The best gigs / concerts I have attended and what I learnt from them.

Matt Penman, Joe Lovano, Matt Wilson, me and John Scofield

As a professional musician I am often asked by punters about concerts I have enjoyed. People assume I get to attend many concerts and gigs; unfortunately I do not - I am often too busy doing my own. This has lead me to do a lot of thinking lately (yes, I know it must have hurt, right) about what it is that makes certain musical performances special and others not so much. The same band from night to night can fire one night and fizzle the next; for any number of reasons. How do we as musicians make it so we fire on all cylinders every time we play?

The best gig I have ever seen was the John Scofield & Joe Lovano Quartet at Skycity Casino in Auckland, New Zealand. I was fortunate to get on this tour as the person who looked after the band and I got to see both the Auckland and Wellington concerts; and I would have seen the Christchurch concert if it had gone ahead, but unfortunately it was cancelled due to lack of ticket sales - come on people, go to the gigs or it is likely the artists won't come back!

For some reason the Auckland concert was on fire. Maybe it was because bassist Matt Penman is originally from Auckland (now residing in New York) and felt a bit of pride about playing with these heavy players in front of a home crowd? Maybe these guys came with the approach to play their hearts out? Maybe the sound was amazing on stage (it was!) and they were responding to a nice acoustic space? It is highly plausible it it was a combination of all the elements and more.

Don't get me wrong, the Wellington concert was good, amazingly in fact, but it lacked the same spark that the Auckland gig had the night prior. Maybe it was me! Maybe by the second night I had made up my mind about the gig, and was not as open minded going into the performance?

I can not help but think the attitude and general willingness of the musicians has a lot to do with why some gigs are great and other not so much. One of the best concerts I have been to was Chucho Valdes and the Afro-Cuban Messengers at the Wellington Jazz Festival. Chucho had a young band who were clearly 'amped' about playing. That energy made this performance special - you could feel it in the air. These guys had decided to smash it out of the park that night and thats exactly what they did.

Two other performances that have stood out for me over the years were the Pat Metheny Trio and the Esbjörn Svensson Trio (EST). Pat is one of my heroes and it was awesome to see and hear him play. I would have traveled a long way to attend this gig. Christian McBride was the bass player and Antonio Sanchez the drummer. Antonio blew my mind. He is the complete drummer - great groove, chops, knowledge, tone etc.

Roger Waters, The Wall. Photo shows an example of the
projected images on the wall. Incredible. 

I think the reason EST stands out for me is that it was totally unexpected. I was given free tickets for their gig as Ben Monder (New York based jazz guitarist) was opening for EST and he was using my Mesa Boogie amp. I heard EST and was completely blown away. They are one of the most original concept groups I have ever heard. Also the sound guy absolutely nailed the gig; incredible.

The best 'show' I have seen is undoubtedly Roger Waters The Wall at Vector Arena, Auckland. The sound was amazing (surround sound), the band 'nailed it' and the visuals can only be described at epic. Stunning concert.

I am convinced what makes a great performance is partly attitude of the performers, partly the acoustics, partly audience participation and open-mindess, the visuals and partly some kind of X factor -  that something just happens. When all these things combine, magic happens and it sure did at these performances I have mentioned. I keep all these points in mind when I am putting together my own shows.

The interesting thing is, in the case of most of these concerts, I wasn't supposed to have gone to the performances, but for a number of reasons things lined up or people made it happen for me. These days try to attend as many gigs and concerts as I can, because one never knows what might end up being a life changing experience.

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There is no denying it - we are all influenced by others. Deciding upon your BIG THREE.

When considering the playing of any of the great musicians it becomes apparent that everyone is influenced by someone else in someway or another. All of the great players share this; no one is a total original. If they were it would be so weird to listen to that few would find it appealing.

Wes Montgomery is a good example, he was influenced heavily by Charlie Christian. I believe one of Montgomery's first regular gig's was performing a tribute of some sort to Christian. He had to sound as close as possible to his hero and was paid for it! George Benson was influenced by Wes Montgomery in a big way ... and one of Pat Metheny's key influences is Jim Hall. You can clearly hear it in Pat's sound and his approach (which is a vertical approach: see my YouTube video where I discuss working on a vertical approach using the minor pentatonic scale - click here). Yet clearly Pat has his own sound. 

I advise my students to choose three players to study and to make these people their focus. I call them the big three. To start you should consider learning these people's style, their choice of notes, their phrasing, how to recreate their tone and their time feel. At the end of the day, no matter how hard you try to sound exactly like someone else, you will never achieve it, but it does not matter. The goal is to absorb then to come up with your own sound based on a deep understanding of what came before you. As the saying goes - imitate, assimilate, innovate.

I would advise you go to the source. If for example you wanted to sound like George Benson then it would be a good idea to check out Charlie Christian. Remember, the people on your list do not have to be guitar players, although this makes it easier to directly use anything that you transcribe (knowing it will work on your instrument). Besides, if you play the guitar it is probable that you do so because you love the instrument. 

Now that you have decided on your big three it does not mean these are set in stone. This list will likely change over time but the important thing is to get started. Try to learn everything you can about these people. Some important things aspects to consider could be:

Their playing characteristics? 
What instrument / amps and effects they use?
Who are their key influences?
What makes them special?
What are the tunes they play regularly?
What is it you can borrow from them?
Are they still around to get lessons with?
What is their background? 
What is the album the everyone raves about?
What can you think of?

Keep in touch:

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/nickgranny

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... and you can download my latest album from:  nickgranville.bandcamp.com/album/home

Do you have the four T's every great musician has mastered?

I often think about the great musicians and what it is that they do differently from the rest. In many cases there is no one answer that explains what the greats do. However, some musical elements are universally mastered by the greats. When teaching students (either individually or in workshops) I often talk about the 4 T's (tone, time, taste and technique) and these are the musical elements I consider to be universally mastered by the greats.

1. Tone. If the tone is great the music captures our attention. If the tone is bad, then nothing works - it just sounds bad. B.B.King is an excellent example of the power of great tone. He plays the guitar with minimal notes with a huge tone which draws the listener in. It is incredibly powerful and moving.

There is no one universal great tone, rather every musician has to work out their tone to suit the music and to express what they want to say. Think of the tone of a few great jazz guitarists for example and you will realise just how different they can be (I am mentioning guitarists because I am one, but these things are the same for all musicians). Comparing John Scofield with Mike Stern or Pat Metheny or Jim Hall for example and you will see that all are worthy of being called great jazz guitarists, yet none of them produce a tone that is even remotely similar.

2. Time. This is a very close second for me. Time, timing and rhythm all fall under the category of time. Every great player has his or her way of feeling and playing the time and being able to project that to the listener. A few years ago I heard guitarist Pat Metheny and was blown away with the sheer power of his time and groove. It was an eye opener to say the least. A few years ago I got to play with guitarist John Scofield (Sco) in a duo format while on tour. Sco's time was so strong that there was never any doubt as to where the time was and it was super solid, yet he had the freedom to completely manipulate where he placed notes to great effect. Again, this was an eye opener.

3. Taste. Taste is subjective, but every great player applies their own taste to the music they play and it influences their decision making; whether they know it consciously or not. We choose instruments based on our tastes, we choose musicians to work with based on our tastes, we create tones based on our tastes etc, etc. So when people like what we are doing, it is often our tastes that they are agreeing with. When musicians get to a certain level there is no such thing as better or worse. No one can say Pat Metheny is better than John Scofield for example; that is a matter of taste. People who like Metheny better are basically saying they like his style of playing better - that they agree with his taste.

4. Technique. If we produce a sound then there is a technique required to doing this. All the great musicians have their technique worked out and developed to the level required to create the music. Great technique does not necessarily mean being able to play fast, unless that is what the music requires: for example, if someone is wanting to be a bebop player then the ability to play fast is very important. Any way you look at it though, having great technique and chops is an incredibly valuable asset. I work a lot on my technique, especially the ways in which I use the guitar pick, and the use of hammer-on's / pull off's (guitar techniques) and more. I do this because I want to be free to play what I want, when I want and not have technique get in the way.

So, when considering what to practise and how to do it, I keep these points in mind. I recommend the same approach to students and try to keep them focused on this. I  hope this helps on your musical journey.

Keep in touch:

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/nickgranny

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/nickgranvillemusic

... and you can download my latest album from:  nickgranville.bandcamp.com/album/home