Passionate about strings

JAZZ ROCK GUITAR HEROES John McLaughlin and Guthrie Govan are jetting back to Bangkok this month and there’s good news for Thai musicians as the pair will be running workshops and judging the 2015 edition of the Overdrive Guitar Contest.

Govan, who is a noted guitar instructor, is facilitating three clinics, the first at the Art Centre of Chiang Mai University in Chiang Mai on October 28 and the two others at Prart Music Institute in Bangkok on October 30 and November 1. McLaughlin will lead an exclusive master class at the institute on October 29 before his long-awaited concert on November 1 with The 4th Dimension at Aksra Theatre.

The two will join up on October 31 to judge the Overdrive Guitar Contest at Parc Paragon.

We had a chat with them before they packed their bags for Bangkok.

 

WHO INSPIRED YOU TO PLAY GUITAR?

Govan: Originally, my parents inspired me. I grew up in a house where both of my parents were constantly listening to music and my father showed me the few guitar chords that he knew when I was very young. Back in those days, my favourite artists were Chuck Berry and early Elvis so I was learning a lot of that kind of music.

McLaughlin: It was the guitar itself that inspired me to play it. I had been studying piano for years until the guitar came along, and the day after I discovered the guitar, I stopped playing piano, and I haven’t stopped for 60 years! The guitar came to me through my elder brothers. The eldest bought it, and after a while got bored with it and passed it to the next brother. Since I am the youngest in the family it arrived last to me. I was 11 years old.

 

HOW DID YOU FIND YOUR STYLE?

Govan: The only way to do that is to listen to as much different music as possible, and learn how to replicate whatever aspects appeal to you the most. Music is just another language so I think your style of playing should develop naturally if you allow it to do so, in the same way that everyone finds a “style” of speaking without ever consciously having searched for such a thing.

McLaughlin: A person’s musical style comes from what that person loves and enjoys in music. Whatever we listen to has an effect on our life, and ultimately on how we play music. From a very early age I was exposed to a number of different musical expressions. For example, I was introduced to the Mississippi Blues from the age of 11, followed by Flamenco music, Indian music and finally jazz. So, all of these cultures had an impact on me that has lasted throughout my life.

 

ARE YOU PLANNING ON TAKING PART IN THE |OVERDRIVE GUITAR CONTEST?

Govan: “I don’t really think of music as a competitive sport but I think it’s always a good thing to provide any kind of support and encouragement for the future generations of players.”

McLaughlin: “I am very interested in the young musicians of today. To hear them play, and listen to their life. I was recently on the jury of an international guitar competition in Switzerland. The level of musicianship was very, very high, and the level of playing also. The winner was a young man from Brazil named Pedro Martins, and he has a brilliant future in from of him.”

 

WHAT ARE THE CRITERIA FOR SELECTING THE BEST |IN THE CONTEST?

Govan: I think each judge will probably have his own personal set of criteria. For me, I suppose the most important thing is musicality, rather than pure technical ability: I’ll mostly be looking for someone whose playing makes me feel something, rather than someone who just does ‘tricks’. Also, I’m more interested in a player who has something unique to express with the instrument, rather than simply trying to be a clone of someone else.

McLaughlin: There are quite a number of criteria that have to be considered when judging a musician. The first is obviously, how does the musician relate to his or her instrument, and the other musicians? Are they nervous to be in a competition? What kind of repertory will they play that will reveal the depth of their mastery of the instrument, and how deeply they can communicate to the other musicians and the general public. Are they joyful or tense?

 

WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW?

Govan: “The Aristocrats trio, featuring Bryan Beller on bass, Marco Minnemann on drums and myself on guitar, released our third studio album, ‘Tres Caballeros’, several months ago and we recently finished a two-month tour of the US to support it. I also played on the latest Steven Wilson album, ‘Hand.Cannot.Erase’, and I toured a lot with Steven’s band earlier in the year. I’ve also been working a little with (Hollywood movie score composer) Hans Zimmer too, which was very exciting.”

McLaughlin: “My new CD is called ‘Black Light’ with The 4th Dimension, and I can say that it is one of my greatest recordings, perhaps the greatest.”

 

WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM YOUR CLINIC AND SHOW?

Govan: “I suppose you can expect a mixture of demonstration performances (with backing tracks) and more educational material: to be honest, though, I prefer not to plan things like this too much in advance, as my preferred approach is to take a lot of questions from members of the audience and to base the event around their interests.”

McLaughlin: “You can expect Gary, Etienne, Ranjit and myself to give 100 per cent. We all know that life is unpredictable, so we play every concert as though it is our last concert. You will hear music from the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s all the way up to the new recording.”

 

Tickets for John McLaughlin’s concert are Bt1,200 and Bt2,000 at (02) 262 3456 and www.ThaiTicketMajor.com. Students at the institute pay Bt900 and Bt1,500.

Find out more about the clinics by calling (02) 203 0423-5, e-mail [email protected] and at Line ID: @prart.