on Americaâs Got talent back in 2013. Unfortunately, we canât find any footage of this, but Mrs. Smith hasnât stopped since and just like any great talent their hard work is starting to pay off and a cult following is starting to emerge
The incredible ability and limitless levels of shred that Mrs. Smith has to offer have been lapped up by the enigmatic world of social media. The quality of the content created for social media by Mrs.Smith is what keeps audiences engaged... Street Art along with tutorials and general all-round interesting posts are what makes Mrs. Smith a guitar hero of the modern generation and a social superstar.
The modern generation guitar hero seems to function on a completely different plane to the heroes of years gone by.
It's perceived that these two different generations of guitar stars are worlds apart, but now it appears these words are starting to collide. After a bout of positive press and a real curious vibe on various social media platforms, Mrs Smith started to become in high demand. Guitar magazines wanted to know more and the press became curious in the man behind the makeup.
âAudiences are often shocked to learn that Mrs. Smith is the one actually playing the guitar in her videos, with many assuming she is either an actress or another famous guitarist in disguise.â
Eric Shorey - nylon.com
#WAHOFF - Social Smash
Calling out a celebrity on social media generally goes unnoticed, but Mrs Smith called out Kirk Hammett of the iconic Metallica and laid down the gauntlet for a "Battle of the Overuse of the Wah Pedal" ⌠Kirk not only responded but accepted the challenge!
This subsequently turned into quite a large affair and a big live show was set up for the ultimate showdown (see video below).
The epic 12-minute plus video of this guitar battle is truly amazing, presented by none other than every day man of the moment Mr Mark Agnesi.
Kirk Hammett was truly âout wahhedâ.
âI learned it all from watching youâ said Mrs.Smith
This victory with a bonafide guitar god meant Mrs. Smithâs place in guitar hero history was starting to take form.
Strings for Shredding Mrs. Smith
So, such a show-stopping player definitely needs show-stopping strings right?
As we have observed in the videos, Mrs. Smith has a very 'full-on' aggressive technique that is genuinely exciting to watch.
Amongst all the showmanship and theatrical playing what is being delivered is pure technique precision and unparalleled rifftastic skill. đ¤
With Mrs. Smith keeping her secrets closely to her chest we can only assume that she chooses the Paradigm range from Ernie Ball.
âErnie Ball Slinky Paradigm Electric guitar strings provide unprecedented strength and longer life while retaining 100% Slinky tone and feel. Ernie Ball's industry-leading ultra-high strength steel is included in both the wound and plain strings along with a patented reinforcement at the ball end twist of each plain string to provide superior tensile and fatigue strength for strings that lock into tune fast and hold up under the most stressful playing styles and conditionsâ
A personality this big need strings to match and Mrs.Smith rips on Ernie Ball Paradigm 9 - 42âs.
References
https://www.worldofsmith.com/home
https://www.instagram.com/smithcatmrs/?hl=en
https://www.dimarzio.com/artists/mrs-smith