Martin Goulding: Guitar On Sky interview

8. Tell me about your educational background, you seemed to be serious about learning music formally. Did the education really increase your playing competencies? What impact does musical education have for players that want to develop their musicianship?

I had private lessons for around three years in my teens which gave me a good grounding in technique and basic harmony and theory. I've never seen harmony and theory as separate to the playing. It’s the means to play with control and choice. The ear is ultimately the guide, but the ear may not be experienced, or may not have previously been exposed to certain choices that exist! So by learning about intervals, chord/scale relationships, tensions and resolutions you can build your musical frameworks around a point of reference. With no knowledge other than the ear, it also becomes difficult to communicate concepts with others, or in a band or even in your own head! It also becomes difficult to analyse why something you did sounded great, and so the moment cannot be learnt from or re-captured. When I learnt my seven 3-note per-string major scale shapes, at that point i was taught about modes so I could use those shapes which included intervals and the different chords found in a key , when I learnt sweeping arpeggio technique, I took off on a tangent to explore classical progressions. When I later studied at G.I.T, I was guided into more depth about progressions, ear training, transcribing, harmony and chord families so that was more formal in classes with exams. From G.I.T, after a couple of years dedicated to practice, I started studying with the UK's leading teacher and Jazz-Metal pioneer Shaun Baxter who I spent 6 or 7 years with, furthering my knowledge of techniques and improvisation.

9. GIT is one of the most prestigious music college in the world. And you did your best educational experience there. Would you please tell me about your story there?

My dream was to study in Los Angeles at G.I.T, but in the end I chose to stay closer to home and back in 1992, one of the most prestigious schools in the U.K was the Musicians Institute in London which had recently opened. That school is not around any longer, but essentially the same course as the main school in L.A. It was the best year of my life and i felt honoured to attend, studying with some of the best musicians in the U.K including Keith More, Phil Hilborne, Pete Langman and Malcolm MacFarlane and also privately at the time with head tutor and Royal Academy professor Ed Speight. The standard of students was high and i learnt a lot as a result of that experience.

Read the full, in depth, interview: http://www.guitaronsky.com/2012/07/manvantara-interview-with-martin.html

This is the original Lick of Doom that i produced for Guitar Techniques magazine, which went on the DVD edition in July 2008. Includes full breakdown and lesson. Rock! For more free lessons visit http://martingoulding.com

Martin Goulding Lick of Doom