The experience taught González “how to set
moods with chord progressions and also how to get
comfortable in studios where you produce a lot”.
“I learnt a lot and I also used it a bit when I was
working with The String Theory, when you have to
listen to the whole orchestra and see how to take a
more producer role.”
In February this year, the collaboration spawned
Live In Europe, a two-LP live compilation. “The
easiest way was to record our live shows, because
it’s such a big production, we didn’t feel like we had
the time and money to go into the studio. And so we
just recorded each show on that tour in Europe and
picked out [our] favourite songs.”
When our conversation shifts to gear, the
previously reserved González becomes much more
animated. A lynchpin of his stage sound are warm,
round, almost vocal-like Spanish guitars: he favours
Esteve, Alhambra and Córdoba instruments and theFishman Prefix Pro Blend pickup system. “I’ve used
these pickups for 15 years now,” he explains. “And
we just found a way to make it sound loud and still
natural, compared to many other piezo mic and
blenders. The guitar is important, but more important
is the pickup and the sound engineers. I always have
two sound engineers that I work with.”
Besides those, González’s tone is influenced
by something far more prosaic: duct tape. The
soundholes on his guitars are almost completely
taped over, which he says is a way to reduce feedback.
“It’s pretty simple: you want to avoid feedback,” he
explains. “You can buy round things to cover the
hole, but then to me, it sounds a bit too nasally, so we
started out trying half a hole, but two-thirds seems
to be the sweet spot. It changes the sound a bit for
the worse, but it’s definitely helpful for big stages,
especially festivals.
“Getting a loud, natural and clear sound is always
hard. But the hardest part, one step before that, is to
explain to the PA guys that you need more speakers
when you just have a nylon-string guitar. They usually
think that it’s only guitar and vocals, so you’ll be fine
with these two speakers. But since it’s so sensitive,
you need to bring up the volume a lot, and with that,
you get more feedback.”HARD AS NAILS
As an acoustic player, González has a valuable tip to
share. “I’ve become very aware of my nails,” he says.
“I use nail strengthener, and there’s also a protein gel
that you can apply that’s really helpful. I even bought
an acrylic kit for a couple of tours and did my own
acrylic nails.” Even the techniques he uses aren’t off-
limits for discussion. You’d imagine the troubadour
to rely predominantly on melancholic chords – but
not quite. “Major-ish,” he laughs when prodded about
whether he prefers minor or major chords. “It’s been
something I’ve thought about a lot, that I didn’t
want to make minor-chord songs. So I chose not to
add the third too often, but when I do, it’s in that
middle ground. Many people resonate with the music
because it’s moody, but if they analyse it, it’s not so
often that I use a minor.”
The music of his heroes Caetano Veloso, Silvio
Rodríguez and Gilberto Gil springs to mind when
thinking of “major-ish” chords underlined by sorrow.
But González is quick to dismiss suggestions that his
heritage had anything to do with it. “With South
America – I think about it a lot in terms of culture
and nationality, where humanity is headed,” he
explains. “I feel nationality has its nice things, but
people are taking it way too seriously. The flags, the
languages of each culture. They forget about how
connected we are.”Live In Europe by José González And The String Theory is out
now on Pledge Music“I LEARNT A LOT WITH THE
STRING THEORY, WHEN YOU
HAVE TO LISTEN TO THE WHOLE
ORCHESTRA AND SEE HOW TO
TAKE A MORE PRODUCER ROLE”
JOSÉ GONZÁLEZ
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