The
first question is always the classic one: how does it start your love
and interest for guitar?
Well
it was the 60’s and everyone wanted to play guitar, when I finally
got one it was almost like I had played one in a past life, it came
very easy, I played for hours and hours every day. My mother was
bereft as I ignored all school studies, but I still passed the exams.
I’ve also played Flute, trained by a lady player in the Liverpool
Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, that ended when my girlfriend at the
time turned up mid-lesson and caused a scene, it was too much for the
tutor, it was too much for me….
What
was your musical training?
Finally
my parents realized I was serious about guitar and sent me to Bill
Sullivan, a great tutor in Liverpool, he listened to me play, took
down a 1947 Gibson 175 off the wall and said “I’ll Teach You
Jazz” (One of my friends went through the same process and Bill
taught him Classical, shows what a great teacher he was, seeing the
potential in students)
How
did your interest for fretless guitar start?
Well
I had read about the Vigier Surfretter in 1998, a review in a
magazine, and it sort of stuck in the back of my mind. In 2003 I came
across the compilation CD “Fretless Guitar Masters” and it was a
complete revelation, I just could not believe how good it was.
How
did you decide to create a website like www.unfretted.com?
I
just realised I had found something I was really passionate about,
the Fretless Guitar, I’d already bought one, a Godin Fretless
Multiac SA Nylon and the next step was to provide a resource for
fretless guitarists. Ned Evett already had fretlessguitar.com
but that was limited in scope. I wanted to open up the world of
Fretless Guitar, bring the players together, so there was no other
option that to start the website unfretted.com,
it might just have been the best thing I ever did,
In
2005 you have realized the double cd “Village of the Unfretted? How
did it start the idea and how did you choose the 35 guitar players
involved?
This
could be a long story… Unfetted had a forum, and the core members
started a thread called “Village of the Unfretted” basically a
story where you could add tales and characters with a fretless theme,
it was very funny, sometimes strange, but always entertaining.
Someone at some point said we should make a CD to accompany the
story, seemed like a great idea, well it snowballed and then we
thought, it might be impolite not to invite all fretless players to
take part. Well I expected about a 35% positive result, well bowl me
over when we got 95% positive response! So it became a double CD with
two and a half hours of music, space was so tight I had to reduce my
contribution to 1:50 to fit it all in.
In
2014 you have written your book “Fretless Guitar The DefinitiveGuide”, why did you decide to write a book about this argument?
Well
no one had written about this before, I’d always wanted to write a
book and here it is! There are not many copies left and I know in
future this will change hands at very high prices. (Village of the
Unfretted CD has been listed on ebay at £52 even though I still sell
it at £15)
If
you have to convince a musician to play a fretless guitar, which
ideas and arguments would you say to convince him?
Oh
well, first I would discourage him / her, its not an easy path, don’t
go down a road you cannot walk to the end. If you really want to
embark on this trip you will open new vistas, new sounds, new tones,
its a hell of a trip!
I
have seen that most part of the fretless guitar’s scene is divided
into two parts: one devoted cto contemporary/atonal/microtonal music
and second one devoted to .. “world music” mostly from east or
indian world. In our west country it seems there is still a division
about this…
That’s
a complex question. I don’t really see it as a division.
The
contemporary / atonal / microtonal is a very exciting area, it is
pushing the boundaries, and I love it!
The
“World Music” side is very different, it is taking traditions
form Turkish and Arabic Makams, Indian scales and Asian music.
Traditional instruments have been able to play this music and its
transition to the fretless guitar means the scales of this music can
be played on a modern instrument. The great take up of the Fretless
Guitar in Turkey can be sited as an example, there are some great
players there, and some great luthiers.
When
I started playing my fretless guitar a lot of people asked me why I
want to play microtonal music.. but this not my case, I play fretless
guitar but inside the twelve tone intonation, like a violin. In our
west countries it seems there is still this contradiction ….
HaHa!
Most people just asked me why no frets? and could not comprehend why
I wanted to make things so difficult.
Even
if you play within 12T there are subleties you can introduce, that
slightly flat “blue note” the third in a chord flattened by 14
cents to produce a pure intonation...
I
have, sometimes, the feeling that in our times music’s history
flows without a particular interest in its chronological course, in
our discotheque before and after, past and future become
interchangeable elements, shall this be a risk of a uniform vision
for an interpreter and a composer?
Is
it possible that the fretless guitar can be seen as a result of
musical "globalization"?
Mmmm…
I don’t think Fretless Guitar is a result of Globalisation, but I
do think the fretless community has been brought together by the
global internet. Originally we might have been following our course
individually, alone, but now we can link up with other like minded
musicians.
I
don’t think there will be a uniform vision for the fretless guitar,
take the CD “Village of the Unfretted” there are so many
distinctive styles and some people thought that was a weakness,
personally I thought it was the strength of the album.
Please
tell us five essential records, to have always with you .. the
classic five discs for the desert island ...
This
is going to be weird…
25
or 6 to 4 - Chicago - to remind me of pre fretless bustle
Oze
- Ned Evett,
Feel
My Pain - from Tim Donahue’s Madmaen and Sinner’s album
From
Istanbul - Nicolas Meier
Weedwacker
- Jack Mazzenga
BTW
you get six disks on Desert Island Discs :)
Yes,
but I like number five. Your next projects? When we will see you in
Italy?
Completely
re-writing the Unfetted webite to make it compatible with mobiles /
tablets / iPads etc.
A
project introducing the fretless guitar to the wider community
I
love Italy, will book a flight tomorrow!
I
wait for you in Venice!
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