Tue, 29/07/2008 - 22:24 - Owen Edwards

Like these couple of days: playing through that Cornford amp of Phil’s: I would have never tried that and experienced that amazing ‘real’ sound had Phil not plugged me into it: I haven't been going to loads of music stores and tried stuff out - which I may do now as I'm gaining day by day the confidence in my playing to enable me to do simple things like that

PH: WELL, ITS NOT JUST THAT AMP - THAT’S AN AMAZING PEDAL YOU'RE PLUGGED INTO AS WELL!! (LAUGHTER - WE'VE BEEN USING THE PHIL HILBORNE PEDAL) Y’ KNOW, I'VE GOT TO GET A LITTLE PRODUCT PLACEMENT IN THERE!!

Well yeah!!! I'm trying not to kiss up a little here, but honestly when he plugged that in as well I was thinking to myself "Oh, just another pedal...but that thing gave it that boost that someone like me needs. It gives you the punch, but keeps it sort of warm and high at the same time - it doesn't muffle your tone - or get that horrible fuzziness to the distortion. You don't want that: you want to be able to have enough gain to pull off all those hot licks but also have it clean enough that the natural character of the guitar come through. It's an amazing pedal and nothing else I've tried comes even close!

PH: YOU KNOW WHAT? THE THING THAT HAS AMAZED ME ABOUT YOUR PLAYING HAS BEEN HOW YOU ACHIEVE THE MUTING (JD PLAYS A CHUGGING POWER CHORD/OPEN POSITION ROCK RIFF WITH MUTED SINGLE NOTES IN BETWEEN THE CHORDS) HOW DID YOU GET THAT DOWN?

Well, it’s a combination of what I'm doing with my left hand, but also how I developed the pick holder - if you see it’s really acting as a thumb, and I keep back up’s. For example: if I really want to do some powerful tapping, I'll use one that’s really stable - whereas a looser rhythm feel might need something with a bit more give. It’s been - and still is - a real trial and error process: I'm limited in certain areas where I can palm mute, but that’s where creativity comes in...

PH: MOST PEOPLE DON'T ACTUALLY REALLY THINK ABOUT THE ANGLE OF THE PICK, OR WHERE THEY PICK A STRING AND ALL THOSE FINE DETAILS - SO THAT’S ACTUALLY HELPED YOU... JUST THOUGHT I'D JUST MENTION THAT, AS OWEN HASN'T!!!! (LAUGHTER)

Oh yeah, well that’s what’s great about doing things like this so I can get the views of outsiders looking in to all of this: I need to know about stuff like this!

That’s why I didn't want to go to a ‘normal’ guitar teacher, because they wouldn't have any reference points either - its not like their fault or anything - but I really feel that I can help change a lot of people out there overcome adversity.

PH: I REMEMBER TELLING YOU, WHEN YOU FIRST GOT IN TOUCH WITH ME, THAT THERE’S A GUY I TEACH WHO CAME TO ME AFTER TRYING THREE OTHER GUITAR TEACHERS - AND NO ONE ELSE HAD AGREED TO TAKE HIM BECAUSE HE HAD A VERY DAMAGED HAND, BUT I WAS LIKE WHY? YOU WANT TO PLAY GUITAR? I'LL HELP YOU AS MUCH AS I CAN. THIS GUY KNOWS HE’S NEVER GOING TO BE THE BEST GUITARIST ON EARTH, BUT WHY SHOULD THAT STOP ANYONE? IF YOU ENJOY IT THAT SHOULD BE ENOUGH...

Well, y’know, some of my favourite songs on the radio are by some of the worst guitarists - and some of the most successful songs ever written have been with the simplest of guitar parts.

PH: LIKE ‘MULL O’KYNTYRE’!

Yeah! It’s like what I'm doing here: maybe I'm choosing to demonstrate how to overcome all of this with a ‘technical’ guitar style, but what I'm doing here is showing what is possible.

Like, when Hendrix first picked it up no one was doing that - so you need someone to be little reckless: go for the untouchable and the next guy will take it further!

Remember it just took one man to first run the 4 minute mile!

PH WE DISCUSSED DJANGO REINHARDT YSETERDAY AND YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT LES PAUL - I DIDN'T REALISE HE CAN ONLY USE 2 FINGERS NOW...

Yeah, he’s 93 years old, not only that but he almost lost his right arm in a car crash years ago - so it’s a little smaller and its bent - but he’s still pushing on with two fingers, a bad shoulder, and arthritic everything! - and he’s laughing his ass off and still having the best of times playing music. And, he winds me up as well: he'll take off my pick and will say like: "Ok what are you gonna do now?!"

It’s like he’s forced me into doing blues jams as well - y’know getting me away from all these Van Halen licks I know and putting me on the spot with a 'clean tone!' But, it’s how you learn... and afterwards he said to me: "That’s great John - and next time it'll be better!"