Greg Howe: modern guitar interview

News:
22-07-2008:
Kudos to Rich Murray for spotting yet another Greg Howe interview.

Greg Howe says:
I don’t listen to guitar players that much, to be honest with you. Not that I’m against them – there are a lot of phenomenal players. I am kind of a weird person; inspiration for me always comes from places that are unrelated to what I’m doing. When I’m preparing for an album, I’m not listening to anything that’s even remotely close to what I’ll probably be recording. I’ll listen to Chris Daughtry or Beyonce. I’ll listen to pop music a lot.



It’s easy for me to think outside the box, it’s very natural for me to think strange or bizarre. I can write instrumental songs that are weird or in odd times; I can write that stuff all day long. It comes very easy for me. What I need is to be reeled in so that I can somehow have something – a hook – that keeps it understandable in a mainstream context. There has to be something that people can latch on to. No matter how complex your tastes are, or how advanced you are musically, everybody responds to a hook or a memorable theme. Everybody wants that. That’s what’s great about pop music; it’s based around only that and that’s what I need - the weird stuff is easy for me.

There aren’t any guitar players at this point in time that I’ve been listening to for the sake of inspiration or even for enjoyment. I just haven’t been listening to guitar music – not that there aren’t guys out there...
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