Being a “west coast” player all my life built my playing style around a loose interpretation of songs. Especially with a big jazz background where standard tunes are reinterpreted almost infinitely by players of all generations, my focus on the “details” of songs were not something I held in high value. However, my first Nashville country gig has given me new perceptive on the finer elements of the pop song.
Several weeks ago, I was given 8 songs for a gig in Tuscon. These songs are pretty standard country music fair, a mix between original songs and covers. My first pass at the music I had a filter on my brain as, when I listened to it, I was deciding what “I” would do in place of the solo or fill. This is not the country way. My second pass, I realized the point of country music is the exact replication of the minute details of the song, at least the guitarist. In fact, as a music colleague pointed out to me, is that some country licks riffs and songs are so similar, the slightest deviation can confuse the audience in which song you are playing.
I charted out the tunes and used ultimate slow down software to make sure every element of every lick was down verbatim. This was an invaluable resource when I needed to learn fast solos sections or face melting guitar fills in a short amount of time.
In the past, these tactics may have seemed like cheating, or less professional, but competition is fierce, and it is better to spend the majority of your time practicing the licks rather than figuring out exactly how that studio musician played that weird bendy thing in the middle of the second verse for one and a half seconds…
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