Guillermo Cides was born in
Córdoba (Argentina), lived in Olavarría and studied medicine for 3 years at the University of La Plata, then established himself in Buenos Aires and started to work specifically in music, influenced by his friend and musician Sergio Petaco. Initially as the guitarist and then bassist of the band La Cruz (together with his brother Marcelo Cides), he encountered the Stick in Argentina in 1992. He bought his first Stick with the money that he was earning as a peddler in the streets of Buenos Aires and learned to play it without any teachers. Eight months later he offered the
First Solo Stick Concert in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in the
Nativo bar, beginning a musical career that continues to this day. During the period ' 92 / ' 94 he dedicated himself to playing in alternative jazz and rock venues in Buenos Aires in order to learn and practice on his instrument. He was in the custom of creating spontaneous improvisations in the underground bar
The Dragoon, the place where bands such as
Las Manos de Filippi were formed, with those who shared the post-dictatorship philosophy nights at that time. In the same way he was frequenting the jazz venue
El Subsuelo where he met the famous violinist
Jorge Pinchevsky and the singer Viviana Scaliza (Blacanblus) with whom he also shared stages. In the same period he was invited by the musician Carca to form part of the final lineup of
Tía Newton, a band in the rock/progressive style. In 1994, the sound engineer Guillermo Zuloaga asked him to produce his first solo CD which was edited at the end of 1994, called
The Inner World of the Planets. It is considered to be a significant CD inside the world of the Stick. The inventor of the instrument Emmett Chapman wrote to Cides in a letter: " ... you have made real what I had in mind when I designed this instrument " after listening to his first work. In the same year he took part in a seminar directed by the British guitarist
Robert Fripp in Gándara, Argentina. There he made contact with
Los Gauchos Alemanes with whom he would share concerts. The same year he played at a dinner for some of
King Crimson members and he met the Stickista
Trey Gunn. At that time Gunn declared in a radio interview: " ... the best Stickista that I have seen in my life lives here and is called Guillermo Cides." (The Intruso-FM Alfa broadcast programme). In 1995 he decided to found the first '''Stickistas' Center in Argentina'
offering information and classes to musicians from his country, forming a generation of new stickistas and creating the first Stickistas' Ensamble Argentino
, with which he carried out tours. His solo concerts were highly considered by the newspapers of his country. Finally he achieved recognition as an artist in the written media despite the lack of support from a multinational label. He appeared on TV and complete interviews were dedicated to him. He was invited by the musician Lito Vitale in two occasions to appear on his television programme Ese amigo del Alma''. In the years ' 97 and ' 98 he presented his shows in theatres and carried out national tours. He also collaborated with artists from his home country on CDs and concerts, including
Antonio Birabent (with whom he recorded the song "Across de Universe" which was included in the tribute CD to the band Sumo),
Santos Luminosos and
Dengue among others. In 1998 he edited his second CD album called
Primitivo, this time with several guests and other instruments. In the same year he began to present his concerts in Europe. He travelled to London on several occasions and came to know
Fish (ex-singer of the group
Marillion) sharing stages as guest artist more than once. In that year Cides also opened concerts for
Emerson, Lake & Palmer,
John Wetton (Asia),
Rick Wakeman (Yes). In 1998 he did a tour of 10 concerts in South America together with
Roger Hodgson (
Supertramp) for a total of 50.000 persons; later in 2004 he would open two
Jethro Tull concerts in the Theatre Coliseum of Argentina for an audience of 10.000 and years later he would play with Trey Gunn and
California Guitar Trio sharing respective tours in Spain. From 1999 Cides decided to live in Europe for half of the year and the rest of the year in his native land. Taking root between Barcelona, the Netherlands and Argentina, Cides recorded his CD tribute to
J. S. Bach played totally on Stick, in a Dutch town called
Leeuwarden. The CD
The Bach Tribute by Cides was edited in 2000 during the "Year Bach". This one was the first CD of classical music recorded with the Stick and it is considered to be a unique work with this instrument. In the following years he would perform more concerts between Europe and Argentina. In 2002 Cides decided to withdraw his CDs from the market, anticipating the record crisis that would happen some years later and dedicated himself solely to live concerts. In the same year he left Argentina and moved permanently to Barcelona to create the
Stick Center in Spain that was officially presented on March 7 in the school
Aula de Musics de Barcelona. There he began a new musical career in a country where his music was still unknown. In the following years his activity in Spain popularized the Stick, offering his solo concerts in diverse Spanish festivals (see below). He also distinguished himself in the following years with the creation of the Spanish Ensamble de Stickistas, presentations on Television and National Spanish Radio and the consolidation on the Internet of
www.stickcenter.com as the first portal in Spanish about this instrument. Through the Stick Center, Cides organized the first
Stick Camp in Spain with instructors from different countries and presented many new Stick artists, besides information and news relating to the instrument. From 2003 and for the following 3 years he would write in the Spanish magazines
Bajista and
Guitarra Actual with monthly pages called Stick Center's Pages. Established finally in Spain and concentrating only on live concerts, from 2004 Cides created several different groups besides his usual solo appearances. In this way
The Stick Trío was formed (Cides, Lampi, Baggerman),
Electrik Consort (Cides on Stick, Grandia on
Hurdy-Gurdy, Mercader on percussion),
Dj d_Melmac + Cides, and the
Meeting Bao / Cides / Blavia with whom he took part in several festivals in Spain. All the groups would be characterized by a daring musical and instrumental gamble in combination with the Stick. With all the projects in progress, in 2006 he produced and edited a
Hispanic Stickistas Compilation presenting 22 artists of the Stick. On this album and for the first time, Cides and the inventor of the Stick Emmett Chapman record together a song called
Gonnawannaland. In 2007 the drummer
Jerry Marotta (
Peter Gabriel’s ex drummer) invited Cides to do a tour as a duo. In this way they crossed several European countries during that year and the following one. Cides returns finally to the record world in 2009 with an idea without precedent on the Internet: an on-line shop where different artists sign CDs one to one and send them directly to the public. In the same year he edits two albums simultaneously:
CCA Projec (letters that signify the surnames of its members Cushma, Cides and
Tim Alexander, with
Tony Levin and Trey Gunn as guests, among others) and the
Electrik Consort’s début album, one of his groups. At present, Cides lives in Barcelona. He tours annually with his different projects. As he himself expresses in his interviews, he still plays with his first Stick of 1992. ==Style==