OMAR RODRÍGUEZLÓPEZ

(THE MARS VOLTA)

“From a fretboard perspective, I work with shapes rather than patterns. I’m useless at running through scales, but I’m good at arranging my thoughts into geometric shapes and creating chords and melodies out of them. Thoughts have shapes, just like tones — they have waveforms. You can translate the shapes of thoughts and emotions through your hands onto the fretboard. With experience, you start relating the shape of your hand on the fretboard to certain geometric shapes that enter your mind when you’re hearing those sounds or having those feelings. You hear people use shapes to describe things all the time, such as, ‘That guy is a square,’ or ‘This sound is really round.’”

“I’M HEAVILY INFLUENCED BY JIMMY PAGE, AND HE HAS A FANTASTIC VIBRATO. IT’S SO LOOSE AND SO EMOTIONAL”

— ALEX LIFESON