Click on a question below to find out the answer
What amp do you use?
What pedals do you use?
What strings do you use?
What picks do you use?
How do you get the sustain /feedback sounds?
On some of your songs your guitars don't seem to be in standard tuning, what tunings do you use?
What is the extra string on your 7 string guitar?
You often mention God in your lyrics, what role does your faith play in your music?
What are your influences, musically?
What are your top 10 must have albums for guitarists?
What is your practise routine?
What is the secret to playing fast?
What is your favorite scale?
What is on your ipod at the moment?
What is your most memorable music moment
Do you customise your own guitars ?
When did you start playing guitar?
Are you self taught or did you get lessons?
Do you have to be able to read music to be a good guitar player?
What are modes?
What amp do you use? (back to top)
I have owned and used all sorts of amps: Marshall JCM, Mesa Boogie, Laney,
The best sounding amp that I've ever owned was a Mesa Boogie Rectoverb 50w. But I broke 3 of them, in the end I needed something more reliable so I got a Crate BV130HB instead.
The most important piece of gear you can buy is a tube amp. Transistor amps just don't sound as good, don't fooled by amp that say they have preamp valve like valvestate or valvetronix. Even a cheap distortion pedal like a Boss DS1 sounds great through a tube amp. I have a 15w Laney LC15 which is a tiny tube pocket rocket.
Also 30 to 50 watts is more than enough...I find that 100 watts is too loud in most rehearsal / gig situations. This is because Tube amps sound better cranked up. A 100w amp is hard to crank up cos its already blowing your brains out on number 3.
What pedals do you use? (back to top)
Any I can get my hands on! have a look at the gear geek section for more details. There are a few pedals I cannot live without. My Mesa Boogie V-twin, and my Boss Delay pedals. I own tonnes of pedals because I hate multifx systems. I hate the way that multi-fx kill your tone and there are huge delays on the patch changes, where as individual pedals give you the most flexibility. However recently I replaced most of them with the TC Electronic G-System- mainly due to having to do a tap dance every time I changed sounds! Also due to reliability issues on the road where the pedal patch leads and power leads kept breaking down. Nightmare! The G-System is without a doubt the best guitar effects solution ever.
What strings do you use? (back to top)
9's are two skinny, I find it hard to do picking and bending in tune, and cos I really attack the guitar they often snap. So I use d'addario 10's with heavy bottoms (52 I think).
What picks do you use? (back to top)
I use the hardest picks I can ,get metal picks cos i want the note to sound as soon as I pick the note, with soft picks i find it hard to get the accuracy and attack
How do you get the sustain /feedback sounds? (back to top)
I installed a sustainiac, its like an ebow in a pickup. See the links page for more details.
On some of your songs your guitars don't seem to be in standard tuning, what tunings do you use? (back to top)
Some time i tune CGDGBE, my acoustics DADGAD, my 7 string AEADGBE. Check out Phil Keaggy or Michael Hedges for cool crazy tunings
What is the extra string on your 7 string guitar? (back to top)
Its a low B string tuned to A.
You often mention God in your lyrics, what role does your faith play in your music? (back to top)
I am a Christian, I believe that God created music as a beautiful way to communicate with each other but also as a way to communicate with God. I can't help but be amazed by God's creation. The beauty of nature inspires me to write and play music. Just as a songwriter is inspired to write about the girl he loves with real passion. I love God and his character often inspires me to write lyrics and music.
What are your influences, musically? (back to top)
I grew up in southern Spain, listening to flamenco music, guitarists like Paco de Lucia.
Later in my teens a lot of bands came to town for the blues festival, I started listening to Hendrix and Stevie Ray.Vaughan.
It wasn't till hearing Steve Vai that I really got switched on to practicing guitar. Vai's virtuosity and ability as a composer really caught my imagination.
The whole Paganini neoclassical style of Yngwie Malmsteen got me into sweep picking arpeggios.
Van Halen, Nuno Bettencourt of Extreme, Ty Tabor of King's X influenced my rhythm playing.
Allan Holdsworth who hails from my home town Bradford, really influenced my legato and two handed tapping stuff. (not that he taps it's just that.to try to do the mad stuff he does with one hand , I need 2!)
What are your top 10 must have albums for guitarists? (back to top)
Passion and Warfare ...Vai
Passion Grace and Fire...
Fire and Ice .....Yngwie Malmsteen
best of Stevie Ray Vaughan
best of Hendrix
Metal Fatigue Allan Holdsworth.
Robben Ford
We live here ....Pat Metheny
Van Halen Best of
Joe Satriani .... Time machine.
Gretchen ... King's X
lmages and Words...Dream Theater
Beyone Nature Phil Keaggy
Michael Hedges...
Robben Ford Handful of Blues
So I can't to ten, I'm a guitarist, you should be grateful I can even count to 4!!!
What is your practice routine? (back to top)
For the first 8 years of playing I had a very strict practice routine of playing about 2 hours a day. I used to practice Chords, then Scale and sequences, then arpeggios and finally would learn songs by my favorite players. These days I write music, make backing tracks and jam over them. Although I think it is essential to learn the basics by learning scales etc, I think practicing and playing, above all, should be fun. It is better to do 15 minutes a day than 5 hours on a Saturday.
What is the secret to playing fast? (back to top)
Being patient and learning to play everything properly at slow speeds first. Buy a metronome and make a note of how fast you can play the piece or passage, then when you are ready increase the metronome by 5 clicks until you reach your target speed. I hate sloppy "fast playing" where the notes just sound like a mush.
What is your favorite scale? (back to top)
I love the lydian mode. 1,2,3,#4,5,6,7,8 because it sounds mysterious
and phygian dominant 1,b2,3,4,5,b6,b7,8 because it sounds eastern.
What is on your ipod at the moment? (back to top)
I don't have an iPod, cos i don't like Apples policy of making everything overpriced. But at the moment I'm listening to Chris Thile "not all who wander are lost", its mandolin bluegrass music.
What is your most memorable music moment? (back to top)
Playing "The attitude song" by Steve Vai, with virtuoso Guitarist Paul Bielatovicz.
It was a classical music concert by students when I was at music college. We turned up with our huge amps, our loud guitar piece and a dance routine to go with the whole thing. People just looked horrified as we played, the head of music just buried her head in her hands and when we finished the only person clapping in the audience was my dad at the back, who was in absolute fits of laughter. It was a really insane rock n roll moment. Me and Paul just dumped our guitars and stormed of stage laughing, whilst the head of music apologised to those nice civilized people for what they had just witnessed. We passed a violin player from the london Symphony Orchestra who was about to play, and he just scowled at us and shook his head!!! This was the day that I knew that I was destined to be a rock guitar player. ~Paul went on to play for prog rocker Carl Palmer of "Emerson Lake and Palmer fame"
Do you customise your own guitars ? (back to top)
Yes I repair and customize all my guitars, I do all the electronics and setups on my guitars. If you need your guitar fixing I do repairs and setups.
A few good guitar books for budding guitar geeks are Guitar Player Repair Guide by Dan Erlewine, Make your own guitar be Melvyn Hiscock and the website www.guitarnuts.com
When did you start playing guitar? (back to top)
I started playing in 1991 when I was 15. It was after hearing Steve Vai play Yankee Rose.
Are you self taught or did you get lessons? (back to top)
I started out as a self taught guitar player but I have studied under some amazing players,
Jazz Legend Gary Boyle http://www.redkiterecords.co.uk/artists/gary_boyle.html,
Dave Kilminster (European Guitarist of the year),www.davekilminster.com
Shawn Baxter,
I currently take piano and arranging lessons from virtuoso keys player and arranger Steve Thompson.
I think that you are never too good to take lessons. I have studied at the Guitar Institute in London and have grade 8 on guitar, I still love taking lessons!!!
Do you have to be able to read music to be a good guitar player? (back to top)
I played guitar for 6 years before learning to read music properly. I was doing more and more sessions where being able to read basic notation , especially rhythms was important. When I went to GIT in London, I decided to learn music. Even if you can't read notes reading rhythms is really helpful so that you can write down a melody in tab with the rhythms on it.
What are modes? (back to top)
They are different scales. For more details see my free lessons...
|
