Interview & Masterclass
David Mead caught up with the nylon-string maestro during one of his all-too-rare visits to the UK for a lively conversation about all things acoustic and a very special video masterclass…
Richard Smith is one of the most staggering acoustic pickers you will ever see. Richard plays some licks you’ll really want to learn.
Tommy Emmanuel once said, “If you like my playing, you should hear Richard Smith…” As far as accolades go, that one’s not easily beaten. Here at Guitarist, we first became aware of Richard’s extraordinary talent face-to-face back in the 1990s when he paid us a visit at our offices and brightened up the afternoon with a jaw-dropping private performance – and in those days, he was still in his 20s. British born but now resident in Nashville, Richard is acknowledged as one of the very finest acoustic guitar players around, touring constantly and only stopping off occasionally to deliver one of his insightful clinics.
Going back to his roots, then, Richard started to play at a very young age. “I was five,” he nods. “My dad had the Play In A Day book, Bert Weedon, so that’s how he was learning and he showed me the chords to Down South Blues, which was on The Atkins-Travis Traveling Show record. He’d figured that out and that’s what got me started. I asked my dad, ‘Can you show me that?’ And that was all there is to it.
You only have to do it once and you’re addicted,” he laughs.
“I did. I was about seven or eight. I had a few lessons with a guy by the name of Chaz Hart. I think he was in Sutton, Surrey, or somewhere not far from me. Really, it was to teach me to read music and I never really picked up on that because I was playing everything by ear, that’s how I’d learned. So instead of reading the music, he’d play it and then I’d play what he played, instead of looking at the music. I kind of regret not learning to read well. I know what the stave means and I know the rhythm, and I know it well enough to be able to write cello parts for my wife to play. Now, with Finale and Guitar Pro and stuff like that, if you’ve made a mistake it will play it back for you and you’ll know soon enough.”
“Yes, a little bit. But I didn’t really study formal classical guitar for any length of time. I studied some of the repertoire, though, so I’ve got some of it under my fingers. I think it’s always good to take a few classical guitar lessons. It doesn’t matter what style you play. It pays you to take some formal training, because it just teaches you all the basics of music and it teaches you what you’re doing. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re a jazz guy or a heavy metal guy or whatever you’re playing, I think it really pays to study. If you study
Bach – even just a few numbers – I think it’s going to help anything that you’re doing.”
“I must have been young. I think I was maybe seven or eight, I loved it that much. Of course, you’re not really thinking seriously about anything at that age, but I guess by the time I got to seven or eight or whatever I’m thinking, ‘Yes, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.’”
“The first thing I had was a repertoire of pieces. I think that’s a really good thing to have, depending on what you want to do, how you want to make a living, I guess. I think it helped me to have a repertoire, just because it meant I could go out and do solo gigs and know I’ve got a couple of hours’ worth of material, at least that, to go out and play. So that’s what helped. In a way it was detrimental to my school studies, because I didn’t take much notice of lessons. Because I was thinking, ‘This has got nothing to do with what I want to do for a living, therefore I don’t have to take it seriously.’ And now some of those subjects, geography and history, I find fascinating. I wish I’d have listened back then. It’s funny how that happens.”
“I think that was it, really. Chet [Atkins] was obviously a very good influence to have in that
IT DOESN’T MATTER WHETHER YOU’RE A JAZZ GUY OR A HEAVY METAL GUY OR WHATEVER YOU’RE PLAYING, I THINK IT REALLY PAYS TO STUDY
way, because he got me into some of the classical guitar pieces. I got to meet Jorge Morel, who came and stayed with us, with my family, several times back in the 80s, and he introduced me to Barrios, so I learnt a couple of those pieces, Barrios and Bach. Like I say, I’m basically a fingerpicker that’s gone outside of that. But I had Django Reinhardt records, so I started studying some of those note for note, and after I studied some Django the bebop started to make more sense. It was like, ‘Oh, I know what that is. That’s this. But it’s got an added that.’
“As a musician you’re always building on what you already know. The first time you hear something it’s completely alien to you, you think, ‘What’s he doing? What is that sound?’ Then you get something close to it and you build on it. Now I listen to a Charlie Parker solo