MARTIN BARRE

Jethro Tull’s super-talented guitarist and now solo artist

1) A technique-based ‘I wish’

“Nobody mentioned alternate picking in 1960 when I bought my first guitar. Many years later, I pay the price for having a hybrid picking technique! There are some things I struggle to play picked and resort to a legato style to bridge the danger areas; I’m frustrated when I can see the obvious method but have to take a bypass. I construct musical passages that, in theory, have no barrier in executing them. It is a challenge that I can meet, but only if I had worked on alternate picking. That said, playing mandolin helps my picking technique – a great instrument to explore.”

2) A theory-based ‘I wish’

“Music has a habit of taking us on a journey. At no point on this fabulous trip is there something that is not a pleasure to discover and examine. So the rules are written in stone yet I would rather discover them with an ear for music than to transcribe them or download a video. Self-discovery makes music a very personal journey and gives the player a unique ‘personality’.”

3) One music-related thing I wish I had done earlier

“I have no regrets with my music career. I savour the good times and learn from the bad. If anything, I should have had a business ‘head’ earlier on. In the late 60s and early 70s it was all about the music and very little attention to finances. This enabled a lot a bad deals from a handful of dubious music execs. The mindset was to make business appear too complex for the average rock musician. Nowadays, we can run our own band, record and market our own music – we do a better job.”