| Interview: Andy Timmons
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Andy Timmons just may be the most versatile guitarist in the world!
As guitarist for pop-metal band Danger Danger, he toured the world opening for Kiss and Alice Cooper, sold over a million records worldwide, and had two #1 videos on MTV, plus amassing a discography that includes 6 solo releases that range from blazing guitar instrumentals, to blues, and even a Beatles/Elvis Costello-inspired collection of pop tunes.
As a session player, he's been highly featured on CDs by drumming legend Simon Phillips, a live CD with Olivia Newton-John (Andy has been her music director/guitarist for several U.S. tours), two internationally acclaimed CDs by Kip Winger, recording sessions for Paula Abdul, Paul Stanley, and countless radio and television jingles. He has also played alongside many of his heroes such as Steve Vai and Joe Satriani (as a regular guest on their G3 tours in Dallas), Eric Johnson, Steve Morse, Mike Stern, Ace Frehley, Ted Nugent, and Pierre Bensusan, as well as some of his fave '60's singing stars such as the Beach Boys, Lesley Gore, and Gordon Waller (of Peter and Gordon fame!)
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www.andytimmons.com
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Check out Andy's latest CD
That Was Then This Is Now
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| Guitar Dreams: A lot of guitar players can distinctly recall the moment they became interested in guitar. For me it was seeing the MTV videos Breaking the Chains (Dokken) and Rock You Like a Hurricane (Scorpions). Do you have similar moments that sparked your interest?
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| Andy Timmons: There have been so many of those kinds of turning points that you are talking about. But I have two very vivid memories from when I was 3 to 5 years old. It was in the early 60's. I was living in Arizona where I was born. My oldest brother, being twelve years older than I, was buying all the British invasion stuff as the Beatles came out - The Dave Clark Five, The Kinks, and all these sixties pop groups. So that is really what I grew up with. I always remember listening to the song "I Saw Her Standing There" which was the flip side of "I Want To Hold Your Hand", knowing that the middle section of the song was my favorite section, though I didn't know why. Later I realized it was because of this reverb drenched guitar solo. So there was that moment. There wasn't MTV and all that, but there was the 12 inch record cover and as the record was playing, you'd sit there and stare at the cover the whole time - at least I did. So I remember vividly the back cover of Herman's Hermits Greatest Hits. One guy is playing a Gibson firebird, and the other guy is playing some sort of Epiphone hollow body. I thought, that's bitchin'. It was the look of it that was so appealing, and even to this day when you see a guitar there is something about it. You go, wow - that's so cool. So it was those two moments early on. I was very attracted to the sound and the look of the guitar. By the time I was five I had my first series of plastic guitars that mom would keep rebuying after they would break (laugh) either over my brother's head or from some scuffle (laugh). My three older brothers also played a bit of acoustic guitar so there was always a guitar around the house from the age of five on. So certainly I have to say my older brothers were all a huge influence on me musically just by having music in the house and then playing a little bit.
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| GD: You were seduced by the sight and sound early on.
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| AT: Absolutely just the whole package, it only got worse from there… (laughs)
I had listened to literally nothing except for sixties Beatles and pop and all that. By late grade school, I got my own job, and the first LP's I went out and bought were Kiss Alive and the Raspberry's Greatest Hits. So there begins the dichotomy of the heavy rock thing, while never letting go of the Beatles-influenced pop. Kiss was another big turning point. They were my first concert. I was literally in the last seat of the last row in the back of the arena watching them play, going man, this is what I want to do, no doubt about it. So obviously years later in the Danger Danger days when we got to tour with Kiss it was a pretty unbelievable path that I had been on to get to that point. It was pretty amazing. I am real thankful for that experience.
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| GD: What is your musical background - be it jamming away to tunes or studying at a university?
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| AT: Well, I still consider about the age of five when I started playing guitar even though it was a plastic guitar and it was one string melodies. I was picking stuff out like "I Am Not Your Stepping Stone" by the Monkeys. I was literally all self taught up until I was 16. It really started to snowball when Kiss Alive came out. I knew enough chords and I knew the basic minor pentatonic position. Ace was the perfect guy to learn from because he had all the classic blues rock licks rolled into one and he had a great sound and great vibrato. So I started learning Kiss and by the time I got to be 16 I was playing pretty well. I had already been in a band for about three years, playing a lot of Nugent and Rush and all the seventies rock stuff. I was also realizing that I was so far down the path that I knew music was what I wanted to do for a living. So I was reading Guitar Player magazine and getting as much information as I could and I started reading about players like Larry Carlton and Steve Lukather who were well known studio musicians in LA. I didn't understand it at the time, but Lukather was influenced by Carlton and jazzier stuff. So I thought maybe I could be like one of these guys. Even at that age I realized that to make it in a rock and roll band was a long shot. It was like winning the lottery or something, and I grew up in a small town in Indiana so you didn't even dare to dream those kinds of things. I started realizing you gotta learn how to read music, and you gotta learn how to play a lot of different styles. So I sought out a local teacher. His name was Ron Prichett. If there was a studio scene in Indiana, he was the only guy doing all the work.
He was doing studio work and he was known as a jazz player and the best teacher in town, so I sought him out. I sat around for a couple of weeks just getting the courage to call him. I don't know why I was scared of him. I knew it was a big thing for me, and I couldn't get the nerve to call him. I finally called him up and a couple months later I got a slot to get lessons. He quickly realized that I was already playing pretty well and that I could play rock and roll pretty decent at the time. He knew I was getting interested in a variety of styles so at the end of every lesson he'd put on a Barney Kessell track or he'd put on Joe Pass or he'd loan me an Oscar Peterson record. It started opening my ears up to a variety of styles. He would also write down the changes to a jazz standard, like Misty or Satin Doll. He'd teach me the chords and I would sit there and comp for him while he played melodies and solos over the changes.
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| GD: So you had seventh chords going for you when you were sixteen!
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| AT: There you go, and he had actually written a chord book, not quite as involved as your Green book (Author's Note: Andy is referring here to the famous book by Ted Greene called Chord Chemistry), but it had the voicings you need to know if you're gonna play jazz and play in the different keys. His mentality was "I want you to be able to play any changes in any key so here's the book". It was just an awesome experience because I was learning simple reading but also getting turned on to some great jazz playing. At that point of my life, anything played on the guitar - if it was done well - I wanted to know how to do it. I had this hunger to get it all in. I went to the library and rented classical records like Segovia and Julian Breem. So I started with Ron when I was 16 and was with him for four years. After the second year it was time to go to college. I sought out different music programs and there was a music program at the local University of Evansville. They had a classical guitar program with an instructor from Italy named Renaldo Venturi. I went to my audition and I couldn't play anything classical to save my life and really still can't to this day even though I studied. I don't have much of a right hand technique. But I went into the audition. I learned "Mood For A Day" by Yes - Steve Howe's psuedo classical piece. My version was completely bastardized - not even close. So I played that and maybe improvised some little thing, but I guess they saw that I had some kind of drive or talent or maybe they needed more tuition money! So they let me in and I spent two years there which was a fantastic experience. I was playing 3 to 4 nights a week in a rock and roll band that was doing really well in the area and I was still taking lessons with Ron, learning the jazz stuff. Then I was in school all day learning classical music and learning from Renaldo. To really play classical music you have to live it; you have to focus everything on it. I wasn't the best student, but Renaldo quickly learned there are other things he can show me. He taught me a lot about musicality and phrasing within the pieces. Sometimes we'd turn the lights out and just play free form. No one had ever really done that with me before and I didn't really understand the concept of improvisation. It is important when you're playing to really be listening to everybody else and if everybody is tuned into that same wavelength, that's when the beautiful moments happen. So while all this was going on, rock and roll was happening. Then this bass player I was going to school with had heard about the University of Miami. He was a big Jaco Pastorious fan. Jaco hung out there, and the Dregs were from there, and Pat Metheney had gone to school there. So we auditioned and amazingly enough I got accepted. Those two years in Miami I really attribute to my two biggest years of growth. It was from 1983 to 1985.
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| GD: Now during that time did you have your own Andy Timmons's Ten Hour Guitar Workout to get your technical proficiency, or did your technical proficiency come just by virtue of playing and jamming?
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| AT: Well, that's exactly what it was. I wish I could say I had some kind of regimen I did every day, but it was never that. I will be the first to admit that I am not the most disciplined person but the guitar was always a passion for me so I was always doing it. Yeah, absolutely there was practice time put in as far as transcribing solos, but to this day, my advice is the best possible things you could ever do to improve on your instrument is play with other players as much as possible, really get interaction and make music with other players. There is such a wealth of information available especially now with the internet. There are videos and DVD's and tablatures and it's all awesome. It's a great way to learn but only if you've gone to the source and tried to pick it up by ear first, because I am convinced you absorb it in a completely different way. It's because your ears are retrieving the information, not your eyes, you see. So when it comes time, ten years down the road, I'm hearing these melodies in my head but it's not because I am seeing it on a page. It's because I absorbed it through other means.
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| GD: You talked about the improv thing and I also read that you consider yourself a perfectionist. Sometimes the notion of perfectionism and improv don't go hand in hand. To what extent are we hearing Andy Timmons improvise in the studio?
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| AT: It happens both ways. I used to be a complete purist quite honestly. It would have to be completely improvised from start to finish and I think that is again coming from a jazz mentality. I really thought, that's the way it has to be done. There's no other way, otherwise you're not real. So there is a lot of my material that is improvised and I do try to get it on the first take with the band if possible, but with maturity I also realized that if it doesn't happen at that moment, it's really ok. If I've got a grander scheme in mind or if I really want to make it something completely memorable as opposed to that particular moment in time then I'm not opposed to really figuring out what is going to be the best for that section or for the song.
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| GD: On "Cry For You", off your That Was Then This Is Now cd, how much are we hearing you improvise?
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| AT: Start to finish except for the melody was improvisation.
There's a DVD that I've made available on my website called The Official Live Bootleg , which is a series of performances. The first one is Simon Phillips and I in Japan playing Cry For You, but that was the version that was released on The Spoken and the Unspoken. At the very end there's a very grainy studio clip from 1991 and it was the day that we tracked "Cry For You" - just rhythm tracks. And then at the end of the day, we were all beat, and just the engineer and I stayed. I thought, well let me just record the scratch track, because I was still in Danger Danger and I was about to go back out on the road with them. I had a Zoom box and thought I would plug in the Zoom so I can have something to listen to. So I literally played from start to finish on one take except I stopped once in the middle. And part of the beauty is that I was thinking, this is the demo, this is the scratch track. So I was able to just let all thoughts go. There was no pressure. So that start to finish was improv except for that one point where I stopped in the middle, and you see it all in this tape. It's literally just a shot of my engineer sitting at the control board and me standing behind him playing this solo. I thought it was such a unique moment because people do come to me a lot and say that's one of their favorites off that record. I thought wouldn't it be cool to show people exactly how it happened. I had the basic melody already worked out of course, but for all the solo stuff I hadn't even thought about what I was gonna do.
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| GD: Can you tell us about some new projects you've got going on?
On your previous CD you demonstrate some remarkable diversity. Will we see yet more styles from you?
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| AT: I've actually got a couple of records that won't be released just yet. They are completely different. One's a surf, big beat guitar record basically. There was a hint of it on that Donna Lee track that we did on That Was Then - the Charlie Parker tune done surf style. I've got a whole record of stuff like that which at some point I'll put out. I'm continually always wanting to play a variety of styles and it's a lot of fun for me. There will be a complete jazz record at some point. The new record no doubt is a pretty slammin' rock and roll record. It'll be out a sometime hopefully early next year also with Steve Vai's Favored Nations label. I will say there's definitely a diverse kind of influences of material on there but the basis of it is pretty good rock and roll. I'm really happy with the song writing. I think it's a good cohesive record too. Left to my own devices sometimes I would make every tune completely diverse, but then you realize sometimes for listenability you gotta go ok, maybe we need a common thread. You can definitely expect a wider variety over the next few years but it might be from project to project instead of all within one record.
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| GD: What do you think are the odds of people seeing Andy Timmons as the official third leg of a G3 tour?
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| AT: Ah man, wouldn't that be awesome?
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| GD: I know you play in Dallas when they come by…
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| AT: Don't think I haven't spoken to Joe and Steve about it! I think it will be dictated by this next record and whether it gets some more attention and sales start to generate. They have to take someone on the road who's gonna help them sell tickets. That's why they've got Yngwie coming on the next tour. That's quite a lineup. What guitar fan isn't gonna wanna see that? You know, the bottom line is that I am really happy that I am able to make my living playing music and I do obviously a variety of different things to do it in addition to my career. I am still guitarist and music director for Olivia Newton John, which tends to surprise some people. And there's a lot of session work and I am producing for other people. So it's a lot of fun for me.
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| GD: Speaking of all of your success as a guitarist, you've been there during the glory days of the hair bands with Danger Danger, you went on to a successful session career, you've had a successful solo career, you're enjoying success as a clinic player for Ibanez. So what is in Andy Timmons's future?
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| AT: Well, there's a lot of goals. I certainly want to reach more people with my guitar playing. I guess my ultimate goal is to just write better songs. I'd like to think even in the instrumental guitar genre the bottom line is that it's gotta be a good melody and just a good song. I just don't wanna come up with material that's gonna be fun to blow on. Because, at a certain point, it might be impressive to some guitar players, but you wanna reach more people. I want to make a great piece of music.
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| GD: Now here's a thought for you. You toured with Simon Phillips, Simon Phillips is now in Toto, touring with one of your influences, Steve Lukather. What are the odds of you getting to go on stage side by side with Lukather during an upcoming tour?
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| AT: (laughs), you never know! I keep in touch with Simon. We've definitely become good friends and we work together occasionally. I have no idea about a possible jam, but that certainly could happen. They just never come through Texas, that's the problem! (laughs) They're like most other bands that can't seem to get many gigs in the states. They're always touring Europe and Japan - all parts of the world except here. But it could happen. You know it's funny, but we were doing the Another Lifetime CD for Simon. We were doing it in LA in the studio one night, and Lukather shows up.
He and I had met several times before that. He knows that he's my freakin hero. The very first CD that I made - Ear X-Tacy - I'd given him at a NAMM show, stuttering and stammering. "Ah Steve, hey man, every note on here is because of you". So I gave him this CD and sure enough about two weeks later I had a message on my answering machine. He said the nicest things that you could imagine. I mean I welled up with tears. I couldn't believe it. I mean this is my hero calling me to tell me, hey, I think you're all right (laughs). It was pretty amazing. So to make a long story short he shows up at the studio that night while we were recording and it was one of the songs where I had a solo and was nervous. He's in the control room and we're trying to play live. There's a track called "ESP" on the Simon Phillips record and I can hear it. I can hear how nervous I was with Lukather watching me. I was like, aw man, and everybody in the band goes nope - we're keepin it; that's it. But he couldn't be a sweeter cat and of course a phenomenal player.
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| GD: You mentioned being on Vai's Favored Nations again for your upcoming cd. I had read that prior to getting on with Favored Nations, you had difficulty getting on a US label. That has to be discouraging for aspiring players looking to follow in your footsteps.
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| AT: I need to clarify that. I didn't have any difficulty getting on a US label - I made absolutely no effort to do so. (laughs) How's that for an answer! After my experience with Danger Danger, I saw how the music industry worked in the states. I couldn't believe it. It was just the worst possible business I could imagine being in! (laughs) The lowest person on the totem pole is the musician. What became the demise of that particular phase of Danger Danger was that we had made a third record which we all thought was good, at least for that genre at the time, then the label sat on it for a year and a half then they decided they weren't going to release it and then made damn sure the band couldn't get the record back from them. So we all worked hard on the record, then the realization is that if you don't own that, the songs aren't yours, the recordings aren't yours, and there is nothing you can do about it. So, in between all that I was already recording material that I thought was going to be my first solo record and I thought the last thing I wanted to do is ever let that happen to me again. I wanted to make sure that I wrote, recorded and paid for all my own records and then I would still own them. I soon had a deal in Japan for my own record that led to some stuff in Europe. You know, smaller labels but it was doing it at least in my mind the right way. I own it so nobody can take it away from me. So obviously you're selling fewer records than being on a major label but at the end of the day it's still your record. So I honestly didn't send one record out to one US label. Now maybe that was not the most brilliant move but at the same time I was feeling pretty burned by what had happened . So I just went about my life in a different manner. I think a lot of people grow up and are gearing themselves towards the major label and being the next big thing, and I was certainly in that same boat. I thought you haven't really done it until one of the majors picks you up. It's still a great thing I think in certain situations. No doubt, once you're put into the promotion machine it can lead to great things but you also hear some stories by bands that get screwed in the end. So I said, that's not why I did this in the first place. I am making music and playing guitar because I love doing it. And anything that takes me out of that, which I saw the music industry doing, I don't want to be a part of. Let me do it a little differently. Make the records, just do it on your own. If you've gotta do other things to help supplement the income, fine.
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| GD: Basically then, your advice to guitarists aspiring to get on some kind of label is to consider the independent route?
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| AT: Absolutely and that's why Steve Vai coming along was really the first situation that made sense. I'm not sure if you've heard how they structure their relationship with the artist, but it's basically a partnership. It's not a matter of, hey we own your record and we'll give you 5 or ten percent. It is literally a 50-50 split after expenses, which is obviously unheard of. And it is coming from Steve - someone who'd been in the business long enough and had certainly experienced some of the same things I had and then some. No doubt about it from Whitesnake to Alcatraz, I'm sure he saw it all. So here's a guy that I had faith in and respect for and trusted, and who said to me, hey man, I like your records and I want to do a compilation of those first two records and put it out. What do you think? I proudly went forward with that and it's abviously nice having somebody like Steve Vai behind you going. This guy's all right…
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| GD: You're an endorsee for Ibanez. Can you tell us a little bit about the guitar you are endorsing?
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| AT: My relationship with Ibanez started in about 1991. When I first joined Danger Danger in '89, I was a Kramer endorsee. They made a nice guitar for me and I was actually playing their Kramer Sustainer guitar. But as you know, Kramer soon went out of business. After that I was in a great position as far as a guitar player goes because Danger Danger was doing well here in the states and actually I guess around the world. We had a couple of number one videos around that time on MTV and so any guitar manufacturer at that point would love to have you playing their guitar! So I went to one of the NAMN checking out the guitars. You know, if I had the opportunity to play what I want, what would it be? And, ironically enough, a year before that I was at another NAMM show when I was with Kramer. I had met the artist relations guy for Ibanez in an earthquake (laughs). We had just checked into the hotel and the room started shaking. It was a medium one, no major damage. So I had run into the hallway and the guy next to me in the next room had done the same thing and turned out to be this guy, Chris Kelly, from Ibanez (laughs). So we introduced each other, and from then on we were earthquake buddies. So he's one of the people that I had gone to speak to at this later NAMM show. I was looking at Ibanez because they had Satriani, Vai, Reb Beech, Paul Gilbert and all the hottest instrumental guitar players of the day. I was like man, it would be great to be in that league. And I knew they were making great guitars. So I had gone to Chris and he said, we don't like Danger Danger but we love your playing, but we aren't accepting anybody into the endorsement program - we've got everybody we need. So I go to the head of the Japanese division to see what I can do. And sure enough he came back and said, we want to work with you. What's your ultimate guitar? We'll build whatever you want. So they would send guitars out. It started with some USA Customs and different things. But I had this neck on an old guitar that I sent them and said this is a neck shape that I really like, and here's what I like pickup-wise. So they went with one of their body styles and that is actually what became the AT100 which was a signature model released in Japan and in Europe. But we actually just came up with a new guitar. If you look at the back of That Was Then This is Now, I'm playing a mahogany guitar, with a rosewood fretboard, different than my alder bodied, maple necked guitar. For the newer songs on that CD I was leaning for a heavy, thicker tone. That's why we did the mahogany body and rosewood neck. I believe it debuts this Oct in Japan and then it is going to debut at the NAMM show this coming January. So I am totally pumped about that. It's basically the same neck shape, same pickups and same hardware of the AT100, just a mahogany body and a rosewood neck for that difference in tone.
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| GD: In the studio, do you have 50 microphones in front of 25 different cabinets or do you have a simpler approach? What are you doing in the studio sound engineering-wise to get your tone?
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| AT: Honestly every track is probably different. I change amplifiers and rigs so frequently. It's all based on what's right for a particular song.
Generally, nothing ever replaces a 57 on a speaker (Author's Note: Andy is referring to the Shure SM-57 - a mic widely used by guitarists). It always seems to get back to that. We try everything. Sometimes we do a combination of stuff, but chances are it's gonna be that 57 right in your face.
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| GD: And for $70, you can't beat that!
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| AT: I mean exactly! Isn't it amazing after all this time? And then with amplifiers, it just varies. On That Was Then This Is Now, you wouldn't believe the variety of stuff. Like I said, "Cry For You" was a Zoom! That's a Zoom straight through the board, as was Carpe Diem - another scratch track (laughs) that's improvised start to finish.
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| GD: So it's not like with your Laney and Ibanez endorsement you are held to certain expectations. They don't say, ok, you gotta record certain things with our stuff. Even with your endorsements you really pick and choose whatever you want?
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| AT: Absolutely. I mean even guitar-wise. Nothing is going to sound like a Rickenbacker 12 string. If I need that sound on a song, of course I'm gonna play it. Even though I have a fantastic Ibanez 12 string which I use instead of the Rickenbacker sometimes because it sounds better (laughs).They made a 12 string a few years ago and it sounds incredible because it's got a humbucker on it. Now my signature model truly is my main guitar. That's the one guitar I can get the most variety out of in any situation, whether studio or live. Now the amp thing we're still working on though. With Laney I've used quite a bit. The VH 100 R is the sound on the four new songs on That Was Then This Is Now - the first four tracks. "Falling Down" is a good example of it and "Beautiful Strange". But on "Falling Down" I used the amp for the distortion and on "Beautiful Strange", it's the amp run clean with a Chandler Tube Driver. It's just about how the distortion is going to react to what it is I'm playing, and "Falling Down" is a really difficult piece to really get that medium tone that is slightly broken up - to get those notes to speak. There's a VHT on a couple of things. The song "A Night To Remember" starts off with an Eddie Van Halen 5150, then it goes to an ADA, then goes to a something else (laughs). It's just a variety of things. I wish I had one special magic combination and potion but it's one of those things I used to read about when I was a kid. David Gilmore saying, ya pretty much whatever I play through it's going to sound like me. I thought that was a cocky statement from the guy at the time. I was like, so what are you saying, you can make a piece of crap sound good? But that is the bottom line. So much of it comes from the player's hands, the type of pick, where you are holding the pic, the flesh on the string. I'm just trying to get on the tape what I am hearing in my head. Sometimes I get close but never quite get it. But that's the beauty of it. It's this never ending journey where you are just always searching and you're trying to get closer to that ultimate sound or melody that's in your head. I'm not sure where I would ever be if I got there - it wouldn't be as much fun! (laughs)
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| GD: I think I know the answer to this one, but if you could have any two guitarists make a guest appearance with you on your next CD, who would they be?
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| AT: Wow, holy cow, that's impossible! Who would you guess I would pick?
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| GD: Lukather and Carlton.
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| AT: Wow that would be awesome! OK! (laughs)
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| GD: I answered you're question for you!
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| AT: Thank you very much! Right on! That's a really good couple of guys to have, ya! Ok, could you set that up for me?
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| GD: Yeah, maybe you could do a No Substitutions, Part 2. This time it will be the three of you and you can all take home the Grammy next year.
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| AT: Wasn't that awesome when they won the freakin grammy! I thought, right on man! You know what's funny, they came through, and did a few promo gigs in the states. Carlton and Lukather came through Dallas right after that record came out so I got a hold of Steve and I said, let's go out for some Mexican food. So I took freakin Carlton and Lukather out to Saul's Taco Land which is this great Mexican place down next to the Blues Cat where I used to play every night with my Blues Band, the Pawn King. But yeah, ok that would be great. I'll take the grammy! (laughs). Well, it was special for several reasons because here are my two biggest guitar heros, winning a Grammy but also doing it on Steve Vai's independent label. I thought, how cool is that? It gave hope not only to those people involved but to everybody out there making music for what I consider the right reasons. They didn't record that record to win a grammy! They were having freakin' ball playing in a small club in Japan! So that just gave me and certainly a lot of other people just a little bit of hope.
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| GD: What musicianship skills in general do you think session players need? A good ear and talent are surely not enough.
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| AT: Absolutely. Besides talent and a great ear, there's a lot of other skills needed that don't have anything to do with music. Being able to really gel with other players and producers and artists on a basic social level. Sometimes there's great separation between the other side of the glass and what's going on in the studio, but a lot of times players will get called back just because they had such a great attitude and are easy to work with and are flexible. You have to be flexible. If you're just hired to come in and play, and you've got a strong producer head, you better check it at the door. I mean depending on who you're working with they may want those kinds of ideas, but a lot of times you need to know what your place is at the gig. Do they want me to read exactly what's written? Many producers that hire me just know that they can just tell me what they are looking for and they don't have to write much of anything. They trust me enough to come up with whatever is right for that piece. And the personality thing I can't stress enough. If you've got star attitude or cockiness, you could be the greatest player with the greatest tones and the greatest ideas, you're not gonna get hired back. That's a huge part of it. And simple things like being on time (laughs). Punctuality is a huge thing! Also, certainly knowledge of as many different styles as possible. The more tunes you know going into anything, it's gonna help you, especially if you're playing a song in that style. The fact that I know so much about 50's and 60's pop music - I can't tell you how far that's gone.
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| GD: Are there aspects of your playing that you aren't satisfied with, that you continuously work to improve on? Because I think a lot of players view their idols and think they are great, everything they plays is gold.
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| AT: Absolutely. Everytime I hear anything that I play I largely cringe! I don't feel like I have really great technique as far as speed and that kind of thing. You hear players like Paul Gilbert or Yngwie or some that just seem to play ridiculously fast and really clean. I've just never really had that. I mean some of the things that I do are flashy, but I don't have a huge vocabulary of that. I try to use what I do have as a color that I try to paint with a bit. Sometimes I like the vibrato, sometimes it just sounds really nervous to me. I could look at every aspect of my playing and go, wow that needs work (laughs). So it really is an ongoing thing. And especially, the more tuned your ears are and the more critical you are on yourself, the more debilatating it can be, quite honestly. I'll get so down on myself at a session, especially if I am working on my own. I have a studio at my home now so it's a blessing and curse because you can sit there and work every available moment. But because it's just you there, you quickly realize how valuable another set of ears is. You're first take might have been fine but you're so critical. You're like, that part sucks, this part sucks. But you listen to it maybe a week later and you go, oh that's not that bad. It's a reallly difficult thing to deal with sometimes.
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| GD: Also when you're just starting out there's so much time to practice but now you must have to really shuffle your schedule to get the time in to do the old fashioned hitting the woodshed kind of thing.
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| AT: Absolutely and that's exactly it. You just put the time in whenever you can. And so many times practicing sessions just turn into writing sessions. You know invariably, the morning is my best time of the day. Right when you wake up, before your mind is really turning, you're tapped into another level of your consciousness. Sometimes it's just amazing. Things will come, whether it's just a grove or a chord idea or whatever. So I'm sitting down to practice and something like that will pop out and I have to find the tape recorder and develop this idea. And that's awesome too, because in the end I have to say that as much I am down on myself about technique, in the long run I'll be much more proud if I'd written a decent song than if I was great technically as I could have been.
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| GD: A lot of the people that come to this site are just starting out. What general advice do you have for them, as far as becoming a great player?
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| AT: There's so much information available whether it is from books or videos or your website or other things on the internet. Just learning all the basic chords, the open positions C, G, D and E, but also learning some basic scales just to get some single note type of playing together. Then once you've got several chords under your fingers you'll quickly realize you can play quite a few songs, whether it's getting it from some kind of song book or having a teacher show you some basic tunes. Once you're learning some songs it helps to get your rhythm playing together. Getting a feel for what it is like to play with good time and rhythm and getting those chops together is important. And learning the all important rock and roll bar chord can be extremely helpful. With the heavy rock and roll thing there's quite a bit of material you can learn very easily just by one simple chord shape that just moves up and down the neck. And it doesn't hurt to learn the names of the notes up and down the neck. Also get together with other players even if they're a little more advanced or less advanced than you. I always found that you could learn something from any guitar player out there even if they barely play. They're gonna do one thing that you never thought of to do. That can be hugely inspirational. It's just opens up another way of thinking about whatever it is - a chord, scale, lick or, something. There's always something to learn from other players no matter what level they're on.
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