First at all, thanks for posting this interview. It's rare. Mr. Williams is without a doubt one of the best classical guitar player EVER! But l was speechless when Maestro Williams used the fluidity of the pick as an excuse for not being able to improvise. With all due respect, that's a poor excuse. I doubt very much that John Williams has not listened to Wes Montgomery. Wes played with his thumb only, and in my humble opinion Wes had by far the perfect phrasing in jazz guitar ever. Another example is Joe Pass. Even though, Joe Pass used to play with the pick, most of the time he played with two or just one finger! And what about Matteo Mancuso... The list goes on and on
my jaw dropped when he said that too. and i thought of the same exact people you did to counter his bizarre statement. it sounds to me extremely snobbish. he has deliberately ignored those giants, who play HIS instrument and are even of HIS generation, to say such a thing. the more i think about it, the more respect i lose for mr. williams.
Thank you for these wonderful interviews.So great to hear the intimate details of Mr. Williams development on the guitar. It takes a great guitarist to know what other guitarists want to know about our heroes.
Oh my goodness! I didn't know Alirio Diaz had left us. His recordings from the late 60's were a big influence on my own playing (such as it was). Such an *elegant* guitarist! Let his memory be a blessing.
Thank you for letting us know about the passing of Alirio Díaz. 92 long years of life and musicianship. At age 20, I had the honor of carrying his guitar from the hotel (Velencia, Spain) to the back of the concert stage. Even José Tomás was surprised. I think he chose me over the other students becasue he had been poor, and by my clothing and shyness, he assumed correctly that I was too. What a humble man of extraordinary talent. Where are people like this today?
Magnífica entrevista. Esperamos pronto la 2da, 3ra y 4ta parte. ¡Qué orgullo escuchar su encuentro con nuestros grandes maestros Alirio Díaz y Rodrigo Riera, en Siena, durante sus estudios con el gran Andrés Segovia. La crema y nata de la guitarra del siglo XX.
Whenever you listen to John Williams speak or read his interviews or biography you ask yourself, what does this have to do with music? He tends to waffle about anything and everything from buying snacks at a cricket game to the cinematic representation of Jacqueline du Pré. But you learn absolutely nothing about technique, interpretation, or a philosophy of music. You find yourself wondering, does he have more substantial insights, something to teach us, anything other than received views superficially restated? I remember his arrogant proclamation in the early '90s that anyone who does not play notes inégales in Bach is just plain wrong and "ignorant" -- and that after claiming to be nothing like Segovia as a teacher, and after notes inégales in Bach and similar lingering fallacies from the Thursten Dart era were disproved by musicological minds far more acute than Dart's, or Williams'. That leads us to the way Williams was represented in England as the epitome of guitaristic intellectuality. But listening to these interviews, to the superficial treatment of music or the more mundane topics Williams always seems to prefer to turn to, you have to wonder, where is this great mind we were always told about?
It’s the same with Allan Holdsworth. Never any technique. It’s very secretive. You have to discover it by yourself, and you will. Problem with classical guitarists is that they do not play many gigs. Gigs are the only way you’re going to learn. Earning a living with your guitar is the motivator, money is thee motivator. The masters will never divulge. It’s their living.
Classical musicians are afraid to make mistakes because what they play is NOT improvisational, unlike flamenco or choro. I'm pretty sure if you get a flamenco guitarist and demand that he play a flamenco piece EXACTLY as another flamenco guitarist, he would have the same problem of how not to make a mistake.
I have been play classical guitar many many years. Until i decided to play flamenco guitar. Why?. Because flamenco is more freedom than a classical. Classical guitar dont teach, cultivated and motivated students to created art. All about classical guitar just play songs cover for old composers. and that is why, i left classical guitar to flamenco. Flamenco guitar its more art! More freedom and more powerful than classical. Sad but really true
Great interview--I can't wait for the next installments. What an intelligent, thoughtful man he is! There is one thing I would append to Williams' critique of right-hand technique technique. The natural, fundamental rhythm that comes from up-and-down movement, the lack of which he regrets, is indeed to be found in the technique of the baroque guitar, with its strummed chords and passage-work played "thumb-under" alternating p and i--and up-and-down movement of the very sort Williams is talking about. The people who are good at it can go like the wind. Check out Paul O'Dette playing Santiago de Murcía, here on YT. (NB Renaissance lute technique was also thumb-under--hence up-and-down--although chords were generally plucked, not strummed.)
In my experience high velocity passage work from p, i is not dependent on a " thumb under" technique, it is as easily achievable from more orthodox hand positions. I do agree that it has been, and still is, under utilised by many players.
An awesome guitarist. Unfortunately he sometimes wanders off into obscure ethnic composers and does performances with John Etheridge. These are dreadful in the main. Saw them at Snape recently and it was one big jangly noise. Huge disappointment knowing how wonderfully he can play at other times.
Marcelo, fui tb aluno de Jodacil Damaceno, excelente professor, mas meu objetivo sempre foi desenvolver técnica da música erudita para melhorar a destreza e sonoridade na improvisação. Certa vez, num bate papo, perguntei a ele por que os violonistas clássicos, via de regra, não improvisavam bem, não desenvolviam essa aptidão. O Jodacil não gostou nada e disse que eu estava enganado. Vi que nessa entrevista vc perguntou o mesmo ao John Williams e ele reconheceu ser pertinente.
Shocked that he says at 22:15 "There is no way you can improvise with fingers with the same fluidity and spontaneity that you can with a pick." Wtf? Has he not seen the many hours of footage of Paco de Lucia playing with John McLaughlin and Al Di Meola, and doing exactly that? I think most would agree Paco got the best of those exchanges, and he's never been within 20 yards of a guitar pick.
Flamencos never really improvise, they select a certain passage, or 'Falseta' to play in the relevant key. As long as he was playing in the right key, he could certainly get away with playing the phrygian mode super fast but as far as improvising, McLaughlin and Meola were head and shoulders above him and he had the humility to state that himself. Paco wasn't in his comfort zone but the contrast between the players was electric. To be fair, the other guys would have struggled playing flamenco!
Althought when playing flamenco palos like Solea or Alegrias you´re mostly right, when Paco played with Di Meola and McLaughlin, he improvised a lot, just playing random scales for hours, similar to how the jazz players were doing it. Paco definitely has the ability to improvise in virtually any key all over the fretboard, as you can hear him doing for many hours in the recordings he made with Di Meola, McLaughlin and Coryell. In Paco´s most famous piece, Entre Dos Aguas, he is not really playing any pre-written falsetas so much as just improvising scales using different shapes all over the fretboard, quite similar to how a jazz player would.
Every musical form has it's own challenges. Classical guitar is note perfect clarity. Even the simple pieces are still performed by top professionals in concerts. Flamenco is all about the compas, strictly adhered to. Even the player who knows only a couple of chords will be respected if they if they play in compas. And jazz is about improvisation. Utilising modes in a scale. But I waffle a bit about what you probably already know. Paco took quite some risks playing his flamenco modes over traditional jazz changes and the contrast and dynamics between the performers was legendary. But i would not say he was better than the other two, on the contrary, the other two were much better technically but Paco made the whole thing interesting and fresh sounding IMO. Back to JW's interview, I think he's wrong about the pick vs fingers comment. If you improvise using picado technique I don't see much of a difference to the pick. Improvising contrapuntally could be what he is referring to.
Has JW ever heard Earl Klugh? Anyway... Paco did indeed improvise live. He said many times how he asked Larry Coryell to teach him how to improvise because he would "get headaches" when performing with them. He got better at it from then on. It sounds strange that JW would say that but then how often does he improvise. In the end, it has nothing to do with your technical approach, i.e, pick or fingers
Blaming a far distant colonial past on present and individual musical shortcomings or limitations of an individual is quite a stretch. Being in awe of something does not make one necessarily subservient to it or render that which we admire negative per se (15:46).
For sure, the best John Williams interview ever done. I am sure his age has something to do with him finally opening up to a greater public with respect to these life experiences, but also I like the style and approach of the Interviewer Marcelo Kayath who is a great player himself and not just some disc jockey acting like he knows the instrument and it's exponents...
