TOTAL GUITAR MARCH 2020withit.LariBasiliois likethat,shehas
melodyandrhythmthatcometogether
ina ‘wow’package.”Yourbluesbendsarequitepossibly
yourmostpowerfulweapon– what
advicecanyouofferforgettingmore
outofthepentatonic/bluesscales?
“Youhavetobetruetoyourself.At
NAMMI sawhowmanytalented
playersareoutthere,mostofwhom
cancopyanyoneelse.Theinternetis a
greattool,butit alsohasthedangerof
homogenisingeverybodybecauseyou
canlearnhowanybodydoesanything
andpickit upinaninstant.It takesa lot
tosay,‘Thisis therealme!’,butit’san
optionweallhave,thoughsomeofus
rarelyutiliseit becausethey’renotgiven
theopportunityormightbetooshy.
Theymightnothavespentenoughtime
beingthemselves.I knowthatsounds
weird,likea therapysession,butit
kindais!Youhavetounderstandwho
youareandwhatyoulikeregardlessof
whatyourcommunityis tellingyou.
IreadthisthingwhenI wasyoungabout
howClaptonlockedhimselfawayand
didn’tlistentoanythingbutAmerican
bluessohecouldcultivatehisown
sound.I don’tknowif it’strueandI did
feelit wasperhapsbeingdescribed
improperly– maybeasa journalistictheorythatfeltmethodicalordidactic–
butI realised,moreimportantly,it was
justClaptondiscoveringwhatheloved
and,inalmosta cleansingway,getting
ridofallthethingsinhisplayingthathe
didn’tlove.Heusedhisinfluencesto
findhimself.Thatmadetotalsense.
Surroundyourselfwithwhatyouloveso
whenyouwalkoutonstageyoudon’t
havetopretend.Youcanjustbe
yourself,it’sthedeepestwellthatyou
candrawmostof yourbeststufffrom.”Someofyourmostfamoussongs
haveincorporatedLydiantonalities.
Whydoyouthinkthatparticular
scalemakessomuchsensetoyou?
“Contextis everything.If youplaya
scaletosomeonewhohasgrownup
withit,theywillabsorbit likeaneveryday thing. If you play it to someone
who hasn’t been exposed to it, then it
mayfeelexotictothem.InWestern
music,we’refascinatedbyplayingthe
12 notesinoursystemoverandover
again.Therewasa timeinhuman
historywherethatseemedridiculous.
TheancientChineseweremore
interestedintheharmonicsproduced
bybellsthanrepeatingthesame 12
notescontinually.Theirfirstexposure
to classicalmusicmystifiedthem,they
didn’tunderstandwhywekept
repeatingthesametones.If youlookat
classicalIndianmusic,theiruseofscales
is somethingelseentirely.Comingup
onewayanddownanother,playing
differentscalesat differenttimesof the
dayor differentmomentsin the
performance.Thathasnothingtodo
withthewayrockguitariststhink:a
songis a song,thereis a keyandit never
changes,nomatterwhattimeofdayor
venueit is.It’sinF#Lydian,that’sthe
endof that!So ourupbringingaffects
howwerespondtothesenotes.”AllForLovealsofeaturessomemore
outsidenotechoicesduringthe
heavierparts.Whathaveyoulearned
aboutwhentoapplyharmonicminor?
“It’sallaboutcontext.Wecouldsit
downrightandrunthrougha whole
bunchofscales,buttheywon’tmean
anythinguntilyouaremakingmusic.
IfI playa harmonicminorscalewhile
youchuga boogie,thatprobablywon’t
work.There’snothingwrongwith
eitherbutit wouldtakesomeworkto
makethemworktogetherasa
convincingidea.All For Lovefeltlike
theultimate setup when I go into the
five chord, which gave me full licence to
rip with it. I almost didn’t have to do
much because I had all this harmony
already working for me. There’s a
natural tension, you can feel the
cadence coming as I head back into my
minor key. That allows you to hit some
crazy notes. It just happened that way
the first time I played a solo over it in
my home studio. I tried this weird
technique – pushing up with two fingers
on the first string and letting the second
finger off as I release the tension and
allow the note to descend to its natural
position. It felt really intense. I don’t
know if I meant to do it but it felt like
ripping a new spot in the sky.
Something really opened up. It was a
very emotional moment, which is
sometimes more enjoyable than
breaking it all down into scales.”the real deal
"Surround yourself with
what you love so when you
walk out on stage you
don't have to pretend"at namm i saw
how many
talented
players are
out there
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PhotoLarry Hulst/Michael Ochs Archives/GettyJOE SATRIANI