It’s the age-old dilemma about how to re-create or capture the magic of your live sound when in the relatively sterile studio environment. In several cases during my recording career I have benefitted from incredible recording “spaces”, where this has been less of a problem for sure. Most recently, recording my “Toolin’Around Woodstock” album with the late, great Levon Helm was a true joy, as we recorded in his famous “barn” studio, also the home of his legendary “Midnight Ramble” concerts. This is a room designed more primarily for live concerts, and when we finally went to record actual tracks there, it proved to be really great in terms of preserving the “live” aspects and nuances of my music.
]]> Thu, 10 May 2012 16:12:04 GMT One of the issues it seems many students, especially fairly advanced ones eventually always bring up is that of composing. More precisely, it’s very often me helping them to compose, thereby teaching composition by default, and of course there are even times where I share the major part of the composition to begin with! This has happened with some very hi-profile people I’ve played with and taught, but never got the credit for the additional composition work I did, but we won’t be mentioning any names here!
]]> Tue, 08 May 2012 15:32:03 GMT Lately, due to my new album coming out soon, and the need for publicity, etc., I’ve been doing a fair amount of radio as well as TV interviews. Yesterday I did a very local, but still very professionally produced interview for a local TV station, and it was a lot of fun for sure! The interviewer was a real pleasure to deal with, and she kept me nice and relaxed. And this is very important, because even those of us who are very seasoned pros at things like this still get a fair share of jitters once that tape starts rolling, and it’s our time to talk! The main thing for me was to stay focused, and to concentrate on what I really wanted to say, as opposed to going off on too many tangents. Tangents are okay, but these pieces often get edited down anyway to the bare bones of what they want from you, so I was much better off keeping it straightforward.
]]> Mon, 07 May 2012 15:46:04 GMT This “learning from your mistakes” is really a Cardinal rule when it comes to being a guitar player, and certainly when it also comes to being in the field of music. Unfortunately, many of us haven’t learned that much from our mistakes, as in many aspects of life, both political and non-political, but it usually is easiest when applied to simply playing the guitar!
]]> Thu, 03 May 2012 14:49:49 GMT Spreading the word about your band, or your solo act for that matter, can be so escalated in these times of fast &ldquo;one click&rdquo; communication compared to the old days. It almost makes us forget how &ldquo;word of mouth&rdquo; is <em>still </em>the most important way to get the word out. After all, in the end it will still depend on how people talk about you, and the effect you may have on them and their reactions from a live encounter or performance.
]]> Wed, 02 May 2012 14:55:46 GMT The question of these two approaches to music learning and which is better has long baffled students and teachers alike, and let&rsquo;s face it; we are <em>always </em>students and teachers anyway! The way we learn is in my opinion, really based on who we are, and what makes us tick, and that can be a million different permutations, for sure! I know that this also may simply be a &ldquo;right brain/left brain&rdquo; kind of thing, and we are usually predisposed to learning and <em>reasoning </em>music learning in one of these two distinct approaches.
]]> Tue, 01 May 2012 15:22:38 GMT Writing songs is such a personal process it’s almost impossible to identify actual ways in which songs are written, and it’s certainly as individual as each composer themselves! The usual question all traditional song writers get asked is “do you write the music or the lyrics first?” Well, that’s certainly a pragmatic enough query, but it makes very little sense in terms of how the real process should work. I find that the yes, even though I can force myself to sit down and write lyrics and / or music, the far more “organic” approach works for me. By this I mean that number one, the spark for the song must first “come” from somewhere. Then, once something of a foundational start is established the song can take shape.
]]> Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:21:31 GMT One of the most challenging feats of a major artist release from Gibson Custom is coordinating schedules with busy artists. In order for a few passionate fans and collectors to know that their guitar has been held, tested and signed by the artist, phone calls are made, flights are taken, appointments are held, sometimes cancelled and rescheduled and so on, until the planets align and guitars meet their namesake for a few minutes together to make sure that each passes muster. This critical and final step connects the owner to the artist in a very powerful, physical way; both hero and fan have held the same instrument. It’s a very unique and exclusive value that stays with the guitar for its lifetime. Shown here, Metallica’s Kirk Hammett stands amidst a sea of reproduction ’79 Flying V’s from Gibson Custom, each a recreation of his own instrument right down to the gaffer’s tape and the occasional ding or dent.]]> Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:56:59 GMT There’s no doubt that as many people have always said, “rhythm guitar is a lost art.” The reason for this is all around us if you listen to what has been happening to guitar over the last 25 years or so. The accentuation on lead has been so extreme, there are players who can play literally thousands of notes at full throttle, yet who have never had to play rhythm guitar with anyone! Instead, you can always tell these players by watching how rather than playing rhythm, they simply “lay out” and wait for their next chance to solo!
]]> Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:54:42 GMT The whole idea of scales verses “shapes” has always been a real important subject to me, and I find students needing to deal with this all the time. The problem comes from this “scale mentality”, which unfortunately makes far too many of us think in terms of just groups and lines of notes, as opposed to the real more musical approach of thinking in terms of shapes and chord changes.]]> Thu, 12 Apr 2012 08:12:21 GMT Once again, I must reiterate that actually <i>teaching </i>someone how to improvise is nearly an impossible task. Yet, there is something that I consider to be &ldquo;the knowledge&rdquo; when it comes to music, and if you have this &ldquo;knowledge&rdquo;, you&rsquo;ll certainly be on your way to becoming a great improviser.]]> Thu, 12 Apr 2012 08:07:08 GMT I feel that it’s important for you, as newcomers to the music world to realize how important it is to network and do gigs wherever you can. And by gigs I mean recording, sitting in, cover bands, original bands, solo gigs and whatever else can come your way. It’s all experience, and experience is the one commodity you just can’t put any kind of price tag on. It is what builds your chops, but also your character and your ability to handle many different kinds of situations. And believe me, I know from my experience that just about any kind of gig can and will come along!]]> Tue, 10 Apr 2012 08:22:07 GMT There’s no doubt about the fact that we as a breed certainly seem to learn the most by watching what others do. In the fine art of anything musical, it becomes especially complex in terms of our human capabilities to hear what someone is doing, and to then decipher and essentially translate what it is we are hearing onto our own fret boards. This ability of course, comes with experience, and when we hear a bunch of licks and passages we can’t quite get a “handle” on, it’s so important to listen for something we do recognize that we can “hang our hats on”. This in turn, enables us to then at least understand where the player is coming from, and the vicinity of his/her notes will give us an idea as to which position on the guitar is being utilized.]]> Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:10:11 GMT Moving from acoustic to electric guitar or vice versa is sometimes what a player must do in the course of his/her career. Even in my case, though I started as a classical player, and then stayed with electric for a good 12 years or so, it took all that time before I once again took acoustic guitar seriously, and made it a big part of my playing arsenal. What that ended up doing for me was creating a style that truly was a “hybrid” between the electric and acoustic approach. All those years of bending and strong vibrato on the electric made me have a style, once adapted to the acoustic, that was more of a blend of the two. It seemed to make me more of a kind of player who got the most out of the acoustic, and since it was the beginning of the “acoustic pickup” era, I was also going through an amp, and using reverb, which further enhanced my “electric/acoustic” approach.]]> Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:05:44 GMT These days, as I’ve also been continuing to teach privately in addition to my online lessons at Gibson.com, I have found a great and wonderfully diverse group of very gifted students! It seems that right now, I have more than usual, and they certainly give me a great challenge! One thing is for sure, they seem to be making them younger and younger these days, and it’s not uncommon for me to see incredibly gifted players even at the age of 8 to 14, for example!]]> Mon, 02 Apr 2012 15:27:47 GMT