Guitar (Billy) Idol
As a sort of follow on from my previous blog about doing too much and spreading yourself too thin, I’m currently in Heathrow terminal 1, it’s 22:40 on a Saturday night and my flight to Tel Aviv (to play with the Judy Lewis Jazz trio next week), is delayed. We’re meant to leave at 21:55. That now seems unlikely. I’m using this little bit of downtime to write a blog and am also listening to the songs I have to learn for the Guitar Idol show in June.
A gig like this can be very useful to you, if you approach it the right way. I have 12 songs to work on. I need to listen to them, in most cases transcribe some pretty detailed bass parts (some of the chaps have even written in bass solos in their tunes…!) and get the sound of the tunes in my ears. This is a slow and gradual process, mainly because I have lots of other stuff on at the minute, but I have the tunes on my ipod and wherever I go, iPod tends to come too.
The show itself always has thousands of people in attendance and the web presence will be pretty massive, along with a spate of Youtube videos going online after the gig, so if I play well, all shall be good. Now… what does it mean to play well in this setting?
I’ll get my parts all written out and learned, select the right instruments for each song and argue with the organizers that I would really far rather use my own amps for the show. It’s funny the hoops that you get asked, no, told to jump through by sponsors and organizers.
It’s important to be adaptable and politic a little. I do however feel that this is a bridge too far. I’ll be arguing with them on this one and let’s face it, they need me a lot more than I need this gig, so unpleasant as the prospect seems, battle shall commence. I’ll let you know how I get on.
Anyway, this show will be another chance to stretch my musical muscles. 12 different guitarists, 12 different playing styles, 12 different kinds of track, from straightahead 8th note rock and boogie-style tunes to odd time Balkan vibes complete with polyrhythmic drum solos. In the midst of all of this musical madness, they are 12 different people. And no doubt, they will be very nervous, extremely excited and living out one of their dreams, to come to London and play in the final of a global guitar competition.
A huge part of my gig is making them all feel comfortable and trying to connect with them on a personal or musical level so that we can get some good energy going onstage. (Check last year’s winner, Gustavo Guerra – an incredible player and also a guy with a huge heart and some great energy onstage while he plays. We met for one day, he speaks very little English and yet when the lights came up, we look like we’d been playing together for years…)
So… the long and the short of it is that in our job as musicians, and particularly as sidemen, we have a very demanding task. We must, very quickly, find the heartbeat of each artist that we back. We need to try and figure out what makes them tick – what they love in a musician and channel all of our efforts into finding this quality within our playing.
In some cases, this means (ideally) tuning our natural playing style into their vibe, but in some of the time, it demands that we re-explore our instrument and perhaps play in a way that can seem unnatural or make us feel that we are not being ‘true’ to ourselves.
To enthusiastically and wholeheartedly embrace this kind of situation is one of the greatest challenges a musician can face. In reality, very few gigs demand that you can play really fast on your instrument. But every gig will benefit from your speed, when it is the speed of an urgent and aggressive push away from your own ego and the rush to connect to the artist’s vision.
This doesn’t always mean abandoning your own instincts. In some cases, you will be expected to bring your understanding of your own instrument to help solve problems or just to ramp things up with creative contributions.
But sometimes you won’t. Sometimes you are just the backing guy. Play what’s on the track. Whether you like the parts or think they are terrible (and sometimes they truly are..), you have to deliver the notes and the vibe too.
Watch out for the glut of videos on Youtube that will go up after the show. (Sat 13th July) See if you can tell which guys I really connected with, which basslines I really enjoyed. If I’m doing my job well, you shouldn’t be able to tell…. ☺
p.s. it’s 23:10. Still not been called to board. Pants.
As a little P.S to this blog entry, I’ve posted the transcriptions I used for Guitar Idol 2009 up on the site. You can download them as a zip file by clicking here.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I hear you Dave.
Most aspiring muso’s want to be the main attraction.
Music doesn’t allow multiple masters.
Play bass in a band, and you might get a turn (emphasis on might).
Play for some-one else, and just play what’s written.
One of the most resonant pieces you have written, my friend.
Foxlips.