Two Of The World's BEST Acoustic Players In One Room! | Guitar Village

greetings folks this is Mike Dawes and my name's Tony enamel and I'm a sensitive banjo player so it's true yeah I'm so I'm so sensitive that I don't play one exactly that's the definition of a gentleman all right a guy who can play the banjo but he does anyway moving right along let's do this [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] thank you thank you [Music] [Laughter] [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you beautiful beautiful that sounds incredible beautiful there you go take one again yeah so where are we oh yes we're in farming we're in Farnham in in England and um I'm visiting Mike today because he was doing a workshop and I saw that that he was on and on here in England being granddad so I thought I better come down and visit my my other son father and it's so good to be here in Guitar Village which is a very very special place yeah uh so even more special place now uh Tommy's here but um guitar Village being the the place that I bought my first ever guitar I then traded it in for another guitar because I wanted to be slash so I got a tobacco Sunburst let's go and then uh it was the place where I decided to join the Dark Side and become an acoustic guitar yes yeah he came over yes exactly exactly exactly I've got the granddaddy guitar the big one right exactly I call you my Obi-Wan Kenobi but maybe you're more of a Palpatine [Music] back out normal service has soon as possible oh there we go Dave if you're watching this we love you I know it's your mic all right here we go take two and see me in the morning [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] it was full of mistakes but uh they're all on purpose yeah exactly exactly 100 all the notes not necessarily in the right order anyway thanks for listening wonderful wonderful incredible uh well I I changed I changed these top three ones every two shows every Tuesday but um honestly like these I used to change everything every two shows because they just get really grim and dead but these Dario XS is a freaking amazing machines [Music] I love them really they're they're really uh really great so yeah like I was saying I'm saying earlier these strings I haven't changed for 20 shows wow yeah because I don't need to because they're not gonna snap and they last it's like how do you find the excess dude how do you find this out yeah right [Music] similar things we get nyxls which are a special metal compound they use that's what these are the top two they're they're in my excels [Music] yeah yeah I mean when you change tunings for every song things break you know it's not you're never gonna not do that you know if you find vibranium or monitorium awesome some kind of thing like that it's a big old boy [Music] where are you uh where are you playing before Milan like what what's are you doing you're doing Prague before yeah I'm doing two shows in Prague but now I meet you in Milano we'll have some gelato [Music] Pizza somewhere in Italy is looking pretty packed isn't it yeah it's going to be a great tour for that it's going to be so good the food all right all right you ready yeah all right this is a little little 1975. yeah [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] [Laughter] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] to go with that track him I like the track be found yeah incredible bit I've got another saxophone player as well uh John yeah and um so yeah I got to know him through a friend through Pliny um who so John the session saxophone player for the 1975 did a track with my friend Pliny uh and then we met at a gig uh we did this track and then I was able to just be like dude check this out surprise and then he sent it to the band and the band were like what and then and then Mali the singer like tweeted it tweeted about it so that was nice it's a lovely sounding song but but what it's about it's about you know being on tour effectively exactly yeah having women tempt you yeah or one specific one team two even though you have a yeah and what he's saying is if I know it'd be a big mistake for me to to do this but could you be my mistake it's a great great Melody and um when I first heard it I I was like let me play on this thing it's beautiful you know it makes it for the EP as well it's it's the last track I think it makes a really nice like closer for a record and it's so different to most of their other kind of stuff yeah I think what's really cool is like yeah just introducing different groups of people to different songs you know it's like there are people believe it or not young people that don't know Fields of Gold you know what I mean it's a sting song how can they right exactly but they they'll know the 1975 and it is it yeah I like that and you know I mean Tommy's the man who can do anything so let's do anything you know when I play with with Mike and it's just this is a song that he's brought to us then I'm I'm all ears to hear the melody and he's he's playing the arrangement the completely self-contained and I'm just trying to kind of tiptoe around him and then join in Melody parts that that enhance what's going on and then stay out of the way and start stuff like that like when he's playing Melody lines over I can do like you know kind of like Orchestra strings in the orchestration almost yeah and and stuff like that is is fun you know and playful and then then he's playing so I might go [Music] with me so he's up higher on I play down and then I make it [Music] like the high high female voice or something you know so I'll always try to think in in that way when when we're playing Tunes it's like I'm listening to everything he's doing and I'm trying to find a way of weaving in and out without getting in the road of what see because Mike and I are both solo players right but when we come together I need him to have everything together so I can just be the singer trying to think that that's how I feel you know I don't play a lot of backing things uh uh when when Mike and I play together because he's already got it all covered you know some other players I play with like Richard Smith or whatever he'll play like a rhythm part and I'll play A Melody and then I'll switch to Rhythm and he'll take a Melody but it's just a different Dynamic with us because we're he's a very different player but I I love the way he plays and it helps me to be more in inventive you know and dance do you find it gives you more both more freedom playing together in that sense because you haven't got to fill this big spectrum of sound I I hope so I have something because well when you go see Mike live his sound is incredible it's it's big and it's got everything so also what you were saying as well about these two guitars and the way the way that we both play I think they complement each other very well I mean just sonically there's there's a nice blend of the warmth I mean the guitar picks that Tommy uses fit in so well this beautiful warmth even though it's the lead it's thought I'm playing really I'm playing gently if I go you hear how much power it's got but I I don't do that you know um in in uh in Teen Spirit [Music] okay so there's a lot there's a lot of frequencies going on there so it's Nirvana you can just play power chords in the backing power chords kicks and beats and all of that and then yeah and then there's so much color to film yeah and then so then when I'm playing the Melody I I kind of dig in you know I try to get that low mid [Music] foreign [Music] and he's he's laying the groove down so I think the same thing that's so powerful live as well it is yes can't do a big Power I bet that sounds amazing I mean it sounds great to be a little uh here you are down there yeah yeah we're just playing quietly here yeah you know let's slow down you know all of this when you're doubling the harmony of the extent that one yeah all that stuff just play that part ready [Music] thank you [Music] yeah so and then where where John Mayer's voices [Music] yeah [Music] somebody stop me that sounds great so you these tracks that you've been playing are all off accomplish volume three right so you've got five tracks on there and how did that come together well just by by doing some dates together and and what once once I heard my play a few times uh you know we he said oh I've got an arrangement of Teen Spirit and I so I I went and listened to to um Nirvana doing it and tried to work out a part the lead singer part and then he showed me the rest of the song really and I just worked out how to how how to fit in you know and uh with Fields of Gold uh uh he just happened to mention that that he had an arrangement of it and he started playing it and so I just I just was the lead singer I didn't do anything else you know um so you know it's really about spending some time together you know and and uh playing playing in the dressing room uh while we're waiting to do sound check and come up with ideas and we eventually got these five songs together and started playing them on stage and then by the time the two are finished and we we ended up in La we just went into a studio marked up our guitars and played as a very real very one take you know it really was and and the session time was was down to covid actually because two of the shows on a tour just got canceled so that's right we were supposed to play in Berkeley a freaking Salvage oh that's right they got canceled they got canceled that's right and then it was let's do a record all right yes we can watch Netflix so we can make a record so we drove to Los Angeles it was a it was an experience and I will say there was that we did four songs it was um it was somebody that I used to know slow dancing Fields of Gold and uh Teen Spirit but we only just we didn't have a fifth and it was it was on I think on the day we looked at be my mistake on the day and I think Tommy you listen to it while doing the coffee run that's right you're like I'm gonna go to the green lady Starbucks right yeah let's figure this out and then when it came back and laid it down so it's the most raw uh it's actually my favorite one from the record personally and it's the most raw kind of real moment captured and also Mark vsisto has got this little tape delay the engineer this all this vintage gear it's just a beautiful vintage sound yeah um yeah real real a real La record you know that's what it feels like yeah exactly exactly so where are you guys up to from here then what's the next day you're playing Sunday aren't you Mike yeah locally Yeah well yeah I'm playing tomorrow uh from the date of filming uh finishing up a little UK run of shows around this area so uh for anyone on the internet watching this um we're in the kind of Surrey Hampshire area which is where I first started playing and I've been able to squeeze in a little run of shows around these old haunts you know to kind of go back to these areas and it's been a thrill and I I'm just upstairs from this room is the gentleman that gave me my first ever gig you know so it's really a beautiful and guitar Village you know I bought my first acoustic here I bought my Taylor 214 from upstairs so that's nice but then we're meeting in Italy we're going to be in Italy uh doing I don't know how many like 12 shows more than that well we're going to we're going up to Netherlands and Switzerland and Luxembourg Luxembourg that's right yeah yeah lots of days together um yeah it's like that uh obviously sitting here watching you seeing you guys you know live videos things like that you obviously you choose a guitar you like it what what brings you Tommy first what brings you towards Tomatoes well I've always played I've always played maintenance this is this guitar has you know it has a great sound just acoustically but plugged in it's it'll kill anything you know it's it's a beast um and uh and and it's got the right tone to go with what Mike's doing here he's got a lot more um uh uh low mids and and highs he's you know so my my sound is more Pokey in the middle it really really is exactly like that yeah and actually like if we're allowed to mention the name of your course yeah can you tell us a little bit well this is my I I must apologize for the gaffer tape first of all so this is actually this isn't supposed to cover up a pickup this is my demand pickup yeah but uh literally the other day I was playing Teen Spirit actually on my lonesome yeah so hard and the pickup fell in the sound see me destroy exactly so then so then I had to do do the show I also had the one guitar so I loosened the strings got the pickup up did a q a you know did a little workshop screwed it back in with the Phillips put the strings back on played the next song fell in again because I went too hard again so uh I've gaffer taped it what I realized was the the rubber pans had worn away in the heat uh so I've got to just replace that haven't had time because I'm always out so that's what this is but this guitar is my signature Guitar by a maker in German named Andreas Kuntz okay just spelled c-u-n-t-z okay German it's very German amazing guitar an absolute Workhorse I've done every gig since uh 2016 with this guitar uh just with this guitar and it's been to Africa to Asia to South America so the US to Europe to everywhere Australia New Zealand yeah um and it's a Workhorse and um part of what makes it it really sing live uh other than the quality of the guitar is is the pickups because I've got four pickups in there which enables a lot of extra sounds which you know as Tony mentioned kind of fills those kind of the deep lows you know I've got a magnetic pickup that runs an octave pedal by boss the oc3 and the oc5 so you can get these nice sub bass stuff I've got some Kick Drum stuff you kind of right now I'm not plugged into it but live through a PA man yeah and uh the idea is to just be as big as possible while being as little as possible how I am yeah brilliant yeah and uh you know the the the chemistry in our playing is is the fun part you know because he never knows really what I'm going to do oh no I don't do you know what you're going to do very rarely so you know with certain songs uh you know I I try to stick to to the melody and all that but any embellishments can be you know improvised in on the night you know I did some things today that I've never done in the songs you know they just happened they were just there we were both in that moment and that's that's the fun part of playing playing together you know it's fun for the audience as well you know it's every night Sir yeah an experience yeah I was gonna ask you about this so when you play together when you're performing together do you do separate sets yeah these are Tommy shows and I open the shows uh zombie manual kills Mains and destroys and if anyone's Left Alive if there's any faces that haven't melted then we do uh do a number of things at the end of the night yeah yeah it's uh finished an incredible show well the audience like it and and that's what matters they keep they keep asking people back which is nice yeah yeah the way to you know what you want to hear at the end of the night was boy you you you you don't really need to hear boy you played well you don't need to hear that what you need to hear is when are you coming back yeah that's what you need to hear

Channel: Guitar Village

Views: 555,880

Keywords: Guitar Village, Specialist Guitar Shop, Guitar, guitarist, Farnham, Surrey, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, effects pedals, tone

Id: tiIzgzwOawo

Length: 30min 36sec (1836 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 17 2023