Yes! Such a natural guitarist and so confident and loves to play, for the love of it! He’s willing to be an accompanist to allow his partner to shine! So giving and appreciative for the sake of the music! Even though he is larger than life! I respect that so much!😉👌
I think the sound comes from the head; it's and internal thing. When your mind goes somewhere else but it's not connected to what you're playing, it just doesn't sound as good.
Agree. The best musicians are humble and generous. Tommy is both. It's a joy to listen to him. I mean, I gotta admit I hate him a little because he does make it look so easy...but it's a loving kind of hate 😜
When I toured as road manager/tour manager/FOH Engineer with TE early on in his American breakthrough years, I would advance shows with new venues by specifying a 3 piece power trio-guitar, bass and drums including kick, pa with a minimum 3 way FOH with subs…some venues pushed back, and I Quote” he’s just one guy playing acoustic guitar?, what do we need all that for?” I would insist, front office would specify in the contracts, and when we arrived, usually just Tommy and me and GM, and I set up his ONE (truly awesome sounding acoustic guitar ) rig, the small black German amp w an alessis midiverb, and more than once there were a few pushbacks and sneers and ….then he would pull out the Maton, plug and tweak, nod at me, and blow them off the stage…he is a remarkable force of Good Nature and tremendous talent and originality. A privilege….
Great advice on practice. I started learning Trumpet in 1976 and it took me about 7 years to be good at it (just good). When I took up Guitar in Jan 2023 I fully expected that, with at least one hour of practice each day, I’d be “good” at it in 2030 - just good, not amazing, just good. The only way to learn an instrument is to apply structured, quality, practice over a long timeframe - there aren’t any shortcuts…..also, my first Trumpet teacher always said “10 mins practice when you want to is better than a half hour when you don’t”…that’s what helped him get on over 160 albums during the 2nd world war era.
The metronome has become my best teacher: (1) to work up difficult passages to tempo; (2) to keep the groove going; (3) at tempo, to uncover your flaws. Another important teacher: a digital recorder.
I agree with everything especially Molly's comments about the right hand. It's the most difficult thing, for me, yet the essential element that provides the 'groove'.
Such sincerity and eloquence in providing us with those three topics of improvement each. Tommy has mentioned in the past about how his practice entails practicing songs.
Thank you Molly and Tommy, great conversation, and some fine music. Yeah, to me the guitar has always been a lifelong trip... I'm 63 and still learning HAH!
oh man - you two sound beautiful together! I love the sound of an acoustic guitar and this actually brought tears to my eyes it was so beautiful. Thanks for this and for all you two do for music. Now I'm gonna go play my guitar and try to sound just a little like you two do lol - thanks for the pointers!
For years that I’ve listened to Tommy I thought, “what could be better than this?”. Now I’m listening to Tommy and Molly together and, what can be said? It just brings a smile to my face. ❤
I can only sit back and admire the talents of both . I have been playing for twenty years and still play the same as I did when I first started whilst having written more than 500 songs
Wow, what voices, Molly & Tommy sound so good together. They certainly sound & feed off each others style. Molly reminds me of Allison K. They have such distinct voices. Tommy is also very gifted, he can harmonize with everybody, If he can't he makes up with his playing ability. Thanks to the both of you for the awesome lesson & video, looking forward to seeing more. Made my day too!!!
Tommy, I've seen you play "Amazing Grace" many times, and it reminds me of the "essence" of true life, and of the critical importance of giving God the glory in all we do. Music comes from God and is truly a gift from above.
Wow! Sounds amazing! Molly is so underrated as a singer/songwriter, likely because she is first thought of as one of the best flat-pickers, but she is such a talented artist, love to see her get to be a household name!
You know, one of the things I love with your playing is it's not competitive but supportive, what a show, Don here from Hamilton NZ on my Wife's tablet Susan,Sincere regards 😊😊😊
"How do I get to Albert Hall?" : "Practice, practice, practice!" These two, as they said, have engaged to develop their guitar skills all their lives. It's obvious, You can hear it! This also make them understand each other's endeavours, which creates wonderful co-operation. BTW, the lyrics of "Crooked Tree" (at 12:35) is among the best I've heard as a musician for 40 years, it quite nails the feeling I've had while trying to find my own "sound".
Tommy I will buy you some pants man,for all the help you have given me,just playing around mate😂hopefully you both will come to the Cincinnati area soon, I think you both are great.
Tommy's last chord there... so nice! Great point made about practice. Neither Molly nor Tommy just woke up one day and could play like they do. They've both practiced their butts off. Sometimes I think we guitar players use our "tinkering with gizmos", and our seemingly constant tweaking and "modding" of our instruments, as an excuse not to sit down and PRACTICE. I'm definitely guilty of that!
Yep, I need to use a metronome. Lately, volume control is something is something I am working on. Strumming, I am loud but picking I need to lower the volume for more control, then I need to balance it all out. Molly and Tommy are giving great tips.
Some people speak quietly. Others speak in metaphor. A few talk to themselves. Many are not saying anything at all. Only a handful are fully self aware.
Great song, "Crooked Tree" - love that message - that all of us should honor our uniqueness, whether or not it falls into the "perfection" of what society formulates. Yup, if someone else would play my guitar, it would probably sound good!
What I tell anyone brave, foolish or stupid enough to ask my advice. I teach two-year olds, not really older, so when I’m asked by anybody over two, this is the best advice I can give, and this is what I do: when I pick up my axe first time that day, I play a single note and I really, really listen to that note, feel it vibrating the instrument and the air, hear it fade, far, far way. It’s not a long opportunity so you gotta make the best of it …because, if you care to bother doing this further exercise, you’ll realize that no matter what you do, you cannot duplicate that first experience of the day; the second time you play that note, it sounds different no matter how hard you try to listen as closely as you did the first time. That’s a channeling effect in the brain you can’t control. The almost infinite sound textures you hear in that first lovely note of the day are being gathered, readying for the deluge of notes-a song, say-it knows from experience is going to happen very, very soon. And might go on accumulating all day, all that night and around to next morning. Thus I suspect you have to sleep (something to do with dreams and REM, &c-I can’t quote David Levitson) to refresh the first-note-of-the-day effect. I also suspect that’s why some performers go in cold: that’s the effect they want just before they proceed with the repertoire. One might get pretty good at artificially preserving and reproducing that effect as the session goes on. But, as professional as that is, I don’t believe it is possible to capture the personal -uh-I dunno-“zen” of that first, well contemplated note. Of course this is why acoustic instruments-the guitar being the predominant, excellent thing-are so good for starting the day. You can’t do it with electric amplification (but you can with an electric guitar unplugged-just that the effect is shorter and more difficult to savour). Naturally that first full, beautiful, full-bodied chord of the day is similar in effect. But nothing beats so pure and powerful as that first note of the day. My advice: really pay attention to that first note, make sure to do it. I have guitars all over my house and can be pretty nonchalant about grabbing one, getting that idea out into the medium-but the first-note-of-the-day effect, that meditative or, dare I say, even prayerful effect won’t be there if it ain’t the actual thing. Sounds small. Sounds too short. But it can influence yer whole day. Just imagine it’s a song-all in one note. Thnx and all the best. XO
I notice that Molly and Tommy hold their pick differently. I tend to hold mine like Tommy (with the last three fingers allowed to relax downward). I've always been interested in the way Molly holds hers, however (with all the fingers tucked upward so as to form a very light "fist"), as it seems so compact and relaxed, and conducive to economy of movement. But I can't make it feel right to save my soul!!
Practice and learn to play in the dark. Pitch black. You can’t see anyone and no one can see you. It removes ego and showboating means absolutely nothing. It’s then purely only all about the sound. On another note, I don’t think it’s currently in their paths, but I very very eagerly await and hope to god the there will come a time that Molly and Sully’s paths will cross again and they write some amazing stories. That would seriously melt my brain.
Uhm, did the guys in charge of this video purposefully covered the Martin & Co Logo on Molly and Tommy's too? Cause guys, everyone knows it's a Martin xD, lol. You can tell by the pickguard. And if its due to some Product placement issue, that'd be hilarious cause in that case you would have had to cover all the Marshalls in the background too.
Are they playing Crooked Tree in two different keys?.....one guitar is has a capo on the 4 th fret and the other on the 2nd fret. When they play, the guitars sound as if they may be purposely playing in two keys.
im a little late lol, but there in the same key! Molly just plays out of G shapes capo 4, and Tommy plays A capo 2. Both end up in B, just different positions, Its good stuff!!
