Auditioning. In this line of work, almost everybody has to go through it at some point. I don’t know many people who enjoy the process – and by that I mean the groups holding the auditions as well.
I’ve held a few auditions in the last few years while recruiting for a few different projects. I was invited to join another group via audition fairly recently, which increased my own experience of being the auditionee for the first time in several years.
Having experienced it from both sides, here are some simple tips which will (hopefully) help make the whole thing go that little bit more smoothly.
1) Be clear about what you are looking for from the outset
Obvious but true. Many bands, in an attempt to appear open (and more likely to attract as many interested candidates as possible), will be vague about who/what they are and what they are looking for. Others may outright lie.
If you’re an act that is getting regular paid work and need a competent player, with their own means of transport, and who can read music – say so. If you don’t have any gigs at present, but are looking to get into paid work once you have a full lineup – say so. If you are mainly performing original material and the money from gigs won’t be that good – say so. If you’re all amateurs and would prefer someone of a similar playing ability to yourselves – guess what: say so!
Being upfront about who you are and what your expectations are actually saves you a whole lot of time, not least from having to filter through adverts responses from people who are simply unsuitable for your act. Likewise, auditionees looking for gigs – if you can’t sight read, don’t say you can and hope to busk it. Be clear on the styles you have knowledge of. You WILL get found out and not get the job. Worse than that, word will get around that you’re a bullshitter too.
2) Agree on pieces to go through before the audition / Plan a structured audition
You’re not doing any favours by inviting a potential band members down to your rehearsal space, shouting out the name of a tune and charging into it to see how well they cope. Even seasoned pros like to prepare first – that’s what makes them seasoned pros.
Have your space ready to go, with everyone in the band already there and set up, before the first candidate arrives. If going TO an audition, make sure all of your gear is in good working order, arrive on time and set up quickly.
Choose songs from your set, and perhaps some tunes both parties are reasonably familiar with, to work through. At a maximum, I’d suggest four or five. Make sure you also have plenty of time to chat and reaffirm exactly what it is both sides want out of working together. For a first meeting, I’d suggest an hour to an hour and a half. That should be more than enough time to find out how you gel musically, and crucially if you get along as people!
Have your audition space set up & ready
3) Relax – remember everybody is human
As I said at the top of this blog, no one I know enjoys the audition process. Try to make it as welcoming and relaxing as possible. Keep the pieces to learn down to a small number and make no attempt whatsoever to ‘catch someone out’ musically. Smiling always helps too! Even experienced players can be nervous entering a room of musicians known to each other, but not to them, and there solely to watch/listen to and assess the quality of their playing in the space of an hour or two. Keeping things short and friendly are the key elements here.
4) Follow up!
One of my biggest pet hates is when I put in time and energy into preparing for an audition or job interview, going through the whole nervous procedure, and then never hearing back. It takes minutes to drop someone a quick line to follow up, whether that is to arrange a second audition, offer them the gig or to let them know you’ve decided to go with someone else. It’s highly unlikely a rejection will cause an argument down the phone so be a grown up and get on with it!
Also, as a quick side note, have you ever found the ideal candidate through an audition, while still having other people left to see? If so, are these other candidates due the same day or in the next few days? If so, my advice would be to see them anyway – they will have put in time and effort preparing and it’s always best to have a wider network of musicians (in case you ever need a dep, etc, etc). If the next audition is not until the following week then by all means call them and politely cancel – but be nice doing it!
As a final thought, it’s worth bearing in mind one final (if somewhat obvious) piece of advice: listen. Listen to your prospective new members / band; listen to the music and how well you all play together; and finally, listen to your gut. Sometimes you can tell who the right fit it is without being too academic about the whole process.
Good luck! I’d love to hear what your best and worst audition experiences are. Drop me a message or comment below, and we can compare notes. Until next time…
Companies and apps have a new habit of ‘wrapping’ the last year. The whole thing is a document in your own consumerism, from the songs you listen to the most to how many minutes you spent staring at a screen trying to improve your Portuguese (or is that just me?).
We all buy into it, taking joy from the evidence of our every move online (or at least on our phones) being mined and researched so someone else can profit from it. We even share the findings, further doing the marketing work of these huge corporations for them.
But sometimes, it’s a good thing to look back over the previous twelve months and assess how far we’ve come – and consider where we’re going…
The most important things
Ask yourself the following questions:
What am I most proud of this year?
How did I affect the lives of others?
What made me happy?
What could I have done better?
For me, I feel like 2024 was the year that the original music projects I’m involved with finally got back up to speed. I’ve spent the years since the pandemic prioritising my work as a Music Therapist and live performer. But this year, I worked on two records for dear friends and my new band, Solcade, has had a successful year of shows, with plans to hit the studio at the very start of January next year.
Solcade have been well recieved this year
In terms of live shows, 2024 has felt quite varied. My gigs have been a mix of grassroots slots, concerts and of course, lots of weddings and parties. I feel that I’ve been able to maintain a healthy balance between original and covers gigs recently, and with thirty dates already booked in for next year with a variety of acts, 2025 looks set to continue that trend.
Of course, there have been setbacks, but nothing that hasn’t left me (or the acts I work with) stronger. My therapy work has changed too, with some contracts coming to an end as exciting new opportunities begin. My plan for next year is to build upon these to grow the service I provide to children, adolescents and young people in my region.
Quite a lot of this is still in the planning stages, but if the network of specialist creative therapists I’m trying to establish continuesnto grow, we will be able to reach even more people and help a vulnerable group build the life-changing mental resources needed to lead fulfilling and enriching lives. Wish me luck!
So that’s me. What about you?
The next steps
Now, having asked yourself about the year which is coming to an end, ask yourself:
What do I want to achieve in 2025?
And what do I need in place to make this happen?
As always, let me know your thoughts, as well as your plans and hopes for 2025. My main suggestion would be to look after yourselves and each other.
Go easy on yourself and forgive yourself when things don’t go according to plan – then get back up and carry on.
Surround yourself with people who make you feel as happy and fulfilled and you are trying to make others feel. None of us can get very far through life on our own.
Guitarist at work, live & in the studio
Now, I’m about to set up for me final show of the year – and because it’s a New Year’s Eve party, it will also be my first show of 2025. So since I’ll be busy at midnight here in the UK, allow me to take the time now to thank you all for reading these posts (as well as contributing your comments and messages) and wish you nothing but the best for 2025, and beyond!
Following my last article on the recently passed Herbie Flowers, it felt fitting to return to some of the behind-the-scenes musicians in the next instalment of my (ever-so-intermittent) Great Guitarists series. I have already shone a light on some of my personal favourites, including Steve Cropper and Barney Kessel, and this time I’m focusing on another sideman who played on so many sessions he had the nickname “Mr 2500”, Cornell Dupree (1942-2011).
There’s not many guitarists, even in the session world, whose credits include such a diverse range of artists, from Barbara Streisand and Mariah Carey to jazzers Herbie Mann and Sonny Stitt, as well as rockers Joe Cocker and Ian Hunter.
Born Cornell Luther Dupree Jr in Fort Worth, Texas. His career began in Texas, having decided to learn guitar after seeing Jonny ‘Guitar’ Watson in concert. While playing in local bands, he will have undoubtedly encountered and opened shows for other well-known and respected Texan artists such as T-Bone Walker, Lowell Fulson, Albert Collins, Lightning Hopkins, as well as country stars such as Roger Miller and Ray Price.
In the early 1960s, Dupree was called to New York by saxophone player King Curtis (whom he had known from their days in Fort Worth) to join him in his band The Kingpins. This group were a joined a few years later by a second guitarist – a certain James Marshall Hendrix…
Left to right: King Curtis, Cornell Dupree, and JimiHendrix performing with The Kingpins
In a band without a keys player the two guitarists worked together to fill out the band’s sound; Hendrix quickly taking on soloing duties while Dupree filled out the rhythm section. While Hendrix was dismissed from the band in 1965 (for being too loud, too flashy and often late to gigs), Dupree stayed with King Curtis, both onstage and in the studio, up until the band leader’s death in 1971.
Dupree made is first foray into session work in the mid-sixties, while still in the Kingpins. He spent much of the next decade and a half as a much called upon ember for Atlantic Records’ in-house studio band. In the the 1970s alone, his playing graces the albums of artists such as Aretha Franklin, Grover Washington Jr., Donny Hathaway, Miles Davis, Lulu, Herbie Mann, B.B. King, Freddie King, Billy Cobham, Paul Simon and many, many more.
Atlantic Records producer Jerry Wexler stated (in the liner notes to Dupree’s 1994 solo record Bop’n’Blues) that Dupree’s ability to play lead and rhythm at the same time meant that only one guitarist was required to provide what was needed. Thanks to recommendations from former bandmates such as bassist Chuck Rainey, Dupree soon gained a reputation as the only guitarist a producer might need.
Amongst all this, Dupree not only found time to release over a dozen solo records, but also founded the jazz fusion group Stuff. Stuff were a who’s who of session musicians including bassist Gordon Edwards, Richard Tee on keys and Steve Gadd on drums and fellow session guitarist Eric Gale. Their appearance at the 1976 Montreux Jazz Festival is available as a concert video and LP (see one of the tunes, Stuff’s Stuff, below), showcasing these players at the top of their game.
Stuff live at Montreux, 1976
In later years, Dupree continued to perform despite declining health. He can be seen at the end of the Bill Wither documentary Still Bill playing ‘Grandma’s Hands’ with Withers while using an oxygen tank to aid his breathing. He died in 2011 while waiting for a lung transplant as a result of emphysema.
Playing style
As a soul-based guitar player, much of Dupree’s playing used a clean sound with minimal effects, except for a touch of reverb, in most cases. This allows his playing to shine through without becoming overly dominant in the mix. His style demonstrates that blues and gospel-based pattern of question & answer, where one melodic phase acts as a short opening statement (of less than a bar in length), before being ‘replied to’ by another phrase of similar length.
His choral work makes use of the sort of flickering embellishments familiar to use through Jimi Hendrix making extensive use of them (along with Curtis Mayfield and others). In Dupree’s case, they always feel very tastefully executed, and seem to leave ample space for the artist (usually a vocalist) whom he is backing. In this sense, he is following the golden rule of the sideman: to make the featured artist sound good.
Stuff; the all-session jazz fusion supergroup
An integral part of Dupree’s lead guitar style is his use of sliding sixth to augment and enhance the chords he was soloing over. For those who are unsure about sixths, you can find my explainer on sixths and similar intervals here. Steve Cropper was a big proponent of this technique, and like Dupree, one of the guitarists I kept hearing on soul records time and again, without really knowing who these backing musicians were until I was older and starting to dig deeper into this side of my own guitar playing.
Equipment
Although reported to have started out on a Les Paul, then a Les Paul TV Special (a stripped down, P90-equipped version of the Les Paul), Dupree appears to be mainly pictured with a modified telecaster (another common element he shares with Cropper). He is often shown in older pictures with a white/faded blonde model, with a third DeArmond style pickup added in the middle position. This addition meant the pickguard could not be refitted onto the guitar, so Dupree appears to have filled in the screw holes with rivets. It certainly makes for a distinctive look!
A recreation of Dupree’s long-time telecaster (with added bird artwork not on the original guitar) by Scero Guitars
In 2002, Yamaha made a Cornell Dupree artist model Pacifica, using their telecaster-style ash body with a one piece bolt-on maple neck. This signature model had the same atypical pickup configuration that Dupree had been using for decades on his modded Telecaster. The Pacifica came with a neck humbucker and Seymour Duncan ‘Hot Rails’ in the bridge position, controlled by a three-way switch to toggle between them, but not a rivet to be seen!
Dupree with his Yamaha signature Pacifica
There was also an alnico V single coil in the middle, which could be added to any selection via it’s dedicated on/off switch. I’ve seen this mod on the guitars of a few professionals, particularly those who like to get the most sounds out of just one guitar (something I have written about before). Indeed, I’ve modded a few of my own guitars to ensure a similar level of flexibility and range of sounds (read about some of my mods here).
What can Cornell Dupree teach us?
Dupree was the master of economy of style, never overplaying. I guess that’s one of the reasons he was always asked back to more sessions; he knew how to serve the song. Another factor is his clear professionalism. As with Herbie Flowers, showing up, acting professional, and learning to anticipate the producers needs is a key element to a successful career as a session player.
While his former bandmate Hendrix might be more recognisable, having made a wonderful career on his own terms (and in his own time, it seems), Dupree seemed content to remain slightly off-centre stage. As a result, he had a long and varied career. Indeed, although Hendrix is undoubtedly the more seen, I’d argue that Dupree – thanks to his appearances on thousands of recordings by some of the music’s biggest-selling artists – may actually be the more heard of the two. In my mind, that’s quite the achievement.
Top session bassist Herbie Flowers sadly passed away on the 5th of September, aged 86.
Although most people may not have heard of the British session musician, Flowers was well known within the music industry, having been performing and recording since the 1960s. After starting out playing tuba and double bass in the RAF in the 1950s, Flowers moved into session work and soon the bass guitar became his main instrument. Among his earliest recorded work was the band Blue Mink, who had hits with ‘Melting Pot’ and ‘Good Morning Freedom’.
Flowers soon began playing sessions for artists in the late sixties, working regularly for famous producers such as Mickie Most (The Animals, Herman’s Hermits, Donovan, Lulu, and many more), Tony Visconti (T. Rex, David Bowie, The Moody Blues, and countless others), and Shel Talmy (The Kinks, The Who, among others). His playing credits are almost too long to list. In fact, it’s estimated he’d played on at least 500 hit recordings by the end of the 1970s!
Here’s a few of the more well-known highlights…
Flowers played bass on Bowie’s eponymous second album, including his first hit, ‘Space Oddity’. He then returned to the studio with Bowie to record his Diamond Dogs album.
When working on Lou Reed’s Transformer album, Flowers created his most recognisable bassline, used on the song ‘Walk On The Wild Side’. This bassline is actually two basses a double bass with a fretless Fender Jazz playing the higher part. As well as creating a unique sound that’s harder to achieve when playing both lines on one guitar, it also allowed Flowers to collect additional royalties for playing additional instruments on the song!
In 1971, Flowers co-wrote the novelty song Grandad, sung by actor Clive Dunn. The song reached the number one spot on the UK charts the same year, where it stayed for three weeks.
Flowers played bass on Jeff Wayne’s famous masterpiece, his musical and spoken-word adaptation of War of the Worlds. He then toured with Wayne when he took his famous concept album on the road decades later.
Flowers also appeared on recordings for Elton John, David Essex, Olivia Newton John, Bryan Ferry, AL Kooper, Harry Nilsson, Cat Stevens as well as on solo albums by three of the Beatles; Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
His work on a crossover record Changes by Australian classical guitarist John Williams (which included Williams’ arrangement of ‘Good Morning Freedom’) created a connection which came to fruition in 1978, when Flowers and Williams teamed up with other session musicians to form the famous instrumental group Sky. This supergroup of sorts (although only Williams was recognisable to most of the general music-buying public) released several albums over five years and toured regularly, bringing their fusion of classical, jazz and pop music to a wide audience.
What can we learn from Herbie Flowers?
Unlike other famous session men, such as ‘The Wrecking Crew’ in the USA’s pop music scene, Flowers seems to have developed a good reputation as a reliable performer, making him the first-call for several producers and composers. Why was this?
Put simply, he was not only a good musician, but a reliable one. Studios are expensive places to waste time, so having a roster of musicians who can not only play to a high standard, but also turn up on time is essential to producers, arrangers, musical directors and band leaders. Musical skill and a good ear allow the best session players to grasp a new song quickly and do their best to make it sound as good as possible, but the real professionals are he ones who treat it like the job that it is.
Nowadays, studios and recordings work a little differently. The ones that do make use of session musicians on a regular basis are far more rare, and getting a gig in such a place can feel almost impossible. It’s worth remembering that this side if the industry is – and to an extent, always has been – something of a closed shop. However, opportunities still exist in live performance, which in my experience have led to recording opportunities that I would otherwise not been offered. To give yourself the best chance of being considered for such roles, ask yourself:
Do I have a reputation for turning up on time, setting up quickly, and having working equipment?
Am I recognised as a competent musician (not the flashiest) who can cope with most styles?
Am I considered easy to get along with?
Divas don’t get invited back to future sessions. Nor do musicians who show up with faulty gear. I’ve also known artists to get frustrated with the brilliant ‘hot new thing’, fresh from music school with a head full of jazz theory and the chops to back it up, citing their input as overplaying or lacking in any real soul. Be like Herbie Flowers and that select group of ‘top’ session players: turn up, don’t make trouble, and serve the song. It worked for him. It will work for you.
In both cases, a little hard work and luck is involved, but t’was ever thus. And Herbie Flowers seems to have made the best of the cards he was dealt.
Is tone more important than technique? That’s a great debate to have, but not today…
Yet when most people listen to music, it is the tone of an instrument such as a guitar which catches and holds our attention first, so tone is pretty important. But how do we improve our tone? To do this, we need to understand what makes the tone we hear when we play guitar.
Tone knobs. Also available on dishwashers
In this article, I will list the various various factors that impact the tone of your instrument, starting from the last one in the chain before the sound reaches our ears, all the way back to where the notes come from…
Amplification
As the last step in the signal chain, the sounds that come out of your amplifier (or PA speaker if you’re using an amp simulator, etc) if what you and the audience hear. Everything that comes before this will be coloured by the natural sound of the speaker, it’s valves/circuitry and whatever tones you dial in.
It’s so common to see guitar players spending most of their money on a guitar, while skimping on amplification. While it’s certainly true that it’s a good idea to have the best equipment you can afford, that super-expensive Deluxe Strat would actually sound too different to the Squier Bullet Strat if you’re playing them through the same amp.
Image credit: Fender.com
A good amp can adapt your sound. Weaker, thinner-sounding pickups (such as single coils) can be ‘beefed up’, while humbuckers with too much push can be fixed with a mid-range cut. And that’s before we look at overdrive, distinction, reverb and effects such as chorus, flange, phaser, etc, all of which further colour the natural tone of the guitar. There is dangers here, too. Overuse of EQ or effects can lead to something which sounds over-processed, or just plain bad (think of the infamous ‘wasp in a jam jar’ sound attained from too much fuzz and treble).
Luckily, the market is full of affordable amplification options. There are also various digital modelling amps and units that can recreate the classic tones of famous (and incredibly expensive) vintage and boutique amps. To have so many genuinely realistic sounds available in one place, at an affordable price, is a relatively new luxury that all guitarists should be taking advantage of.
Pickups
After amplification, the second most crucial factor affecting the sound of an electric guitar is the pickups. These devices, magnets wrapped in wire, convert the vibration of the guitar’s strings into an electrical signal to send onwards in the chain.
I have spoken in earlier posts about the differences in pickup type and how some may be more versatile than others (see the articles in question here and here), but to sum up, keep in mind these basic points:
– The lower the output of a pickup is, the cleaner it will sound as you increase volume – Humbuckers can handle higher-gain settings with much less extraneous noise (hence the name, a reference to their hum-cancelling qualities) – Different types of pickups will naturally sound different (i.e., those made with individual magnet ‘slugs’ for each string, as opposed to ceramic bars which run the length of the pickup); do plenty of research before you commit to buying!
Volume
As hinted at above, some pickups will retain their ‘natural’ tone more easily than others, depending on their strength. However, in many cases, judicious use of the volume control(s) on your guitar can help find the sweet spot in terms of sound. Unless there is a treble-bleed circuit installed within the circuitry of your guitar, most pickups lose a little top end as the volume is turned down. I find that rolling back the master volume on my Strats to around 7 or 8 takes out some of the harsher treble frequencies for a nicer, more rounded-out sound. It also leaves a little headroom to boost your volume and cut-through for lead lines.
Similarly, turning down the gain on the front end of an amp or overdrive pedal can allow for a cleaner sounding boost instead. On a pedal like a Tubescreamer (or the many brilliant clones available), turning down the gain allows you to use the volume to amplify the tone of your guitar/pickups without colouring it too much – and a cleaner sound usually cuts through more effectively than drenching your tone in distortion. Listen to those classic Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple records, and notice how there is surprisingly little distortion on the guitar most of the time. The power comes from the volume.
Strings
We’ve now reached one of the cheapest things which affects the sound of your guitar: strings.
Generally speaking, most people experiment with different thicknesses and brands when starting out as a guitarist, eventually settling on the ones which feel most comfortable under their fingers and break as infrequently as possible. But not all strings are alike. Their material (usually a type of metal or alloy) and various coatings have an effect on how the string vibrates, and therefore how it transfers sound to the pickups. Also, a strings that feel different will result in us adjusting the way we play, perhaps without meaning to.
Image credit: ErnieBall.com
Many guitarists used to believe that thicker strings meant more tone. Think of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s gauge 13 strings and the huge bluesy tone he achieved. Yet also bear in mind that the Texan guitarist used heavy strings because he had large hands and and had developed a heavy-handed playing style; he used thicker strings to try and keep them from snapping all the time (and there’s lots of evidence from live footage of his performances to suggest he wasn’t entirely successful in this aim). Foe a while, I had one of my Strats set up with gauge 11 strings and down-tuned a half-step to Eb (as I have been told the late, great Jeff Beck used to do). This was largely a practical setup for the band I was working with at the time, but any guitar players believe doing this allowed the thicker strings to vibrate a little more ‘loosely’, which led to an improvement in tone. I can’t say I noticed much of a difference in the heat of a live show.
As a counter argument, B.B. King and Billy Gibbons used gauge 8 strings, and still managed to achieve great sounds from their instruments. For Gibbons, this may have been down to the famous ‘pearly gates’ humbuckers on his Les Paul, as well as his amplifier tone. As for the King of the Blues…
Fingers (and picks)
B.B. King would have sounded like B.B. King on any guitar. Indeed, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page did always manage to sound uniquely like themselves on any guitar they played. The same can be said of virtually any famous guitarist you can think of, and indeed the rest of us. Why? Fingers.
The most overlooked area affecting the tone of your guitar (and following the rough cost-order of this list, the cheapest!) is the parts of your hands which make contact with the strings and create the sounds in the first place. This goes for either hand, but the fretting hand is the one which is holding the strings and notes in place.
Obviously, there can be a huge difference between picking with your fingers or using a plectrum, and the type of material you use for picks should be taken into account and experimented with until you find what works best for you. However, for your fretting hand, there’s not much we can do to change how this affects the sound overall. The good news is, that’s okay! You have been using the same hands since first picking up the instrument and your sound will always take this into account, if you didn’t realise you were doing it. Embrace who you are! Also, as your fingers are the first stage in the ‘sound chain’, there’s plenty of ways to change the sound as we go through pickups, effects, amps, etc… Take some time to explore the huge range of options and see what works for you!
From all of the elements described above, which one would I single out as the most useful for tone shaping? That’s a tough call, and ultimately a very subjective topic. However, for me, I think volume is the most underratedelement in the signal chain, and one I’ve taken years to master in terms of my own guitar sound and playing.
In my early days of playing guitar, I sometimes strove to change the sound of my guitar tone, frustrated that I could only go so far without seriously reprocessing the sound into something which might end up sounding synthetic. Yet as I performed live more often, I noticed that out of all of the comments people would make to me about my playing, tone was only ever mentioned in a positive light (the same could not be said for technique, unfortunately). Records capture faithful reproductions of the sounds I started with when tracking them. No one has ever said I have a bad tone. The only person who (sometimes) wanted to change it was me.
One of my modified Stratocasters
Maybe guitar players worry about this too much? Maybe we’ve been conditioned to overthink our tone because it serves the interests of the musical instrument industry? Thousands of companies, from instrument makers to amplifier manufactures, and creators of effects or inventors of accessories, rely on our need for more gear, to finally find that one product that will fix the problem in our sound. But it rarely does. Luckily, there’s always another thing to buy…
I’m sometimes prone to this line of thinking too. That’s the side-effect of living in a capitalist economy, I suppose. I’s never been easier to get purchase anything we need, but we have to be careful not to lose ourselves in the process, and hold on to the simple joy of music-making which got us started in the first place. I came to be happy with the sounds I produce from my fingers. I think it’s had a positive effect on the music I create. It can do the same for you too. Just remember to pay attention to the various stops along your signal chain to ensure everything is working in the best possible way for your sound, and you won’t go far wrong.
Does practice make perfect? It’s undoubtedly true that the more you focus on doing something, the better you become at its accomplishment. However, as this Guardian news story from 2019 highlights, the modern convention of ‘the 10,000 hour practice rule’ may not be quite the guarantee some people have sold it as. Personal improvement, in any sphere of one’s life is never so cut-and-dry, nor can the same methods work for every individual.
The key question is why do you practice, or rather, what are you practicingfor? For instance, is it to sound like a particular musician? And if so, why?
Take this example: I love BB King, and have listened to his music for over two decades to date; I’ve learned some of his key phrases, his recognisable musical characteristics such as his blues box, vibrato technique and the space he’s leave between notes, etc. And despite learning & digesting all of this information – heck, I used to teach these techniques at specialist masterclasses focusing on the blues master – I still sound nothing like him when I play guitar.
That’s not a bad thing, either. It doesn’t represent a failure on my part. If anything, bring able to incorporate so many elements of a player who got so much right, while still retaining my own musical voice, has to be an achievement worth celebrating in some small way. Of course, a large part of a guitar player’s sound comes from their fingers, so I’d never have been able to completely obscure who I was, even if I wanted to.
Perhaps you simply wish you could execute certain techniques as well as the great masters of your chosen instrument? Read that Guardian article again, then learn to measure success by your own improvement, in comparison to your past self only.
It almost sounds trite, but you can’t stop being you, so be the best you possible
Hi all and welcome to 2022! You may have noticed that things have been a little quiet on this blog for the last few months. This is for a number of reasons, but don’t panic – I’m fine, just incredibly busy! Expect more posts in this new year, as well as updates on exciting new projects I’ve been working on. In the meantime, here’s a slightly rejigged post on New Year’s resolutions from a few years back. I hope you enjoy it! Until next time...
As a general rule, I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions. My philosophy is that changes can be made at any time, so why wait until January?
However, there is something about the end of a year which causes us all to reflect on the previous twelve months and start focusing on our plans for the next twelve. For us working musicians, this would usually mean that we have reached the end of one of our peak times, the ‘Christmas Party Season’. For over a decade (pre-pandemic), I ended the year with a NYE gig. However, for obvious reasons, things have been a little quieter by comparison, which gives us time to ponder on the gigs we’ve enjoyed, what we didn’t enjoy, and what we hope to change for the new year.
So, with that in mind, here are a few of my suggestions for guitar-related resolutions for musicians looking to grow as better musicians in the coming year:
Learn a new style
Always wanted to start learning those jazz chord voicings? Perhaps you keep meaning to work on your reggae & ska rhythm playing? Or your country picking? Blues slide? The list goes on…
Take the time to work on these new genres & styles of playing. We are very fortunate to live in a time where we can access a world of free tutorials on the Internet, or videos in YouTube. However, don’t rule out the possibility of taking lessons to focus on specific areas – working one to one with an experienced guitar tutor does wonders for improving your playing!
Mix things up
Learning a style doesn’t mean you have to abandon all you know & travel the world playing strictly Django/gypsy jazz for the rest of your life (though I imagine there are plenty of worse ways to live)!
Have you found that the majority if your playing has been on acoustic guitar? Trying swapping to electric more often (or vice versa). Do you always practise at the same time of day? If possible, can you change to a different time? Your brain operates differently throughout the day – you may well find yourself going down very different musical avenues simply by switching from a morning to an afternoon practice session.
Sometimes learning to play a song you are very familiar with in a new style works brilliantly in helping your playing. Not only do you freshen up material which might be getting a bit stale, but you’ll have a safer means of exploring new options in your guitar playing.
One area of guitar playing I can’t recommend highly enough is solo performance. By this, I don’t mean the lead guitar solo in a song, but playing the melody, harmony, rhythms, etc on one unaccompanied guitar. It’s something a piano player wouldn’t think twice about, but I’m frequently amazed at how many guitarists simply haven’t tried it properly! If you’re unsure about how to start doing this, there are several books, online tutorials (like this blog!), and of course YouTube videos to help inspire you. Which brings us nicely in to…
Widen your horizons
Music is a language. Even when playing on your own, you are creating sounds for yourself to hear, effectively taking to yourself. But there’s only so long you can do that before you end up going round in circles, or going crazy!
Set yourself the following challenge for the year: discover a new artist each month. Learn from what you hear. Take examples of their playing & try to incorporate it into your own. It can only make you a better guitarist! The beauty of this is that you don’t have to focus on other guitar players. In fact, it might be better not to! Many of the jazz & Blues guitarists I admire take inspiration for their improvisational playing from horn players, translating their melodies & ideas into their own instrument. Try it!
It also helps to get out amongst other musicians, jam, join or start a new band, particularly in a new style. It also goes further than this – always wanted to sing while playing? Start! Learning a new instrument? Do it! The best way out of a rut is to climb upwards!
Get your music ‘out there’
…And if you’re meeting new musicians & launching new projects, you’re already doing this. Go to more live gigs and make sure you perform live yourself more often (when you can), especially new and original music. I know all too well how easy it is to get stuck in one ‘world’ for longer than you might like, finding it hard to make the time to do other things, but I promise it’s worth the effort.
Remember to have fun while you’re out there expanding your guitar playing horizons!
To finish off, allow me to wish you all the very best of health & happiness for the New Year! Let’s make 2022 – like every year – a great year for music, for the guitar, and for you!
Please do get in touch to tell me what your own guitar/music new year resolutions are, and stay in touch to let me know how you’re getting on with them! Tim xx
Legendary producer of The Beatles, Sir George Martin, passed away on this day, five years ago. The following day, I wrote this article on a now-defunct page. Reposting here to mark this sad anniversary:
Sir George Martin, most famous for acting as the producer of all but one of The Beatles’ albums, passed away yesterday, aged 90.
Already, reports and obituaries have been published, quoting Martin and highlighting his amazing achievements with and without The Beatles. Though Martin was a producer for over a decade before meeting them, it is undoubtedly his work with this music-changing band, the very Zeitgeist of musical development in the nineteen-sixties and beyond, for which he will be best remembered and discussed for years to come.
There’s been plenty of debate on whether or not The Beatles succeeded artistically because of suggestions made by Martin, or if he was simply very effective in channelling their natural talent. In reality, it was probably a mix of the two. That in itself is not a bad legacy to leave behind.
Though Martin now sadly has passed away, we can still learn something valuable from the work he left behind. Here are my three things which we can learn from the life and career of George Martin:
Have an open mind
I’ve mentioned this in several previous posts, but an open mind and a willing pair of ears is without a shadow of a doubt the most important tool for any artist. This is especially true for musicians and producers, and a sentiment to which Martin himself prescribed more than once, including in his own books.
It is well established in rock history canon that The Beatles were been turned down by several record companies prior to being signed by Martin to EMI. Think about this for a moment: every almost ‘industry expert’ had refused to take on another guitar band, believing them to be going out of fashion. Fair enough, it is called the music business for a reason. Money has to be made and trends will always be followed. This is as true today as it was in the nineteen fifties and sixties. However, ‘following the money’ is a great way to be a follower, but you are default already a follower from the start, and not a leader.
The best leaders, artists, teachers, and indeed the best in any profession listen first. In seeing the potential that The Beatles had, Martin was able to continue listening to them throughout their eight years working together making hit after hit, and classic album after classic album. This is especially noticeable when at the point mid-sixties where the band stopped performing live altogether, becoming a studio band only. The resulting works, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band, The Beatles and Abbey Road, are unique in sounding very much of their time, but still fresh and exciting in 2016.
And it wasn’t just Martin doing all of the listening. The Beatles themselves were avid consumers of art and music. In being open to anything interesting, they brought elements of avant-garde, atonalism, looping, sampling and a whole world of musical styles to their music. By opening your ears, and combining the sounds you love, it is entirely possible to produce a new work, which speaks to the future while recognising that which has gone before.
Know your limits, and push them
Looping, you say? Sampling? In the nineteen-sixties?! It is worth noting that the vast majority of The Beatles’ recorded output was recorded on a four-track (or, at very best towards the seventies, eight-track) tape machine. This was state of the art back then, but lacking in the limitless options of the digital recording software in use everywhere. Leaving aside all the other technological innovations and improvisations Martin would conjure up to accommodate the visions of The Beatles in their songwriting, there is the question of the sheer number of instruments and sounds on some songs. The solution to squeezing so many different elements onto a four-track recorder? Multi-tracking.
Multi-tracking was first developed by guitarist Les Paul some decades before Martin made such effective use of the technique. Put simply, the process involves recording onto three of the available tracks, then ‘bouncing’ that mix onto the fourth track. The process can be repeated using tracks one and two, then bouncing to the third. Then it can (if needed) be taken even further by mixing tracks three & four onto one of the other tracks, meaning there are now three left to add on more parts (and here is where I start to go cross-eyed myself!).
The biggest issue with this method of recording is the physical degradation of the tape onto which the sound was being copied. By layering track upon track, the overall mix becomes more dense, and done incorrectly, can leave with a muddy sounding, uninspiring record. George Martin, however, seems to have been perfectly capable of getting clean, crisp recordings of individual mixes, which hold their brightness as they get ‘bounced’ and mixed into a deeper and more complicated arrangement. Even with Martin’s confident ‘know how’, there was still a limit to how many additions could me made. In these days of endless tracks and almost any possible sound available to laptops worldwide, I personally don’t see the same level of mechanical creativity. Sometimes working with what you have, pushing the limits, is better than having no limits at all…
Have a sense of humour
There’s a famous anecdote – which Martin was often fond of telling – detailing the first time The Beatles first met their producer (retold once more in the Washington Post’s obituary of George Martin today). After Martin had spoke at length about the recording process, he asked the Fab Four is there was anything they didn’t like. The response, from George Harrison, was “Well, I don’t like your tie for a start…”. From there, Martin knew that they would get along famously.
A sense of humour can not only ease any tensions rising in the studio, which can be high-pressure for some acts expected to produce hit after hit. It can also serve to bridge the gap between generations. In that respect, Martin must have impressed the Beatles from the start, having quite an extensive background in comedy and novelty recordings – some of which became unexpected hits – including John Lennon’s comedy heroes, The Goons. In quite a lot of interview footage from the early sixties, The Beatles were set apart from their questioners, an exclusive club with a shared sense of humour and in-jokes which created a barrier to those outside of the group. Martin, I believe, was very much inside their ‘circle of trust’, otherwise they would not have allowed him such authority in the studio. A shared sense of humour must have been a major in-road to gaining the trust of these young Liverpudlians.
Final Thoughts
As a musician, producer and in some ways, mentor, Martin helped the Fab Four to realise the sounds they heard in their heads. His creative, yet critical thinking fuelled The Beatles’ insatiable appetite for art, and helped their music transcend to heights which otherwise may have remained untouched. Though I have spoken mostly about Martin’s work with the Fab Four, we should be no means overlook all of the other artists he worked with & film scores he wrote/arranged. Without Martin, popular music, and therefore the world we live in today, would be very different indeed…
Welcome back to this overview of intervals in guitar playing! In part one, we looked at thirds, sixths and tenths. In this follow up article, we will be taking a brief look at fourths and fifths. Both of these intervals can be used more ambiguously, as they remain the same in the context of a major or minor chord (when sticking to notes in diatonic scale, at least – more on that later). Because of this fact, they can utilized in slightly different ways to the tones they sit alongside in common scales. Let’s take a look…
Fourths
Fretting the two highest strings together at the same fret creates this classic double stop, which can be heard all over rock’n’roll, but famously in the intro and solo for Chuck Berry’s Jonny B. Goode. Berry developed this style so he could recreate horn lines, as his live band was a smaller ensemble than many bands of the time (which would typically have more than one sax, trumpet, trombone, among other brass instruments). Every rock guitarist that followed has used phrases first made famous by Berry, from Angus Young to George Harrison. It is also a useful interval for slide guitar playing as it can be used over major and minor chords alike (you can see an example of me playing 4ths with a slide on this cover video of a well-known song).
In jazz, Wes Montgomery pioneered the use of stacked fourths, creating chord-based solos using 4th intervals on top of each other (for example, one chord would sound, low to high, as A, D, G, C), and the shape would move in line with the melody. George Benson kept up this tradition, but would also regularly employ diads (two notes played together) of 4ths in his lightning-fast solos.
Fifths
A fifth is an inversion of a fourth, and vice versa. Here, the strict definition can become blurred – think of the intro to the Deep Purple song Smoke On The Water and you’ll hear diads playing the entire riff in what sound like fourths (eg, the first pair of notes is a D, then a G on top). However, since the melody is following the G minor pentatonic scale (as the song is in the key of G minor), I’d argue that this riff is an inverted fifth (D being the perfect fifth of G), as the melody note is higher than the harmony note.
In rhythm guitar, a root and fifth creates the classic power chord heard in most varieties of rock music. Alternating the fifth with a sixth, and moving back and forth between the two, gives the famous (almost cliché) rocking riff used by artists from Chuck Berry to Status Quo and beyond.
Variations on ‘perfect’
The intervals we have discussed above – using the fourth and fifth notes in a diatonic scale, create what is known as perfect fourth / fifth. However, as with any note, we can raise or lower it’s pitch by a semitone for a new musical sound. Flat fourths & fifths are both referred to as diminished (and of course be found in diminished chords and scales). Raised ones are called augmented. As a fourth and fifth are only a tone apart, a diminished fifth is exactly the same thing as an augmented fourth – just in case you were confused!
Apart from being the famous Devil’s chord (famously used on the Black Sabbath song Black Sabbath), this interval often occurs in Blues-based music. The Pentatonic Blues Scale is based on intervals of R, b3, 4, #4, (or b5), and b7. Likewise, in dominant seventh chords (for example, C7), the natural interval between the chord’s major third (E) and flat seventh (Bb) is a diminished fifth/augmented fourth. Highlighting these notes over these chords creates a wonderful effect without having to overthink your playing too much!
Finally…
There are a few intervals we haven’t covered in these two articles. Off the top of my head, these would be seconds, sevenths, octaves and extended intervals used in jazz chords and arpeggios, such as ninths, elevenths and thirteenths. I plan to look at octave-based playing in a future article, because it is a staple of my own guitar heroes, such as the great Wes Montgomery. However, if you’d like me to look into some of the other intervals (such as sevenths, which is a really useful colour tone in jazz), do let me know!
Single line lead guitar playing is great. But when you have six strings and four fingers to hold them down, why limit your playing to one note at a time? Throughout the history of guitar, players have used two notes (or more) at once, resulting in something halfway between a single note line and a full guitar chord. We do this for a few reasons:
It adds depth (useful in trio settings, for example)
To create a certain feel (which we will touch upon below)
To imply a chord through highlighting certain scale tones
To make certain phrases stand out
What is an interval?
An interval is he distance between two notes, in terms of pitch. Thinking of the C major scale (visualize the white keys on a piano), the root note (C) is 1, and the next note (D) is therefore 2, so the interval between C and D is known as a 2nd. More specifically, it is called a major 2nd because it is a whole tone away from C (whereas Db, only a semitone higher, is known as a minor 2nd). The next note in the C major scale would be E, which is called a major third (and Eb is the minor 3rd). I won’t bog us down in theory for this article, but if you need a more in-depth explanation, check out this video from Victoria Williams of mymusictheory.com.
It’s possible to use any interval when playing, especially lead lines. However, some are more effective than others. In this article, I’m going to stick to three types of interval: thirds, sixths and tenths, along with a few well-known examples in music. Go give some of these a listen and see if you can spot the intervals in use.
Thirds
Common in any music with a Spanish in Latin twist, particularly on acoustic guitar. Try going up and down a major scale by playing each note with another note ‘two places higher’ in the scale on the next string up. For example, starting with a C by fretting the G string at the fifth fret, you ‘think up two notes’, skipping D, and playing E by fretting the B string at the fifth fret. The next note in the scale (D) would be played at the same time as F. Going up the fret board/scale, the notes should match up above each other like this:
It is also the most commonly used interval for twin guitar harmonies, such as:
Thin Lizzy – The Boys Are Back In Town (recurring twin lead line after the choruses)
The Eagles – Hotel California (harmony lines at the very end, during fade-out)
Sixths
One of my personal favourites, which I use a lot in my guitar playing. Sixths are essentially an inverted third, where the base note (eg, C) is played highest (such as one the E string at the 8th fret), while the harmony note (E or Eb) is played two strings lower (in this case, the G string, at the 9th fret for E, or the 8th fret for Eb).
Picture Credit: NZMusician.com
They can highlight major and minor chords, and sound great when you slide into them up and down the scales you’re using, as well as chromatically (think of the stereotypical blues ‘ending’). They’re great for soul playing too, implying a chord or scale with only two notes (as with tenths – see below). I’m not alone in this – examples exist across the various genres that the guitar is used for, including:
Steve Cropper’s guitar intro to the classic Sam & Dave song Soul Man
Chuck Berry on the intro to You Never Can Tell
Steve Cropper’s guitar playing uses this time and time again, on many classic recordings from Otis Redding to The Blues Brothers. He had a knack for finding the right guitar line that complimented the songs he played on, without overpowering them, and rightly deserves his own article looking into his style in greater detail (watch this space)!
Tenths
Tenths are essentially thirds, but with an additional octave between the two notes. This has the interesting effect of creating the impression of a chord, while still leaving a sense of space. It is the interval used in the opening phrase of the well-known classical guitar standard Lagrima. Here’s a chart to demonstrate where the tenth harmony for Bb (played alongside a D, two notes then one additional octave higher) across the guitar fretboard:
Picture Credit: PlayTheAxe.com
There has been a few examples of this in big singles recently. In each case, t tenths are used for the main guitar park in the songs:
Scar Tissue by The Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Love Yourself by Justin Bieber
Hold Back The River by James Bay
Tenths are also used in jazz. They provide a nice open-sounding stretch which is easy to play on guitar; they implied the chordal harmony while still leaving space for other instruments.
In summary
One thing that all three of these interval types have in common is their ability to reflect a major or minor chord. I think of them as the same interval, using a base note of C as an example again:
Third: C, played with an E (2 tones higher)
Sixth: An inverted third; C is played with an E a sixth lower (4 tones)
Tenth: A third, plus one additional octave between both notes; C, plus E (8 tones higher)
Each has it’s own feel and characteristic, and they are not always as interchangeable as you might think. Try playing around with them, across major and minor scales, then in your solos, and let me know how you get on!
Coming next: Part two of this subject will focus on intervals which can utilised over major and minor chords – fourths and fifths.
Tim Higgins, Guitarist 
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