When I was 12 years old I had the privilege of seeing John Williams play live. I was taking lessons at the time and he played so much better with one hand than I could dream of with both of mine.I could not practice again for two weeks but did start again. Of course I did never approach his level of playing but I still play over 50 years later and enjoy listening to Mr Williams often.
I have followed John Williams and Julian Bream since being stationed in England in 1976. The music is so enticing. I really wish I could play even 1% of what they play and I would be happy.
All that counts is your own personal development and enjoyment. Its pointless to compare oneself with artists of this caliber. Just be the best you can be. And you will reap the benefits. Its often said " 97% of the people wish to look like the best looking 3%". The same is applicable to playing music. We can speculate on the many reasons most will not ever reach this level of virtuosity but the reality is the same.
Thank you Daniele Magli for these invaluable insights into the lives and perspectives of people like John Williams, Julian Bream and Segovia. Those of us who struggle happily due to our devotion to the instrument, are connected to these pioneers of the guitar.
Have you heard K. Park? Love Williams live performance of Cavatina but my ears prefer K.Park’s version of Recuerdos de l’Alambra. Might want to check it out, if you haven’t already. To each his own.
Thanks for posting; hadn't seen this one before. Pretentious intro, but otherwise very informative. And the closeups of JW's right hand were a lesson in and of themselves. Oh, and seeing him in front of Segovia playing was also unique in my experience. Kudos again for making this available!
Yes as a guitarist myself...i can honestly attest to the fact that it takes hard work to play well...8 hours a day for the rest of your life sans surcease... no worries mate
I’d love to see John Williams perform post-covee. I was very lucky to, in the same year, (1) see Segovia @83 in the Kennedy Center (2) see Liona Boyd @27 perform in DC and (3) become a student, short time albeit, of Sophocles Pappas @83. /// I love all about the guitar but didn’t take the rigorous road.
I have been following you and Julian Bream since living in England in 1976. I watched BBC Master Classes of both of you from then. I have loved classical guitar ever since then. Bravo 👏 👏.
It is inspiring, and a little more than infuriating, to watch these guys play! So smooth, so relaxed. ANYTIME someone remarks on how good they THINK I am, I turn them on to Williams, Segovia, Bream or Ghiglia. I really need to stop doing that.
Segovia named Williams as "the prince of the guitar". Certainly, because Segovia is the one and only king of the guitar. Maybe even the god of the guitar to me.
Not only to you... I am on the same page! Segovja the MASTER of them all... And I space with my taste in a very peculiar way, my favorite Guitarist in modern times is BUCKETHEAD. Segovja and Buckethead Forever.
i find it funny most people (these years) who study guitar at Conservatory were rockers first. i know because i was one of them 🤗 btw, what the hell is wrong with YT? THREE separate commercial breaks on a 8 minute video (4 if i count the one before the start of the video)?
I started learning guitar with classical guitar lessons which I promtly dropped after a few months for electric rock guitar which I thought was more cool....I regret that decision
See 3:53 and following for a good look at his nail shape. Sort of rounded (like Segovia and Parkening, I'm told), but slightly "flatter" in the center? Or is that an illusion from the viewing angle?
I was a bit irked by that remark, and I don't play R&R music. That was a very unfair remark. Good musicians, no matter what they play, take the time to really learn the instrument. One of my favorite guitarists is Django Reinhardt, and no one is going to tell me it only took him 12 Hrs. to do what he could do, and he only had two fingers!
I suspect he was referring to the proverbial 'Three-chord song' without being specific. Most people can learn three chords in 12 hours. I doubt he was referring to professional guitarists. And it's not applied only to R&R. Composer Harlan Howard said "country music is three chords and the truth."
Yeah that was ridiculous but I get the point. Being a classical player requires a lot of refinement. Its typical for classical supremacists to disrespect everything else.
Clapton was one of the reasons I got interested in the classical guitar. I thought he was the only one who pulled off the mtv unplugged sessions. Years later, after taking CG lessons, I saw a Clapton video and caught myself thinking, his technique is terrible 😂
Most definitely apples and oranges. Although the two instruments work on the same principal the electric and the classical are like two different instruments, not to mention the utterly different approaches of the traditions (classical and rock). I won't go into the concept of 'win'.
@@DenianArcoleo I play rock can play more or less anything. But come on I admit compared to a classical guitarist I'm a million miles behind. Ask a classical guitarist to play rock , blues, western, folk. he would find easy. My friend its that simple we are not in the same league...
The difficulty between playing the classic guitar and the so called rock and the roller guitar is like building a real airplane vs building a paper airplane
@@bigbannyblom3562 Music is music and artistry is artistry, regardless of the genre. I'm a huge fan of people like Segovia and Parkening - and John Williams. But there are some amazingly talented guitarists in jazz, country, rock and whatever other field you care to mention. To view this any other way is simply sad. Music should never be an elitist pursuit. I've seen plenty of "paper airplanes" who are brilliant musicians. So with all due respect, I'm dropping out of this discussion.
@@kevinsmith9691 I’m also a fan of the styles you mention, and agree that the truly great practitioners in said styles are great PERIOD. However, let’s not think of the greats when assessing a style. Let’s think of the average. When we do this, we have to admit that it takes the average jazz or classical guitarist longer to be able to play that style than it does for the rock musician to play that style. The former are simply more demanding musics. This isn’t elitism, it’s fact.
"A rock 'n roll guitarist can be turned out in 12 hours flat.. " This had me on the floor with laughter!!! So much so, I had to stop the video at 0:18. The thing that makes it so funny is that I'm sure the narrator believes it. It's not a joke. The snobbery! The ignorance! The arrogance! So typical of the snotty attitudes from many in the classical establishment in the 1960s. OK, gonna watch the rest of the video now. There may be more gems like this. None of the narrator's ignorance takes away from Segovia's and Williams' brilliance of course.
You can learn 3 chords and be playing "rock n roll" in a few hours quite easily. I think that is all he meant by it. There are rock n roll guitarists who are as virtuosic as John Williams, but none of em did it in 12 hours.
@@philmoseleyaudio7709 You need to compare like with like. If you want to compare a classical guitarist spending 12 years on his craft, ie someone who is at top level, it takes pretty much the same time to become a top level rock 'n roll guitarist. I'm a guitar teacher. Most pupils can play a basic classical guitar piece after two lessons. You want to conclude from that that classical guitar requires less skill than rock guitar?
I do not want to spoil the enthusiasm of J. Williams admirers but as much as I like him playing other pieces of music, I think his tremoloe is not the best of all guitarists. Listen to Pepe Romero's for example and you'd find Williams' quite unstable.
That’s rubbish. Listen to Williams play Sueno en la floresta on the Barrios album there’s nothing unstable about that… plus you listen to his Recuerdos he has the ability on the first repeat to slightly slow the tremolo to accentuate one bit and that’s tough to do. Also this was a live performance.
Absurd statement-" a rock and roll guitarist can be turned out in 12 hours flat"- this fellow has no knowledge or regard for the huge group he is referring to. Like so many art forms, there are a few brilliant ones, and mostly a lot of average ones. I'd like to see him share the stage with the brilliant ones.
@@somebodyfixmyinternet Do people have to be standing, dancing and cheering at a concert not to be bored for you? If so I guess every people at every classical concert, cinema, theater, opera ever was bored because that's what people do and look like at these events...
I don't think "Guthrie Govan" only put a total of 12 hours of practice into his playing. LOL!!! Comments like that just show how naive some people are.
It's taken me 40 years to play bad rock! However, seriously, that was a commentary over a black and white programme (1960s ?) talkingg about a guy who started in the 50s. That was the age of skiffle etc. His comments were of the time and he knew his audience. Do you remember the flak that Malcolm Arnold got for associating with Deep Purple? All different now; Jon Lord gets played on classical radio. An amusing aside; did you notice the Scruggs style guitar playing by Williams ! (Earl Scruggs pioneer bluegrass banjo...)
@@danmcgrath2748 So what does a first year classical guitarist does just mindlessly picking at strings? Is he not playing "Classical Guitar Composition"? When you manage to play like Hendrix in a year come back to me...
Never understood that sort of comment. How can you be too technical? You’d prefer him to fck it up would you!! Or basically slow down the music where it gets tough?
"A rock 'n roll guitarist can be turned out in 12 hours flat" There are many great electric guitar player, but it is another instrument. I become a bit tired of these stuck up classical snobs out there. It is not necessary to bash other musicians or other genres of music. This made me stop watching this video.
...John Williams is awesome but as to the narrator saying a rock n roll guitarist can be turned out in 12 hours flat needs to do some homework on rock guitarists or give it a shot himself; there is no need to put others down to uplift one's narrative.
I know what you mean but I think they were getting at most rock and roll songs are made up of chords 1,4 and 5. Of course you get into the realms of guys like Eddie Van Halen and Eric Clapton it’s different gravy.
Not really the most accurate commentary to make guitar loved by many. "Segovia rescued the guitar from the hands of noisy flamenco players" ...Well, maybe the kind of things an old aristocrate like Segovia could have said...but should be forgotten anyyway, as a major stupidity.
So, the 4 course guitar was used to play rasgueado, strummed dances right? Ok point one just one source of 4 course guitar music that is notated in strum style. Mudarra, Fuenllana, Le Roy, Morlaye... None of them composed strummed music, quite the contrary, it is polyphonic in nature full of glosas, diminutions. It's impressive to hear such an ignorant statement. By the way, I do prefer to listen to rock players than to hear Williams playing. Steve Vai for instance is a way better musician, composer arranger. improviser and player. Williams tried to be a electric player on a rock, hippie group, but he was a complete failure. So prior to Segovia, guitarists didn't play with nails? That's not true at all... And they didn't have a clear an projected sound? How do you know John? Did you meet Tarrega, Mertz, Regondi, Aguado, Giuliani, Coste? How do you know...
I'll bet, he and Julian Bream had a lot to talk about. Or, perhaps he was referring to Segovia's remark about "the noisy Flamenco guitarists". But, the 4 course guitar was a beautiful instrument of color and delicate intonations. Something just doesn't jive there.
Williams never ‘tried’ to be a rock player at all. He stated simply that he enjoyed playing with Kevin Peek and did it simply because he liked doing different things. Indeed he stated he was earning far more playing classical than playing with Sky.
@@bd1845 Electric guitar player not rock player. He would like to improvise, to be more spontaneus but failed. His playing is calculated, almost like a midi player, perfect, cold and predictable (boring). Bream was the opposite in everything.
