CORY WONG Interview & Masterclass
If you haven’t experienced Cory Wong’s funky rhythm with Vulfpeck and The Fearless Flyers, David Mead suggests you watch the video Introducing The Fearless Flyers on YouTube, before continuing.
The Vulfpeck guitarist gives us a great insight into his funky rhythm playing. No matter what your style, there’s something for all to learn.
Cory was first exposed to music by his father who would constantly play records around the house. Although not a musician himself, he was what his son described as being “a total music freak… a music head”. So Cory’s formative years were played out against a soundtrack provided by players like Hendrix, Joe Pass, Pat Metheny and Ralph Towner. “My dad had all this ECM catalogue and CTI jazz catalogue, the Blue Note catalogue and then he had all this classic rock catalogue,” he tells us, having travelled over to GT HQ on a rain-soaked day following his sold-out gig in Bristol.
A great deal of the music he had heard courtesy of his dad was guitar-driven and the young Cory was “interested in the sound, interested in what it did to me emotionally, how music made me feel”. He became curious about rhythm playing and, through the intense metronome-based practice routine that he outlines for us in the video that accompanies this feature, gained the ability to lock in with a rhythm section with scary precision. As well as playing with The Fearless Flyers and Vulfpeck, Cory has produced a series of solo albums, the latest of which bears the title Elevator Music For An Elevated Mood. A much in-demand, busy musician, with a relentless touring schedule, Cory might also have been spotted by the eagle-eyed in the house band on Stephen Colbert’s late night US TV chat show.
During our pre-interview chat Cory revealed that guitar wasn’t actually his first choice as an instrumentalist:
“Actually, bass was my first instrument…”
So, what exactly was it that persuaded you to switch from four strings to six?
“At school, two kids said they would start a band with me. One of them, his dad had a drum set at the house and the other one, his dad had a bass at the house. He was like, ‘We’re not going to be able to buy a guitar, so maybe we just do two bass guitars?’ I was like, ‘I don’t know if that’s going to work. Fine, screw it. I’m going to buy a guitar.’
I wanted to be in a band that bad. ‘I’ll abandon the bass, I’ll play guitar,’ and now I’ve just been stuck ever since. I’m still a closet bass player, I love playing the bass.”
Has playing bass influenced your sense of rhythm as a guitarist?
“I bought transcription books for Blood Sugar Sex Magik [Red Hot Chili Peppers, 1991], the bass and the guitar book, and I learnt every song front to back, on bass and guitar. What it did is, it taught me how the parts weaved together, how they functioned a little bit better. When I was really getting into guitar, it was when One Hot Minute [Red Hot Chili Peppers, 1995] came out. Then it was learning all the guitar and bass parts for One Hot Minute. It was like, ‘Oh, interesting. The way that Dave Navarro approaches guitar is way different than John Frusciante, but they both work really well. Cool.’ Then understanding, even within a band, how different guitar players and different approaches can affect the sound. I bought the transcription book for Evil Empire, the Rage Against The Machine album. I was in love with Tom Morello, the sounds he was getting. I was like, ‘If I just get the book, read the tabs, read the music, I’ll be able to play those songs.’ Little did I know, there were a lot of guitar effects involved.”
How did you find out about guitar effects?
“It was like, ‘The tabs are wrong. What’s going on? How is the book wrong? I know what I’m doing is exactly what this thing is telling me to play and I’m playing along with the record.’ Then I realised, ‘Oh, my gosh – guitar pedals. There are so many sounds that you can get.’ So that was my introduction to the wah pedal. Then when I got that it was like, ‘That’s how Hendrix gets that sound. That’s how Kirk Hammett does his thing!’ Then I just fell in love with the wah pedal. Phaser, flanger, all those things – I finally got hip to what they were and what they could do for the guitar. “I think the order in which I learnt how to play guitar maybe informed a lot of why I play the way I do now, where it is mostly coming from the hands and the voicings and the feel and
I WAS IN LOVE WITH TOM MORELLO. IT WAS LIKE: ‘IF I GET THE BOOK, READ THE TABS, I’LL BE ABLE TO PLAY THOSE SONGS.’ LITTLE DID I KNOW!
the attack. For me, it always comes down to the part and the feel and the music side of it, and then I’ll bring in effects but only if I absolutely need to.”
You don’t necessarily use specific brands of effects in your setup, do you?
“I’m less picky about effects, because I don’t start with the sound necessarily, like the sound of this specific pedal. It’s just like, ‘This pedal does a certain thing for the part that I’m playing.’ It’s more about the musical part, the range on the instrument, the attack, the rhythm, the size of the sound and then the effect just enhances that. So it’s been a journey on that, but it’s really fun.”
Did you start off playing a Strat or have you evolved towards it over the years?
“Well, my first ever instrument was a Mexicanmade Fender Jazz Bass that I still have to this day and it’s still the bass that I use when I record a lot of my records. I love it. Guitar wise, when I had to buy a guitar to start my band, I