BRETT GARSED (Awesome Interview)

BRETT GARSED

Brett Garsed was born in rural Victoria, Australia and began playing guitar at age 12
after hearing Deep Purple's Ritchie Blackmore play "Speed King". After about a month
of initial lessons he continued to teach himself and formed a band comprised of his two
cousins and a mutual friend and began playing live.

His main influences were Blackmore, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, David Gilmour and Jimi
Hendrix. This later expanded to more diverse styles such as Leo Kottke, Rory Gallagher
(his main inspiration for slide guitar) and Edward Van Halen.

After playing for about 5 years, Brett decided to take classical guitar lessons for about a
year which encouraged him to expand his right-hand finger picking technique, which
was already beginning to develop.

Brett's playing style always revolved around left-hand legato from day one: "I don't
know why I started playing that way, it just seemed so natural." This eventually led him
to the music of Allan Holdsworth, a life-changing experience for most musicians.
Hearing Holdsworth introduced him to new sounds and possibilities which in turn
exposed him to more fusion oriented artists such as Larry Carlton and Scott Henderson.

In July of 1985, Brett was featured in Guitar Player magazine's "Spotlight" column,
which was devoted to exposing new talent to the rest of the world. This encouraged
Brett to give up his job as a licensed plumber and pursue a career as a professional
musician, prompting him to send demo tapes to as many record companies and
management companies as he could find. "I wasn't looking for a record deal. I just
wanted to get into a good band."

One of the tapes was heard by Ross Fraser of the Wheatley Organization, which led to
an audition for a short tour by Australian superstar John Farnham. Farnham, at this time
still a member of the Little River Band, was planning a solo album and invited Brett to
be a part of the project. The resulting album, Whispering Jack, went on to become the
biggest selling album in Australian history, followed by sellout tours of Australia and
Europe.

Brett continued to tour and record with John until early 1989 when he was invited to the
US to audition for Nelson, a band led by Gunnar and Mathew, sons of the late Ricky
Nelson. The audition was a success and the resulting album, After the Rain, went on to
sell in excess of 3 million copies and yielded a national #1 ("Love and Affection") as
well as 2 top ten follow up singles. In early 1990 Brett also recorded Centrifugal Funk
for the Mark Varney label Legato Records, an intense guitar album featuring Frank
Gambale and Shawn Lane.

For most of '91 Brett toured the US with Nelson, and spent '92 recording Quid Pro Quo
with Chicago-born guitarist TJ Helmerich after the duo decided to sign to Varney's
label. With Nelson on a seemingly permanent hiatus, Brett and TJ pursued their career
promoting Quid Pro Quo, which featured Bobby Rock on drums, Gary Willis on bass
and Paul Mirkovich on keys. Greeted with critical acclaim worldwide, the pair recorded
the follow up album Exempt in 1993. In '94 Brett also filmed an instructional video for
REH/Warner titled Rock Fusion which covers, in detail, his unique approach to guitar
improvisation.

Brett's most recent recording projects include the Uncle Moe's Space Ranch album
featuring TJ Helmerich, Gary Willis, Dennis Chambers and Scott Kinsey, the Tapestry
album which was released under the band name "Mojo" and features Ric Fierabracci on
bass and Kofi Baker, son of the legendary Ginger Baker on drums, and most recently his
debut solo album Big Sky with Ric returning for bass and production duties and Toss
Panos behind the drums.

Brett is now living in Australia again after 14 years in Los Angeles having just
completed the record breaking "Last Time" tour with John Farnham which went for an
unprecedented 7 months
Brett Live in Greece with Ric & Joel (Copywrite - © Chris Kissadjekian)

BRETTS WEBSITE http://www.brettgarsed.com/index.php

OUR INTERVIEW WITH BRETT GARSED

MARK
Hi bret, first let me say what a great privalage to interview you for our
shredknowledge website , its a great honor and I'm very exited .
What guitars have you used and what is the tuition video future for you and
us?

BRETT
Ive used a guitar made by Soundworks here in Australia which I used
on some of the early Nelson vids.
I used my Steinberger GS on the "Rock Fusion" video and then used
my ESP Horizon Custom on the "Rock Improvisation" dvd. I pretty
much play that guitar constantly. I'd like to do another dvd focusing
on improvisation over changes but to be honest, people like Scott
Henderson and Frank Gamable have already done brilliant dvd's
about that very subject and are much more qualified to talk about it
anyway.

MARK
I saw you do a clinic and you used a real cheap amp and still sounded cool ,
whats your thoughts on valves and transisters?
BRETT
I really like valve amps because of the way they respond dynamically
but hopefully I can pull a half decent tone out of anything. It's just
easier with a good tube amp.

MARK
Ive tried to copy a few of your licks and you have an amazing way of changing
directions when your playing legato lines .
Could you give us a little insite into how you seem to so easily weave in and
out of scale fragments in such a smooth style ?

BRETT
Take a small idea and see how many different ways you can play it
using the same notes but different strings and techniques. That way
you'll be able to play your ideas without being limited to any one
particular part of the fretboard. I'm still working on it!

MARK
Do you still see or keep in touch much with your partner in crime Tj
Helmerich? Did you ever get into the 8 fingered technique.

BRETT
TJ and I e-mail each other all the time and I'm sure we'll always be
doing some kind of project no matter where in the world we are.

I don't try to sound different from other people and my influences

are obvious. I'd just rather spend time working on my own original
ideas than copying the ideas of others.

MARK
Your Video's tell most of what anyone needs to know to get some fusion vibe
into their playing. What would you say to anyone who hasnt yet seen your
vids and wants to add some fusion vibe in to their rock playing?

BRETT
Well, I guess my dvd is a good place to start but I'd recommend just
listening to all the great fusion players out there and checking out
their phrasing, sounds etc. Transcribe them by all means but rather
than just repeating what you've transcribed, try to analyze the
notes and understand the formulas they're applying and try to
incorporate that into your own concepts.

MARK
Is their anything comming up that your fans can look forwrd to like albums or
stuff?

BRETT
I'm about 2 months away from releasing a new album. I have
Virgil Donati and Gerry Pantazis on drums, Ric Fierabracci on bass
and Phil Turcio on keyboards.

MARK
Is their anything you've done in your amazing career that you can look back
on and feel you've achived a dream?

BRETT
Many things. I've played massive arenas and festivals with John
Farnham, (we played in front of 110,000 people in Germany),
Nelson had a #1 single in America so that's a rare experience for an
Aussie, and I get to work regularly with some of the best rock and
fusion musicians in the world on a regular basis so I'm an
extremely lucky guy!

MARK
Do you have anything you still want to do ?

BRETT
I just want to keep doing all of this stuff!

MARK
What other stuff do you do?

BRETT
I don't do much else other than play music and enjoy my life.

MARK
Do you live in Auzz? and Australia is a pretty big place and your a pretty big
name , do you still get around the world or do you keep in Auzz mostly?

BRETT
I love living in Australia but I really miss Los Angeles so I hope to
return there very soon to play and visit my friends. I went to
Russia last year and Romania this year so I'm still traveling. As for
the other questions, sure, go ahead and ask.

MARK
There are so many sofware amps, some amazing hardware Amp modellers
and Fx , You can endorse any single pedal multi fx or gadgets that are
available is there anything that has really made you think I like this ?

BRETT
I've been using a Digitech RP 1000 a lot and I really like it. Great
sounds and very well made.
My favorite amp is my Bogner Extasy without a doubt.

MARK
The Rp's had the twin valves in them if I remember right I had an Rp 30 valve Fx.
BRETT
I don't think the RP 1000 has any tubes in it but all the fx are extremely high
quality. Can't wait to see the next generation of it.

MARK
Do you have any faith or spiritual views?

BRETT
I'd like to think that I'm a spiritual person but I steer very clear of any organized
religions. Spirituality should be a personal thing and anyone that tries to use it for
financial gain or power over others should be locked up.

MARK
Bret you must know how inportant it is to try and stay relaxed when playing
both harder lines and basically playing in front of lots of people, do you have
any tips for guys who find it hard to relax or just dont really know how.

BRETT
I get extremely nervous as I find that playing music is very natural
for me but performing isn't. I try to remind myself that the only risk
is a bruised ego from playing some "off" notes so I try to always
enjoy the privilege of playing music and take risks. It's supposed to
be fun and anyone that ruins it by making judgmental comments
should be locked up with the religious manipulators.

MARK
Could you give our guys an insite into how you would go about writing and
composing? Do you use any outside stimulus like pictures or stories ect also do
you usually start with a progression or a lick or phrase you like ?

BRETT
I'll try any process to come up with a song and it's always hard work
but the more you do it the easier it becomes, much like anything it
takes practice. I always record myself when I'm writing as you never
know when a great idea will show up, usually unexpectedly, so make
sure you keep a tape running and listen back to it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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SK MEMBER QUESTION 1
Shantanu Bailoor Hi bret, I'm having major troubles using my pinky to
pick strings.. how do i strengthen it for finger style/hybrid picking?

BRETT
Try playing scales or anything for that matter using only your third
and fourth finger on your picking hand. It'll seem weak at first but
it'll strengthen up quickly. Don't focus on speed. That will come with
time but focus on control and also try and apply it to some licks or
ideas so you can start to incorporate the concept into your playing.

SK MEMBER QUESTION 2
Koek Wei Chew - I would like to know how to prevent extraneaus noise from
hammer on and pull off in high gain situations and how you can get such a
clean sound on his legato approach.
Tone setting and string muting advice also please.

BRETT
I actually don't use that much distortion to be honest so that's
probably helpful. Muting is a very personal subject so you may
have to experiment using either the palm of your picking hand,
individual fingers of your picking hand (to mute strings while you
use your pick) or the index finger of your fretting hand. Just keep
trying things till you figure out a way to stop the unwanted noise.
Record yourself in headphones as that will expose the smallest
noise and if you can get rid of that then you'll sound great while
playing live.

SK MEMBER QUESTION 3
Abhijit Patel -
When playing with drummers like Virgil Donati how do you come up with all
your amazing heavy rhythms while simultaneously playing on time ?

BRETT
In the case of Planet X, Virgil writes all the parts so I only have to
play what he's already written which is difficult enough for me! I
have to work pretty hard over the solos sections so I can be free to
improvise in odd meters and believe me, if Virgil is around and I
have a question, I'm not too shy to ask him for help!

BRETT
Personal identity is always the thing that makes people stand out as
individuals regardless of their technical ability. Technique is only a
means to an end so if everyone ends up doing the same finger-
tapping arpeggios or whatever then they lose any chance of being
identified as an individual. Technique doesn't mean much unless it's
accompanied by an original concept and that's MUCH harder to
achieve than chops.

SK MEMMBER QUESTION 5
JOOP WOLTERS
In which way do you approach improvising ,content wise and the elements that
influence you the most when improvising, like the groove,harmony the
interaction with the band, theoretical mindset..etc..! Thanks Bret .
BRETT
Hopefully I can know the music well enough to just be free and think
about nothing other than the noises I hear in my head and trying to
get them to come out of the amp. Rarely happens for me I'm afraid
but on the odd occasion that it does, it's one of the greatest feelings
in the world.

ONE WORD ANSWER GAME

Ibanez- guitar

strings- steel

metranome- clock

ego- bad

picks- lost

pizza- yes please!

techno- interesting

satch- great

Bible- good for some

borat- cringeworthy but funny

kangaroo- cute

wiggles- brilliant

ski-ing- difficult but fun

war- horrendous

tabla- amazing

slide- more amazing

beck- even MORE amazing!

jazz- mystery

sport- bad

excercise- good

narcotics- dangerous

rolf- harris
dvds- fun

avatar- 3d

monty python- genius!

zappa- genius!!

Crimson- King

hardtail- bridge or harley

synths- fun

alaogue- great

saxaphone- heavenly

voodoo- chile

yoda- big ears

contracts- suck!

music industry- vicious

punk- inspiring

pickups- passive

gauge- medium

acoustic- challenging

delay- echo

valves- warm

hendrix- genius

country- brilliant

pink floyd- genius

acid- casualty

shredknowledge.com- brilliant!

MARK
Thanks alot mate
BRETT
No Worries

MARK
AWSOME!!!

MEMBER QUESTION 4
ADAM MOORE
1.‘given that there’s so many fantastic players with such perfect technique in the
world, what do you think makes anyone stand out?’ 2.‘do you actively try to not
sound like other players?