Who is
Sean McGowan and why is he on this cover?
Features Vahagni Nickerson Guitars Anton Emery
Workshops Pierre Bensusan
Great Guitars Matsuda M1
Steve Herberman Zane Forshee Tim Thompson William Fitzhugh
Passages Howard Morgen Paul Yandell
Craig Dobbins Lou Arnold
Issue No. 2
Sean McGowan
Jazz Virtuoso By Bill Piburn During my tenure as editor of the now defunct Fingerstyle Guitar magazine, I have heard seemingly countless guitarists; and while often impressed by the vast talent in the guitar world today, none has impressed me more than Sean McGowan. He is an artist of great skill, harmonic knowledge, and innovation, and truly is a musician’s musician. I am pleased to say he is both a friend and an inspiration. “Sean McGowan is the most promising young solo guitarist I have ever heard.” — Tuck Andress
9
Where are you currently teaching?
I teach full‐time at the University of Colorado Denver, and also direct the Guitar Performance program. Our guitar department is the largest in the Rocky Mountain region; we have seven guitar instructors who specialize in a number of different styles and approaches. Our students study a lot of fundamentals and literacy, and while we use jazz repertoire and pedagogy as a basis for our curriculum, juries, etc., our students have access to a wide variety of genres through ensembles and applied studio work in addi‐ tion to professional gigs in the Denver/Boulder area. I teach a series of gu tar modules with topics ranging from contemporary fingerstyle acoustic, ‘world music’ styles, Bluegrass/Newgrass, Latin, studio/live touring work, musical theater, and funk/R&B styles. We’re not necessarily trying to turn any of our students into strictly jazz players, but rather well rounded and ver‐ satile musicians. We encourage students to find their artistic voice and also to think about working in the business of music as a career, which is crucial. Many music conservatories focus exclusively on musical aspects, i.e. technique, history, repertoire, etc. By con‐ trast, our program also includes concepts of entrepre‐ neurial thinking and learning based on real‐life oppor‐ tunities in the music industry. Personally, I require all of my students to keep practice/gig journals, where they record routines, content, tunes, concepts, career goals, and business information. It’s also important to cultivate an optimistic attitude with regard to being a full‐time musician. It’s certainly not for everyone, but I believe there are still plenty of opportunities for young musicians to find their niche and be successful — however they define ‘success.’ 10
I also teach privately and via Skype. Occasionally I teach at festivals and summer programs. This summer, I’ m absolutely thrilled to be a part of the faculty of the Guitar Week at the Swannanoa Gathering (held this past July at Warren Wilson College near Asheville, North Carolina). I really enjoy teach‐ ing in different settings, and meeting new students. I love helping them work towards their personal goals and musical aspirations.
etc. I primarily play a custom Virtuoso model, which I’ve had for about ten years. It’s Brad’s standard 17” archtop model; I used it on Indigo and the new Sphere CD. I also play a 1992 FC3 acoustic model that used to be Brad’s shop loaner when he lived in western Massachusetts. That guitar sounds beau‐ tiful and it is featured on the River Coffee recording.
You play guitars built by Brad Nickerson. Tell me about Brad and his guitars.
based on his Solstice model, a 15” carved spruce top that is fully hollow, but without f‐holes. It sounds absolutely amaz‐ ing! I wasn’t sure how a guitar without holes would sound, but the response and tone are incredible with a strong acoustic voice. Plugged in, it’s ridiculously huge‐sounding and clear, and the absence of holes allows me to turn up when playing with a drummer with no feedback issues what‐ soever.
I met Brad Nickerson back in the early 1990s at a guitar show in Boston. From the moment I saw and played his instruments, I knew they were really special and unique. Over the years, Brad and I have become very good friends, and my respect for his skills as a luthier and artist have only increased. I believe his guitars — both archtop and flat‐top acoustic — are the best available today. He is truly a one‐ man custom shop in Asheville, North Carolina, and builds every instrument by hand without the aid of CNC machines, 11
I literally just got a new archtop guitar from Brad, which is
What do you use for amplifying your guitar?
I play through Jazz Amps built by Henriksen Amplifiers in
Denver, Colorado. They have a great tone and are tonally versatile (using the non‐traditional 5‐band EQ section), plus they are really portable. I actually have a Convertible head and mini‐cabinet that I fly with. I don’t really use any effects, but I do have a nice stereo reverb by Kilpatrick Audio that I use if the room is flat. I also like to use Klotz cables, as I believe that cables do play a role in the signal path. The first two things that stand out to me about your playing is your vast harmonic knowledge and the unorthodox right hand techniques you use when extending the harmony or melodic line. Will you address this for me?
Absolutely! I listen to a lot of non‐guitar players — piano, big band, full ensembles, classical, orchestras, etc. I am moved by the harmonic direction that they can achieve that are not typical of the guitar. Therefore, it then becomes a two‐step process, that is to first figure out what is going on harmoni‐ cally in the piece of music, and then the second step is to approximate it on the guitar. I love guitar music, but I am also deeply influenced by the solo piano recordings of Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, and Thelonious Monk. Tommy Flanagan and Wynton Kelly are also big influences on me. It’s not only the way these guys solo, but the way they comp that has influenced me. The vocal group Take Six has inspired me as well. Many of their arrangements originate from Gene Puerling’s work with The Hi‐Lo’s and later with The Singers Unlimited. One of the biggest differences is the counterpoint and contra‐ puntal motion as opposed to most guitar players who tend to play chord, chord, chord — it’s static rather than lines that thread through the progression. I started developing extended techniques when I tried to emulate things that were not possible when playing the guitar in a standard way. Two things that come to mind is a wide range of really low and really high notes and the other is chord‐clusters. Take Six uses a lot of clusters of major and minor 2nds, same thing with piano players. Please explain the extended right-hand technique.
It’s basically right‐hand fretting. I use the index finger of my right hand to fret a note in the exact same way you would with the left hand. It is not hammered or tapped the way Stanley Jordan does it. I then use the thumb to pluck the note or strum if I am playing a chord. The idea is to create a guitar‐like texture without the harsh sound that tapping cre‐ ates. The challenge is to make it sound natural and most importantly musical. The technique should serve the music. Do you always use the thumb to pluck the string or do you also use the ring finger?
Actually, I alternate the thumb with the pinky of the right hand but you could certainly use the ring finger. I use the thumb and the pinky when playing an arpeggio while hold‐ ing down the index finger of the right hand on the extended
note. You can also hold down two notes with the right hand index and middle fingers. It’s almost the same as playing arti‐ ficial harmonics, however, you are actually fretting the note instead of just touching them. It’s the same motion of pluck‐ ing the string with the thumb or pinky while your index fin‐ ger plays the harmonic. In this case, you just fret the note. When fretting two notes with the right hand are they always on adjacent strings or do you also skip strings?
Both…typically I’ll use a string skip because I think it’s more interesting the way the voices stagger. That way if you use two fingers, you can get a cluster and a wide range. An exam‐ ple would be an open voiced D major triad (D‐A‐F#) built off the fifth, fourth, and second strings, respectively. You then could hold G on the third string, 12th fret with the index of the right hand and use the middle finger of the right hand to hold E on the first string, 12th fret. You end up with the order being D‐A‐G‐F#‐E. The G and the F# create a nice clus‐ ter while the high E gives you the 9th which is out the physi‐ cal range of the chord. The tones from low to high sound, 1‐ 5‐4‐3‐9. I assume you went through an experimental period of finding voicings with this technique.
I did. Much of it was in tandem with finding voicings in gen‐ eral that I could use in comping situations or in a solo guitar setting. One approach compliments the other as you search for as many ways of harmonizing chords and moving through inversions. Some work nicely with just the left hand while others need extended techniques. Specifically if you play a 7th chord, major, minor or dominant with close voic‐ ing, 1‐3‐5‐7. That is a pretty easy voicing in root position, but as you move into the inversions, they become difficult if not impossible. Johnny Smith was one of the few guitarists who could play those inversions. Most people, including me, need to use extended techniques. Do you have plans on publishing a book in the future that will address some of these techniques?
I do actually — glad you brought that up. It will be titled Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar Essentials. I am excited about this project because it’s been years in the making. It’s both a book and DVD that covers chord voicings, harmonic approaches, walking bass lines, and playing single lines on top of bass lines and extended techniques. It will be pub‐ lished this summer by String Letter and distributed by Hal Leonard. You play with a pick at times, however, you play solo guitar with fingerstyle technique.
It’s interesting that from the late ‘20s through the late ‘50s there was a whole movement of jazz guitarists like Eddie Lang, Carl Kress, Dick McDonough, and later, Johnny Smith, who were trying to put classical guitar literature on the jazz guitar with a pick. They developed a high degree of tech‐ nique. I have always been influenced by jazz guitarists har‐ 12
monically, however technically I have been more influenced by fingerstyle guitarists such as Alex de Grassi, Michael Hedges, Chet Atkins, Luis Bonfa and of course all of the clas‐ sical and flamenco players. I try to marry fingerstyle tech‐ niques with the jazz harmonic approach. You certainly play things that turn my head. When I listen to you, I don’t know if I should cut the strings off the guitar or make coffee and practice!
(Laughter) I’d go with making coffee and practice, that’s what I do. In fact that’s what I was doing just before you called (laughter)! I have been doing a lot of investigation of tritones as a comping device. Not only used as the 3rd and 7th but I also move them to find alterations on dominant chords — often putting the 9th or 13th on top of the tritone. Is this part of your approach?
Yes. There are many directions that comping can take. Nowadays most guitar players comp for themselves especial‐ ly in a trio setting, but Lenny Breau was doing it some thirty years ago! He was one of the first and maybe the only one who has translated piano technique and harmonic awareness to the guitar. He was obviously influenced heavily by Bill Evans and McCoy Tyner in particular. Lenny spent years working on those voicings and he would do it with just one or two fingers while playing lead lines on top! His technique developed as a result of wanting to sound like a piano player. He practiced it fervently for twenty years and he did it! Fortunately, since the guitar is tuned in fourths, many of the McCoy voicings can be grabbed with one finger because they are just stacked fourths. That leaves three other fingers available to play lead lines. Another voicing that is often used is a basic 13th chord with, b7‐3‐13. If you build that off the 5th, 4th and 3rd strings you can play it with just the 2nd and fingers of the left hand. This leaves the 1 and 4 fingers to play melody. You barre the 3rd and 13th with the 3rd finger, left hand, correct?
Exactly...the 2nd finger plays the b7th. I think this is how Lenny would play lines while playing the chord at the same time. One thing that I have been working on is the ability to physi‐ cally hold down one note in a chord while playing the others short. Musically that is very important because all of a sud‐ den your guitar playing sounds three‐dimensional. It sounds more like two people playing rather than one trying to play two parts. The secret is in the articulation. If you can get the melody to sing, in the same way a singer would, meaning — holding a note and paying attention to the dynamics while playing the accompaniment in different ways — then you are in business. I practice holding down any one of the notes in a chord while playing the others staccato. You can take any
chord voicing and practice sustaining each of the notes while playing the others staccato. Are you’re doing this by muting with the right hand or lifting the fingers of the left hand?
None of it comes from the right hand…this is something I learned from Tuck Andress. Tuck is a master at this. It all comes from the left hand. You don’t want to have to be think‐ ing about the right hand, you want to be able to just go for it at any moment. The left hand is responsible for all the articu‐ lation. The fingers do not come off the strings., you just sim‐ ply release the pressure on the strings enough to stop the sound. Let me give you an example: play a C major 7th in third posi‐ tion. First play the chord and let everything ring. Now sus‐ tain the B note on the third string while lifting the other fin‐ gers. Now the B is sustained as a whole note while the chord is staccato. Musically you will hear a huge difference. Then practice that same process with all the other fingers. It’s a subtle technique but of paramount importance. Another thing important to practice, and that is really hard, involves right hand technique. It is trying to make one voice louder within the chord than the other notes. This is some‐ thing that Earl Klugh is a master at. Earl’s ability to sing the melody always amazed me. In my opinion Earl has taken the Lenny Breau approach and made it contemporary and his own — it’s pretty amazing. I should say that Tuck and Earl are the first two guitarists that got me interested in solo guitar. Long ago I got Tuck and Patti’s first recording Tears of Joy and later Tuck’s first solo recording Reckless Precision. I also had Earl’s first solo recording Solo Guitar . They were on cassettes and I listened to them day and night! Earl always sounds relaxed and intimate in his playing. Some musicians play well but sound uptight, like they are thinking about it too much.
Yeah, you know the funny thing, or maybe ironic thing, is that the biggest challenge is just to make it sound good (laughter). You go through all these steps, but ultimately your goal is to make the music a joy to listen to. The idea is to make something that is really hard look and sound easy. That results in a musical performance. All the greats have that ability. The side that is beyond technique, which addresses the spirit, the soul of the player, and that is where the magic starts. Most of the great guitarists can be identified within a few notes. DNA really does seem to be involved at this level.
Yeah, and that’s what makes the guitar one of the coolest instruments to play, it’s amazing! After all, we are talking about a wooden box with strings on it (laughter) — just the way you touch it, your soul, your vibe, your approach and intentions all go into creating your sound. That is why we
can easily spend a lifetime learning to play. Therefore, we do!
(Laughter) Yeah, there are so many things I am just learning, and I have been playing thirty years! It’s fun, it keeps you going.
they can play the tunes but they have to take it to the next level. Some people have it and others have to work on it. You can never blame it on a tune. As performers, we need to be able to take any song and make it interesting and musical. Do you think there is a danger in disconnecting from the humanity of music when players are focused on their technique?
I do think there is an inherent danger of that. I am very aware of that being an educator. It is an art and you hear people say that you cannot teach art, you cannot teach improvisation. On one level, I agree with that, but you can teach the tools and technique that go into the art. Ultimately it comes down to get‐ ting in touch with your voice. It is important that this does not get lost in the schools. With my students, we do all the theory stuff because it’s a palatable thing but in the end, it comes down to finding your voice. Recently I have been thinking there is no reason to do just a technical exercise. Maybe one should always incorporate the technique into musical settings., not only to make it more enjoyable but also to avoid any disconnect from the musical side.
Exactly. It’s interesting that if you go to a workshop or a clinic, most of the students seem to be looking for a magic bullet and there isn’t one. I will say that when it comes to really great artists, the one com‐ mon thread is that they work on tunes a lot. They are consistently looking for new ways to play through a song. Jazz standards are very challenging in that regard because of the chord changes. In the begin‐ ning, a guitarist is just trying to outline the chord changes correctly. The next step is to make a person‐ al statement within the confines of those changes.
Do you find that some players think they know it all?
(Laughter) These days all you have to do is go to YouTube and in thirty seconds, you’ll hear that you do not know it all. When we were growing up, we would hear about someone and go to the record store. In my case, growing up in Maine, I would order the record. Sometimes I would just blindly order guitar recordings. Every day you hear about virtuoso players, but that makes the musical side that much more important. There are many players with unlimited technique, but it comes down to communicating. I think of Tommy Emmanuel and of course, he is a great guitar player but he communicates from the heart and that always trumps tech‐ nique. I try to impart to my students who have all these chops that
I want to add that of course you have to work on the techniques. You have to get them in your hands, but beyond that we need to apply them to musical situa‐ tions. For example, if we are working on bass lines we will address the theory of constructing a bass line. We will look at how Ray Brown might construct it. Then we would address playing the bass notes with just down strokes and then alternating the thumb with down and up strokes. We will then play the bass line only on the low E and A strings so we are playing horizontally. The next step is to put it into a musical setting by playing a blues or a stan‐ dard. Lets talk about time…one of the most common problems I hear in solo players is a good sense of time and control.
These days a lot of people have loop stations that they can play along with, but I think the best thing is to put the metronome on two and four, this will really help secure your time. If you can play at various tempos on two and four it will make your time really strong. Many solo players over‐ look the importance of good time. They are caught up in try‐ 14
ing to find something fancy and the time does not feel good or it does not swing as hard as it could. If you listen to Oscar Peterson or Thelonious Monk, there is no question where beat one is! (Laughter) Solo guitar players should have the same rhythmic intensity.
incredible fingerstyle jazz guitarist with a beautiful sound. Did you study with Frank?
It’s funny, I did take some classes with Frank, but my teacher at USC was Joe Diorio. By the time I went to USC, I was older and had been play‐ ing for a number of years. I did my Doctorate at USC.
Growing up I listened to a lot of music that had a good feel other than jazz because it felt so good. I listened a lot to Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles. If you want to hear good time just listen to Ray Charles for about thirty seconds! I have listened to him a lot through the years. I actu‐ ally went to see him when I was lit‐ tle. You know, R&B and soul have those same elements. Guitar players should be listening to all kinds of stuff. It will make them more com‐ plete. I think one thing that hurts solo players regarding their time is the lack of experience playing with other musicians.
Tell me about your study with Joe and some of the other teachers who have influenced you.
Sean’s Nickerson Solstice model, 15” hollow body, carved spruce archtop, no f-holes.
I totally agree! Even now, I play more with ensembles than solo. Tuck had the same experi‐ ence in his early days. He played in a ton of funk bands before getting his duo together with Patti. He had his ‘time/feel’ under his belt early on.
While we are talking about Tuck, let’s talk about your friendship with him. He has been very supportive of your talent.
I had never heard anyone play guitar like that! Tuck had everything happening! Great time, aggressive funk, great swing feel and incredible chord voicings, all at the same time! (Laughter). His tone was also incredible. I was eighteen years old and up to that time, my experience was playing jazz with a pick and just playing single note lines or comping chords for someone else. That was my understanding of jazz guitar. I had never heard anyone bring it all together until I heard Tuck. It was an orchestral approach to the guitar. I first met Tuck in the summer of 1992 when he was teach‐ ing a weeklong guitar residency. It was an incredible experi‐ ence and I guess he liked my playing because he invited me to teach a workshop with him the following summer.
I have been very fortunate. I have had wonderful teachers but on some level, at least philosophically, I believe everyone is self‐taught. I believe most great musicians view themselves as students of the music. I recently had John Scofield as a guest at UC Denver. I told him I thought he transcends the guitar. He said, “Really? I have to disagree. I feel challenged everyday by this instrument and I am still learning.”
Teachers can provide recourses and sometimes shortcuts, but ultimately it is up to you to put in the hours and make the discoveries on your own. You have to put in the work and love it. I am a firm believer in that. In regard to Joe and my study with him at USC — Joe was wonderful but at that point, it was just playing music. I would go in and we would just play tunes together. At times, I would ask him about his approach to a tune or something about harmony. Joe is a very advanced thinker on the guitar. It is amazing if you stop and think about it, Joe is only five years younger than Kenny Burrell and the stuff Joe was doing back in the ‘60s was very modern. He was a modern jazz guitarist before anyone else was. He just did not get the recognition he deserved. There is a YouTube interview of Wes Montgomery and he was asked what young players he was checkin’ out, and he said Joe Diorio. Joe is a beautiful human being. I would sometimes come in stressed or feeling bad about my playing and he would offer things to make me think differently. Sitting down and playing a standard like “Body and Soul” with him was a learning experience organi‐ cally. You do not have to say a word…you hear his time/feel or how he plays a chord. You are hearing his substitutions and lines and seeing him play it right in front of you.
Do you stay in touch?
We do but he tours mostly in Europe. When it is possible, we get together and catch up. Another player who is not as well known but equally as won‐ derful is Frank Potenza. Frank teaches at USC. He was a pro‐ tégé of Joe Pass and they became quite close. Frank is an 15
In going back to Frank — though I never studied with him — I learned from listening to his recordings. I’ll hear something and say, wow, what was that? Frank tells a great story about asking Joe Pass where an amazing cadenza or something came from and Joe replied, “Oh, I stole that from George Shearing” (laughter).
Who were some of your early influences? Tony Gaboury was one of my first teachers. He had a big influence on me; he played all these modern lines with his fingers. Tony is not known outside of Maine but he is a great player. He is involved with the drum‐ mer Steve Grover in the group The Lenny Breau Project. Steve was for‐ merly a roommate of Lenny’s and has many of the arrangements Lenny did. Lenny’s older brother, Denny, and Brad Terry are also in the group. Tony and I remain friends and stay in touch. Gary Whittner was another influence and a great player. He was the first person who turned me on to the music of Thelonious Monk.
for years and knew I did not want to do that. Nowadays if you want a position at a university, you have to have a doc‐ torate, period. After graduating from Berklee, I spent a number of years teaching adjunct at the University of Maine and Bowdin College. I realized I wanted and needed a fulltime job and that’s when I went back to school. While at Berklee did, you study with Mick Goodrick? I was able to take a class with Mick, it was a high‐level guitar lab. When I was nineteen, I got his book The Advancing Guitarist. I spent the whole summer studying that book. It was revolutionary for me because I had never thought of harmony and the guitar neck in those terms. Playing with him was the same kind of experience I had playing with Joe [Diorio]. Mick thinks very contra‐ puntally and plays fingerstyle. The way he plays a ballad is amazing! He is an artist in the same way Joe is. Between all of these people, I have been fortunate.
You went to Berklee, didn’t you? Yes, I did my undergraduate study at Berklee and went to University of the Arts in Philadelphia; I got my doctorate at USC. I was in and out of school because of playing and teach‐ Nickerson Solstice model ing a lot. I didn’t start at Berklee until I was a little older, twenty‐six. I went on to get my doctorate because I love teaching and wanted to do it at the college level. I taught at music stores
VIDEO RELEASE!
www.seanmcgowanguitar.com
FINGERSTYLE JAZZ GUITAR ESSENTIALS
From Acoustic Guitar Guides
Master the fundamentals of fingerstyle jazz with this series of lessons by renowned fingerstyle jazz guitarist Sean McGowan. Learn at your own pace with these expert-led video guides, then put your new skills into practice as you play through exercises and original études. Titles include: Creating Color with Substitutions Developing Rhythm Guide Tone Voicings Building Bass Lines Four-Part Seventh Chord Voicings And more!
Visit store.AcousticGuitar.com today. 16
