INSTRUMENTAL INQUISITION
Guitar instrumentals have supplied some of music’s most evocative moments. Jason Sidwell asks some top guitarists for their take on this iconic movement. This month: Whitesnake’s guitarist and New York rocker, Joel Hoekstra.
This issue: Whitesnake’s Joel Hoekstra.
GT : What is it about guitar instrumentals that appeals to you?
JH: It’s nice to be able to bring a melody that isn’t limited to the style of the human voice. I also think people are more forgiving about a writer experimenting harmonically and structurally because the skids have been greased in that genre.
GT: What can an instrumental provide a listener that a vocal song can’t?
JH: I would say less constraints on what the melody for a song can be. They also leave the mental visualisation open to the listener as they aren’t being specifically ‘told’ what the song is about.
GT: Any tendencies you aim to embrace or avoid – rhythms, harmony, playing approach, etc?
JH: I’d say that depends on the song. Whether instrumental or vocal, it’s still important to play for the song. I try to avoid playing things that are challenging simply for the sake of the challenge. I also try to avoid writing things that sound like exercises.
GT: Is a typical song structure of intro, verse, chorus, middle 8 etc, always relevant when composing an instrumental?
JH: Not at all. That’s one of the beautiful things about instrumentals. However, I still try to think about them being ‘songs’ and having a flow that is appealing to the listeners.
GT: How useful is studying a vocalist's approach for creating guitar melodies?
JH: Definitely useful. I’d say it gives you greater understanding of how ‘simple’ can be good. Vocalists definitely tend to sing sustained notes more than guitarists often do when writing melodies.
GT: How do you start writing one: is there a typical approach or inspiration for you?
JH: It can be anything. Sometimes it’s an interesting chord progression. Sometimes it’s a groove-based riff. Other times it’s a melody that’s in my head while I’m walking around without a guitar in my hands. The latter seem to be the songs the general public gravitates towards.
GT: What do you aim for when your performance is centre stage as with an instrumental?
JH: With Whitesnake it’s very much about displaying virtuosity during our solo spots, with showmanship that engages the average rock fan. With instrumental songs I don’t worry about that and just try to accurately bring across the ideas. Typically the audience for instrumental music is predominantly musicians, so they’re more tuned in to the nuances of the performance.
GT: Many vocal songs feature a guitar solo that starts low and slow then finishes high and fast. Is this a useful reflection for instrumentals, to develop pace and dynamics?
JH: Sure, but I wouldn’t say they are nearly as formulaic. There is a level of freedom regarding structure and dynamics that is palpable. You can take a song wherever it feels like it needs to go at any time.
GT: What type of guitar tone do you prefer for instrumentals?
JH: That totally depends upon the material. My first album, Undefined, had lots of clean and slightly overdriven sounds, while my second album, The Moon Is Falling was very much about experimenting with strange sounds over a bed of distorted humbucker type tones. My acoustic album, 13 Acoustic Songs was, of course, acoustic. Haha!
GT: Do you have favourite keys or tempos to write or play in?
JH: Not really, though open strings being in key are always a bonus. It’s also fun to experiment in open tunings or odd metres to spur new ideas. I’m very much about wishing I was good at everything, so I tend to be all over the place. Haha!
GT: Do you find Minor or Major keys better to write in?
JH: Either. They obviously just bring across different moods. Most people are not only happy or only sad, so I’ve always thought it was strange that people devote themselves to writing in one emotional style. I guess that just becomes the image or the product.
GT: What about modes?
JH: They all bring across something different, though I’ve found Locrian to be the least useful for me. There are also modes of Harmonic and
Melodic Minor that sound better than others to me.
GT: What about modulations into new keys?
JH: I always teach my students about borrowing from the parallel Major or Minor and also secondary Dominants, etc. That being said, I’m mainly writing rock songs these days and I can remember being younger and thinking that modulations I was hearing sounded ‘weird’. So I try to keep that in mind and not overdo it. It’s every bit as important to avoid overwriting as it is to avoid overplaying.
GT: Do you view the backing band differently than on a vocal song?
JH: Not really, no. I’d say it’s always about playing what’s called for.
However, as I stated earlier, generally speaking I’d say there’s a bit more liberty when playing instrumental music.
GT: Do you enjoy harmonising your melodies?
JH: Yes. I love it. I’d say it’s an area that rock musicians are usually lacking, in comparison to jazz or classical musicians. We tend to always think parallel 3rds or 6ths and a 5th for a three-part harmony. But man, it’s so cool when harmony involves 7ths and 9ths. We always play sus2, sus4, or 7th, add 9 chords, but they are rarely used in harmonising melodies.
GT: What three instrumentals do you think are iconic, or have inspired you, and why?
JH: It’s really difficult to name three. I was moved by some of the old Rush instrumentals when I was a kid. YYZ, La Villa Stragiato, 2112 Overture because they rocked and sounded like a band playing well together, not a showcase for any one individual. I loved Steve Vai’s Passion And Warfare as a teen because it rocked and yet was arranged so well and was so musically adventurous. I also loved the Steve Morse Band’s The Introduction and his album High Tension Wires. I also loved the Yngwie instrumentals for his virtuosity and ability to improvise what was a brand new sound for rock guitar at the time. Honestly, the list goes on and on though...
“I CAN REMEMBER BEING YOUNGER AND THINKING THAT SOME MODULATIONS SOUNDED 'WEIRD'. SO I TRY TO KEEP THAT IN MIND AND NOT OVERDO IT”