I've been enjoying the No Guitar Is Safe podcast for a while. For some reason they only have a Facebook page. Guitarist Jude Gold interviews lots of top guitarists. He's had big names like Satriani, Vai and Lukather, but he also talks to people I haven't heard of. It's more of a conversation than an interview and they generally have guitars in their hands to demo and jam. Jude writes for Guitar Player and tours with Jefferson Starship.

The interviewee this week is Mitch Perry, which was not a name I knew. He's played with some top acts such as Cher, Michael Schenker and Edgar Winters. Currently he's with The Sweet who I saw in a previous incarnation in about 1985.

Something he said really resonated with me. He was talking about complex rhythms and also mentioned modes:

Music theory doesn't decide what you play, it describes it

That's around an hour and seven minutes in, but the rest is worth a listen too.

I know some music theory and it can give you an idea of what will work, but ultimately it's about what sounds good. A lot of rock musicians don't know theory. They go with the sound and the feel. Sometimes that involves strange timing and odd scales. Many don't even know what notes they are playing. I know I don't as I often go by patterns around the neck. If a note sounds good then it is good, regardless of what the theory says. The listeners mostly won't care what types of scales you use.

As I understand it styles like jazz can be easier to get into if you understand some theory to know what scales work over different chords, but I expect the good players get past that to know what notes they need to play for the sound they want.

Here's Mitch rocking out with Lita Ford. He's had that Les Paul since he was young.

Making music is a journey that never ends.

Rock on!

I'll buy guitar picks for Steem Dollars

If this post is over seven days old you can vote up one of my newer posts to reward me.

Spam comments may be flagged. Beware of the Commentphant!