Texas guitar virtuoso Eric Johnson performs Friday at the Capitol Theatre in Clearwater. A dynamic player whose oeuvre includes jazz fusion, hard rock, blues, folk and even classical playing, Johnson will be onstage with a drummer and bass player, although he quickly explained it was not the textbook example of a rock “power trio.” He just does what he does.
The music will be all over the place, from everyplace Johnson has visited in his lengthy career.
Guitarist Steve Vai, in a separate interview, heaped praise on Johnson, a longtime friend and frequent touring partner: “He has such an interesting voice on the instrument,” Vai said. “His tone, and his almost neurotic focus on tone.
“He has this unbelievably powerful technique, but he also has the gift of melody. And he combines these in his own unique way. And he does it with such class.”
Tickets for Friday’s 8 p.m. show are at this link.
St. Pete Catalyst: I’ve heard you talk about “The passion of playing,” and how necessary it is regardless of where you are in your career. Is it still there? Do you still wake up every day and think ‘I’m doing it today!’?
Eric Johnson: Yeah, especially when you have the opportunity to work on new music and throw away the rulebook a bit. And say “What can I do that’d be new and different?” or “What can I do to challenge myself?” and try that isn’t the same thing you do normally. And then you kind of invite more of that enthusiasm to be there, because you’re coming up with something creatively fresh and stuff. And as long as there’s a good mixture of that implementing what you do, there can be a real joy to it.
You’ve done acoustic records, fusion records and other, different things. Is that part of the cake batter, too? Switching it up?
It is for me. I never was a master at anything, really, style-wise. I just kinda liked to jump around, take this and take that. It kinda keeps it interesting for me, ‘cause to me the focus is more of, anything I can learn to widen my guitar approach. I don’t have any shame in going into any style of music and seeing what I can steal!
I hear everything from Hendrix to Metheny in the way you play. Let’s talk about influences – what was your bedrock?
Well, I originally played piano so I think of the guitar like the piano, as far as piano chords, and I try not to get too stuck in what the guitar mandates, as far as the way it’s laid out. It’s like “OK, it’s laid out that way, but let’s see if we can skip around to different strings,” or I can do different inversions, you know, use some of the piano ideas.
Sometimes that makes it harder to play the instrument, because you’re not making it as physically easy. And also, I’m a big fan of steel guitar players, the way they produce their sound. It’s kind of like the sound jumps out more than gets picked hardly – a hard pick sound.
I think somebody’s originality really can be boiled down to just who are the amalgamations of artists they really like. There’s guys that I just love, Hendrix, Beck and Clapton, B.B. King, Freddie King, Chet Atkins, Django Reinhardt, Bill Connors, Keith Richards.
What did you get from Hendrix? Specifically, what was he brilliant at?
He was brilliant at making music, and it just so happened that his instrument of choice was guitar. Especially for the time, there wasn’t a question of synthesizers being so deep and pervasive in all different styles. They could do these little Moog things, but for the most part the guitar was the only way. He wrote great songs and lyrics, and the guitar just happened to be in it. It really puts the right emphasis on it; it’s about music, and what you’re saying, and if you want to add some prowess on an instrument that’s fine, as long as it doesn’t overshadow the music that you’re trying to say. And I think he’s a perfect example of that.
You mentioned a number of blues players. What did you get from them?
I think the way you stretch a string, or the way of vibrato, or the tone you might go for, or the inflection … I grew up learning from those blues masters. Although I’m releasing an EP this fall that’s me playing blues/rock stuff, it’s what I do for fun, it’s real different from most of the records I release.
But having said that, I think I learned the ABCs of guitar approach with that, as far as inflection.
There’s some thought out in the world that electric guitar players like Vai, Satriani, and even you, are just shredders. That’s what you do. But there’s nothing wrong with playing fast sometimes, is there?
It really depends on what you do. It really is about the song, or the piece of music, or the viability of what you’re trying to say harmonically and melodically. That’s going to be different for different folks. Everybody has a different thing that interests them.
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