"I don't consider myself a jazz musician," says guitarist Charlie Hunter on this episode of Wong Notes—essentially refuting how he's known in the music world. "I am maybe jazz adjacent." Most listeners probably wouldn't agree, but if nothing else, Hunter is experimental. He's known for playing a guitar that's strung with both bass and electric guitar strings, that has two pickups—one for bass and one for guitar—and two input jacks, which go to separate amps for the respective sounds.
As the conversation unfolds, Charlie shares with Cory about the importance of interdependence, especially in jamming. "All I want to do is be a part of an extension of [the drummer's] beat," he explains. "Everything has to take a backseat to that." He compares the level of resources he had with young musicians today—back then, for better or for worse, all he had was a metronome and the discipline exemplified by the older musicians he played with. Something else that shapes modern musical culture, he says, is globalization: Having access to every genre and the music of every guitar player can make it harder for people learning to pick a specialty.
Charlie goes on to share about how he got his stripes largely from his time performing as a street musician in Europe. "I would not trade those three, four years of being a street musician for anything," he says, describing the experience as a kind of boot camp. His first lessons were in playing 12 hours a day on an unfamiliar instrument at the time—acoustic bass—on the streets of Zurich.
Towards the end of the interview, Charlie and Cory reflect together on the values of bonding with your musical community in person, something that's more of a challenge with the rise of internet culture. However, Charlie has lately been using Instagram as a vehicle to share the music of Blind Blake, someone who he thinks is "literally better than any of us [on guitar]."
Listen to the full episode here: https://bit.ly/WongNotes
Get 30% off your first year of DistroKid by going here: http://distrokid.com/vip/corywong
Visit Charlie Hunter: http://charliehunter.com
Hit us up: wongnotes@premierguitar.com
Visit Cory: https://www.corywongmusic.com
Visit Premier Guitar: http://premierguitar.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/wongnotespod
IG: https://www.instagram.com/wongnotespod
Produced by Jason Shadrick and Cory Wong
Additional Editing by Shawn Persinger
Presented by DistroKid
Al Di Meola: Friday Night at Olive Garden
Marcus King and the Medicine of Music
Respect, Psychedelics, and the Future of Bluegrass With Billy Strings
Joe Dart Talks Bass Philosophy and the Benefits of High Action
The Rich Musical World of Louis Cato
Aaron Sterling’s Pedalboard Approach to the Drums
How Bruce Lee Inspired Margaret Glaspy’s New Record
Bruno Major’s Relatively Lo-Fi Soul
Daniel Donato Gets Cosmic
Wolfgang Van Halen: Sing the Solo
Eric Krasno: Funk Chameleon
Jason Isbell's Desert Island Gear
Nuno Bettencourt is Out for Blood
Mike Gordon on the Magic of the Jam
Theo Katzman: The Songwriter Behind the Guitarist
Mateus Asato on Thinking Beyond the Guitar
Paul Gilbert’s Shred School Is in Session
How Does Nir Felder Get His Tone?
KT Tunstall and the Mystery of Songwriting
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Immediately Kinfolk
This Next Song‘s About - A Songwriter‘s Podcast
RAISING THE BAR
No Jumper
Way Up With Angela Yee