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[justinguitar.com Gordon Giltrap

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Interviewed London, September 2012

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Lesson ID: MA-206]

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(music)

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Hey, how you doing, Justin here,

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and I'm here today with Gordon Giltrap,

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a fantastic English acoustic guitar player

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a couple of hits under his belt and all

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and so I just thought I'd, seeing as we

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were going to have a jam and hang

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out a bit anyway, that we'd do a little

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video for you guys. So Gordon, how

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did you get started on the guitar?

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It goes back to when I was about nine

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years old, Justin. I was given

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a plastic ukulele with a picture

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of Elvis Presley on the head star.

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Awesome, Awesome.

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And I found out recently, actually my

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friend Ray Burlie, I'm in this

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quartet with Ray Burlie, he's a great

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classical player, and John Effridge, and

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Clive Carroll, got four pascital

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But I was chatting with Ray the other day

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And I said well I started out on this

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little plastic, he said, "You didn't have

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one of those." I said, "Yeah."

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And he started at the same time as me

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about the same age, on this plastic thing

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and it had a clamp that went

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on the fingerboard and you pressed

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the buttons and it kinda found the chords.

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Oh Wow!- I never could figure that out

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That was my first introduction

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to a stringed instrument.

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And then I got my first guitar when I was

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twelve, which was basically an

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archtop jazz guitar, it had an action that

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high, you know what they were like.

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and then I was exposed to the music

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of the day, which at that time would be

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skiffle, and the big thing for me was

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Hank Marvin, as it was for thousands

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of guitar players during that time,

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you know? Hank was the first british

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guitar hero, so I was into the shadows

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big time and I wanted to be able to play

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the guitar like Hank, and one day own one

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of those red electric guitars, I never

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did in the end, and I'd actually even

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try and sing, and I'd get my hair

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just like this, all these years on

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viewers can't you see the resemblance?

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So that's how it started

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And were you getting lessons or were

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you learning from books or- entirely self

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taught- this is pre-internet vibe-

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totally yeah totally. Everything I've

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ever learned has been self-taught

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and that's not a bad thing, although

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of course, I've virtually learned to play

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the guitar incorrectly, I use,

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I'm actually using one of your picks today

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by the way -right- great sounding pick

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But I started out as a plectrum

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player when I got into playing acoustic

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guitar, and I figured out well,

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how do I play two notes at the same time?

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Well I'll bring in another finger to do

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that

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So I use my little finger, and that's the

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way my style has remained, it hasn't

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changed. What this technique gives me

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of course, like anybody that picks and

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uses the fingers as well is you can go

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from picking to strumming instantly,

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so you can go from very filigree stuff

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to chord in playing as we did during that

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lovely little jam together.

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How do you go about getting more than two

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notes with you just using the pick and

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the little finger? Like particularly,

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jazz riffs are often the bass note and

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three fingers playing, do you strum as

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well with the little finger?- No I just

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don't I don't think. You just don't do it?

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I don't know, I think about it, you know,

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because my career has been based

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on my compositions, and I've often thought

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God I'd be such a better player if I

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played properly and used more fingers, but

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it's never kind of worked that way,

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and nobody's ever said, "there's a

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deficiency there." I think it probably

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gives you your own unique flavor - it's

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given me, yeah- like James Taylor plays

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with all funny, he plays all of these

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chords upside down to the way we would

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play it - and I played- and, as much as

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I'd say it was wrong if he came for a

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lesson, he's James Taylor- and he sounds

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great - yeah absolutely- Oh God yeah

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You know I had a jam session with him

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years ago? - Wow- Yeah you won't remember

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but it's a long story, but I won't bore

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you with that, but it's a great story

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but yeah, so I suppose the bottom line

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is that if it sounds right it is right

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-yeah- you know and if it works

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and there have been times, I even went

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for classical lessons for a short time

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and, I thought, "this is crazy

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because you know, this is my sound, you

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know by sheer accident I've created the

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Gordon Giltrap sound, and people hear me

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and they go "Oh, I can tell it's you

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straight away" it's that sound, it's an

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approach to playing and the little riffs

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and because of the deficiency in the left

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hand, I do a lot of hammering and the

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pulling off with the right hand

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and do a lot with the left hand

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obviously you know, so that kinda makes up

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for that. -so instead of having to try an

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alternate pick style - yeah exactly

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hence the reason why I have a very low

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action on the guitar, I relatively like

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8-strings, so it speaks a lot quicker

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okay, and you do quite a bit of teaching

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as well, what do you find the things that

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you teach most commonly, the most common

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mistakes you see in your students?- The

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most common mistakes?

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Well, they're probably not really

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mistakes, I think that what I try to do is

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instill in them their own sound, you know

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and get them to be creative

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It's all very well, a lot of the people

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that come to me are aware of my material

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and that's what I teach, but then they go,

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"Well I was trying this the other day and

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actually I got this thing going and I

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wrote something with it." And I go

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"That's great! That's what it's all about"

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It's not learning to play parrot fashion,

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it's learing to put your own personality

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onto the piece you're playing you know,

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and I'm sure it's the same with you Justin

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with your vast repertoire you may be

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covering other people's material but it's

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still gonna come out sounding like Justin

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because you're gonna put your personality

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It's down to interpretation, and what I

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try to do with my students is to inspire

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them you know? Of course, the reverse side

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of the coin, occasionally happens, I do

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gigs, people come up and say, "Oh

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I'm gonna go home and burn my guitar." I

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say, "No you won't. You won't go."

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"Oh well I'll never be that good"

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I say, "well it's not a competition. It's

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not a competition." - it's not the

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Olympics- It's not the Olympics

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the important thing is, why do we take

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up playing guitar in the first place?

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It's because we loved it. It's for the

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sheer joy of playing the instrument.

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And that's still what it should be, you

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know, all the while you're retaining the

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love and the joy of playing, then you'll

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carry on, you'll move forward with your

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playing.

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I felt like that before, I've worked with

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some of the greatest musicians on the

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planet.

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I've worked with Mike Taylor, I've worked

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with Albert Lee, and you sort of think,

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"I'm never gonna be able to do that. I

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don't think I'm gonna bother picking up

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the guitar again."

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But they can't do what I do, see? That's

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a great thing about the guitar, that I

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find, and I've had the great pleasure and

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the privilege of knowing a lot of famous

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players, some of them have been

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acquaintances, people like Brian May,

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Albert Lee, Tony Iommi, Martin Taylor

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And they don't do what I do, and I don't

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do what they do.

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It's a complete sharing thing.

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But you know, some of the greatest players

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I've ever met, have been the most humble,

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self-effacing people.

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Because we all know that we're never gonna

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get where we'd really wanna get.

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And it's that journey of discovery and

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struggle, let's be honest, that keeps us

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going, you know, and that is a great

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leveler and I put on my website,

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and it's not a thing to say how great I am

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but respect for your playing ability,

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you can't buy that.

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No one's gonna give you a thousand quid

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and say "okay you finally got respect

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people are gonna respect you for what you

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do."

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It's down to ability, though, isn't it?

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It's true. It's down to what you can do,

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you stand or fall on what you can actually

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present to people. And you can't buy that.

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Respect is not bought, it's earned.

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It's earned through years and years of

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doing it.

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And it can be a pain at times, and it's an

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incredible form of servitude, and every

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guitar player that we've seen and admired

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you just have to remember that those

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guitar players spent hours and hours and

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hours on their own, with this instrument.

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You know, working at what they do,

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struggling with it, and sometimes,

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I think it's little successes, isn't it?

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With what we do.

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It's the little sound-bytes of success

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that keep us going.

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Actually, that sounds good, that makes me

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feel good when I play that.

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When I was jamming with you, it made me

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feel good, you know, to actually, bring

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the dynamics down, and let you come

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through because instinctively, I think

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people that have been playing for a long

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time as we both have,

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me longer than you, because I'm an old

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fart, you instinctively know what's right

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which you should do anyway.

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And it's not down to how fast you play,

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it's playing the right notes, some of the

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greatest guitar players I've been

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inspired by, people like Peter Green,

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play three notes and it's just the right

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three notes.

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It's the sound and the tone and the touch

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it's what they bring to their music and

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what we can bring to our music.

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Absolutely. There's some beautiful pearls

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of wisdom in there.

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-Well it's all common sense, it's just

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really kind of learned on the anvil of

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experience and doing it and being around

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people that are better than I am. You know

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players far superior to me. That's a

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challenge I put myself through

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and sometimes I think, "why do I do this?

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Why do I put myself through this?" But

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to play with great players, inspire you,

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that's incredible. How do they do that?

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Sometimes it's frightening. And

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sometimes it's intimidating. Of course

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you're working with someone like Martin

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Taylor who's been playing since he was

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four, you know.

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Someone who's been exposed to Django

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Reinhardt almost from the cradle. He can

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do that stuff without thinkin about it.

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Second nature to him, it's like breathing.

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With me, I was a relatively late starter

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I didn't start till I was twelve.

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You've got people like him, you've got

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people like Tommy Emmanuel, been playing

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since they were like seven years old

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I think, "Oh, I should've started earlier"

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Because they're hands developed earlier

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then they had, they grow, and you have to

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develop certain muscles. Anyway, here

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sort of ended the lesson, I think

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(laughter)

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Okay well thanks very much for coming over

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it's been a great time jammin with you,

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and I think we should do some more

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-absolutely- see you all later

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See ya later guys - bye bye - enjoy

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[justinguitar.com Find Gordon Giltrap at

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www.giltrap.co.uk]