Session Guitarist

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Everything. I enjoy building a soundscape of interweaved guitar parts and then I can't wait to listen back to the finished result after the mixing and mastering has glued everything up into a song.

Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A: -When can I have a 1st mix back? 3-5 days -How many revisions? As many as necessary -How can I reach you? email and/ or skype -Do you sight-read? Yes, although not my top skill.

Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?

A: That you need the most expensive gear and loads of it to be able to do good-sounding work.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: I want to know if they already have a feel of what the guitar parts should sound like and/ or if there is a song I could use as a reference to understand what they have in mind.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: My roots are in classic hard rock and this comes out in my playing; there is a bluesy aesthetic in most fills and hooks when the style of the song allows it and I have a feel for crunchy and dirty riffs and chord progressions. I have always enjoyed transcribing solos from session legends of the 80s and 90s like Dann Huff and Steve Lukather and through that I developed a knack for explosive solos with attitude that span from dramatic to choppy and anything in between. In my gigging career I have played a lot of soul, R&B, funk and disco and, as a result, tight rhythm parts in the style of Nile Rodgers and Rob Harris come natural and I can throw the odd muted single note line part for a bit of bounce. Finally, being a closet jazzer I enjoy taking things outside when it suits the song.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I typically ask for a mp3 of the song without any guitar recorded and some further indication of what the customer expects stylistically. That comes often in the form of a reference song As soon as I have a first go at the song and have a backbone of basic tracks laid down, I do a little bit of mixing and send the song back to the customer for feedback The process repeats until the customer is happy at which point I email all tracks back in whatever format is most convenient for the customer.

Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?

A: I was classically trained from the age of 7 when I took piano tuition. A few years later I started playing guitar and by 14 I was playing in bands and gigging in local venues. For the 20 years I have played in bands professionally and have recorded for professional and up and coming artists.

Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?

A: Dann Huff (he's kinda my guitar hero and looks like a very nice guy) Brad Paisley (I love his compositions and his playing) Jamiroquai (for his wonderful rhythm and arranging sensibilities)

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Get drums sounding right with some amount of room; it makes everyone sound better.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Explosive, emotional, choppy, cheeky, bouncy..

Q: What type of music do you usually work on?

A: Funk, neo-soul and hard rock

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Attitude, chops, emotion and flow via means of carefully laid out rhythmic elements

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: Logic Pro X Apollo x6 Analog guitar amps into a Two Notes Torpedo Live speaker emulator Some rack units Slate and UAD plugins

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I have just completed a latin song requiring acoustic guitar parts and I am really pleased with the result given that acoustic guitar and latin music are not among my strongest skills.

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?

A: I was hired to record guitar parts on a modern funk song for which the drums and bass were recorded live in the studio by 2 of the best musicians in the UK for this genre. It was a humbling experience. The recording and the playing were of such high quality that made my job a lot easier and inspiring and brought out my playing too.

Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?

A: Not yet but I am looking forward to getting to know people.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I'd say both. Digital has come a long way helping guitarists to further utilise analog gear in a more manageable manner in small studio environments like home studios.

Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?

A: Attitude, dedication, resolve

Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A: I think that remote sessions solve many logistical issues and offer a world-wide talent pool of providers. What may be missing though is the personal element of spending time with people in a creative environment (e.g. a studio) and so I believe that some effort to pick a provider that seems like a good hang and build the relationship a bit (e.g. via skype chats) is beneficial.

Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?

A: Not sure if there would electricity to power any active gear so I'd say my semi hollow electric guitar

Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?

A: Dann Huff (both as guitarist and producer) Tim Pierce Dave Pensado Jeff Porcaro Mike Oldfield Desmond Child

Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.

A: Record electric guitar parts at my home studio