Joe Pass interview - 1974

[grahambop]

Last one - Joe Pass interview from 'Guitar' magazine, 1974.

[neatomic]

great early interview/conversation...joe reveals much about himself

thanks g


cheers

[Steven Herron]

That's a great interview with Joe Pass.

The part where he said he practiced 7 - 8 hours a day from the time he was 8 or 9 years old until he was 14 or 15 is just incredible.

How could a little kid sit still for that many hours every day?

[Drumbler]

Child abuse by his father basically.

[Rob MacKillop]

The last sentence sums it up for me.

Joe has always scared me, and he still does. Monster player.

[dot75]

I've read / heard about JP''s childhood practice regime for years, what I didn't know until this interview was that his father seems to have subjected his brother to similar treatment to make him a writer...I wonder how that turned out.

[Tom Karol]

I once saw Oscar Peterson give a seminar. He said the same thing. When he was a kid, he practiced 8 hours a day every day!

[Rob MacKillop]

Well, there was a time when I put in eight hours a day, but without achieving the same results, alas! My time would have been better spent exploring girls...

[dot75]

He says somewhere (I think it's 'An Evening with Joe Pass' @ gti with Don mock) that that's why he didn't practise as an adult, his response to people that did was always 'Don't need to - I did mine as a kid'.

[sgcim]

There are scientific studies that show that string players who played guitar a lot before the age of 12, have different structures in the brain than those who play after 12. I think that might account for the fact that guys like Pass, Julian Lage, and JP Bireli and Johnny Smith are technically superior to the rest of us.

[neatomic]

pat martino and jimmy bruno had similar intense guitar upbringings


cheers

[silverfoxx]

I doubt that any of the great players mentioned resented their arduous
practice regimes as youngsters, they all became world-class players
and obviously enjoyed their skills, and took pleasure in entertaining
audiences, most of whom would have given their eye teeth to be
a fraction as good a musician as any one of them.
Far from abuse, their parents/mentors invested in the future for these prodigies.
One could happily tolerate the agonies of repetitious practice to become one I
suggest.
.

[Drumbler]

I doubt that any of the great players mentioned resented their arduous
practice regimes as youngsters, they all became world-class players
and obviously enjoyed their skills, and took pleasure in entertaining
audiences, most of whom would have given their eye teeth to be
a fraction as good a musician as any one of them.
Far from abuse, their parents/mentors invested in the future for these prodigies.
One could happily tolerate the agonies of repetitious practice to become one I
suggest.
.

Joe Pass says he hated being made to practice in the interview. He never learned to ride a bike. He was not allowed to play with other kids.

He didn't say he hated the guitar. He hated being forced to play the guitar.

He has also stated in other interviews about his father forcing him to practice.

He did not have a loving relationship with his father. Note he left home to get away from his over-bearing father.

I guess we'll have to take Joe's word for it.

[Cunamara]

There are scientific studies that show that string players who played guitar a lot before the age of 12, have different structures in the brain than those who play after 12. I think that might account for the fact that guys like Pass, Julian Lage, and JP Bireli and Johnny Smith are technically superior to the rest of us.

I've not seen those studies but clearly musicians who began intense practice that early in life are different at playing music then musicians who picked it up later in life. The greater neural plasticity of the brain in childhood could account for this. The great violinists, the great pianists, etc. of classical music also likewise began very very young. This would also be true of many of the great athletes as well as the great dancers. But perhaps the brains of these people were different- somehow more amenable to learning the skills.

Also in interviews each of the players you mentioned indicated they learned how to play by ear very early. Johnny Smith used to copy Django licks off of 78s which were only good for about five plays before the record was ruined, yet that was enough for him to be able to get the music under his fingers. Joe Pass, in this article, mentions also doing something similar at the behest of his father. Tal Farlow was an exception to this, picking up the guitar a bit later in life, but he learned off the radio. People who do this develop very quick ears because they don't have an infinite number of repeats like we have with computer files or CDs. For the purposes of playing jazz, being able to hear the music and reproduce what one hears is crucial. It's probably for more important than learning theory.

[sgcim]

I've not seen those studies but clearly musicians who began intense practice that early in life are different at playing music then musicians who picked it up later in life. The greater neural plasticity of the brain in childhood could account for this. The great violinists, the great pianists, etc. of classical music also likewise began very very young. This would also be true of many of the great athletes as well as the great dancers. But perhaps the brains of these people were different- somehow more amenable to learning the skills.

Also in interviews each of the players you mentioned indicated they learned how to play by ear very early. Johnny Smith used to copy Django licks off of 78s which were only good for about five plays before the record was ruined, yet that was enough for him to be able to get the music under his fingers. Joe Pass, in this article, mentions also doing something similar at the behest of his father. Tal Farlow was an exception to this, picking up the guitar a bit later in life, but he learned off the radio. People who do this develop very quick ears because they don't have an infinite number of repeats like we have with computer files or CDs. For the purposes of playing jazz, being able to hear the music and reproduce what one hears is crucial. It's probably for more important than learning theory.

The crucial difference between Tal and all those others I mentioned was that the studies showed that the string players (in this case violinists, cellists and viola players) could lay off of their instruments for a long period of time, yet within an hour or two of practice, they could play as well as they ever played.
Tal stopped playing as much as he used to play from about 1960-1967, and was never able to get back the tremendous facility he had when he was playing regularly in the 50s. He made up for it with his chord work, which didn't require the hand-to-eye coordination that his burning single-string playing did.
There were also emotional problems that affected him, such as his marriage falling apart, and burn out from his hectic professional life in the 50s.

I found the other side of this theory to be proven with my cousin, who studied the violin as a young child, and played first violin in his HS. He went on to a different career, but he found that he could lay off practicing for months, or even years, yet he could play up to his top previous technical ability after just a few hours practice. He even could play good bluegrass mandolin.
The same thing is true of my niece, who also trained very early with the Suzuki Method, and played through hS, but now works in a different field. Yet she has no trouble playing gigs with some alt. rock bands with very little practice.
This study had nothing to do with improvisational ability, just technical facility.

[dot75]

Martin Taylor says his first memory of any kind is of his dad opening the case of a new guitar when he was about 3, the smell of wood, metal,varnish, glue etc & the red velour of the case lining stuck..

[Fz2016]

Charlie Parker said he practiced like 14 to 15 hours a day!

[PMB]

Well, there was a time when I put in eight hours a day, but without achieving the same results, alas! My time would have been better spent exploring girls...

Exactly, there's more than one way to make a Pass...

[pingu]

Exactly, there's more than one way to make a Pass...

Jimi played all the time ....