I recently had a chance to listen to Brett Garsed’s new cd, “Dark Matter” which is receiving tons of accolades. To me, the album is a rollercoaster ride of tones and emotion and growing on me each time I listen to it. The Australian born guitarist has worked with Frank Gambale and Shawn Lane, toured with Nelson, released his own rock fusion and improvisation instructional videos, and recently completed a record tour with John Farnham.
He currently lives in Australia after residing some 14 years in Los Angeles, he was kind enough to take some time and answer a few questions for GN.
Interview with Brett Garsed
1. I’ve read in previous interviews that finding your own “voice” as a guitarist is important to you and it’s more that just building up a library of licks. Considering most guitarists start off learning to play the songs/licks of their favorite artists, how can they break free from that and what do you suggest to them to help forge their own path?
BG: I suppose the first consideration would be whether improvisation is the goal as opposed to composing and duplicating solos in the same way for every performance which is another discipline all in itself. If improv is the direction then a deeper understanding of harmony is needed so transcribed ideas can be broken down and analyzed to see why they work. Also, the whole point of improvisation is to be free and not constrained by a lack of ideas or an understanding of the instrument so that work in itself will lead to more personal ideas and the development of a personal and unique voice. I felt that the time I was putting into learning other people’s ideas could be better spent developing my own. I could transcribe solos from albums but it was the deeper understanding of why those players used those particular notes that eluded me so I figured I could devote more time and effort to trying to understand my own concepts at a deeper level.
It helped me explore my own creativity as I forced myself to come up with my own licks and lines rather than looking to others. I should mention that this approach was part of my own personal experiment and I continue on that path to this day but this avenue may not be suitable for everyone, I just feel it works for me. I don’t think I have the huge vocabulary that a lot of other players do but I really believe that what I play is largely unique to myself which is a good thing considering I’ve appeared on albums alongside some of my biggest influences.
2. Your latest cd, “Dark Matter“, is not what I would consider “easy listening”, but I would say it easy listening especially if you’re a fan of guitar in that I think it’s an emotional rollercoaster for me. How would you describe the album and is there an emotion or feeling that you convey through it?
BG: Rollercoaster is actually the best description I could have come up with as well! My compositional approach is to write strong melodic hooks and combine them with challenging and interesting changes for me to improvise over. I like the songs to take a journey and since I’m working outside of a pop framework the songs can be as long as they need to be and they can go in any direction emotionally so I feel I’m just indulging the genre
I’ve chosen as there really are no rules when it comes to instrumental music, or at least I don’t feel there are. My life is probably like everyone else’s in that it’s a constant series of ups and downs so perhaps that’s why it comes out in the music. There is a massive variation of dynamics in some of the songs on “Dark Matter” and it made the album very challenging to mix. I should give a huge shout out to Ric Fierabracci for his incredible mixing and mastering of the entire project as well as his amazing bass playing. Very talented fellow indeed!
3. When you were younger you took classical guitar lessons, what prompted you to take them? What did you ultimately get of them? And would you recommend them for every aspiring guitarist?
BG: I wanted to study classical guitar because of Ritchie Blackmore and anything Ritchie did was the way to go as far as I was concerned, especially at that young age, but what I did get from it was a profound love and respect for the repertoire and the intense technical skill required to make it sound effortless and beautiful. I wasn’t cut out to be a classical guitarist unfortunately as my hands are quite small and my stretch on the instrument is lousy but I’m sure the study played a big part in the development of my right hand technique and I also learned how to read music. I’d recommend almost any kind of study if the opportunity is there.
4. I recently interviewed Frank Gambale, what was your experience like recording with him and do you still keep in touch?
BG: Frank has been a tremendous influence for me and he really is one of the most original musicians out there. It was an incredible honor for me to appear on an album with him and also to get to meet him. I haven’t heard from Frank in a while but I’m sure he’s busy as usual. Fortunately for me I was the first person to lay down solos on the “Centrifugal Funk” album that I recorded with him and Shawn Lane. If I’d heard Frank and Shawn’s solos before I’d recorded I probably would have run away in terror!
6. You toured with Nelson in ’91, how did you get that gig and from what I recall they were huge, so was it a great experience for you? Also, did you see the end of there popularity coming?
BG: Nelson was a great experience as we all got along together really well and remain friends to this day. Also, the level of musicianship in the band was extremely high so it was a pleasure to play with the band. The songs had “Hit” written all over them which I really enjoyed as I’m a huge fan of pop music, especially if it’s full of great hooks which the Nelson material was.
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I don’t think I saw the shift in musical tastes coming but when it arrived it didn’t take me long to realize that there was a definite change happening. Luckily I’d started writing and recording with
