CATCHING UP WITH THE PRINCE AND CYNDI LAUPER VETERAN
— Joe Matera
What was your first guitar?
It was an acoustic guitar from Sears that my mom bought me when I was nine. I forget what brand it was. Later, when I started playing in bands when I was 13, the manager of the band bought me a 1969 Telecaster Thinline from some pawn shop or something.
What was the first song you learned on the guitar?
“As Tears Go By” by Marianne Faithful.
The building is burning down; what one guitar from your collection would you save?
That’s like asking a woman what pair of shoes her favorites are! That’s not a fair question for a woman because it depends on what I need to do, where I’m going and what’s happening. I feel like, well, I’ve got two arms and a hand, so I can save three guitars! And they’d be my 1969 Fender Telecaster Thinline, a PRS Custom 24 Santana model and a beautiful Epiphone Crestwood I just got.
When was the last time you practiced and what did you play?
When I’m in tour mode, I practice before every show. I always run through the show transitions and do a bit of warmup, play a bit of the solos and a bit of the songs in sequence. When I’m home it’s different, but I’ll try to put my hands on my guitar every day.
What aspect of the guitar would you like to be better at?
There are so many techniques and so many guys out there doing so many technical things. But I’m always looking to add to dexterity and to add to my harmonic vocabulary and chordal vocabulary, even though the tour or the job I am on, may or may not require it. I’m listening to many new guitar players too as I’m always looking to expand chordally and harmonically.
What advice would you give to your younger self about the guitar if you had a chance to?
Don’t let the boys bully you around so much. At the time when I was young in Virginia, I didn’t really see a
