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.

This studio was also a great one for my guitar and other overdubs, as the bigness of the room really also helped lend a live quality to those tracks. What was good was the engineer was incredibly comfortable with the particular setting we were in, and was very used to getting the best out of this particular room. Then again, there were other overdubs I did for this album later that were handled by my usual engineer, and he was able to get just as big a sound from the right microphones in a tiny little studio in a cabin. It’s hard to ever know if those overdubs would have had the same integrity if I had used the first engineer who was tracking at Levon’s.

It really boils down to the skill of the engineer and his comfort level with the particular room, and of course your own ears! After all, you still have to be the one to make the final decisions, and that can be at times, a very perplexing thing for sure. In my case, I first want to make sure that the performance itself that I have recorded is the actual one I want to live with. If that is the case, then we must “hunt down” the right sounds and the right overall “vibe” that we really need for that particular recording. Many times, a good part of what you’re looking for may already be there in the “grooves”, but you still may need to give the track a little more ”TLC” to make it totally right. The sounds available to us today in this digital age are just incredible, and basically anything can be re-created. Say, for example, the piano you want is an 1860 Steinway played in a church in Spain….well, odds are you can find that one and dial it up! There are an incredible amount of wonderful and natural-sounding echo and reverbs as well, from all kinds of sources! The possibilities are so endless that we must always be careful to simultaneously stay “focused” on what we want, while keeping an open mind to new creative sound ideas. That is truly the greatest benefit of all that is available to us these days for sure, and if you can have your music well-honed enough so that you can come in the studio and maximize all that is available to you, you’ll already be well ahead of the game! Remember to keep it “live” and “fresh” sounding to begin with, and then be sure to maintain that musical and sonic integrity!

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!

Helping a student to compose is a great thing though, and the tools you are hopefully given he or she is something that can really last a lifetime. After all, we are truly digging deep into our most creative selves when we write music, and the ideas can sometimes really flow like a river! That is my problem…sometimes a student will request some info about writing a song, and before you know it, that song just flowed right out of me!  Still, it’s a great learning experience for really both of us, as I love the sheer exercise of simply doing that…writing a song and coming up with fresh ideas all the time!

Many students are extremely creative with whatever tools you may give them, and may only need three chords to get going on immediately writing a tune. Let’s face it, everyone has a song in them, and sometimes it doesn’t really take very much to tap into this wellspring of creativity. I for example now have a little seven year-old girl, who only needed a G and an E minor chord to immediately start two great songs with! She just keeps on strumming, and the words just keep on flowing out of her, dancing over those two cute chords! I can remember not only writing but also performing the first song I ever wrote, and it consisted of the only 4 chords I knew at the time….all I needed was a little music to put in my hands with that guitar, and the inspiration was instantly ignited!

But teaching a student writing and helping them write is a touchy thing. You must maintain a proper balance that enables them to feel that they in fact are really the writer, and that you are merely helping the process along. Egos can be very sensitive, and a song must really feel like it belongs to someone, especially when it can be such a personal thing, and personal areas are being tapped by writing such a piece of music. If you’ve ever collaborated with someone, how many times have there been petty fights over just “who wrote what?!” Even the most mature of us players and writers can get very protective when it comes to our contributions within a song writing mode, and it really helps to have a balanced working relationship!

So in the end, when a teacher writes with a student, it’s always a two-way street, and you must keep things on an even keel so that the student always feels as if they in the end, are the ones making the final decisions. If they want you to really “take charge” do so, but only at your own risk. Keep it positive and fun for everyone!

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!

I was always learning from my errors, especially as a self-made and self-taught guitar player. That period was mostly during my own private playing hours with myself, because when playing live with people and really “laying it on the line” I also learned how to avoid the mistake-making areas of my guitar and of the music in general, so I could at least avoid some of the danger zones. And boy, it can really be hazardous out here in the world if you don’t know what you’re really doing yet on that fret board! Meanwhile, as you do get better and better, with less mistakes, and what I refer to as “search and destroy missions” on the guitar, the more confident you become, and you simply start to sound better and better. The confidence factor is really huge when it comes to being able to get gigs too. I can remember Artie Garfunkel telling me that “the minute I walked through that door” for his audition, I already had the gig! I guess he had been around long enough to know what he was seeing, and also what to look for in a professional player. Of course, I still could’ve flubbed all the notes and blown the audition, but at least that wasn’t the case, thank goodness!

So working on your playing and learning from your wrong-doings on the guitar will only serve to improve everything in your life, as you move forward into the professional music world. Not only do you need to exude confidence, but your playing has to show it, and show that you can back up what you’re at least claiming to be! Once you’re really established as a player, folks will come to “expect” the confidence to come right along with you, and there’s nothing like having that “swagger” that shows you really know what you’re doing!

But remember that for some, and you may be included, it doesn’t always come that easy, and it will take time to train your ear properly to not send you down the wrong path on the guitar, and that it will become something you can trust to always help you make the right choices, and to always make the best music possible! Good luck with it all!!

The question of these two approaches to music learning and which is better has long baffled students and teachers alike, and let’s face it; we are always 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 “right brain/left brain” kind of thing, and we are usually predisposed to learning and reasoning music learning in one of these two distinct approaches.

I guess the main thing with music is that without an ear there’s certainly no kind of learning that could ever really “take hold” with any player or student, but there’s also no doubt that this is something that can be further developed and helped throughout the learning process. I know from my own experience that when I drive this idea home long enough with students, they eventually and finally understand the sound and note relationships, otherwise known as intervals. Theory is of course what all music is really made of, and a very good way of understanding what it is you are hearing, or what you want to play, but it’s certainly something that is always left up to debate among musicians, and is in no way truly “etched in stone.” Rather, as many sciences are, it’s a constantly evolving discussion that continues to in a way, re-define itself.  It’s a little hard to explain, but it’s akin to the way we can take a group of two or even three notes, and still have a discussion over which chord these notes really are defining! In a similar way, people who are into theory can always be found discussing just what key a song is really in! This has happened to me many times, and I can honestly say I’ve been able to even convince composers that their songs were in a different key than they originally thought! This kind of thing is a direct result of combining theory knowledge with ear knowledge and recognition.

So really the bottom line to me is that both theory and ear training are “joined at the hip” and you can’t have one without the other. Music is a language, and the vocabulary of this “language” has developed and changed and continued to evolve over the centuries. People simply always made music, and one day, someone figured out that creating written music would be a good way of “recording” and taking down this information in a translatable form, so others could learn to play or sing it. At some point during this period, I believe the whole “theory” idea started to take shape, as the combination of having it written as well as being heard made the discussion of theory a reality.

Regardless of your leaning on this subject, or your opinions, it’s clear that we can’t avoid theory in music…..the only thing that makes it all possible however, is ear training, and simply developing the best instinctual approach to actually hearing what is going on theoretically within the music you are either playing or listening to! It’s the ultimate musical journey, so go along with it, and enjoy the ride!

Once again, I must reiterate that actually teaching someone how to improvise is nearly an impossible task. Yet, there is something that I consider to be “the knowledge” when it comes to music, and if you have this “knowledge”, you’ll certainly be on your way to becoming a great improviser.

The knowledge I speak of is having the true ability to not only hear the note relationships, but to also acquire the understanding of hearing these relationships and intervals in advance. This is the thing you’ll need to be able to “think on your feet”, and to be able to hear entire passages in your head even milliseconds before actually playing them. That “thought process” that goes on when you are improvising is truly critical, and when you do have an understanding of the sound relationships of the notes, their emotional impact can even more be taken into account, and to heart.

And it is a matter of the heart, as this is what people are really hearing coming from you when you play. The act of improvisation is the ability to really “speak” with your instrument, and the learning process is like life itself, and what you learn as you go through life. There will be many mistakes along the way, and lots of “trial and error” as you begin to discover just what it is that will make your improve ideas really work, and also develop their own sound as well.

I know that since I had to learn on my own, and also learned from great improvisers, I was able to almost immediately acquire the kind of approach that was a “natural” one when it came to coming up with new ideas. Maybe it’s the fact that these players who inspired me so much were great improvisers as well was what “fed” my desire and ability to do so much improve on my own…I’ll never be totally sure, but when I was just starting out, I was so excited about the guitar, that I literally used to “dream” up licks on the way from school for example, that I just couldn’t wait to get home and try! It’s still basically that way with me, only the guitar has now become a “complete language” with which I can express myself, and I no longer feel or hear any boundaries at all between my feelings and what my fingers end up expressing for me.

So, as my students, and as my fellow guitarists, I certainly hope these points hit “home” for you, and that you always will try to achieve new and different things when you need to come up with fresh ideas on the guitar. It’s the only way you’ll ever truly develop your own style, especially one that is absolutely recognizable as the one and only you! Good luck!

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!

I can recall doing some of the most outrageous things….playing with my band “Steel” outdoors in front of a “Chuck Wagon” restaurant in Philly, playing poolside during the Asbury Park riots in downtown Asbury Park, N.J., wearing Hawaiian leis and sitting and playing lap steel guitar in front of an opening of “South Pacific” in mid-town Manhattan, and on and on. Admittedly, some of these kinds of gigs can be a bit humiliating, but just remember that the alternative is most likely not gigging at all. At least you make some money (as long as someone doesn’t “stiff” you!), and if you do a good job, it usually tends to always lead to something else that is even better. And of course, never forget that it’s the experience of doing these gigs as a young fresh-faced rookie that later on turns into part of the resume’ of a wise old “veteran.”

I especially recall how when I moved to the town of Woodstock, NY, with its famous music scene I was sure to always do whatever gig I could possibly get called on to do, because I first of all knew that even in the smallest “dive” bar, I may get heard by someone who could really help me later on, and that this was a way that many of the finest musicians there would occasionally do gigs locally, just to do them! It seemed like many times people didn’t even realize what great musicians they were being treated to. To them it was just another night out in the local saloon, with a band of musicians onstage that came from “somewhere.” Of course, in the town of Woodstock itself there were several “hip” places to play where you really did get heard by the right people, and in many cases the audience was even fuller of musicians than the stage was! Another great thing about that scenario was that you’d never know who might show up and sit in with the band, and that person was very often me!

Many of these gigs were seemingly “fruitless”, but they would often prove later on to actually make a difference in my reputation. It’s amazing, but even to this day people will come up to me and actually recount some gig where they saw me play in which even I can’t recall until giving it real serious thought! But the fact is that to them, I made a difference and they remembered me and my guitar playing! Isn’t that all we can ever ask for as musicians…..to be remembered, and to connect with our audience!

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.

I have used that technique forever, since I am a self-taught player and it’s a skill that anyone really must have if they expect to be a true musician with “open” ears! Watching what others do is so critical, because let’s face it, there are only so many positions and options on the guitar. The toughest and most flexible part of playing is the fact that many notes can be played in the same octave in many different places on the neck, even including harmonics.  This gives us an enormous amount of choices, and should also help us “fine tune” our ears to exactly which notes are being played, and which neighborhood on the neck they are being played in! I have seen too many students try what I call the “search and destroy” mission where even though I’m sitting right there in front of them playing it, they keep searching high and low and all over for the note I am plainly showing them! I think this must be something psychological about people, and maybe it’s also an ego thing that makes them a bit stubborn, but they are trying, often in a futile way to find a note that cuts them off from understanding the position they really need to find.

No two players process this kind of information alike, but there are definitely some who fall into similar categories with each other. The fun part is when you hear a player who no doubt has their true, own way of creating phrases on the finger board, and these players are the ones with very distinct approaches. Some of these players are the ones to really watch carefully, as the odds are, they are thinking and playing in places on the neck you may’ve not even thought of yet. It’s just like reading an author who likes to work with words in their own unique was…no two can ever be that much alike.

So you can rest assured that no matter what you learn and who you learn it from, the watching and listening is essential, and regardless, it’ll all still eventually come out sounding only like YOU! Happy learning!!

The true key to success in music, in my opinion, is really the ability to make the most out of what you know at any given time. I have seen this occur so often; it almost seems sometimes that the less you may know, the better! Of course, what I am really saying here is that many have “made it” on the backs of not knowing really too much about music, but certainly on being able to utilize their talents and abilities, however limited, to the max!

This translated in real music terms means that it may take very little to create a hit record or song, or it may also take very little even to create a great or famous guitar riff that becomes a part of a hit record that really “makes it.” I mean, look at hit songs like “Wild Thing” or “You Really Got Me” for example; these songs are almost painful in their simplicity, yet it’s in that simplicity that their true success actually lies. A guitar riff such as “Pretty Woman” or “Rumble” or even James Burton’s “Suzie Q” lick are so catchy that they simply can’t help but stay with you! You must remember, the general record-buying public could really care less about whether or not you are technically great or not….many of these “simple” licks were created and then recorded by some players of great proficiency, and were more works of “minimalist” art by complex players who chose to play it “the right way” and who could come up with the correct “part” for the tune. “Pretty Woman” for example, was played by the great Grady Martin, who surprisingly also played those wonderful and complex acoustic fills throughout the famous recording of “El Paso” by Marty Robbins! The two treatments and performances couldn’t be more different, but it’s the same player, just doing his job!

So, in essence, sometimes you must make “less” of what you know, and as many folks have always said, “less is more!” John Prine even once said to me, “Arlen, could you teach me a new chord, so I can write a new song?!” This blew my mind when he asked this, but I immediately got how in touch and to the point John was about what he could or could not do with his talents. In another case, when I was teaching Paul Simon privately, each lesson would turn into a marathon of songwriting, where he would call upon me to have complex answers to many of the songwriting issues that were facing him. He needed my expertise at a very high level, and most of all, needed the “collaborative” ear I could lend to the situation. Sometimes, a write is “too inside” the song, for too long, and needs a fresh set of ears to help them get over certain new hurdles when it comes to the song or idea at hand.

So the bottom line here is that it always pays to know more on the guitar, but many times it’s the notes you choose not to play that really count! Less is more, more or less!!

If you want to tackle doing any of your own repairs on your guitars or even amps, I would certainly recommend going slowly and simply at first. You certainly don’t want to do any un-called for damage to your instrument and its electronics, nor do you want to make a problem worse. You also have to be careful to not affect its originality, especially if it’s a guitar that merits being considered a collectible, either these days or in the future!

I am not one for trying anything remotely difficult on my guitars…I prefer them in the hands of competent luthiers, but I know that for many of you, it is a hard thing to find a good repair shop or person, and the whole thing can be a rather agonizing and anxiety-provoking process. The first time I saw my ’52 Les Paul apart and “naked” in Dan Armstrong’s repair shop in NYC I almost fainted! So, it may be a good idea to start with some really simple guitar, perhaps a cheap “Pawnshop Prize” that may need a little or A LOT of TLC, and just try out some basic procedures on it. It’s also a good idea to befriend a luthier who may be willing to take you under their wing to help show you some of the “tricks of the trade” too. Maybe you could even become a kind of apprentice who can really learn it as a trade that you can one day make money at! It’s also exciting to try to do some guitar building on your own. These days, there are many “kits” that are available so you can start learning how to assemble and set-up solid body electric guitars. The easiest by far are the bolt-on neck kind, but you can eventually move up to the hollow body kind, as well as acoustics and even the toughest of all; archtops!

Still, I’d say the most important things are to work and build up slowly in terms of your guitar-repairing prowess, and you must really try to learn from some folks far more experienced than you. They will always be willing to show you how things are done the right way, and for sure, it’ll be a rewarding experience for you to begin to do some of your own repair work! Good luck!

There’s no secret that doing gigs and being on the road can really take its toll on an individual. It of course has its amazing rewards too, and that’s what we do it all for in the first place, but it’s so important to learn to “pace” ourselves in this lifestyle, so we can literally survive it!

I can recall that in my earliest days of touring I always seemed to immediately get sick the minute I hit any long stretches on the road. I really don’t know if this was from sheer fatigue wearing down my immune system, being in and out of strange hotels and motels, being “homesick” (which I was, very often!), or just not enough rest. Whatever it was, it was totally consistent, and it made things very difficult for me for a long time whenever I did tour. I suppose it was also the close quarters of always being on a bus with the bands, not to mention how we all know how sick we can get from that awful recycled air on planes! I can even remember refusing to move into certain motels if I couldn’t open a window in my room for some fresh air!! In one city (won’t name it!) they actually couldn’t find ONE hotel in the whole town where a window could be opened!!! So, I didn’t do the gig there!

There’s also a tendency to always want to “blow off steam” when you are on tour, because whether you know it or not, you’re going at a very frenetic pace on the road, even if you think you feel like it’s normal. It is most certainly not normal! As musicians we sacrifice an awful lot to be able to be out there and play our music for the people, and unfortunately, they think we are living some kind of lavish “easy street” life while playing out there….meanwhile, they have no idea, nor do they really care, just how tough it all is, and what we go through just to end up on that stage in front of them!

As time went on, I realized being on the road was not about all the “socializing”, the girls, the jamming after hours, and all the other stuff that comes with it. Instead, it was far more about pacing myself, getting the right amount of sleep, getting some exercise and eating right. And most of all, staying in touch with home as well, so as to feel a “connection” and a “balance” between my life “out there” and my life at home. So, take my advice on this, and while you’re still starting out, or very experienced, you can always benefit from these pointers and from pacing yourself on the road. No matter what, it’ll always take its toll on you, it’s just important that you make it as positive a toll as is humanly possible!
Happy trails!!!