Session Guitarist

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I used both. I'm sticking with digital especially for session work for obvious reasons. I live in an apartment. There's not much else to say. PLUS, digital gear ROCKS nowadays. They're all like cool sound-spaceships.

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

A: I'll always be upfront. No BS. I'll respect deadlines as much as I possibly can and will provide fast and effective replies.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I guess the creativity aspect of it. I'm always focused on a different duty and I face several challenges that keep me focused on improving myself.

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

A: Some people think is easy and fun. No pain, no sweat. They're dead wrong. Playing an instrument is a 24/7 work and could lead you to extreme frustration and happiness at the same time.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What's the tone you're searching for? Would you like to ear some specific instruments (semi-hollow, electric, acoustic) ? What's the style you're interested in?

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

A: Just be yourself. And please: always be clear with the tasks.

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

A: I would probably consider to bring some guitars. I guess there are no power strips on a desert island, so no amps...Well, bringing my acoustic and classical guitars would be functional. Then maybe I'd bring with me a metronome and some books. An Archtop guitar like a Gibson L5 would also be so sweet.

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

A: Almost my entire life. I'm 26 and I play guitar since I was 11 years old. I've entered the professional realm right after my first music degree at the age of 16.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I'm the result of years of transcribing my heroes. The list is long and genres are infinite. I like every style of music.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Learn to improvise when necessary. Learn to write sections too!

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

A: Jazz, Fusion, Rock, Funk, Pop music.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I guess it's my perfect pitch. I'm capable of tearing down songs in seconds.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I try to bring personality, color, fresh ideas while always respecting the client's perspective and wishes.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I try to always gain customer's trust just by talking to them frequently and update them over every aspect of my workflow. Once I understood every detail about the request I try to work as efficiently as possible in order not to lose time over several revisions. First take should always be king with some additional tweaking if requested by the customer. Last but not least: I always respect deadlines.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: My gear is... Pretty expensive. Haha. But I'll always consider a crucial investment. My clients demand quality and I give them exactly what they ask. My gear consists of few boutique guitars, one handmade here in Italy, high quality parts and pickups; then there's my Kemper Profiler Amplifier working as a perfect Swiss Knife. Guitar signal goes from an Audient ID14 MKI to my Mac Mini.

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

A: I'm mainly inspired by jazz and fusion artists regardless of the instrument they play. I tend to study language; I actually got a degree for that at the Matera Jazz Conservatory "E. R. Duni".

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

A: The most requested material is certainly single or doubling tracking guitars inside a song. Then few people ask me if I can rip a solo onto their track.