Interviews

Fireside Chat: Larry Carlton

It stands as no reminder that a guitar is made of wood, glue and metal. It is not a living thing. But when the 18-time Grammy nominated legend of guitar, Larry Carlton picks up his iconic Gibson ES-335, it certainly seems alive. In fact, it seems magical.

I saw it first hand a few years ago. Sitting three feet away from him, Larry picked up his guitar and played a single note. For the following three minutes and thirty-two seconds our raging planet was at peace. Not a single shot was fired, not a last breath was exhaled and not a belly shuddered with hunger. I wish that happened when I played the guitar.

Being able to suspend your disbelief through music is just one part of Larry Carlton’s magic, and it’s also what has made him one of the most recorded and celebrated guitarists of all time. Whether you believe it is Larry Carlton or his beloved guitar that holds the magic, to hear him play you cannot deny there is something bigger involved. That’s why I asked him to share some insight and to talk about his new 335 Improv course for this month’s featured chat by the fire. - Charlie Doom

1. First off, if you weren’t a musician, what would you be and why?
I hope the questions get easier than that, because as you probably know I started playing the guitar when I was so young; I was 6 years old when I started taking guitar lessons. It’It’s all I’ve ever done. I never had another kind of job – even in high school – I always played guitar. There was never a consideration of what I might be if I weren’t a musician. So honestly, I have no answer for that!

2. Honestly, how many hours a day do you practice?
Wow, this is really going to be truthful isn’t it? That’s a tough question because I hate answering it “honestly,” but I don’t have a practice regimen and I never have – at least since I was in my 20’s doing session work. I really feel guilty about that because I know I could improve my chops if I took more time to practice. But I tour and play the guitar over 150 days a year and so that really helps keep my chops up pretty good. And I’m always listening and thinking about things that I know are not as strong in my playing as I would like them to be, and I try to work on those when playing live. I do notice improvement every year in my playing, but it’s without a practice routine. Please do not follow in my footsteps regarding that.

3. What are you listening to lately?
I just returned from a five week tour in Europe and found myself listening to a lot of Joe Pass from the early 60’s in my hotel room. He always inspired me with how melodic his solos were and just how much chops he had (I don’t have those kind of chops at all!). I get inspired listening to how cleanly Joe could play his solos and how much sense they made. So, yeah, I’d say I’ve been listening to Joe lately.

4. How would you describe the music business today?
Obviously, the music business has changed in many major ways. One example is how the music business used to be run and motivated by radio airplay. You would make a record, if the program directors liked the song, they would play it. If the audience liked the song and it became a hit, or even somewhat of a hit, you would go on tour to promote the album. Today Radio has very little to do with most artists’ careers today. It’s mostly live gigs that promote an artist and their music. Today I advise younger artists to promote their CDs by going out and doing as many live gigs as possible to build their following and promote their music.

5. Stranded on a desert island, which guitar would you take?
I would take a very small bodied acoustic guitar with me, as I would probably not be playing a lot of lead guitar. But with a small acoustic guitar, I could explore more beautiful guitar voicings and maybe even experiment with alternate guitar tunings. I also love the sound of piano voicings when they’re played on the guitar, but they’re very difficult to voice on the fretboard and so we’re very limited to which ones we can play that will sound as tightly clustered as they do on the piano. I’d spend a lot of time on the island working out voicings!

6. Let’s talk about what’s going on with you right now, your new course, and what’s next?
I am very excited about the new TrueFire course, 335 Improv, which is the deepest I’ve ever gone into the subject of improvisation and I’m very happy with the way the course presents my approach. I also have a live DVD with my trio in the can, which I’m really excited about because we had a great show that night and I think friends and fans will really enjoy it. We also have another DVD filmed in HD featuring myself and my good buddy Robben Ford playing acoustic guitar “unplugged” in Paris.

Questions submitted to TrueFire via Facebook, Twitter, and our Forum.

7. What was it about the 335 that called to you? – Hutch82
When I first started getting calls in 1969 for recording sessions, I was carrying at least three different guitars to the session – a Tele for country music, a Les Paul for rock n’ roll and pop oriented things and my ES-175 for more jazz or legitimate guitar playing for the sessions. I never knew what they were going to ask me to do. Truthfully, picking the ES-335 as my main guitar was just a practical decision at that time. I’m a very versatile player and I needed a guitar that was likewise versatile to cover all of the bags that I was working on at the time. The 335 fit the bill perfectly for me!

8. Any advice for session musicians? – Leedelta
Put your ego away! When you go into a recording session – be a servant. You’re there to help someone make their music. The session isn’t really about what you think, although you want to give all you can as far as your ideas are concerned, but it’s up to the producer and the artist to decide how they want their song to be presented to the world. So be humble and be a servant.

9. For the tune “Room 335″, what did you come up with first; the chords or the main riff? – jimiclaptoncarl
The chords came from a track I played on for Steely Dan called “Peg” – those chords are the first four chords of “Peg” pretty much. I really liked the sound of them and when the time came to record a new album that sequence of chords came back to me. I wrote the melody on top of that sequence. Then I changed the bridge so it wouldn’t sound like “Peg,” but I do consider those opening chords to be inspired by Steely Dan.

10. How is it different recording in a studio for an album vs. playing live for an album? – 19Echo19
This can be a very short answer because it’s the honest truth – I’ve never worked out a solo in my life. For a record or a live performance it’s always improvised and that’s the part of making music that I probably enjoy the most, the improvisational part.

Visit Larry Carlton online at www.larrycarlton.com for news and updates or watch tons of performances, interviews and lessons on Mr. 335 TV. Below is a clip from Larry’s brand new guitar course, 335 Improv

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July 18th 2011

7 Deadly Sins of Rehearsing

by Rich Maloof

1. No agenda
Make the most of the band’s time together by knowing what you plan to accomplish. Is it a writing session or a performance rehearsal? Do you need to tighten up a few tunes that were sloppy at the last gig? Plan it out in advance. If the group has vocal harmonies or dual guitar parts to work out, you might want to set up separate rehearsal times for just those band members.

2. Inviting friends and fans
Don’t invite anyone to your rehearsal other than bandmates. It’s fine if you need a manager or other business associate to hear what you’re doing, but keep your legions of fans out. Most musicians just don’t tend to work as productively, or even act normally, when there are other eyes and ears on them. If that many people are dying to hear you play, here’s a crazy idea: book a gig.

3. Free-for-all
It’s one thing to take a moment to adjust your tone or get a new riff under your fingers; it’s another to run a dozen lead lines when everyone else is ready to start working. If your band is populated with aimless, endless noodlers, try setting a new rule for rehearsal: Each player signals that he/she is ready to rehearse by not playing.

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September 2nd 2010

7 Mistakes Every Beginner Guitarist Makes

by Corey Palmer

For the beginning guitarist, it’s all too easy to run into pitfalls and stumbling blocks — especially when you’re trying to learn guitar on your own with online video guitar lessons. Obstacles of all sorts can cause you to form bad playing habits or prevent you from progressing to a higher playing level. Wost of all, they can cause you to get so discouraged that you give up trying.

To help fight the frustration, we asked teacher Corey Palmer to offer some tips for first-timers.

1. Not practicing correctly.

When you pick up your guitar to practice, do you just play what you already know — or do you work on new riffs and techniques? Often the best way to progress it to find a balance between playing what you already know and working on something new. Divide up your practice time between mastering the techniques you already know and challenging yourself with new learning material.

2. Trying to play beyond one’s ability.

You cannot expect to be able to shred out Steve Vai licks if you haven’t mastered Mary Had A Little Lamb yet (the nursery version, not the Stevie Ray Vaughan song). Trying to play far outside of your current ability will only bring frustration. You have the entire rest of your life to build your guitar playing up to a level of mastery — take your time and find your own path.

3. Choosing the wrong gear.

When you’re first starting out, it is easy to get caught up in what a guitar looks like or how much it costs. These days, well-made instruments are available at virtually every price point. The best thing to do when going shopping for that first guitar is to bring someone who knows the ins and outs of guitar shopping. Let them help you choose the best guitar for your budget and the playing style you’d like to learn.

4. Playing an out of tune instrument.

Learning to tune is your first job as a budding guitarist, and you should tune your instrument every time you pick it up. If you are always playing a guitar that is out of tune, your ear never really gets to learn what each of the notes and chords should sound like. Plus, an out-of-tune instrument will always sound bad no matter how well you’re playing.

5. Learning in a vacuum.

These days there’s an abundance of online guitar lessons, videos, guitar books, DVD’s and other materials that allow you to learn at your own leisure. Given all the available tools, you could gain a ton of chops and know-how. But someone who spends all his time learning in isolation can be at a total loss when it comes to performing or to playing with other people. Once you get a little comfortable with the instrument, seize every opportunity to interact with other musicians and with teachers. You’re sure to benefit from any constructive feedback, and there’s no better way to learn the dynamics of making music in a group.

6. Not warming up before playing.

Ever wondered why there are times when you pick up your guitar and cannot play something that you have played with ease before? The main cause is not warming up first. Try going through various finger exercises, running through scales, or just riffing on some licks that you’re familiar with. You’ll be surprised what a five-minute warm up session before beginning your practice will do for your playing.

7. Memorizing, but not applying.

Sure, you can memorize a ton of various riffs from other guitarists and play them all flawlessly. But are you actually thinking about how to apply what you learn to your own playing? The next time you learn a lick or phrase created by another player, try twisting and turning it until it becomes something of your own. It can make the difference between regurgitating someone else’s music by rote and becoming an actual musician.

Corey Palmer is a guitarist and teacher in Woodstock, New Brunswick, Canada. Now that you’re a smarter beginner, get started with some of Corey’s easy guitar songs to learn– and stay away from those seven points!

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June 15th 2010

The Most Priceless Guitar In The World

by Charlie Doom

Call me petty, call me poor, but I play cheap guitars because I like the way they sound. There is definitely an ease and unspeakable beauty inherent in the expensive guitars; most notably their ability to stay tuned and lack of dead spots on the neck. But the drawback to expensive guitars is that they all sound like expensive guitars; they’re riddled with perfection. That’s where cheap guitars come in handy.

The first guitar I ever had was a $50, ¾ size Gremlin acoustic. After 16 years the black paint on the fretboard is peeling off. I’ve had to Superglue the plastic bridge back to the body at least a dozen times, and the machine heads rattle whenever you play an E chord. But that little guitar can play acoustic lead and the Delta Blues like it was the second coming – the tone and resonance are absolutely divine. There’s nothing else that sounds like it which is why that guitar has been stolen from me, twice. By the grace of Hendrix, and a few bloody noses later, I’ve gotten my guitar back.

I’ve gone through a lot for that little box of Korean-made balsa wood.

But my $50 Gremlin is special and so is my humble Yamaha Pacifica. Everyone who hears them always exclaims, “what kind of guitar are you playing?!” When I tell them that they’re cheap beginner’s guitars, they’re amazed and I’m validated. It’s a good trade.

When you purchase a guitar, what you’re really paying for is an experience — an emotional experience. It doesn’t matter how much your guitar costs because it’s all about the way it makes you feel when you play it. The point is, that feeling you get is not purchased with money, it’s purchased with time and effort. No matter which guitar you have in hand, what distinguishes you from everyone else is being able to find the strength in its weaknesses.

If you can do that, every guitar you touch will turn to gold.

A Brief Look at Priceless Guitars in Music History:

1. Mayonaise
by the Smashing Pumpkins
The signature feedback “whistle” in this now classic rock gem from the early nineties was attributed to a $65 guitar. Whenever Billy Corgan would stop playing, the guitar would whistle, so they incorporated it into the song.

2. “Blackie”
A.K.A. Eric Clapton’s Guitar
Eric Clapton built Blackie using parts from 3 different Strats way back in 1970. It cost him a total of $300 and the ax has become one of the most famous guitars in the world; selling for almost a million dollars in 2004.

3. Stella Guitars
As played by Robert Johnson
The grandfather of rock and roll played a $12 guitar. That was cheap even by Depression-era standards. Back then, Stella guitars were sold in drugstores, next to the 5 cent soda fountain.

4. Jeff Healy’s Squier
Canadian Blues-Jazz Legend
Jeff Healy made a deep groove in the blues and jazz scenes of the 1980’s and beyond with a $150 Squier Stratocaster on his lap. Enough said.

5. The “Frankenstrat”
by Eddie Van Halen
Eddie built his guitar from scratch using anything, but top-shelf parts and equipment, such as the flawed ash body. It cost him a total of $130.

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June 8th 2010

7 Cool iPhone Apps for Guitarists

Guitar Lessons iPhone App As some of you may already know, we have developed a killer iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch app for guitarists, including video guitar lessons, tab, and notation — all accessible on the go. We call it TrueFire’s Guitar Lab and it’s totally free. Our goal is to give guitarists access to the best video guitar lessons anywhere, anytime.

The app is free and available for download right now. Our iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad app is a great way to access the ‘Fire around the world, and we’re hoping you’ll dig it!

You should also check out these 7 cool iPhone apps for guitar (they all work on the iTouch, too).

Cleartune This $3.99 app is incredibly useful. It’s a visually appealing chromatic instrument tuner and pitch pipe that uses the built-in iPhone mic or external mic on an iTouch 2G (as most relevant apps do). You can use the large “note wheel” display to find your notes, and there’s a fine-tuning display with 25-cent range. It’s precise to +/- 100 semitones and there are even selectable temperaments and notations. You can also select tone waveforms and choose automatic or manual note selection.

Tempo Frozen Ape’s $0.99 app is a metronome with set list and tuner. Another cool looking app, it features tap tempo functionality with 17 different time signatures and 6 rhythm patterns for simple meters and 3 for compound ones. You can use a pulsating LED to flash on the first beat and it can be viewed in Landscape or Portrait. The tempos range from 20 bpm to 250 bpm, and there’s a pitch pipe with 12 chromatic pitches. For sounds, you’ve got 4 sets to choose from including Digital, Analog, Shaker and Rock Kit.

GuitarToolkit At $9.99, it’s a little pricey (well, for apps) but it does bring it; Aside of the excellent chromatic tuner, you’ve got a library of 500,000 chords (are there that many?), a metronome with flash functionality, a chord finder where you just touch the notes on the virtual fretboard, and scales in standard or alternate tunings. It supports 6- and 12-string guitars as well as 4-, 5- and 6-string bass, mandolin, banjo and even ukulele (with full chord library) — all with standard and alternative tunings.

FourTrack Sonoma Wireworks $9.99 app is a multitrack recorder for iPhone 2.0/ iPod touch 2^nd Gen 3.0 that uses the headset/microphone to record 16 bit/44.1 kHz quality audio. You can mix your creations to two new tracks so the count can go above 16 channels. It’s got calibrated meters, faders, pan controls and a built-in compressor-limiter. You can record along with real drum loops, and recordings can be copied via WiFi to any computer with a browser.

Steel Guitar This free app (for now) from Yonac Software is just a blast to play. You can choose from Lap Steel, Eight-String Console or either traditional Nashville or Texas setups. Moving the iPhone bends notes, and you can use a “pro” mode to manually play a slide bar. It actually sounds pretty cool and you’ll get lost for hours just creating sounds. Same goes for several other Yonac apps like Mandolin and Theremin-ator.

GrooveMaker This free app from IKMultimedia has over 120 loops (113MB of samples) and lets you create electronic dance and hip hop tracks using a built-in sequencer. Even if that’s not your style, it’s useful to practice to the grooves, and you can tap tempos from 78 to 125 bpm. Final mixes can be Wi-Fi’ed as WAV files to your Mac or PC.

Voice Memo Okay, so this is not really an app, but it’s built into the iPhone and it’s just plain old useful. You can use the built-in mic to capture your musical ideas on the fly, and then label them for recall later. The mic in the iPhone is actually not too bad. Voice Memo is great for recording those off-the-cuff ideas that might otherwise be lost forever.