Guitar Summit 2023 Talk: Plini

yes you guys can hear us perfect awesome uh welcome  this is uh actually the the last issue of   um guitar Summit talk welcome everybody in live  stream and welcome cleany thank you hey how are   you doing good I feel like I've been at a  guitar convention for three days yeah I've   been here all three days I think so yeah uh  I actually don't remember okay maybe two days   it's been a blast there's so much love yeah  there's so much happening on events like this   um and you just told me it's your first time  so it's your what's your impression I love   it I love how kind of peaceful it is there's no  reason that a giant guitar convention should feel   peaceful but like you can walk around and have a  conversation it's kind of amazing it's not like   anything that I've been to before yeah and the  spaces just really nice yeah yeah you've been   to Nam before yeah yeah it's just like someone  testing a crash symbol over and over again oh   yeah that's absolutely terrible and it takes about  three years to meet up with anyone because it's so   big because of the distances and then your phones  don't work so you're like yeah I'll just meet you   at like Hall 7 000 and then it's you've run  into 10 people you know by then and yeah yeah   chaos pure chaos but this is like beautifully  organized yeah it's been great really nice   um let's talk a little bit about your Beginnings  um maybe early influences maybe even like your   earliest sort of guitar memory when you do did  you decide that you wanted to pick up a guitar   or maybe you decided to play another instrument  before yeah before I played guitar I wanted to   play drums um well I guess the first band that I  really loved was the Beatles And so I wanted to   be like the world's most famous bad drama Ringo  okay um so I used to hit stuff around the house   and kind of like beg my parents to eventually  buy me a drum set okay which worked uh but we   lived in an apartment so it was way too loud  okay so I never really got good and then sort   of just abandoned the idea okay there was also a  ukulele in the house nice I started to play that   and I played it so furiously that I broke  it like it just collapsed in on itself oh   um so we went to a music shop one day and instead  of getting a replacement ukulele I got a like a   small acoustic guitar it's like a cheap classical  nylon okay and that was my first guitar um and   at the time I started listening to like Green  Day and Blink 182 and that sort of thing okay   um and I didn't have an electric but I figured  out that if you put like a a little piece of paper   near the bridge like winding in and out of the  strings it wraps it kind of just buzzers sounds   not really like Distortion but it's closer it's  closer um so I used to do that and then eventually   got an electric guitar and then now we're here  what was your first electric guitar like I was   a really bad fake strap okay yeah very it's I hear  that story all over and over again where people's   like my first guitar was shitty yeah it was it was  terrible so your early influences were I guess you   could say uh yeah Blink 182 in Green Day it's it's  kind of punk but it's also kind of popular in a   way like it was just the rock music sort of thing  that was popular at the time at the time yeah   um did you did you take lessons at some point  or are you completely self-taught or was there   maybe a ratio um pretty much totally self-taught  um I think the first proper guitar lesson I had   was about a month ago oh really yeah there's an  amazing guitarist from Boston called Tim Miller   he's a like Fusion I've heard the name yeah  he teaches at Berkeley College of Music and   we became friends in the last few years um  and he thought I was joking I messaged him   and I was like if I come to Boston can I  have a guitar lesson and he was like huh and I was like no seriously um because he's like  incredible Harmony vocabulary crazy improviser   like all this stuff that I'd love to be able to  do but don't necessarily know where to begin with   expanding okay um yeah so I went to his office in  Berkeley and just talked about guitar for a couple   of hours and he sent me away with some sheets of  like different scale exes I learned this yes yeah   it was awesome I still haven't actually touched  any of the material but it's sitting in my inbox   ready to help me get better but it's launch  at some point okay but um so in the yeah in   the beginning I was just watching YouTube videos  buying Guitar World magazine learning tabs that   sort of thing okay nice um it is kind of I've  heard people say it is kind of difficult to put   you into one straight musical genre if a musical  I mean I consider a musical drone or something to   put on the shelf and it's like in order to  sell something and to know where people find   their favorite bands yeah but people repeatedly uh  tell me it's difficult to put you into one thing   because you combine a lot of studs or you take  from a lot of different styles um of music if you   had to describe your music in a not in one word  but in in a certain way how would you describe it   um I would probably say instrumental music I think   it's music that doesn't have vocals uh  or instrumental guitar music because it's   instrumental music that features  the guitar features the guitar   um yeah when I used to finish a song and Export  it into my iTunes library I used to really like   categorize everything well like rename everything  so it was good so I'd put in my own music and I   had to give it like all the different fields and  for the genre I just always put other other okay   but yeah maybe it's other yeah yeah some I mean  yeah sometimes people refer to it as gent but then   again there's this there's this ongoing discussion  that Jen is not really a musical genre well it's   sort of it's become one or at least it's just  a label that people know okay there's probably   syncopated drums and a distorted guitar that's  probably D tuned or a seven string or something   like that I guess yeah if it helps you sort of to  Market things to be like I might like this because   it's this genre but yeah I feel I guess the same  as your genre is a kind of stupid yeah realm of   of trying to Market things yeah and yeah yeah  I I feel the same way um you have released uh   let me think at two albums six EPS uh a whole  bunch of singles and you also have done a lot of   contributions to with other artists uh in the past  and yeah if I look at the ratio two albums uh six   EPS uh is that a preference is it do you prefer  the format of an EP which is usually a little bit   a bit shorter maybe less tracks um I find with  writing instrumental guitar music yeah uh it's   hard for me to come up with like more than half  an hour of interesting material okay in one go   um because like you don't have the same luxury  of exploring different ideas as you do with   words because okay it can become very similar  very quickly so the idea of trying to write an   album which is could be an hour long is like quite  a lot of work yeah um at least for me in terms of   how different I want songs to be in a collection  okay so on AP just has always felt like a more   manageable thing like say you write four songs  one's long one's short one's heavy one's not   heavy yeah kind of it's like a manageable thing  to put together um and it also feels uh less like   there's lower Stakes like when you place an EP  no one really cares that much okay at least an   album it's like a big deal and you go on tour for  it and all that sort of thing um but yeah so it   kind of feels like APS are a way to explore have  fun yeah new things and then you kind of take a   deep breath and go all right it's time to make an  album okay this is gonna like use a lot of energy   and do you find yourself if you listen uh to music  like in you know at home or when you're traveling   or something uh more listening to EPS or uh to  albums uh definitely albums definitely albums   I'll just put on something from the beginning  and just listen to it in order yeah nice um and he said um we're gonna get together um  the future of exceptional guitar playing   that's what he described when  he heard one of your albums   um does that this does a quote like that uh or  a comment put pressure on you or you're like   yeah I'm chilled with with with compliments um no  I think pressure I mean that was like incredibly   surreal to see because it's not obviously  obviously yeah yeah I didn't message him   and go hey can you say something on the Internet  no no exactly um but then it's kind of I guess   that's one of the best examples of just a sign  that whatever I was doing by making music for   fun was interesting to people especially someone  that I love so much yeah um so I guess keep going   and there's no reason to change necessarily how  I approach making music yeah it doesn't yeah I   try not to let anything feel like pressure it's  just encouragement or something to ignore yeah   the question I asked the question because  obviously there might be people who feel   intimidated by someone like Steve Vai was such  a legacy in especially instrumental guitar music   and they might feel intimidated but if it doesn't  put pressure on you and if if it actually does the   reverse thing it kind of keeps you motivated  then it's really cool seeing the guys that I   grew up idolizing like Steve Vai and John Petrucci  like they're just checking out all the new young   players and being like this guy's sick this guy's  sick like come to this teaching thing with me   um yeah then they just really nice people  yeah people say like don't meet your Heroes   but like those heroes are awesome yeah exactly  I've repeatedly heard of people like uh John   Petrucci I actually went to a clinic of of his  ones and he was such a humble guy he was like   so down to earth not not like arrogant nose up  cocky or something at all like like the regular   guy you could talk to in the cafe yeah like  yeah um yeah talking about that you went to a um   was it the the G4 experience no there was a  no via Academy was it I did Via Academy yeah   2019 and then I just did John Patricia guitar  Universe yeah a couple of months ago right that   was awesome and uh we have something in common  I also was heavily influenced by Satriani I was   listening to his albums all the time because  for me looking at the the Giants at the time   like why Petrucci yeah Satriani was always like  the more rock and roll guy to me he looked like   he had way more swing and fun on stage and  everybody else was just very focused yeah   um did you have a chance to jam with him uh not  yet not yet I've met him briefly yeah but never   had a chance to play music with him I hope I  will so yeah yeah yeah I hope that for you too   um headless guitars yep uh what made you choose a  headless guitars over a regular one a boring one   a boring one yeah a a usual one yeah when I so I  I had this shitty Strat and then it sort of fell   apart so the next thing I got was an Ibanez uh  because yeah everyone that I liked played Ibanez   um and then after a few years I thought it was  time to get another guitar and I was looking   at a Petrucci signature yeah or a park a fly  because I just liked how weird they looked yeah   um they do yeah and then I came across strandberg  I saw a photo of Chris Ledford scale of summit   yeah he got like the second one or something  like that and then I saw Tyson was playing them   and yeah from periphery so I was like oh this  random weird looking thing that this guy makes   in his garage in Sweden must be pretty good if  these guys are playing it yeah and then more and   more people were playing it um and I eventually  got to try one uh because my friend Aaron who   plays in band intervals yeah playing them on  tour so I just got to sort of noodle on one   unplugged for five minutes and it's like so light  so comfortable it to me looks gorgeous it's like a   just great looking beautifully designed like piece  of wood yeah um and then yeah and then I got one   and just have played them ever since because they  sort of do everything I want a guitar to do okay   yeah and you you also play the one with the uh  ergonomic uh neck profile or yeah because there   are people who prefer a regular one I remember  that all I used to do uh some with regular I   think they're all the same like the patented  snack profile now the Andrew neck yeah right   yeah I find it super comfortable I've never had  any sort of like tension or injury with playing   and I'm sure that's contributed to it um yeah  they're just awesome and then at some point uh   you actually started a a proper relationship  with uh strandberg and then eventually uh made   it to Signature artist uh level did you approach  Ola or did he approach you or did you just meet   and then at somehow uh I so I originally signed  up for the wait list to get the one that he was   making Yeah by hand and made to measure one yeah  they're made to measure which I think the wait   time was like a year or two years or something  yeah and then at some point they started doing   the production models yeah so I sent him an  email with like links to my music and YouTube   and basically trying to skip the wait list like  hey I'm doing okay why don't you give me a guitar   um and because they just started doing  production it was much more feasible he   just sent me one of the production models okay  to try and then I made a video with it that got   lots of views and I think that was good for them  was good for me and I kept playing it and then   did a tour in Japan with a band called cynic  and Paul from cynic uh was playing strand but   he was playing strandberg as well um so all  uh stramberg had the idea that for this tour   where we're both strandberg players they would  do like a limited batch of signature models so I   think we did 20 or something like that and they  all sold out um pretty quickly so they decided   to make it a permanent model and then we've  just kind of tweaked it from there ever since   nice do you sometimes still play a boring one  or does it does it never happen these days uh   I do if I'm like at a friend's house um I  actually I haven't played a single guitar   here aside from my own really yeah okay um I'm  gonna check out the fretless ones but typically   there's yeah the stramberg does everything  that I want an electric guitar to do yeah   um and it does it in a way that's really  comfortable to me um so I don't feel that   compelled really to try other stuff although  it is really fun just trying like weird vintage   um stuff that doesn't sound anything like a  modern guitar yeah yeah there's always this   this uh debate about do you want a comfortable  guitar or do you want a guitar that you need   to fight with a little bit yeah uh I know  that vintage players love these like old   strats for example and they're like super  round uh fretboards uh radiuses yeah where   they have to uh but yeah uh each to their own I  guess um if you like a uh a comfortable guitar um what kind of music inspires you today these  days um maybe stuff that was released recently or   uh the thing that I've listened to the most in  the last few months is one of the latest Skrillex   albums okay um I kind of miss this but apparently  he was extremely hated because okay like he did   all this dubstep stuff like 10 15 years ago yeah  and I didn't know but apparently like the whole   dubstep Community hated him okay and then he kind  of just produced random stuff through the years   and then came out with two albums recently there's  one of them that's like a little bit crazier okay   um that I think has like redeemed  him to all the like hardcore dubstep   dubstep electronic producer World okay  that's just [ __ ] crazy like there's   the sound Design's amazing the mix is  amazing the songwriting is interesting   um yeah the first time I listened to I was like  laughing I was like you can do this with music   and that's something that I always look for and  like that's how I felt when I first heard Dream   Theater or yeah Satriani or something and it's  something I get less and less from music like   mine or like guitar based music yeah yeah so I  kind of just trying to look into different genres   yeah different styles of music let's call them  Styles yeah just to see what crazy [ __ ] people   are getting up to okay so yeah that okay that was  an example from electronic mostly electronic music   um anything from other styles of music that I will  continue to love everything Meshuggah does oh yeah   these guys are like I'll get on a long plane  ride and just put on my sugar and just sleep   blissfully you sleep to me sugar yeah I just  I like them so much it's like comfortable wow   yeah they're like their latest  out on all their albums so perfect   yeah um what else I guess Tim Miller  who I mentioned before he's released   a few albums and they're like just  crazy Harmony crazy playing yeah right   um there's a question that I ask uh all the people  who come to this coach um you're you're on a null   on you have to go to a Lonely Island yep you  can only take three things with you uh what do   you take uh am I taken care of for like food and  water that sort of thing okay that's that's the   first time somebody says something that logical  everybody else goes like I'm gonna take my guitar   I'm gonna take my espresso machine espresso  machine three things I don't yeah this is hard   because now I'm thinking like do I bring a set of  tools so I can build like a shelter or something   I was just thinking building like cool toys or  something like makeup okay a swing or something I guess to give you a more helpful as a a  guitar yeah a laptop a laptop well the power   I guess the laptop's Not Gonna Last too well  yeah we already established that there's some   electricity on the island so yeah uh oh there's  electricity there's electricity so if you wanted   to bring an espresso machine you could do so  yeah guitar a laptop and an espresso machine   sounds like it sounds like it sounds like a  good plan basically what I have at home okay   no furniture just yeah just one power outlet this  is a laptop and an espresso machine and there you   go that definitely saves space yeah um what is  what does the future hold for you or what kind   of what kind of plans do you have for the near and  and yeah for the future like maybe next year yeah   uh in by the end of the year I'll have a new  AP being released and I just I have two like   the final mixes of it sitting in my email that  I haven't had a chance to listen to today okay   um that I'm excited to hear and so yeah that'll  come out uh end of November okay and then next   year we'll do some touring okay around it  and then we'll see yeah okay you said uh   you were yeah you're looking forward to hear  these mixes um you do the recording yourself   and then you let somebody else take over uh  for the for the other steps of production so   for this one I record like wrote and recorded  everything at home recorded all the guitars di   um just using plugins and then we my bass player  is also the engineer okay he went to a studio with   the drummer and recorded all his parts and then I  sent everything to my bass player and he the first   time I hear the bass is when he sends me a mix  because he records it like after everything yeah   um and yeah and so he'll reamp stuff  because he's got a collection of amps   um he's done some fun stuff like he he found an  amp on the side of the road uh and recorded it uh   in like his spare bathroom yeah it's like  a really shitty Reverb sort of sound yeah   um that worked really well for a part so he kind  of goes into that like Studio mad scientist world   with what I sent him and then mixes it sends it  to me I usually have barely any things to change   because we just kind of we've known each other so  long he knows what I want so there's a connection   he knows what you're what you like what you would  prefer um He suggests cool stuff like the bathroom   amp yeah what if we did this on this part yeah  nice that's it okay sounds like a good way to work   um thank you so much for taking the time  uh I know it's it's the last day and it's   like has been three days of uh you know  buzzing around everywhere so thanks for   taking the time and uh yeah enjoy the rest  of the weekend you too thank you thanks foreign

Channel: Guitar Summit

Views: 2,842

Keywords:

Id: TARfpXUOCV0

Length: 22min 50sec (1370 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 25 2023