Joined:
December 2002
Posts: 584
Location: atlanta | Packaged with the September 2003 issue of Guitar Player magazine is a semi-annual magazine called Frets. Unfortunately, Frets can only be purchased at newsstands and bookstores--it is not included with a standard mail subscription to GP. Compounding the problem, the folks at Guitar Player have not established a separate website for the contents of Frets.
My daughter, Kaki King, is on the cover of the current issue of Frets, surrounded by her Adamas guitars. She is also the feature interview. In the belief that many of you may have no other way to see the interview (other than spend the $6 for the combo), I've dictated the contents of the interview. I'm happy to report that many, many nice things are said about Ovation/Adamas. In addition to the cover photo, there are four large color pictures of her in performance with her Adamas guitars.
-------------------------------------------
Frets Magazine--Fall 2003
KAKI KING
Fast-Forward Flat Top
By Andy Ellis
The progressive, percussive fingerpicker tells how she recorded "Everybody Loves You", and why she embraces Adamas guitars.
Last year, when Kaki King started circulating a home-brewed CD of acoustic guitar instrumentals, she could hardly imagine it would lead to a record deal, national tours, and gobs of enthusiastic media attention. But the response to her music has been so positive that the 23-year-old New Yorker suddenly finds herself swimming in the deep end of the solo-guitar pool. Re-released as "Everybody Loves You" [Velour], her self-produced debut features a wide spectrum of textures, ranging from intense percussive tapping to poignant, introspective fingerpicking. While King brings a fresh attitude to acoustic guitar, she does so with a deep respect for predecessors and a knowledge of their trail-blazing efforts. She has paid her dues, and the music shows it.
Q: When and where did you record "Everybody Loves You"?
A: I recorded it at friends' studios, over time, with no budget. The first four tracks on the album are the earliest recordings; I made them in the summer of 2000 as a sophomore in college. I was in a band with the engineer, Brian Bauers, so I got free studio time. I was really making demos, so I wasn't concerned about getting everything perfect. Some of the songs have a life and magic of their own, so in the end, this casual approach may have been a good thing.
Q: Did you go to tape or hard disk?
A: We used Pro Tools for everything. I miked my Ovation Adamas with Neumann U87s, plus I'd add a little direct signal to give the sound some punch. Two of the songs--"Joi" and "Happy as a Dead Pig in the Sunshine"--were recorded using only the U87s, while "The Exhibition" is exclusively the Adamas stereo pickup, which pans every other string left or right.
Q: What draws you to the Adamas?
A: I had grown up around a really fine, beautiful Adamas that belonged to my dad. Though he denies this, I remember very clearly that I wasn't allowed to touch it. So I learned on a cheap Korean Martin and an Applause, which is another roundback guitar. Eventually my dad realized I was becoming a good player, so he gave me his Adamas. Finally, it was mine! I wrote on it, developed my technique on it, and recorded this entire record with it. Then about eight months ago, it was stolen.
Luckily Adrian Legg had heard me play. He e-mailed the Ovation guys and said, "Hey, this chick needs help." So Ovation checked me out and decided this was something they were into, and they immediately sent me a replacement Adamas. A little later, they gave me a Longneck [this model has a 28-1/3" scale length] and then built me a third guitar.
Q: Does the Ovation's round back tilt the fretboard toward you and make it easier to tap the strings?
A: That's certainly one of the advantages. But the main attraction is that the Adamas has an ability to hold incredibly low notes. I often tune my sixth string down to B-flat. Other guitars just can't carry that deep sound, but because of its carbon-fiber top, the Adamas really sings when it's detuned. I just love it.
Q: What tunings did you use on the album?
A: I used C, G, D, G, A, D for most of the record, but nowadays I drop that down a whole-step, so it's Bb, F, C, F, G, C.
Q: How did you find this tuning?
A: It's like DADGAD with the sixth and fifth strings lowered a whole-step. It's similar to a tuning I learned from Steve Baughman, a fingerstyle guitarist I met at the Swannanoa Gathering [an annual folk-arts festival and workshop series held in Asheville, NC]. He was really excited about what he calls Orkney tuning--C, G, D, G, C, D. It has a real Celtic sound. My tuning differs only on the second string.
I also use E, B, D, F#, B, D-- that's a cool sus2 tuning--as well as DADGAD. At the moment, one of my favorites is C, G, C, G, C, D. If you drop the first string a whole-step, you get a unison on the top--C, G, C, G, C, C; I was using that for awhile. There's other stuff I do that I couldn't possibly explain, because my theory isn't strong enough.
If you fall in love with a particular tuning and use it all the time, every song starts sounding similar. A good way to keep yourself from getting into that hole is to keep moving from tuning to tuning, so I'm still exploring. Open tunings feel natural to me because I grew up listening to Alex de Grassi and Michael Hedges.
Q: Do you use different string gauges for these various tunings?
A: Wouldn't that be nice! If a sell a few more records, maybe I'll be able to afford to change my string gauges, but right now, that's a dream. I use Elixir lights, which are .012-.053, but I put a .013 and a .017 on the top two strings. So it's light-gauge wound strings with medium plains.
Q: It's amazing you can take a .053 all the way down to B-flat.
A: Yeah, it's not a heavy string. It's the Adamas, I'm telling you. My strings are really loose, but they've always sounded fantastic. Plus they feel good--like playing an electric.
Q: Is your guitar set up to facilitate tapping?
A: Not really. Even in standard tuning, the Adamas has fairly low action. Of course, detuning the way I do makes the strings much looser and the action even lower. But other than that, I haven't done anything special.
Q: How much of your repertoire is based around two-handed fretting, as opposed to standard guitar technique?
A: Not a lot. That's something people always focus on, but on the record, only four songs have any tapping. And in one of them, I only tap in the second section. So basically, that's three-and-a-half songs out of ten: "Kewpie
Station", "Carmine St.", "Close Your Eyes & You'll Burst Into Flames" and the second half of "Everybody Loves You." People say, "You play so percussively," but I keep thinking, "I'm not hitting the guitar in a weird way." Sometimes people misinterpret what I'm doing. Like in "Happy as a Dead Pig," I'm keeping that backbeat--boom chick, bah-doom chick--by coming down on the strings with my picking hand.
Q: Like a bossa-nova guitarist.
A: That's all it is. Of course, sometimes I do get into beating the guitar like a drum. It was Preston Reed, who I also met at Swannanoa, who inspired me to get percussive.
Q: What about your picking-hand nails? Do you keep them a short as on your fretting fingers?
A: I keep them short enough to allow string tapping, but not so short that I miss out on all the yummy fingerstyle sounds. I go to a nail salon, and they paint thick, acrylic powder on all five right-hand fingers. I think about it every time I play: "If I didn't have these stupid nails, I could tap so much better." But then, when I do the fingerpicking stuff--which is truly the tradition I come from--I love getting a rich tone. My natural nails are thin, and they don't sound as full as acrylic nails. My compositional side really comes out when I'm plucking strings, and I don't want to stray too far from there.
Q: You studied composition at NYU. Did you grow up with formal music training?
A: No. And even at NYU, I wasn't in the music school, and it wasn't my major. I studied private composition with an amazing woman named Ruth Schonthal. She is in her 70s and so inspiring. We talked a lot about musical philosophies. I'd notate an original piece for piano or guitar, and we'd discuss what worked and what didn't. Her philosophy was always, how can you go further? How can you take a phrase, make it new and interesting, and sound like you've actually developed it? Even though she's very far out, she always thought there should be a mind behind the music.
I also took ear training classes, and that was valuable. Learning to recognize a minor sixth or a major second helped me with my writing.
Q: How so?
A: It's way too difficult to remember every note on the fretboard in every tuning. But knowing what diads and triads sound like, I'm able to recognize what I'm hearing in my head, and find it more easily. I think some people are reluctant to approach an altered tuning because they're used to knowing where they are, and what note they're on. Change the tuning, and you can get lost. Ear training helps you regain some confidence.
Q: When you compose, how you keep track of your ideas? Do you record snippets of themes as you discover them?
A: No. When I'm not on the road, I play all the time. If I keep going back to something every time I pick up the guitar, then that idea is telling me to develop it. I also know I'm on the right track when I find myself humming a phrase, or a theme keeps popping up in my mind. It's simple to sit down and write crap-- just take a rhythm, take some notes, and put them together. But it's incredibly hard to write something that has magic and sticks with people. I want to reach listeners who like beautiful music....so an idea has to be memorable before I run with it.
by Andy Ellis
Frets Magazine Fall 2003 |
Fast-Forward Flat Top