INTRO INSTRUMENTAL INQUISITION!
Guitar instrumentals have supplied some of music’s most evocative moments. Jason Sidwell asks top guitarists for their take on this iconic movement. This month: an incredible Italian guitarist with a unique approach to combining rock and classical music.
GT: What is it about guitar instrumentals appeals to you?
DG: They celebrate the instrument and allow it to be the primary force in the piece. Many of my first guitar heroes -Steve Vai, Greg Howe, Jason Becker - were all focusing on guitar instrumentals, so it was natural to explore that as my first creative direction. As I have matured as a composer, I’ve become more interested not just in venerating the guitar, but in integrating it, and contrasting it with other instruments. What I’m working on now is expanding and redefining the role of the guitar in my own composition.
GT: What can an instrumental provide a listener that a vocal song can’t?
DG: The lyrics can provide a clear guide through the structure of a piece, making it comprehensible. What I like about instrumental music is the purity of it - expressing through sound rather than language. That renders it more universal. There is greater room for interpretation and imagination for composer and listener.
GT: Any tendencies you embrace or avoid - rhythms, harmony, playing approach, etc?
DG: Harmony is my great passion and primary focus for creating interesting environments and moods. Guitar instrumentals often lean heavily into rhythm or melody, with harmony being less deeply explored. I take a lot of inspiration from 20th century composers like Stravinsky, Poulenc, Lyadov and Gliere, as well as baroque, like Corelli and Bach. Counterpoint is another area of obsession for me. While much less frequently used now, multiple melodic lines intertwining is as charming today as it was in the baroque period. I avoid the use of riffs. I think it’s a device that has been more than adequately represented.
GT: Is a typical song structure of intro, verse, chorus, middle eight, etc, always relevant for an instrumental?
DG: If you want your instrumentals to be as comprehensible as possible, you can’t go wrong with a typical song structure. Joe Satriani is the godfather of doing this very effectively. I used song structure in the past, particularly on my first album, Frenzy Of Ecstasy. On my second two albums, Non Temperato and the just-released INkBlot, I work in other musical structures, such as sonata form, and I also incorporate aspects of programmatic music, which creates a more fluid, flexible architecture.
GT: How useful is studying a vocalist's approach for guitar melodies?
DG: It can be very useful, especially for rock musicians who tend to use exaggerated finger vibrato. It is also instructive for phrasing and articulation, particularly the use of space - another very neglected area i
