Adam Levy On Becoming a Better Player: “Go on a Guitar Fast”
Jazz guitarist Adam Levy joins Dipped In Tone for a philosophical talk about playing voices, the dangers of overanalyzing your set, and why going on a “guitar fast” can help your playing.
On this week’s Dipped In Tone, Rhett and Zack are joined by contemporary jazz guitar legend Adam Levy, the thoughtful, soft-spoken accompanist known for his work with Norah Jones and his own jazz trios. Levy’s new book, String Theories, which he co-authored with fellow sideman-to-the-stars Ethan Sherman, collects a series of tips, challenges, and reflections for guitarists to deepen their playing.
“I need it to sound like Solomon Burke is singing,” Levy says of his style and philosophy, centered on leads and mid-register tones. His formative playing experiences were on a Gibson ES-335, and Zack and Rhett wonder why the semi-hollow remains Levy’s go-to over, say, a Les Paul or T-style guitar. “[We] kind of put guitars in buckets: ‘This guitar does this, this guitar does that,’” says Levy. “But a lot of it is just what you do with your hands anyway. I feel like the instrument itself is maybe just a third of all that stuff.”
Thanks to Sweetwater for sponsoring this episode! Head to sweetwater.com for your musical gear needs.
Levy says that as the years go on, he gets “more like myself” when playing. A piece of that, he says, is stepping back from guitar music altogether. “Go on a guitar fast for a month,” he says. Levy says that removing the distractions of analyzing for specific tones and gear can create a clearer relationship to music. “All you can really notice is, ‘What’s the mood? How does it make me feel?’” Similarly, Levy warns of the dangers of overanalyzing your playing: “A little bit of reflection can go a long way,” he says, but “you don’t want to get so reflective that you shut yourself down.”
Finally, the trio dips a high-class vintage rig complete with a Gibson ES-125 with a floating wooden bridge—which shocks a sense-memory out of Levy. “It’s beyond, ‘I can hear that guitar,’” laughs Levy. “I can smell that guitar.”
Our columnist practices a little acoustic channeling while communing with nature.
When playing, try to bring the resistance down to zero.
“You are not a drop in the ocean, you are the entire ocean in a drop.” —Rumi
I’ve been listening to a controversial podcast called The Telepathy Tapes, which explores telepathy demonstrated by mostly non-verbal autistic young people. Citing rigorously controlled studies, the podcast claims that non-verbal youth with autism are able to tell exactly what their mothers, caregivers, and teachers are thinking while in another room—be it random numbers, photos, anything … 10 out of 10 times in a row. The pod also shares stories where teachers and parents of these same kids relate examples of the kids knowing what’s going on in the parents’ or teachers’ lives when they are apart. It reminds me of the so-called “Remote Viewing” programs the U.S. military and CIA ran from 1970 to 1995—the chief difference being that the kids are totally accurate while the military remote viewers consistently failed.
Some of the kids describe telepathy gatherings, where anywhere from two to over a thousand autistic youth in separate locations regularly meet. They call it “talking on the hill.” While linked together through this telepathy, kids share information about books, movies, science, music, anything that interests them. The Telepathy Tapes suggests that this tapping into a collective consciousness could explain the savant child who sits at a piano and plays Beethoven or blues without any training or experience. The savant didn’t learn piano; the savant is tapping into something.
Most scientists stay away from anything that smells of the paranormal. In neuroscience, the prevailing view is that consciousness is a result of the brain’s metabolism and interactions between neurons; it begins and ends in the brain. But I suspect for our tribe (musicians), we know that there’s way more to the world than what we can see or measure.
Years ago, I wrote a column about how musicians playing together experience paranormal events on stage. You know, that musician magic where improvising players in an open jam simultaneously hit identical triplets while not even looking at each other, or lock into super-tight, unrehearsed complementary or unison melodies. Musician ESP is a phenomenon all players experience on some level if you play long enough with the people you connect with. It defies logic, but when you experience it, you know it’s not a coincidence. It’s a mindmeld without touching or trying. That’s when music goes from formulaic to truly magical. That’s the stuff that hits you on a deeper level, perhaps because it comes from a deeper place.
“When I am playing at my best, I am less about control, more about flow.”
I’m not sure how improvisation works for you, but I suspect it’s like my system. I’ve spent a lifetime learning patterns: some I’ve taken from others, some I’ve stumbled upon myself. When I’m taking a solo, much of what I’m playing is an amalgam of patterns, riffs, and melodies I’ve played many times before, but arranged together on the spot. So, does that even qualify as improv? What I try to do is step out into new territory, but there’s not a lot of terra incognita left. These riffs and patterns are the vocabulary we’re using to communicate. Authors or great orators are, for the most part, using the same words and ideas we all use. They are just really good at arranging them. Likewise, there are great musicians using the same riffs and licks we all have, they just string them together really well. But there’s a big difference between speaking a universal truth from your heart and repeating a variation of a cliche.
Pat Metheny has a song called “It Starts When We Disappear,” from 2021’s Side-Eye NYC (V1.IV). Over the course of 13 minutes and 48 seconds, you hear Pat and his band disappear and music takes over. I spoke to my friend and sometimes bandmate, Chris Harrah, about this, and he calls it “bringing the resistance down to zero,” an analogy he cooked up that hints at his physics background. Chris explains it like this: “You hear the music from something bigger, like a current through a circuit, and we (our minds, bodies, etc.) are the resistor; our goal as musicians is to get that resistance down to zero, when the music flows directly out of you. You could even say the ‘source,’ aka where the music comes from, is the current. My goal is to bring the resistance down to zero, resulting in no drop in voltage (source).”
When I am playing at my best, I am less about control, more about flow. Less about achieving, more about being. I’m not thinking, I’m not even sure I’m there. Gravity is invisible, but nobody doubts it exists. A magnetic field stretches far beyond the magnet, invisible but definitely there, like magic. Wherever you are, you are surrounded by invisible radio transmissions for phones, wi-fi, radio, television, etc. I suspect there are fields from our minds that stretch far beyond our body, reaching out. I want mine to tap into music.
Why is Tommy’s take on “Day Tripper” so hard? And what song would Adam Miller never play with him? Plus, we get Adam’s list of favorite Tommy Emmanuel records.
We call guitarist Adam Miller in the middle of the night in Newcastle, Australia, to find out what it’s like to play with Certified Guitar Player, Tommy Emmanuel. Miller tells us just how famous Tommy is in Australia, and what it was like hearing him play from a formative age. Eventually, Adam got to open for Emmanuel, and they’ve since shared the stage, so we get the firsthand scoop: Why is Tommy’s take on “Day Tripper” so hard? And what song would Miller never play with him? Plus, we get Adam’s list of favorite Tommy Emmanuel records.
Adam’s newly released trio album, Timing, is out now.
Plus, we’re talking about new recordings from Billy Strings and Bryan Sutton, as well as Brooklyn Mediterranean surf party band Habbina Habbina.
Patterns can be viewed as boring or trite, but a little bit of creativity can turn them into bits of inspiration.
Chops: Intermediate Theory: Intermediater Lesson Overview: • Learn different ways to arrange scales. • Combine various sequences to create more intersting lines. • Solidify your technique by practicing unusual groupings of notes. Click here to download a printable PDF of this lesson's notation. |
I want to offer some food for thought on making sequences musical. Using sequences in our playing helps develop our musicianship in various ways. It can help us tune into the fretboard, develop melodic ideas all around the neck, and further our improvisation and compositional skills. So, spending time with sequences is certainly not time wasted. Please note that I sometimes use the word “rule" in this column, this is only a pointer to keeping on track of our exploration of these concepts. The intellect is very useful, but intuition is where the creativity comes from. When in balance lots of great things can be done. Let's get stuck in!
It's simple to play a scale from bottom to top, or top to bottom, but we can develop a sequence by shuffling these notes around. In Ex. 1 we have a C Major scale (C–D–E–F–G–A–B) played in thirds followed by a sequence highlighting the diatonic triads of the major scale. By following a “rule" we can develop many different sequences. The options are endless and a little overwhelming.
Click here for Ex. 1
Lets start by simply combining an interval sequence with an arpeggio sequence. In Ex. 2, the first two beats of the first measure feature ascending thirds. This is then followed by a triad arpeggio starting from the third note on the string. The next set of thirds then starts on the “and" of beat 4. The entire sequence is a seven-note pattern that is created by combining two thirds and a triad. It gives us a nice bit of rhythmic displacement as the phrase is now starting in a different place in the measure.
Click here for Ex. 2
Ex. 3 is a descending idea in A minor that basically flips the sequence we looked at in Ex. 2. Here, we are starting with two descending thirds before the triad. I'm using pull-offs and economy picking to articulate the triads. This one works well over D minor as well if you want a D Dorian (D–E–F–G–A–B–C) flavor.
Click here for Ex. 3
You can see the effectiveness of combining different sequences and groupings of notes to create interesting runs. It's also really effective for making phrases. In Ex. 4 we take a small fragment from Ex. 3 and change the rhythm. In the sound example I repeat this a few times over some implied chords in my bass line: Am, F, and Dm. It's great to get more from one line by seeing the different chord types you can play it over.
Click here for Ex. 4
In Ex. 5 we're going to start using fourths and fifths. It starts with an ascending A minor triad (A–C–E) before leaping to the 9 (B) and then hitting a G major triad (G–B–D). A similar pattern leads into the C major triad (C–E–G). Throwing in these wider intervals alongside triads is very effective for creating a dramatic sounding runs.
Click here for Ex. 5
For our next example (Ex. 6), we will take fragments from Ex. 5 and space them out a bit. I wanted once again to show how these sequence ideas can also be helpful for developing melodic phrases. Once we have a cool sequence or fragment, all we need to do is be creative with how we play it. We can change the rhythm, harmonic context, dynamic, and much more.
Click here for Ex. 6
Before we move on, it's important to remember that we can add colorful notes to our triads. Let's begin with some seventh-chord arpeggios. Ex 7 features are diatonic seventh arpeggios in G minor (functioning as a IIm chord) to get a Dorian sound.
Click here for Ex. 7
Ex. 8 is a little gratuitous of me. It begins with an idea made of several different concepts. First, we start with an Am7 arpeggio (A–C–E–G), then descend down an A5 arpeggio. I follow that up with diatonic thirds and end with a pedal-point sequence. If that's not enough, we then take this bigger idea and fit it around a chord progression. I move it to G7, Dm7 and then I break my “rule" slightly and outline notes of a C6 arpeggio (C–E–G–A). However, it does keep the same melodic contour of the initial idea. I used my ear and fretboard to guide me. It's always healthy to have a fine balance between intellect and intuition.
Click here for Ex. 8
We dig into C harmonic minor (C–D–Eb–G–Ab–B-C) for Ex. 9's monster two-measure lick. It sounds evil! In composing this phrase, I kept to the basic concept of finding seventh-chord arpeggios within C harmonic minor in the 8th position. I followed my ear as well as my slowly developing intellect. However, if you look closely you can see I was following a mini chord progression through this line. We start out with a CmMaj9 arpeggio (C–Eb–G–B–D) in the first beat, followed by a G7b9 arpeggio (G–B–D–F–Ab). Here we have a very strong Im-V7 movement in C minor. I then move back to our CmMaj9 arpeggio and in the second measure we start descending down an Eb augmented triad (Eb–G–B). This is then followed by more CmMaj9 goodness.
Click here for Ex. 9
Ex. 10 is now taking Ex. 9 and extending it into a cool flamenco-inspired melody. The rhythms in this were inspired by the incredible Paco De Lucia. I follow the sequence from the previous example almost exactly, but I use a bit of artistic license to repeat certain fragments to fit into a “top line" or “head"-style melody.
Click here for Ex. 10
My aim here isn't to give you one rule to follow but instead to encourage you to take the sequences you know and love and start getting more out of them. Enjoy and stay safe!
Improved tracking and richness in tones. Stereo panning potential. 100 presets.
Can be hard to use intuitively. Expensive!
$645
Electro-Harmonic POG III
It’s been a very rainy, moody couple of weeks, which is to say, perfect weather for getting lost in the labyrinthine depths of the new Electro-Harmonix POG III polyphonic octave generator. The POG III is yet another evolution (mutation?) within EHX’s now rather expansive stable of octave effects. But to those who know the POG through its original incarnation, or one of several simpler subsequent variants, the POG III represents a pretty dramatic leap forward.
There’s a few things you should know about the POG III straight away. First, it’s very expensive. At $645, it’s 245 clams more than its predecessor, the POG 2, (which was already a considerable investment) and more than twice the price of the simplest POG pedals like the Micro and Pico. Cold hard cash isn’t all you’re likely to trade away, either. Extracting the most value and utility from the POG III takes time and effort—even if you’re experienced with other pedals in the POG family. But for the guitarist and musician whose creations and pleasures transcend traditional playing styles and song forms, or for whom sound design is a primary pursuit, the POG III is a potential studio fixture and portal to musical parts undiscovered.
Copious Control
This is no cop out: The POG III has many more features and combinations thereof than can be mentioned in the space of this review—even if we merely listed them. The manual that EHX included (and is a must-read) is 23 pages long. It’s digestible, certainly. But there is much to learn.
“The Organ Swell reveals much about how rich and organic octave tones can sound in the POG III.”
Even so, the POG III’s 10 factory presets (you can create up to 100 of them) are great jumping-off points for crafting your own sounds and understanding the pedal’s basic dynamics, functionality, and interactivity among the controls. The organ swell preset is a great place to start. Players and bands that use keyboard and synth pads behind their guitar phrases were among POG’s early adopters. POG III’s organ sounds are pretty impressive. And while few will be fooled into thinking you have the pipe organ from St. Stephen’s Cathedral at your fingertips, the Organ Swell reveals much about how rich and organic octave tones can sound in the POG III. With precise timing and fretting, crafty chord phrasing and spacing, the right attack setting, and less aggressive guitar volume and tone settings, you can fashion a pretty convincing Bach organ arpeggio—particularly if you add a suitably expansive reverb or delay.
Cooking Up Wider, Weirder Images
A very cool new feature on the POG III is the panning knobs that accompany individual bands. Panning each band as part of a stereo image adds dimensionality. But it can also lend a more organic “live” flavor to a tone composite by situating fundamental sounds front and center, while sounds that serve as harmonic support can be mixed lower and reoriented spatially to offer more or less emphasis. These relationships can be enhanced and manipulated further by using the stereo spread control and the detune slider to create pitch modulation effects that range from mellow chorus to an almost rotary-speaker-like movement. This stereo mixing process is among the most fun and engaging parts of using the POG III.
Unusual filtering effects are here in abundance for exploring, too. Like so many modes on the POG III, the possible permutations feel endless, but here are some interesting examples.
• High-mid filter emphasis, matched to a quacky, fast envelope trigger, a sprinkle of perfect 5th, an even healthier scoop of +1 and +1 octave, and a strong foundation of -2 octave, all driven by a melodic pattern of staccato 16th notes—the result is a strange percolating pattern of carnival organ sounds against an anchor of low-resonant cello tones.
• Shifting the filter emphasis to the low end with similar envelope sensitivity, bumping the -2 octave and fifths, and subjecting the dry signal to the same filtering effects yields tectonic sub-rumbles and swells that a film- or game-sound designer could use to suggest the propulsion unit for a city-sized alien mothership. Even leaning my guitar against my amplifier and bouncing a racquet ball against the guitar body sounds amazing here. (And yes! You should really try this!)
Granted, many of these sounds fall as much into the category of sound effects and design as much as music in the songs-and-riffs sense. But I think strength in one category can reinforce the other, and in the case of the POG III, there is enough range in both directions to intrigue players everywhere along the spectrum. It still excels at funky bass textures, twisted faux 12-string, and at providing ghostly, backgrounded high-harmony lines for leads. But these time-tested POG applications merely scratch the surface.
The Verdict
The POG has come a long way since its old bent-metal, big box days. The tracking is excellent, and there’s a lot less fighting against artificial, cheesy sounds once you grasp the finer points of crafting a sound and your dynamic approach. The POG III’s complexity makes the going a little harder on fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants intuitive tinkerers, and musicians with experience in synthesis will probably navigate the unit’s features much more readily than some. As expensive as it is, it’s probably best to be sure you can find a place for it in your work before you take the leap. But if you can afford $645 to take a chance, the POG III may illuminate whole directions you might not have considered with a less expansive effect.
