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Stewart, that was absolutely fantastic.
There's so many questions I
want to ask you, like
I asked so many other guitar players, the things that we can share.
Let's talk about nails, nail care, because that's so important.
It's our sound, isn't it?
Yeah, yeah.
Are you blessed with good nails?
Mine are rubbish.
I'm not too bad.
I've got a really strong thumbnail.
I don't have to do a thing to the thumbnail.
I don't know why that's stronger, but thumbnails are really strong.
Maybe all the calcium gets channeled down my arm and into my thumb.
Would I do, my normal nails don't break.
They wear down very quickly, so
I do something that I think is very
similar to you, I get nail powder,
and nail glue and I
put a few drops of nail glue on here first.
And just coat the tips.
Yeah.
Just a bit of nail powder.
And then a bit more glue and
then just fill it up and then file it down.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but
do you find that having a
strong thumb nail is great for your harping?
Maybe, show us a quick bit of what you do. Oh, yeah, sure.
That needs to be strong, you know.
With the harping technique, you
know, the thumb nail is great for that really.
It means I can draw
out the low notes.
That sounds fairly strong, actually.
I usually find that with harping,
the harping technique by the
way, viewers is maybe an
open string harmonic, not necessarily
the open position but the fretted
position and you've hoped what sure it can do.
It gives you that
lovely harp-like sound.
That's why it's called harping.
But I usually find that when
it gets to the treble
strings with the way I
play, it can be a little bit
thin, so I have to sort of thicken the nail up.
But I remember I think it
was Julia Breem said that the
essence of great guitar
playing or getting a great
sound is being blessed
with good nails, because if you're born with good
nails, you're kind of half way there.
Because that's your sound.
Yeah, I mean, that's the thing, particularly on the acoustic guitar is the tone thing.
You know, the stronger the nail
the more present and clear the tone will be.
The other thing for me is, psychologically, I don't break nails when I play.
Well, sometimes I do,
and the worst scenario is if you're in a gig.
I mean, I remember doing a gig
years ago and I
went to play a note on
string one and sliced the
third fingernail off right down to the quick.
Oh, my.
That was on pretty much the first song.
So, you know, psychologically,
if I'm playing out live, I
want them reinforced as much as possible, because I
don't even want that to be a consideration.
Well, that memory is like the guitarist's worst nightmare.
I was chatting with John Etheridge,
he says name dropping, John
is currently working with John Williams.
He says, isn't it incredible,
John, that our livelihood depends
on these lumps of flesh, hardened
flesh at the end of our fingers?
And he said, you know, John Williams breaks a nail, he has to cancel a tour.
He has to cancel a tour!
Yeah.
That's totally true.
Hasn't he heard of superglue or ping pong balls?
John, watch this, we'll put you right.
It's incredible isn't it?
Yeah, you know we stand
or fall on our nails.
And, you know, if the nail goes, you can't play.
You just got this dead sound.
It's quite scary and we try not to think too much about it,
because it's such a very fine line.
So, we talked about the nails.
And string gauges?
You use I believe 12 to 52s.
12, 52 elipses, sometimes
the D'Addarios, but generally elipses seem to
meld up well with this
guitar, nice bright sound, it'll last for ages.
It is interesting with guitars you have to find, I don't know
whether you viewers are the
same, but you have to
find the right string to match the guitar.
Sometimes one set of
strings which you think would sound
fine on one guitar, put it
onto another one and it
sounds not right.
It is an interesting thing.
It is a problem because then you've
got to keep going out and buying different sets of strings.
I think we all, I know these days
I have to stick with one
gauge of string to do everything on.
If you're using open tuners, when
you slack down, they can sound a bit loose.
I think certainly that gauge of string will cover most open tunings.
It's true.
I mean, I've got a
ton of strings and picks.
You know, we get to
a point as guitar players where we view those as the incidentals.
We forget about them.
You know, we start thinking about pedals and amps and wood types.
But, there's a lot to
be said for matching up a
string brand to a guitar.
I mean, the other strings are like
D'Addario EXP coated, which
is a much darker-sounding string than elipses. So,
sometimes I've been playing this
guitar, you know, sometimes in
different seasons and I'll think,
well, this actually sounds a little
bit bright at the moment, so I'm gonna
darken the tone down with a set of EXPs,
whereas, you know, maybe I'll put a set of ellipses on.
I mean, the other thing is a plectra, I use a plectra a lot.
Oh yeah, tell me about your plectra technique.
Yeah, I mean. Which pick do you use?
This is very anorakish.
This is going to get really anorakish.
Now, I use picks made by
a couple guys in the States
called Red Bear, which are made my
hand and they're made
to emulate tortoise shell.
Are these the expensive ones?
These are not very expensive.
Did you pay 35 for a pick or something?
They're worth about 20, yeah.
I mean, I have this thing here.
You don't wanna give those away at the end of the gig.
Have this one surgically implanted in my chest.
I'll never lose it.
But minis, I can use this for about two or three years.
So, you know, it works out.
But, I think as
guitar players and picks, for me it's like a violin and a bow.
You know, a violin player wouldn't use any old bow.
I think guitar players, I'm forever being
asked about plectrum gauges and
brands and all that sort of stuff.
You know, sometimes, the shape
and the weight of a pick
can make such a huge difference to your playing.
I mean the one thing as a pick player.
Close up with a pick?
Which suddenly makes. But no, it
can be that sudden eureka moment,
because all of a sudden something you've
been trying to play the pick but find it difficult.
Change brands, change size, change thickness.
And it just fits, and I think we need to explore this.
Ironically, Sergey, no I'm I
have a plectra guitar. You're a pick player.
I am a pick player, but I
use the pick almost like it's a thumb pick.
But my plectra technique really
compared with what you guys
do is not really that hard.
But Clive says, he said get one of these, he said.
I can't believe that.
I mean, this pick I'm using here is actually hand beveled.
It's like a warm down comforter.
It's crazy, but the thing is, I'm not great.
You know,
it's got that sound straightaway.
And it just bounces off the strings.
If you gave me a different brand
pick, a small, plastic pick, I'd
find it a lot harder
to execute all these things I'm trying to execute with picks.
Yeah, I'm a real experimenter of good pick practice.
Stewart, it's been great to have you here at GPP today.
Can you indulge me in something here?
Folks, this is a
prime example of a
great player making any instrument sound good.
It's not the guitar, it's the player.
We all are searching for that great guitar, you know?
It probably doesn't really exist,
I think the guitar we've always been searching for, we probably own.
But in our minds, we are looking
for that sound, and this is
a wonderful American guitar, high-end,
well, three grand or
whatever you'd have to pay for that. And in
the corner, is my Gordon
Giltrap signature guitar and I guarantee that Stewart
would make this sound as equally
as beautiful as his
Collins, because in the hands
of the player, you can
make the guitar sound good, providing it's setup reasonably.
Now, I've got this setup
fairly low, because you'll probably make this buzz all over the place, cause
I've got very namby-pamby
fingers. But, give us
a little blast of
something, and see what you think.
It says it all.
Different sound, though, different sounding
guitar, but equally as pleasant,
as sonorous, is that the right word?
Lovely guitar, lovely guitar.
It's just really down to the player.
I think most of us, once you've been playing for a few years.
It's not a show-offy
thing, but you can within
reason make any instrument
sound pretty okay, providing it's
setup okay and you've got
a decent set of strings.
And the right production!
And the right production!
Listen to this man, this man knows.
So, ladies and gentlemen, let's hear it again for Mr. Stewart Ryan.
Thank you.