| Interview: |
1. At what age did you start playing guitar and when did you start playing jazz?
I started playing guitar at 9 and at 18 I began listening to jazz.
2. Which people influenced you as an improvising musician?
Many artist (players, composers and producers) have influenced me, but for improvising I've listened and learned from names like W. Montgomery, P. Metheny, P. Martino, G. Benson, C. Loeb, E. Klugh, L.Carlton, L. Almeida, R. Ford, M. Davis, J. Diorio, J. Hall , O. Alemán, L. Salinas; and I still listen to them today of course...
3. Did you take guitar lessons when you were young?
I began studying music theory and argentinean folk guitar lessons with a local teacher when I was nine. Then I studied in Rosario (Argentina) at the UNR School of Music (National University of Rosario) and with Santiago G. Castelli, teacher of harmony and jazz improvisation. Later in Buenos Aires with the jazz guitarist and composer Armando Alonso (Dino Saluzzi´s guitarist).Furthermore, I've self-taught myself with the Berklee College of Music method and I followed several workshops held by the G.I.T. (M.I. in L.A.) I've also taken part in clinics held by: Pat Metheny, Chuck Wayne, George Benson, Scott Henderson, Jim Hall and Robben Ford.
4. What gear do you use and what was your first guitar?
I use a Fender amp, Pod Line 6 (with effects: delay, chorus, reverbs and amp simulators), electric guitars (Yamaha MSG Image, Washburn J6 Wes Montgomery and my new Beaudoux Luthier ES 335 Daniel Martina) and accoustic guitars (Ovation Classic 1613 Stereo and Yamaha APXT-1N Traveller).
My first guitar was a bad and cheap Argentinean guitar that my mother gifted to me... lovely!
6. Do you get frustrated about your guitar playing sometimes? What aspects of guitar playing do you feel you need to improve on?
Yes, sometimes I get frustated... because I was wrong about how and what to practice until I read a Montgomery´s article where he said: "I don´t practice anything during the day that I can´t use at night on the job".
Today I only practice that what I´m going to use on tunes and one of the aspects of my guitar playing that I´m improving now is the solo guitar.
7. What is your practice routine like? How much time do you devote to studying music and guitar?
I try to study music 6 hours a day more or less, 4 hours with guitar.
My routine is 8 to 10 "half an hour blocks of time", sometimes with metronome, sometimes with backing tracks, with breaks of 5 minutees at different moments of the day (especially in the morning):
1º block- I start playing slowly and do different exercises to soften my fingers
2º block- Scales (2 per day, Major or Minor modes, Aug or Dim)
3º block- Arpeggios
4º block- Chords
5º block- Mix of all
6º-7º blocks - Use on repertoire (construction of phrases and solos)
8º-9º-10º blocks - Listen to music, transcription of solos, singing (scats), sight reading, etc
8. Do you teach music? What do you hope a student gets out of your teachings, besides the obvious?
Yes, I´m teaching a bit and I hope my students learn how to express themselves on the guitar.
9. What are your favorite standards to play?
Stella by starlight , All the things you are and Tom Jobim´s tunes.
10. Do you make a living as a professional musician? What did you have to do to make this work for you?
Yes, I live as a professional musician and I think that, aside from the technical training on the instrument, one has to work regularly in order to:
1 - compose
2 - produce
3 - diffuse (shows, emails, internet, etc)
Furthermore, it is very important to develop a professional attitude from the beginning of the musical career on(learn to follow schedules, to study parts, to have good human relationships, etc.), even if one is not yet technically skilled.
13. What projects are you working on at the moment?
I´m preparing a big gig in Asia in February/March 2006 and then I´ll finish a new CD.
14. Do you have any advice for beginning jazz guitarists?
It's essential to preserve and to have continuity in your technical training and explore and improve what one wishes to express. There are many good methods that can help you with this. But the best way for the player is to imitate the musicians who he/her admires most, to study their playing, their compositions, their productions, etc. This is something that the player must do by himself/herself and there is no method or music school that can teach you how to do this. However, I believe this is the best way to develop most of one´s musical criteria and personal musical language.
But always enjoy playing!...It can be fun too...
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