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Excerpt from:
Playing from the Heart:
Great Musicians Talk About Their Craft
Backbeat Books
Through the eyes and ears of top music writers, Playing from
the Heart brings you closer to 43 of the best players in popular
music. Drawn from the rich archives of Guitar Player, Bass
Player, Keyboard and Drums & Drumming, these
classic interviews and photos reveal the skill, artistry and personality
of world-class musicians in rock, blues, jazz and other styles.
Provocative, often controversial, and always insightful, these
interviews get to the heart of each player's creative process:
their musical ideas and innovations, playing styles and techniques,
equipment, influences and more. Plus you'll learn the 'backstory'
of each interview, direct from the writers and editors. Artist
covered include: Chuck Berry, The Edge, Bonnie Raitt, Bootsy Collins,
Billy Joel, Ginger Baker, Lars Ulrich and many others.
Inventory # HL 330949. Book $19.95 (US).
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Carlos Santana on his inspirations.
Which albums inspire you?
Tell everybody to hear Spellbinder by Gabor Szabo. That
is a must for anybody who plays guitar. He's the person
who I credit with pulling me out of B.B. King. B.B. King had us
in a headlock. Michael Bloomfield, Peter Green, we were all under
his spell. Gabor played like a gypsy, but different from Paco
de Lucia. Also, "The Supernatural" by Peter Green, Bola
Sete's At the Monterey Jazz Festival, and Wes Montgomery's
Goin' Out of My Head. Unplug the phone, sit down with these,
and you're in for a real surprise.
What do all of these albums and musicians have in common?
The musicians I love, like Coltrane, Miles, Jimi, and Bob Marley,
they didn't have a Ph.D in anything except life. If you told them
they were legends, they'd probably look at you like you were stupid.
The most important thing is to live life and tell the truth in
a language of the heart. Bill Graham was the one who told me,
"Your music is a perfect balance of spirituality and sensuality,
whether you accept it or not." I'm not trying to exploit
it, but I am trying to explore it.
Beyond spirit and sensuality, what role does technique play
in your music?
I very rarely think of what chords or what notes or where I put
my finger. You should have learned all the technical and physical
aspects of the guitar in junior high school, as far as I'm concerned.
I don't think musicians who can really play think of music like
that. When I'm playing a solo now, most of the time I'm thinking
of combing my daughter's hair before she goes to bed, and I have
to do it in a special way so I don't make her cry by pulling her
hair. Believe me, that's what I'm thinking lately, man! I don't
know if it's like domestic or midlife or whatever, but I think
of things about my family, because when I'm playing it's automatic
now -- unless I'm playing with Wayne Shorter. Wayne has an incredible
way of writing everything. Those are the few times that I'm a
musician with a short leash. If you read music, you've got to
turn it down and get to the paper and get to what Wayne is trying
to say. There are rules you need to learn when you play with Wayne
Shorter or Joe Zawinul. You have to learn really quickly what
they're trying to get across and then make it your own. But to
make it your own requires street learning. You cannot learn that
in Harvard or Berklee -- that you have have to learn from the
streets, and that's my approach to music. The street university
is very important, man.
If someone were searching for the essential Santana, which
of your records would you recommend?
For pure songs, Abraxas. For pure guitar, I would say Caravanserai.
Any other advice for your fellow guitarists?
The last thing I want to say is that whether you play blues, bluegrass,
or jazz, whatever, realize that when you get older you either
get senile or you get gracious. There's no in-between. You become
senile when you think the world shortchanged you, or everybody
wakes up to screw you. You become gracious when you realize that
you have something that the world needs, and people are happy
to see you when you come into the room. Your wrinkles either show
that you're nasty, cranky, and senile, or that you're always smiling.
That's why I hang around with Wayne Shorter, John Lee Hooker,
Herbie Hancock -- people who have passion. I've never seen them
bored. I'm like a kid -- I'm 51 years old, but I still feel like
seventeen. Whether you've got a green Mohawk or a suit and tie,
it's still the same: Are you saying something valid? Are you contributing,
bringing new flowers that we haven't seen in the garden?
-- Interviewed by James Rotondi and Andy Ellis.
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