I was at the NAMM show recently,
a massive trade show for musical products. If you've
ever been into Guitar Center and witnessed that
infernal noise made by guitarists and bass players
'trying out' instruments, then the NAMM show is
that x 50,000. It can be hell, yet a necessary evil
if you are in the business.
I spent some time walking around
and of course made my way to many of the guitar
and amp booths, after all it's always good to keep
up with anything new and groundbreaking. I came
across a few professional guitar players who had
been hired to demonstrate guitars, and as good as
these players were technically, there was always
one aspect of their playing that stood out to me.
I find this is the case with any guitar player that
is not communicating. They play too much. Tons and
tons of notes, in rapid succession, all brilliantly
executed. But what is really being said? How can
you enjoy music when you feel like you are having
your teeth drilled?
Guitar players are notorious for
doing this, simply because they can. If they were
horn players things would be very different. You
simply have to take a breath. Guitar players technically
don't have to do this, so they don't, and as a result
their music is compromised.
The first time I was aware of
this was several years ago when I started using
a digital vocoder. In order for the notes to be
heard on my guitar, I would have to mouth something
into the microphone to trigger them. Then of course
you get to shape the sound with syllables and so
on. I was in a rehearsal and my sax player said
to me, "Chris you play different when you use
that thing, because you have to take a breath".
Perhaps that was a kind way of saying I sucked,
but the talkbox thing was cool. It certainly struck
a chord anyway. So from then on, and it took a while
to really sink in, but I tried to really focus on
phrasing. And not just as a guitar player, but compositionally,
if my music doesn't breathe, I'm just not interested.
As jazz guitarists, there is a
terrible tendency for us to play a lot of notes,
firstly because the genre historically has given
us permission to do so, and second, archtop jazz
guitars don't generally lend themselves to sustaining
notes, so in order to 'get over', guitarists fall
into the trap of overplaying.
There are of course compromising
situations which affect the way we play and it is
important to be aware of these at the time. First,
if you are taking a solo and the band behind you
is not being particularly supportive, i.e.; playing
busily and not listening to you, then this very
often makes a player play more notes because they
are fighting to speak, as it were. But if the band
is just grooving, you as a soloist can play just
a few notes and the spaces are music in themselves!
Another compromising situation
might be a borrowed or rented amp that just won't
sound the way you want it to. Perhaps a boomy hall.
All these things can and will put your head into
a different space, often unconsciously.
So first, we need to get out of
our heads, or get out of our own way, so to speak,
in order to make the best music.
And then we need to really focus
on playing beautiful phrases that tell little stories.
And I have found there are a couple of ways that
you can drill this kind of thinking into your own
playing, so it becomes subconscious. First, and
the most traditional idea, is to adopt a 'question
& answer' stance. You simply play a phrase,
almost like stating a question, leaving the end
of the phrase open ended somehow, then take a breath
and answer it, making it a little more final in
response. As time goes on, this will feel more and
more natural.
Something that I have been doing
recently which really got me to think about phrasing
and spaces is by setting a nice vocal or hall reverb
on my amp. I would then play a phrase and really
listen to the reverb at the end of the last note
in the phrase, and let the reverb die away before
I would play another phrase. I found that much of
the musicality was really in that reverb space.
I do that now when I play with the band in a live
setting, and if the band is overplaying, I usually
can't heard those reverb trail-offs. It has almost
become second nature now, I am always listening
for those reverb spaces.
Finally, another way to practice
is to hold your breath for a while, play a phrase
and when you naturally want to let the air out of
your lungs, end your phrase. Try to connect your
own breathing with the phrases you play on the guitar.
There are of course plenty of
examples of great players overplaying too. But intensity
also has its place, and I can think of a few masters
who can get quite intense, yet in a next breath,
play the most beautiful passionate phrase. Pat Metheny
immediately springs to mind.
Personally, if I listen
to music that doesn't breathe, I find it difficult
to. Do you?
