A Lesson from John Williams as told to Mark Small

A Lesson from John Williams

as told to Mark Small

Classical virtuoso John Williams is regarded as one of the world’s foremost guitarists—even among players outside the classical arena. In a career spanning four decades, Williams has concertized all over the world and released over 30 recordings ranging from standard classical repertoire, to avant garde contemporary works, to explorations of ethnic music. His latest Sony release, El Diablo Suelto, dances and sways with music by eleven great Venezuelan composers. In a recent conversation at his London home, Williams, known for his impeccable technique, revealed what he feels are shortcomings in contemporary classical guitar right-hand technique. He shares with G.P. readers his opinion that studying ethnic rhythms and alternative techniques will make your playing more compelling. —Mark Smal

“Right hand technique for classical guitar is difficult because it is not natural in a sense. Because we strive for evenness in alternating the first and second fingers to play a line, there is no inherent swing. It is a technique contrived for playing all of the polyphonic things we play in classical guitar music. But, the most natural hand movements are up and down, whether with a bow on a violin or in the strumming action of the right hand on any of the stringed instruments in Baroque, Renaissance, or Medieval guitar playing— or even modern popular guitar styles. Like polyphonic music, our technique is a European phenomenon. It doesn’t exist in other traditional musics.

“Learning the African piece “Djanjon” for The Magic Box recording presented right-hand fingering problems. An ostinato figure is played on the top four strings, but the order of the notes changes so much that there is really no pattern between the strings. In trying the conventional right-hand approach, sometimes I needed to use the same finger twice in a row on the same string and sometimes I had to cross over a string to jump to the top string. When I tried it alternating the thumb and one finger as Renaissance and Baroque guitarists did to play single-note lines, I found it had a more natural rhythmic feel. It would swing at whatever speed I played it.

“Classical guitarists play a lot of fantastic and complicated polyphonic music, but some listeners unfamiliar with that style of playing get fidgety, bored, or don’t understand what it’s about. Even if someone has simple tastes in music, they know when something swings and when it doesn’t. A lot of classical guitar playing doesn’t swing because it lacks a natural feel.

“I’m very involved in arguing the point that classical guitarists must learn from traditional [folk or ethnic] techniques as well as earlier European ones. I think we should all know the main dance rhythms of South America—how to accompany a bambuco, zamba, choro, tango, milonga, or joropo in an ordinary strumming style and understand the elements of flamenco accompaniment. We should know how to use a pick or at least how to get the feel of using a pick with our index finger. Guitar students should be studying these things at the same time they are learning to play the Villa Lobos preludes or a Giuliani study. It’s all part of the technique and popular history of our instrument.”