Acoustic Guitar 274.pdf

8/16/2019 Acoustic Guitar 274.pdf

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OCTOBER 2015 | ACOUSTICGUITAR.COM

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AcousticGuitar.com 5

CONTENTS

46 The Accidental Guitarist

Ruminations on

the art of noodling

By Adam Perlmutter

50 The Way of the CouchTips on practical

ergonomics for guitarists

By October Crifasi

52 BBQs, Beaches,

and Backyards

Playing at home or with friends

is the perfect casual gig

By October Crifasi

10 From the Home Office

12 Opening Act

80 Marketplace

101 Ad Index

102 Final Note

October 2015

Volume 26, No. 4, Issue 274

On the Cover

James Taylor

Photographer

Timothy White

Special FocusHome Play

24 Tallest Man on Earth

Swedish singer-songwriter

Kristian Matsson’s modern folk

By Adam Perlmutter

30 Brand New Start

James Taylor talks guitars,songwriting, and his first album

of new songs in 13 years

By Greg Cahill

36 Try a Little Tenderness

JD Souther takes a classic

songwriting approach

on new album

By Kenny Berkowitz

40 Lightning in a Bottle

The rise of folkie Sarah McQuaid

By Andy Hughes

Features Miscellany‘Mistakes

sometimes

create

the most

interesting

sounds.’

KRISTIAN MATSSON, P. 24

J O E Y L U S T E R

M A N


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CONTENTS

NEWS

15 The Beat

Bluegrass picker and comedian Ed Helms on

the Lonesome Trio; remembering Ronnie Gilbert,

Jim Ed Brown, and Richard Eddy Watson

20 News Spotlight

Joseph Skibell and his book, My Father’s Guitar

and Other Imaginary Things

PLAY

57 Songcraft

A songwriter’s guide to rhyme

The Basics

60 How to use open strings creatively

62 Learn the fundamentals of hybrid picking

64 Weekly Workout

Swinging like Freddie Green

Songs to Play

68 NutshellAngsty acoustic gem from Alice in Chains

70 Travelin’ Blues

A hot one from Memphis legend Earl Bell

74 House of the Rising Sun

Learn this timeless bordello blues

AG TRADE

79 Shoptalk

The Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery;

Woodstock Luthiers Showcase

82 Makers & Shakers

Paul Heumiller and his Dream Guitars

84 Guitar Guru

The upside of torrefaction

86 Review: Taylor 914ce

This revamped guitar is a winner

across the board

88 Review: Mérida Master 75D

A dreadnought with a lovely voice

and a modern look

90 Review: Grace Harbor GHGC-200

A satisfying and responsive budget flattop

92 Great AcousticsPogreba resonator

MIXED MEDIA

96 Playlist

The Steep Canyon Rangers show

versatility on Radio; also, Langhorne Slim’s

The Spirit Moves, Chuck Johnson’s Blood

Moon Boulder , Thad Beckman’s Streets

of Disaster , Dylan’s first album remastered

99 Books

Willie Nelson’s lively memoir, It’s a

Long Story , is full of heart, soul, and humor

Mérida

Master 75D

p. 88


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8 October 2015

NEW INSTRUCTIONAL SERIES AVAILABLE: ‘5 MINUTE LESSON’

Acoustic Guitar ’s experts offer brief, insightful tips on warm-up exercises,

practice tips, gig preparation, and other useful topics. The first few install-

ments of 5 Minute Lesson are taught by master jazz guitarist, composer, and

educator Ron Jackson. For more information and to start shopping, visitstore.acousticguitar.com

GET ‘ACOUSTIC GUITAR’ IN YOUR E-MAIL INBOX

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we’ll e-mail you articles and videos that will help you improve your playing

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AG ONLINE

Enjoy a recent Acoustic Guitar Session episode with bluesman Charlie Parr.

Watch Parr perform his new song “Frank Miller Blues” and talk about his

beloved National metal-bodied resonator and Fraulini 12-string. See more at:

acousticguitar.com/sessions to check out interviews with and performances by

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P E T E R L

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10 October 2015

FROM THE HOME OFFICE

Crifasi also contributes etiquette advice on

making that backyard bash a fun experience.

And Adam Perlmutter contemplates four ways

that the sometimes maligned art of noodlingcan help you to tap your creativity.

Elsewhere, you’ll find my interview with

singer-songwriter James Taylor, who hit the top

of the Billboard charts earlier this summer with

Before This World, his first album of original

material in 13 years. And Perlmutter sizes up

the Tallest Man on Earth, the Swedish artist

who has carried the sobriquet as the next Dylan

on his broad shoulders. Meanwhile, Kenny

Berkowitz delves into JD Souther’s tender side

and Ron Jackson returns with a lesson on

playing swing jazz in the style of the legendary

Freddie Green.In addition, you’ll find news, more player

tips, songs to play, gear reviews, and more.

Keep on playing! —Greg Cahill

Stage. Praise. Studio. You name it—acoustic

guitarists employ their guitars in a variety

of special settings. One common factor: You’d be

hard-pressed to find a guitarist that doesn’t playat home. In the special section in this month’s

issue, you’ll find advice on three aspects of

playing at home: noodling, playing on the

couch, and leading friends in backyard sessions.

Call them home improvement tips.

A couch potato’s guide to playing the guitar

struck a few folks around here as too irreverent

a topic.

But the negative ramifications of slumping

on the couch while binge watching Ancient

Aliens can come back to haunt you. So, AG

enlisted contributor October Crifasi, a skilled

performer and instructor, to lay down the law(sit up straight!) by explaining the flawed

mechanics and potential harm inherent in this

common practice.

AcousticGuitar.com • AcousticGuitarU.com

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NEWS

In the 20 years since graduating from Oberlin,the three college buddies who formed Weed-

killer have moved on to very different careers.

Banjo player and guitarist Ed Helms has become

the publisher of the Bluegrass Situation website

and an actor, playing Andy Bernard on The Office,

Stu Price in the Hangover trilogy, and Rusty Gris-

wold in this summer’s Vacation. Ian Riggs has

become a full-time musician, playing upright bass

in New York City, and mandolinist Jacob Tilove

is an architectural historian whose most recent

book is about “the definitive history of the devel-

opment of the garden suburb.”

Fortunately for bluegrass fans, the friendsstayed in touch, playing occasional gigs as the

Lonesome Trio. Now, with the release of their

self-titled debut album on the Sugar Hill label,

they’re busier than ever. Helms—talking by

phone from his office in Los Angeles, where

he’s working on a set of upcoming film proj-

ects—describes how decades later, they simply

love playing together.

“Playing together has been a very steady

constant in our lives, but not anything we took

all that seriously,” he says.

“I have some old cassette tapes of Weedkiller,

where we sound like mus ic ians who love

Picking & Grinning Actor and music hound Ed Helms

talks bluegrass, comedy, and a cappellaBY KENNY BERKOWITZ

19The BeatMerleFest RadioHour is on the air

16The BeatWeavers co-founderRonnie Gilbert dies

20News SpotlightJoseph Skibell on‘My Father’s Guitar’

THE BEAT

bluegrass, but haven’t had a lot of exposure toreally great bluegrass playing. At that time, it

wasn’t as much about performing for people as

just having a blast performing for ourselves. We

would play at weddings, parties, but even then, it

was just for us. It was something we did because

we loved it.”

That’s what you hear when you listen to The

Lonesome Trio: friends playing for the pleasure

that comes from making music, carving two

weeks out of their otherworldly schedules to

write, rehearse, and record an album of original

material, with enough time left over to simply

hang out.It’s a folk album filled with overdubs, with

Helms on acoustic and electric guitar, accor-

dion, banjo, harmonica, organ, piano, and

trumpet; Riggs on bass, piano, autoharp, vibra-

phone, and drum; and Tilove on acoustic and

electric mandolin, accordion, fiddle, and guitar.

Of the three, Tilove’s writing is the most ironic,

with titles like “Appalachia Apologia” and “The

House Song (Sung by a House),” while Riggs

follows close behind with the tragicomic “River

in the Gutter.”

That leaves Helms, the comedian, as their

darkest writer, singing about death, drink,

Lonesome Trio (L to R)

Jacob Tilove, Ian Riggs,

Ed Helms

exhaustion, failure, fear, loneliness, and a lifethat’s “all gone to hell.”

“We tap into a pretty raw place, and I really

love that,” says Helms, the trio’s only Southerner,

who started bluegrass guitar at 13 years old and

takes his main inspiration from Tony Rice and

John Hartford. “It’s a totally separate creative

pursuit, a different channel of creativity than the

comedy, and I love them both. Our show is lively

and fun, but it’s not comedy. It’s about the music,

our friendship, and the joy of playing together.”

Over the summer, the trio took their show

on the road before Helms went back to work on

Love the Coopers (due in November), Central Intelligence (2016) , Captain Underpants (2017),

and the longer-term projects Mermaids in Para-

dise and Naked Gun, which may still be years

away from being finished. In the fall, he’ll

return to the Bluegrass Situation’s Los Angeles

festival, which he co-founded, and if all goes

well, the trio will soon have enough material to

record a follow-up album.

And what about Andy Bernard, who’s been

out of work since The Office closed shop? What

does he think of all this bluegrass? “It’s pretty

good,” says Helms, in character, “but it would

sound a lot better a cappella.” AG

D A L E M A Y


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16 October 2015

The folk and country music worlds lost three

greats in recent weeks:

RONNIE GILBERT 1926–2015

Ronnie Gilbert—who co-founded the seminal

folk-singing quartet, the Weavers, with Pete

Seeger, Lee Hays, and Fred Hellerman—died

on June 6 in California at age 88. As the only

female voice in the Weavers, Gilbert’s signaturecontralto was a rally cry for social change and

helped inspire the folk-music revival of the

1950s. Gilbert was born Ruth Alice Gilbert in

Brooklyn and grew up in New York City, where

the Weavers performed their first gig at the

Village Vanguard in 1949. The group ’s 1950

debut record, which contained “Tzena, Tzena,

Tzena” and Lead Belly’s “Goodnight, Irene,”

was a hit and spent 13 weeks at No. 1. The

Weavers’ harmonies and sing-along spirit

brought work songs, union ballads, and gospel

to new audiences, and popularized standards,

including “The Wreck of the John B” (aka“Sloop John B”), “Rock Island Line,” and “On

Top of Old Smoky.”

But post-World War II politics and the

impending Cold War made the Weavers a target

of the anti-Communist right wing and, after a

pamphlet called Red Channels named Seeger a

member of the Communist Party, the group was

blacklisted. The Weavers had a second act,

thanks to a sold-out Carnegie Hall reunion

show in 1955, and continued recording and

touring until 1963.

Gilbert turned to acting after the Weavers

broke up and appeared in many plays, including

IN MEMORIAM

THE BEAT

The Weavers

(L to R)

Pete Seeger,

Lee Hays,

Ronnie Gilbert,

Fred Hellerman

‘HOME’ SWEET HOME

Nickel Creek and Punch

Brothers co-founder, mandolin

virtuoso, and multi-

instrumentalist Chris Thile will

become the new host of NPR’s

A Prairie Home Companion

starting in 2016. Thile has twice

served as a guest host on the

popular public-radio show,

which features heartfelt

traditional music and

storytelling. Longtime host

Garrison Keillor will retain an

active role in the coming season

and beyond, acting as co-host,

writer, and executive producer

over a lengthy transition.

the Harold Pinter-directed, 1968 Broadway pro-

duction of Robert Shaw’s The Man in the Glass

Booth. Later, in the ’70s, Gilbert studied psychol-

ogy and worked as therapist.

Gilbert is survived by her wife and longtime

manager, Donna Korones, her daughter, and a

granddaughter. Her memoir, Ronnie Gilbert: A

Radical Life in Song, is set for publication by the

University of California Press this fall.

JIM ED BROWN 1934–2015

Jim Ed Brown , Grand Ole Opry star and

member of country music sibling act, the

Browns, died of cancer on June 11 at age 81.

Brown—alongside his sisters Maxine and

Bonnie—sang and played acoustic guitar on

the trio’s singles including “Here Today and

Gone Tomorrow,” “I Take the Chance,” and

“Just as Long as You Love Me.” But it was the

1959 crossover hit, “The Three Bells,” that

cemented their place in history. The Chet

Atkins-produced folk-pop song reached No. 1on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned the

Browns an invitation to join the Grand Ole

Opry in 1963. Brown continued performing at

the Opry for more than 50 years and enjoyed a

solo hit with “Pop a Top” in 1967.

This month, the Browns will be inducted

into the Country Music Hall of Fame, along

with Grady Mart in and the Oak Ridge Boys.

Before Brown’s death, while he was in a Frank-

lin, Tennessee, hospital, he was presented with

a medallion commemorating his Country Music

Hall of Fame membership.

SONGSMITHS HONORED

The Songwriters Hall of Fame

ushered in its 46th year of

honoring songwriting legends. Van Morrison received

the Johnny Mercer Award, the

hall’s highest honor, which is

bestowed to writers with a long

history of outstanding creative

works. Other new inductees

included the Grateful Dead

songwriting team of Robert

Hunter and the late Jerry

Garcia, rock composer Linda

Perry, the late Chicago

bluesman Willie Dixon,

and country star Toby Keith.

BRIEFS

Chris Thile

Van Morrison

CONTINUES ON PG. 19


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SUNDAY FEELINGWNCW has teamed up

with MerleFest to create the

MerleFest Radio Hour, an

hour-long weekly show of live

performances, album tracks,

and an interview segment

with artists who have played at

MerleFest. The show, co-hosted

by Mark Bumgarner and Steve

Johnson, airs live on Sundays

from 6-7 p.m. EST on WNCW.

It also is streamed on

wncw.org/listen-live.

RICHARD EDDY WATSON 1966–2015Richard Eddy Watson—blues guitarist,

grandson of Doc Watson, and son of Merle

Watson—died on June 1 of a heart attack at his

home in Deep Gap, North Carolina. He was 48.

As a young player, Watson perfected his fin-

gerpicking on tour with his late father and

grandfather. He recorded “Feeling the Blues” in

1992, which he dedicated to his father, and in

1999 collaborated with Doc on the Grammy-

nominated Third Generation Blues album.

Watson performed with his grandfather until

Doc’s death in 2012, and was a staple at Mer-

leFest—the traditional music festival that bearshis father’s name.

In a statement, MerleFest director Ted

Hagaman writes: “The entire MerleFest family

was saddened to learn of the passing of Richard

Watson. Richard has been a fixture at MerleFest

for many years, helping to carry on the Watson

legacy. He was a talented musician and he will

be missed.”

Watson is survived by his wife, Annette;

daughter, Candis Watson Webb; grandson,

Tantem Webb; mother and stepfather, Geneva

Hennessee and David Hennessee; and sister,

Karen Watson Norris. —Whitney Phaneuf

AUSTIN: OUTE R LIMITS

Asleep at the Wheel frontman

and founder Ray Benson has

returned to Sirius XM’s “Willie’s

Roadhouse” on a bi-weekly

basis to host his show, Austin

Outer Limits. The one-hour

broadcast, inspired by the theme

“where cowboys meet aliens,”

features Western swing and

Texas honky-tonk music hand-

picked by Benson. On October

26, Benson will be added to

the Philadelphia Music Walk

of Fame—along with six other

inductees—during a ceremony

on the Avenue of the Arts

in Philadelphia.

Richard Eddy Watson

Ray Benson

THE BEAT

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20 October 2015

Steel-String LitIn his new book, My Father’s Guitar and Other Imaginary Things,

essayist Joseph Skibell draws inspiration from wood and steel

BY ADAM PERLMUTTER

What was it like to share the stage with

Paul Simon when he participated in the

Richard Ellmann Lectures, a series you

directed at Emory University, where you’re

on faculty?

He was such a mensch to let me join him in

playing and singing “The Boxer.” The words

“I’m onstage with Paul Simon” shot through my

head, and I immediately gave myself a tension

headache. And working with him for the year

and a half leading up to the lecture, it was so

inspiring to see how he was all about serving

the work to an impeccable degree. He’s a

master in all senses of the word.

In your instrument collection, you’ve shied

away from production models in favor of

those built by luthiers. As an artist, do you

feel a connection with guitar makers?

I’ve really gravitated toward luthiers—Ken

Parker, especially, because I do feel a kinship

with him. Ken is working so far beyond the

norm, but like many novelists, he’s sort of an

unheralded genius—many people see him as

just a guitar maker. In the same way, a novelist

can work so hard to put new and amazing

things into a work, only for it all to be lost on

readers.

NEWS SPOTLIGHT

A

s a teenager in the 1970s, novelist and

creative-writing professor Joseph Skibellspent countless hours in intimate discourse

with his Alvarez steel-string, wearing deep

grooves in its fretboard while dreaming of

becoming a singer-songwriter. But in his 20s,

having devoted himself to a literary life, he lost

interest in the guitar and played the instrument

only occasionally.

Decades later, Skibell read a profile on

luthier Ken Parker in The New Yorker, rekindling

his relationship with the six-string. Skibell’s

father passed away around the same time, and

the writer used a chunk of his inheritance to

upgrade from the old Alvarez to a pair of Parkerelectric guitars. “In an idiosyncratic way, I

taught myself the classical repertoire, working

through volumes 1 and 2 of Christopher

Parkening’s method. If only someone had told

me when I was in my 20s that I could play

sophisticated music on the solo guitar, and not

just sit around strumming ‘Ride Captain Ride,’”

says Skibell, now 55.

Skibell began to make a study of the art of

lutherie. In the summer of 2009, he and his

daughter, Arianna, took a North American road

trip to visit the workshops of Ken Parker,

Michael Greenfield, and Linda Manzer. Skibell

developed an acquisitive streak as a conse-

quence of the trip, and he’s since commissionedelegant acoustic guitars from J.S. Bogdanovich,

Bevan Frost, Shelley D. Park, Erich Solomon,

and others.

But the centerpiece of Skibell’s collection is

a handmade Parker archtop dubbed Fig, named

for the dramatic figuring of its big-leaf maple

back and sides, which resembles the meat of

that fruit. F.I.G. is also an acronym for Father’s

Imaginary Guitar. The instrument is a minor

character in Skibell’s latest book, My Father’s

Guitar and Other Imaginary Things (Algonquin

Books)—a collection of essays originating from

reflections he had on his great road trip.

How would you characterize yourself

as a guitarist?

I play a lot, mostly fingerstyle, and I’m a bit

surprised I play as well as I do. I studied a little

with Pierre Bensusan and Michael Chapdelaine,

and I can play some of their less challenging

pieces. I’d say that I’m a high-intermediate

player. My question is: What would it take to

become advanced? It seems that there’s a great

leap between high intermediate and low

advanced—I don’t know if I’ll ever make the

leap, but I’d like to.

Joseph SkibellMy Father’s Guitar and

Other Imaginary Things

Algonquin

CONTINUES ON PG. 22


21/104

Christopher from Savannah, GA

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23/104

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24 October 2015

STANDING TALL

By Adam Perlmutter


25/104


I’m perched on an old vinyl couch in a dress-

ing room in Los Angeles’ historic Wiltern

Theater, waiting to meet Kristian Matsson,

the Swedish singer-songwriter who goes

by the stage name the Tallest Man on Earth.

When he enters the room and I stand to

shake his hand, I am surprised to find that

his height is not one for the record books.

Matsson, who was touring in support of

his latest album, Dark Bird Is Home (Dead

Oceans), is a compact man with a command-

ing presence. He wears a short beard and

fashionably disheveled hair with subtle grey

highlights that he makes no effort to hide.

He is dressed nattily, having swapped

out the tank top he’s often photographed

wearing in favor of a tan blazer over a black

T-shirt. He has a coffee in hand. As he sits

for the interview, he removes the blazer,

revealing a horse tattoo on his left forearm.

Singer-songwriter Kristian Matsson possesses a stage name that

commands respect. And he has the talent to be the Tallest Man on Earth

He looks like the prototypical hipster

sampled from Silver Lake or Bushwick,

but Matsson speaks thoughtfully and without

any affect about his music, which can be

categorized roughly as modern folk, and

which is indebted to such idiosyncratic

singer-songwriters as the late Nick Drake.

Matsson, who is 32, grew up in Dalarna,

a rural province in central Sweden. He was

fortunate enough to be exposed to jazz

and classical-guitar repertoire in high school,

but even so he grew tired of the regimented

structure in those forms and sought out

other sounds.

“I started playing in punk and glam

bands before entering a Bob Dylan period,

and also checking out Nick Drake in my

late teens,” he says, adding that this led

to a discovery of their folk and blues

antecedents.


26/104

26 October 2015

TALLEST MAN ON EARTH

In 2006, after a brief stint in the Swedish

indie-rock band Montezumas, Matsson emerged

as the Tallest Man on Earth, releasing a self-

titled solo EP with just acoustic guitar and voice.He would use this same instrumentation on his

next two full-length efforts: Shallow Grave

(2008) and The Wild Hunt (2010). Inevitably,

Mattson drew frequent comparisons to Dylan.

It’s true that, like Dylan’s early work, the

Tallest Man on Earth’s most prominent features

are a scratchy voice and a fingerpicked acoustic

guitar, but the assessment is somewhat superfi-

cial. From the beginning, Matsson has had his

own concept within the folk tradition, with a

harmonic language that’s broader than most,

and a lyrical lens that’s often Northern

European.

‘IN TERMS OFTUNINGS, I TENDNOT TO USE THEOBVIOUS CHOICES,LIKE DADGAD—THAT WOULD JUSTSOUND TOO IRISH.’

“[The comparison] drove me crazy for a

whi le, ” says Mat tson, looking down at his

coffee and rapidly stirring it. “I didn’t set out

with a specific plan to be a singer-songwriter inthe mold of Bob Dylan. I just don’t think like

that. My music has evolved naturally as I’ve

brought different influences into the fold.”

atsson has always thought of the

guitar as an extension of his voice—

he has often recorded his playing and

his singing on the same track. To match his

baritone, and to suit his signature contrapuntal

approach, he’s relied on a number of different

makes and models of guitars. Early on, he

played acoustics by Furch, a Czech maker, and

by Guild. Then, in 2011, he received a

Matsson performs

at the Fox Theater in

Oakland in June.

J O E Y

L U S T E R M A N


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28 October 2015

DADGAD—that would just sound too Irish,” he

says, laughing. “What I like about the B tuning

[Bsus2/E, to be exact] is that it has not the tonic

but the fourth [E] as the lowest note, and that

adds a bit of unpredictability to the sound.”

Using a recording studio that he built in an

old barn adjacent to his home allowed Matsson

to work on Dark Bird Is Home in a relaxed and

unhurried way, tracking whenever the inspira-

tion struck. “It was great to be able to sit down

in my kitchen with the L-0, write a song like

‘Timothy,’ and then walk across the lawn to

record it. My studio is such an inspiring place to

work. It’s got solar tubes in the ceil ing, which

let in this beautiful prismatic light. The floor

has these wide wooden panels that add bril-

liance to the sound. If you play drums in my

studio, you’ll sound like John Bonham,” says

Mattson, referring to the late Led Zeppelin

drummer.

Partly as a way of stretching out sonically,

and partly with an eye toward touring with a

band that would help carry the load, Matsson

worked with fuller arrangements on Dark Bird Is

Home than on any of his previous records. Ini-

tially he recorded all the guitar, banjo, pedal-

steel, synth, and vocal parts, along with some of

the drum tracks, in his barn. Dusting off his old

B-flat clarinet, he also added some strategically

placed woodwind layers. But he wasn’t quite

satisfied with the results. “The record needed

some supporting musicians who could actually

play their instruments correctly,” he says.

TALLEST MAN ON EARTH

THE B TUNING

ADDS A BIT OF

UNPREDICTABILITY

TO THE SOUND.

Smokey darkness

Escape the expected. Experience graphite. www.rainsong.com1.800.788.5828

o address the situation, Matsson flew

to Wisconsin and enlisted the help of

Michael Lewis, Michael Noyce, and C.J. Cam-

erieri, members of Bon Iver, with whom

Matsson has toured. They used reed, string,

brass, background vocals, and assorted other

parts to create lush overlays for the arrange-

ments. Matsson says that he wanted a female

vocalist to record the harmonized vocals, but,

not unlike at an old Muscle Shoals recording

session, he had to go with the musicians who

happened to be available. “Since no women were around at the time, that’s Mike Noyce on

all the high parts,” Matsson says. “He sings so

beautifully.”

On that note, it was time for Matsson to

soundcheck for the evening’s performance. He

put his jacket back on and, walking me out of

the Wiltern, peered at the stage through one of

the theater’s back doors. “I’ve got an entirely

different backline than I had for shows on the

East Coast, and the symphonic drum we’ve

been lent is so much larger than we’re used to,”

he says, somewhat nervously. “But then again,

mistakes sometimes create the most interesting

sounds.” AG

T

J O E Y

L U S T E R M A N


29/104

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30 October 2015

BRAND

NEWSTART


31/104


like the idea of slow evolution and practice, the way the Japa-

nese revere their masters and pass their technique down to

subsequent generations,” says singer-songwriter James Taylor,

whose recently released hit album, Before This World (Concord), marks

the second-longest wait between an artist’s debut on the Billboard charts

and the coveted No. 1 spot. (Tony Bennett holds the record.) “It’s not a

very Western way of thinking, but in the long run it’s a nice way to think

of your work.”

In addition to Before This World, his first set of originals in 13 years,Taylor has a newly launched Sirius XM channel devoted to his music—he

recently performed at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, the first time he’d

headlined a show in that venerable hall, to promote the channel. And at

press time, he was scheduled to perform on August 6 with his band for

the first time at Fenway Park in Boston, the hallowed Red Sox baseball

stadium that inspired one of the songs on the new album.

Taylor, 67, recorded most of the album last January with his longtime

rhythm section in a barn in the woods behind his home in rural Massa-

chusetts during a ten-day period. “That contributed to the unity and cohe-

siveness of the sound,” he says. “And that really works in its favor.”

The album is alternately reflective and celebratory, often evoking

familiar themes of restoration and spiritual renewal that grace his best

work. His voice is as soothing as ever. And despite the presence of cellist

Yo-Yo Ma and guest singer Sting, Taylor’s cedar-top concert-model acous-tic, built by Minnesota luthier Jim Olson, colors these sessions with

warmth. His guitar even cements the foundation for the Steely-Dan-

inspired “Stretch of the Highway,” and his impressive fingerstyle tech-

nique shines on the folksy tunes “Before This World/Jolly Springtime”

and “Wild Mountain Thyme.”

Asked about his custom-made guitar, Taylor says, “It has very low

action. [Jim] makes a guitar that is very stable, very reliable. All of my

Olsons have lasted—I’ve played them on the road and they’ve stood up

well. I’ve abused them terribly, but he’s around to fix them, so that’s a

crucial relationship we have.”

The new album arrives 45 years after Taylor’s 1970 breakthrough

release, Sweet Baby James (Warner Bros.), which included such signature

songs as “Fire and Rain,” “Country Road,” and the sweetly sung titletrack, a lullaby to his baby nephew. The LP was made on a shoestring

budget of just over $7,000 and established Taylor as one of the brightest

stars in the then-nascent singer-songwriter movement.

I spoke to the five-time Grammy winner and Rock and Roll Hall of

Fame inductee in late June as he was winding his way on a bus through

the Berkshires to Pennsylvania, where the troubadour had scheduled

three days of band rehearsals to prepare for this summer’s tour. He was

gracious, contemplative, and excited as he discussed songwriting, guitars,

the power of music, and the latest leg of his career—a brand new start.

On his first album of new songs

in 13 years, singer-songwriter

James Taylor reconnects with his

muse and tops the pop chartsBy Greg Cahill

“I


32/104

32 October 2015

JAMES TAYLOR

The opening track, “Today Today Today,”

finds you singing “The world will open

wide / I’m running with the tide.” It’s a

cheerful personal manifesto.

It is. I used to find a quiet space at home and

put in a couple of hours writing lyrics in the

morning and maybe a couple of hours in theafternoon. But it wasn’t enough this time. I

found that it would take a week or more for the

lyrics to come through. One day, I was leaving

my home and driving to a friend’s apartment in

Newport, Rhode Island, to do some writing. I

had packed my guitar and all my notebooks

and a keyboard and all my little recorders, and

I’d put a boat on the top of the car. This song

lyric came to me while I was at the wheel. The

lyric was sort of, “Let’s get going on this thing.”

It’s a song about getting started.

The album marks the end of a 13-year

hiatus from recording original material.

But were you writing during that time?

Yeah, you know, there were lots of starts—lots of

melodies and chord changes—but it’s always a

matter of writing the lyrics. That was the hard

part. Some of these melodies I’d had for years.

For example, “Montana”—those changes I’ve

had for at least 15 years. Russ Titelman [the pro-

ducer of 1997’s Grammy-winning album October

Road] was on me to finish it. It took a family ski

trip to Big Sky, Montana, where I’d borrowed a

friend’s cabin—that’s where that lyric came

through after three days, again, isolated. So

these songs didn’t just crop up in the last year. Infact, in 2010, we went into the studio and put

down demos to about nine of these songs.

The album has two tracks that evoke

English folk music, one original (“Before

This World/Jolly Springtime”) and the

other traditional (“Wild Mountain Thyme”).

Why did you turn to that style?

It’s a tradition that I came up in. That sort of

acoustic-guitar folk style—it was very accessible,

it was something that was made for citizens to

do. It’s the people’s music—unlike jazz or classi-

cal music, folk music is meant to be played byeveryone. It was a major movement in popular

music in the late ’50s and early ’60s, and for me

it was something that a young man with a guitar

could tap into. It’s always been one of my

foundations. I come back to it a lot. . . . On the

past couple of albums, I’ve come back to

keeping the acoustic guitar at the center of the

arrangements.

Why do you think the new album

has struck such a chord?

Well, it has been a long time [between studio

albums] and I have a very loyal audience that

‘FOLK MUSIC WAS SOMETHINGTHAT A YOUNG MAN WITH A GUITAR COULD TAP INTO.IT’S ALWAYS BEEN ONE OF MY FOUNDATIONS.I COME BACK TO IT A LOT.’

James Taylor, mid-1970s


33/104


was waiting for a new album and was ready for

one. And, though I say it myself, I think that it’s

good work—this is something I’ve done 16

times before, to take a batch of new songs into

the studio, and I’ve learned how to do it. It’s

painful for me to listen to the first couple of

albums I made because it took a long time todevelop the skills to make an album this way.

Primarily, I’m a singer and songwriter, and I’m

writing for myself, but increasingly, as the years

go by, I’m writing for this band that I’ve worked

with for decades. It ’s a consensus type of

arrangement—I don’t dictate what they’re

going to play. We talk a lot about it though.

You know, one of the strange things about

being a singer-songwriter is that often the first

time a song is played it’s also recorded for good

and all. In an ideal world, you would take those

ten or 12 songs on the road and play them 20 or

30 times for audiences and let the songs reallybecome what they are meant to be. So part of

the challenge is getting it right the first time.

In a 2000 60 Minutes interview, you told

Charlie Rose that you are yourself for

a living, which is the classic definition

of a singer-songwriter.

I think that’s true. But I have started writing from

a point of view other than my own, increasingly

as time goes by. “Angels of Fenway” is from the

point of view of a young boy attending the ball

game with his grandmother. “Far Afghanistan” is

from the point of view of a soldier preparing to do

this extreme thing that we ask of our soldiers. SoI am more often writing from the point of view of

a character other than myself, although inevitably

there’s a personal connection with the song.

Exceptions are “Today Today Today,” “Watchin’

Over Me,” and “You and I Again,” which are

about me and the people in my life.

“Far Afghanistan” is a bit of a departure

in that it is topical.

But it’s not political. For one reason or another, I

spent a lot of time thinking about what a sol-

dier’s experience is and why young people are

compelled to test themselves.

I have written other songs in a similar vein,

including “Native Son,” “Soldiers,” and “Belfast

to Boston,” that also are about war, or about this

extreme state. But it’s true that I haven’t written

many political songs—though I did write “Let It

All Fall Down” during Watergate. Occasionally, I

am moved to write political songs, but generallyit’s personal.

It’s cathartic?

And celebratory, too. And palliative. And all of

these things, you know?

Sweet Baby James was released 45

years ago, as the Vietnam War dragged

on. It was an era that found the nation steeped in a malaise. Played on your car’s

AM radio, those soothing songs offered

shelter.

It was an amazing time. The function those

songs serve for me is that, whatever it is that

makes you want to put into the language

of music an internal emotional experience and

to make that both outside of you and in front of

you, they show that my music can resonate

with other people, too. And that’s what you

want as a performing artist—you want other

people to share in that experience.

Not to get too cosmic, but the human condi-tion is that we live in these isolated individu-

ated consciousnesses that re-create the entire

world inside our heads. It’s obviously the thing

that allows us to compete, and it’s been a great

survival strategy as a species. But it does isolate

us, and we’re constantly looking for a way back

to oneness or connection with each other and

the world. That’s kind of a spiritual hunger to

escape this thing that we are so committed to,

this isolation. Music is very effective at connect-

ing us together.

That’s a primal thing. Music does it. It

always has. There’s a reason why music lived in

the church for hundreds of years, and that’sbecause it does fulfill a spiritual need.

You’ve always been open about your

recovery from alcoholism and addiction,

and have said that music saved your life.

I have a passion for music and I had it early on.

It solved problems for me—internal, emotional

problems—by being able to express some of

this stuff and finding an audience for it. It was

such a positive thing.

For me, there’s also a little bit of arrested

development . . . and having an audience listen-

ing to my music and giving me feedback is still

‘WE’RE CONSTANTLYLOOKING FOR A WAYBACK TO ONENESSOR FOR ACONNECTIONWITH EACH OTHER

AND THE WORLD.

MUSIC IS VERYEFFECTIVE ATCONNECTINGUS TOGETHER.’

In a recent interview on the Howard Stern

Show , you said “Fire and Rain” is a song

you probably wouldn’t play if you were

alone because you tap into that deeply

personal lyric through the audiences’

connection to it.

That’s very much what live performance isabout, that shared experience. I know from

being onstage and in the audience that the two

things are similar experiences. There’s some-

thing very gratifying about something as simple

as kicking loose and celebrating, and sometimes

it’s deeper than that. I remember being on tour

directly after 9/11, the shows that we played

were deeply emotional experiences. Everything

was resonating deeply with people. It runs the

gamut emotionally. But ideally performances

find a group having a common experience and

there’s something about the music—it can mean

a lot and it can go very deep.

During the past few years,

James Taylor has produced nine

videotaped guitar lessons that

are available free of charge on

his website. The videos employ

a number of viewing angles,

including a guitar cam that

shows his fingerpicking pattern

from inside the soundhole. He

provides pointers on playing his

hits “Fire and Rain” and “Country

Road,” among other songs, and

offers a detailed explanation of

his flat tuning.

“I plan to record another batch

of these this fall,” he says, “when

things slow down a little bit.”

Learn more at

jamestaylor.com/guitar-lessons

FREE JTGUITARLESSONS


34/104

34 October 2015

very compelling, very important to me. I love

that . . . that’s the main thing that I live for, and

the album addresses that tug of war between

home and the road. It’s always a challenge to

find the balance between the family at home

and the family on the bus.

I’ve read that your songwriting process

starts with noodling on the guitar.

Yes, that’s what happens. I’l l find a chord pro-

gression that will suggest a melody and that

also will suggest some language. That’s all you

need, just a “corner” that you can lift up. Gen-

erally, my practice is to follow that wherever

it goes.

I do have themes that I keep coming back

to. There are spirituals for agnostics that are

palliative and that give comfort. There are

recovery songs. There are songs about homeand the road. My father shows up a lot in songs

of mine. There are songs that are celebratory.

Occasionally, I’ll write a song about the music

business, but I do come back to familiar themes.

From one point of view, you could say that all

songwriters are constantly rewriting the same

50 songs, and that can be an interesting exer-

cise. I once wrote a song called “Turn Away” in

which I literally took a Beatles song, the song

“The Night Before,” and I restated it. You can

do that. It was just an exercise, but it turned

out to be quite a good song. But often I’ll lift a

corner and follow it wherever it will take me.

And that’s how I write most of my songs.

What is the meaning of the album’s title,

Before This World ?

When I was 17, I didn’t think that someone

who is 67 had anything in common with me or

that we would have a shared experience or that

we could communicate in any important way.

One of the things that you learn over time is

that you become who you are at the age of 17,

or 20, or whatever—you basically gel, you indi-

viduate, you coalesce—and you are that person

for the rest of your life. That’s the news. You

don’t change that much, because change is agradual thing. So I became who I am in 1965,

through the five years before that and the five

years after it—that’s who I am. I feel like a mes-

senger from that time, from another time.

And you’re still going strong at 67,

and at the top of the charts.

Being No. 1 at this age is very reassuring. I

want to continue as long as I have something to

contribute. I don’t want to hold on longer than

is appropriate, but I do feel that if I’m meant to

do anything in this life then this is probably it.

And that’s wonderful to know. AG

JAMES TAYLOR

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36 October 2015

TRY A LITTLE

‘TENDERNESS’By Kenny Berkowitz

J E R E M Y C O W A R T


37/104


o some people, JD Souther is country

legend Watty White on ABC’s Nash-

vi lle, a fictional writer/producer

modeled halfway between Harlan Howard and

Cowboy Jack Clement.

To others, he’s one of the architects of Cali-

fornia county-rock—a man who wrote hit songs

for Linda Ronstadt and the Eagles, released ahandful of solo albums, and then disappeared.

In the past few years, he’s begun performing his

old songs again, recasting himself as a singer-

songwriter and acoustic guitarist in a jazz trio.

Now, with Tenderness (Sony Masterworks), he’s

finding a place within the Great American

Songbook, which he insists isn’t a new direction

at all, but more like a new film.

“Every album is like a different movie for

me,” says Souther, a member of the Songwriters

Hall of Fame, talking from his farm just south of

Nashville.

“For a while, it was the same ensemble of

actors, and this is a different group. But theprocess for putting together this album, and all

my albums, is always the same. We start with a

slow, gathering storm, a broad band of stuff

that gets winnowed down until it’s a good

45-minute set. We end with a rush, when I see

the shape and know who the players are.

“It’s like I’m punching up my own script.

“But I like this album very much. It’s by far

my favorite, because I sound so much more

relaxed as a singer. I’m not trying to do any-

thing. I’m just singing the songs, telling the

stories.”

It’s a warm spring day in Tennessee, and

because Souther has a mild case of synesthesia,

he talks about the colors he sees when he hears

music, how he envisions this album as a woman

standing outside in the rain, and how the sky

above his barn looks like Vaseline. Nearing 70

years old, he’s been writing songs and telling

stories for a long time, some of them sadderthan others, but almost all of them sad. He

grew up in Detroit, where his father, John

Souther, sang in big bands under the stage

name Johnny Warren, crooning in an Irish

tenor that JD (born John David) remembers

sounding “like an early Sinatra.”

When Souther was three years old, the

family moved to Shaker Heights, Ohio, fol-

lowed by a move to Dallas and then Amarillo,

where his father owned a music store and JD

attended college.

At 22, after playing drums in a series of

bands, he left for Los Angeles, where he taught

himself guitar and quickly became part of ascene that included David Blue, Jackson

Browne, Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Linda Ron-

stadt, Judee Sill, and Warren Zevon.

Some became stars, some didn’t. Souther

and Frey recorded an album as Longbranch

Pennywhistle, with session help from James

Burton, Ry Cooder, and Buddy Emmons, but

their record company folded before they could

make much impact. Next, Souther almost

became an Eagle, thinking about joining Frey

and Henley in Ronstadt’s backup band, but

deciding against it.

“David Geffen asked me to give it a try, to

play a set with Glenn and Don one afternoon at

the Troubadour,” says Souther, referring to the

famous West Hollywood nightclub. “I remem-

ber we were doing a ballad, and I was looking

down the road and thinking, ‘I am unnecessary

here. We’ll stay better friends if I’m not in this

band.’ So I told David, ‘I don’t think it’s a goodidea, and I’m sure Glenn and Don are going to

be relieved when you tell them.’ We were all

happy with that, because we knew we were

going to keep writing together. Jackson and I

lived right across a little courtyard from each

other, and Linda was my girlfriend, and we

were all hanging out, listening to everything

each of us was doing.”

oon enough, Ronstadt’s career took

off, with the Eagles following close

behind, while Souther stayed close to

all of them, becoming an award-winning co-

writer with Frey and Henley (“Best of My Love,”“Heartache Tonight,” “New Kid in Town,” “The

Sad Café,” “Victim of Love”) and a songwriter/

producer for Ronstadt (“Don’t Cry Now,” “Faith-

less Love,” “Prisoner in Disguise,” “Simple Man,

Simple Dream,” “White Rhythm and Blues”).

From there, he went out on his own, first with

the short-lived Souther-Hillman-Furay Band

(with former Byrd Chris Hillman and Richie

Furay of Buffalo Springfield and Poco), and then

as a solo act, releasing four albums in 13 years.

All of them— John David Souther (1972), Black

Rose (1976), You’re Only Lonely (1979), which

JD Souther revamps his acoustic jazz on an album of originals rooted in the Great American Songbook

T

S


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ll musicians need an editor, someone

who will tell them honestly i f songs

work or not. For UK-based singer-

songwriter Sarah McQuaid, while working on

her latest album, Walking Into White, that

much-needed candid opinion was provided by

her cousin and co-producer Adam Pierce.

It was Pierce—whose producer credits

include Tom Brosseau’s Posthumous Success—

that recommended McQuaid cut her five-minute

songs in half and remove the repetition, be it in

lines or complete verses. The result is a moreradio-friendly album that represents the ongoing

development of her craft as a songwriter and

musician. Walking Into White is the Sarah

McQuaid album fans have been waiting for.

“It is a short album. But I looked up some

other short albums—the Beatles’ Revolver

album is one—so I am in great company! It

does mean that with the bits of talking that I

do, I can get the album nicely into a set, and

that makes it perfect for my current concerts,”

explains McQuaid, who is also the author of

The Irish DADGAD Guitar Book, which The Irish

Times called “a godsend to aspiring traditional

guitarists.”Though McQuaid makes a living from her

music, she is not troubling the super-tax

bracket just yet. Born in Spain and raised in

Chicago, she moved to the wild country of

county Cornwall on the south coast of England

in 2007, after 13 years in Ireland. That meant

she had a property to sell, which brought her

some welcome additional capital.

So what does a musician do with extra

cash? Buy the acoustic guitar of her dreams, of

course.

“I was living in France when I was 18, and I

went to Ireland for the Easter holiday and meta musician named Brendan O’Regan, who had

this gorgeous bouzouki, and I asked him who

made it, and he told me about Andy Manson,”

she says.

Manson lives in Devon, the next county to

Cornwall, and has made guitars for Jimmy

Page, John Paul Jones, Ian Anderson, and

Mathew Bellamy of Muse, so, unsurprisingly,

his waiting list is long—too long to add another

musician. But McQuaid asked Manson to make

a guitar for her, and by way of an audition, he

traveled to see her support Cara Dillon in

concert. She passed the audition, and Manson

moved her to the top of his waiting list. A few

months later, her new Manson guitar was ready.

“I visited Andy’s workshop,” McQuaid

recalls. “And I told him what I wanted—a small

body with a big sound, and a deep cutaway,

because I like to work up the neck of the guitar.

I had been playing a guitar made in 1965,

when you could use Brazilian rosewood, which

is illegal now, and you can get your guitar

confiscated by customs in some countries, so I

was worried about traveling with that. Andy

told me he was using cherry wood for hisguitars, so the body is cherry wood, the top is

spruce, and the neck is mahogany. It’s a

beautiful piece of work, and I am so lucky to

have it.”

Every bit as vital as the craftsmanship of her

guitar is the creativity McQuaid brings to her

playing. She stresses that she sees the guitar as

far more than just chords to lay her vocals

over—it is an integral part of her music. Her

admiration for the influential folk artist Nick

Drake comes in part from his willingness to

write guitar melodies that were a direct but

complementary accompaniment to his soulful

vocals and viv id stories. You can hear thatinfluence in her use of complex guitar textures

on the track “Canticle of the Sun (All Creatures

of Our God and King).”

“The first verse is single unison notes

playing the melody, the second verse has a

chord-based backing, the third verse is some

tinkly notes that I get from playing high up the

neck of the guitar to give a mandolin sound,

and the fourth verse is a harmony to the

melody of the vocal,” McQuaid explains. “I

found it interesting to record it like that, and

hopefully the listeners will find it enjoyable as

well.”Walking Into White is also notable for the

different method of writing she employed from

her past three albums. “Previously my albums

had long gestation periods—my third album was

written and recorded, but I went on tour, came

back a year later, ditched half of the album,

wrote some new songs, and tinkered with what

was left, so that was a long time in the making.

For this album, I was so busy touring, I had

nothing finished when I booked the studio and

the flights to the US. I had loads of music ideas

recorded—I get inspired in soundchecks for gigs,

and record ideas then. I had notebooks full of

A

WHATSARAHMCQUAIDPLAYS

GUITARS

“My first guitar was a second-hand Yamaha 375S, which is

lovely. It has a solid spruce

top and a rosewood body, and

I played that through college.

I had a job in a music store

that sold vintage guitars, and I

played almost every guitar that

came through the store when I

worked there! They had a Martin

D-28, from 1965, and I fell totally

in love with it. The owner let

me buy it by paying out of my

wages—it took me about two

years, and I still have that guitar

now. My favorite guitar has to be

my Manson, because that was

made for me to my own specifi-

cations, and it is just a wonderful

instrument to play.”

STRINGS

McQuaid uses Elixer strings.

CAPOS

“Just a couple of days ago,

I met up with Nick Campling,

who designs and makes G7th

Capos. I have used them for

years, and, because I wrote

about them online, the company

sent me some design prototypes

to try out and I sent them back

with some comments. Nick

invited me over to his house,

so I could tell him in person

which capos I liked and which

ones I didn’t like, and why, and

show him what was making

buzzing noises, and so on.My road manager and I went for

a fantastic lunch with Nick, and I

tried loads of capos, and I asked

to have one of the Newport

models. Nick asked me if I

would like a gold-plated one!

So now I have a gold-plated

Newport capo—it’s really bling,

I love it!”

On the eve of a US tour, UK-based folkie Sarah McQuaid talks abouther passion for Nick Drake, live performance, and her custom-madeManson acoustic guitar


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42 October 2015

SARAH MCQUAID

snatches of lyrics, so I had a very short, intense

period of getting everything together, and chose

the best for the record.

“I enjoyed this compacted way of working.

It felt scary at the time, but now I know I can

do it that way, I may well do that again in the

future. Having made three albums, I wanted a

change in approach and my way of working. I

wanted to broaden my horizons in terms of my

subjects for songs and the way I made the

record, and I got both of them this time.”It’s clear that music is not just McQuaid’s

profession, it is entirely her passion. “I have

always loved music. I remember singing songs

with my mother, and I joined a choir when I was

about six years old,” she says. “I have always

loved hearing new music—I remember when I

was almost late for school because I heard a new

song on the radio, and I couldn’t leave to catch

the school bus until the song ended. That was

how much I adored listening to music, and I still

feel that way now. I have always responded

emotionally to music—I often cry when I am

writing songs; I have no idea why! It’s not that I

am sad, it’s just . . . an excess of emotion. Thatsometimes happens when I play live onstage as

well. I can feel tears starting to prick my eyes,

and I think, ‘I can’t do this! My makeup will run

and I’ll get a snuffly nose,’ so I have to fight it

down and carry on. I do meet people afterwards

who say they cried during my show, and I can’t

really tell them that I understand that because it

happens to me, too!”

That emotional connection, to her music

and fans, motivates McQuaid to keep playing—

even when she’s worn down by life on the road.

“I love performing, I love the communication

with an audience, and sometimes it feels like anelectrical connection between me and them.

When they are with you, it can be wonderful,

but there are times when it is a struggle,” she

says. “I think that people are not getting it, and

then they come to see me when I sell my CDs

and say how much they loved it! Some

audiences are just more reserved in showing

their feelings, I guess.

“I have just done six weeks with five shows

a week, and I am exhausted and happy to be

home, but I know that in a few days, I’ll be

keen to get out there and start doing it all over

again.” AG

‘I HAVE ALWAYS RESPONDED EMOTIONALLYTO MUSIC—I OFTEN CRY WHEN I AM WRITING SONGS;I HAVE NO IDEA WHY! IT’S NOT THAT I AM SAD,IT’S JUST . . . AN EXCESS OF EMOTION.’


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46 October 2015

J O E Y

L U S T E R M A N

his magazine dedicates a whole lot of

ink—and pixels and megabytes—todemonstrating regimented approaches

to learning the guitar, from accompaniment pat-

terns in all styles to the nuts and bolts of alter-

nate tunings to songs both old and new, inside

and out. So the topic at hand—noodling, basi-

cally playing in an unguided way, with few

restrictions or none whatsoever—might seem

counterintuitive.

The term is often used pejoratively, less by

those who noodle than by innocent bystanders,

like anyone who’s ever tried to have a conversa-

tion with someone who’s simultaneously

picking on a guitar. Or any musician, en routeto the soundproofed acoustic room in a Guitar

Center, who’s been assaulted by the sound of 20

or more players auditioning loud electric

guitars, unintentionally collaborating with pen-

tatonic gibberish in all different keys.

In any case, noodling is a pastime that’s

potentially rich with musical benefits—a disci-

pline, or maybe non-discipline, that can reveal

hidden reserves of creativity and lead to previ-

ously unseen directions. When used to supple-

ment a more methodical study of the guitar, it can

be an asset to one’s overall musicianship, and not

just a nuisance to anyone within earshot.

SPECIALFOCUSHOMEPLAY

TTHE ACCIDENTALGUITARISTNoodling is a discipline, or maybe

non-discipline, that can reveal

hidden reserves of creativity

By Adam Perlmutter


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TV TUNES

Not to be patronizing, but the average Ameri-

can spends far too many hours each day sitting

on the couch and watching television.

If this describes the way you spend the bulk

of your leisure time, noodling can allow you to

feel slightly less guilty when binge-watching,

say, a full season of House of Cards or Mad Men.

Enjoying a show with a guitar at hand lets you

make the most of this sedentary time, working

on musical exercises you normally neglect.

For instance, playing along with the pro-

gram’s theme song, its incidental music, or even

the commercial breaks can be a study in both

ear training and improvisation.

But beware—unless you’re in the saintliest

company, noodling with the TV should be a soli-

tary activity. It’s so annoying to have the audial

aspect of television viewing obscured by a family

member or friend’s commentary on the guitar. A word of caution: The salty, oily snacks typically

associated with TV viewing, not to mention the

beverage perched on the couch’s arm and

waiting to be spilled, can have damaging effects

on the strings and the finish of a fine guitar—

especially if it’s French polish.

NOODLING CAN

BE ESPECIALLY

SATISFYING

IN A GUITAR-DUO

SETTING.

making it easy to create or import a backing

track, layer on an extended solo, and then

listen back to everything. That way, you can

comb through the music to identify any mis-

takes in your noodling or to extract little bits

and pieces, which you can then flesh out into

new licks or even full compositions.

TWISTING THE PEGS

A twist of the tuning machines can make the

guitar refreshingly unfamiliar territory, ripe for

noodling. If you’re new to nonstandard tunings,

first try the basics, like open G (low to high:

D G D G B D, with the strings 6, 5, and 1 each

tuned down by a whole step from standard) or

DADGAD (in which strings 6, 2, and 1 are

lowered by a step). Play freely, experimenting

with the nicely contrasting timbres of open

strings, fretted notes, and natural harmonics.

Or better yet, come up with some of your

own tunings, twisting the pegs until the open

strings work together to make a harmony you

find appealing. To further mix things up, strap

on a capo. Then noodle away and explore the

colorful new possibilities inherent in your

reconfigured fretboard.

CHORDAL NOODLING

Those who are mediocre multitaskers will

respond better to more focused strategies. Jam-

band guitarists tend to play long solos, some-

times interminably so—aka noodling—over

static harmonies. Try doing the same. Select

one chord—any chord, open or closed, simple

or complex, familiar or exotic—and, dispensing with theory and not worrying yourself with

thoughts about chord-scale relationships, relax

and play whatever comes to mind.

Though working with static harmony is in

many ways freeing, you need not use just a

single chord as the basis of a noodling session.

Try a two- or three-chord progression, a 12-bar

blues, something more complicated, or even an

atonal situation, all of the 12 notes carrying

equal weight.

Whatever harmonic backdrop you choose,

the idea lends itself nicely to recording, espe-

cially on a DAW (digital audio workstation),


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48 October 2015

PARTNER UP FOR A NOODLE FEST

Noodling is typically classified as self-indulgent,

but it can be a collective activity as well. At

best, it can be a fascinating, spontaneous dia-

logue between two or more musicians; at worst

a group of players talking over each other in anobstreperous and unlistenable way, as in an

ensemble of inexpert free-jazz musicians.

If done with sensitive listening on the musi-

cians’ parts, noodling can be especially satisfy-

ing in a guitar-duo setting, where the different

personalities of each instrument and its owner

can make things really interesting.

The next time you get together with a gui-

tar-playing buddy, instead of rehashing “Hotel

California” or whatever, try using any of the

above strategies to noodle together. Pick a

single chord or simple, looping progression to

riff on, get into the same nonstandard tuning,or maybe even two different tunings, then see

what happens next.

The best part is that you won’t annoy your

friend with incessant plinking as you sit

together on couches, noodling away while you

drink tall boys and catch up on all those epi-

sodes of Game of Thrones. AG

SPECIAL FOCUS HOME PLAY


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50 October 2015

h, to lose oneself to the hours of the

day strumming the strings of a good

acoustic guitar while stretched out on

a favorite comfortable spot on the sofa. A few

minutes of mindless meandering across the

strings in this blissful state of repose can serve asthe perfect pick-me-up to low spirits, or as an

excellent jumping-off point to get the creative

musical mojo flowing. But while playing this

way can be good for the soul, i t is not always

good for the body. Proper ergonomic posture is

not the first thing that springs to mind during

these moments of musical Zen, and yet, if care is

not given to correct alignment, muscle pain and

other more serious issues can occur over time.

Although the best bet for healthy posture

while practicing is a straight-back chair, i t is

still possible to sit on the couch and play for a

brief period to relax, without ruining your

A

THE WAY OFTHE COUCHFar more guitarists qualifyas couch potatoes than

care to admit— sometimes

to their detriment

By October Crifasi

spine, as long as you are mindful of your

posture and take breaks to stand up, stretch

out, and walk around a little to work out any

tension that may have set in while noodling.

Here are a few helpful hints to ensure a

blissful session of guitar Zen while also takinggood care of your back.

THE COUCH SLOUCH

What is the couch slouch? It’s that strange

L-shaped body position that comes from slump-

ing low a

Acoustic Guitar 274.pdf

Documents

Transcript of Acoustic Guitar 274.pdf