I always ran into trouble in the early days of doing recording sessions by being a very raw and young talent, who also never read music. In those days, it was so funny how things would pan out, because folks would see me play live, totally improvising, with my own style, energy and abilities that were completely self-taught, and I would blow their minds! So, what would happen? They’d call me for work, getting me of course, very excited, and feeling like my career was really moving forward, professionally. But what would invariably happen is that they would book me into a recording date requiring absolutely none of that spontaneity and creative energy they so loved when they saw me play live!
I would usually be required not only to read music, but also to be just an “adequate” guitarist, who could follow orders, play repetitious parts, and basically do what any average guitar player would be expected to do in a very un-interesting way! It was a hard adjustment, especially since my raw, live energy was all that I really knew back then, and I also had a certain degree of pride in my own style, even at such a young age, and felt that I had basically already formulated my own attitude and approach to the guitar, and to music in general. It always seemed as if these “Producers” would only be able to describe what they wanted from me by pointing to other players, such as saying “could you play that more like Clapton?” or, after playing something incredible, right off the cuff, and asking me “can you do that again?” And of course, I’d be in shock that they were not recording me in the first place! I mean, believe me, when I am soloing, you better not miss my first take on anything! It’s always the take that has the most natural, and purely emotional “shooting from the hip” approach, and it’s real hard to replicate that natural approach ever again!
I do know that later on, of course, I was called upon to really “be myself” in many recording situations, but these initial “traumatic” recording dates are a great source of interesting stories, and I promise, there will be many interesting ones to come! So please be sure to stay tuned!