|
The
following article appeared in the January 1998 issue of Guitarist magazine. The author was David Mead.
Classic
Lines...
The nylon string classical guitar isn't an animal you'd expect to
thrive on the rock'n'roll concert stage - its shy, softly spoken
eloquence is quaintly out of place, somehow. Unless it's being played
by Dominic Miller, that is...
Amid the multi-coloured swirl of Argentinean music, right where the
national sound emanates from that most enigmatic of instruments, the
nylon string guitar, Dominic Miller's life began, as did a promising
guitarist's career.
From South America, he moved to the mid-west, finally settling in the
UK where his musical career began with a regular scanning of the
'Musicians Wanted' column in Melody Maker, attending every audition
going.
Such persistence led to King Swamp, World Party, Level 42, Julia
Fordham, Phil Collins and, for the last seven or eight years, the king
of the nylon string has played with Sting.
Dominic is a versatile player, equally at home on acoustic or electric
guitars. Gigging with Sting means pounding out up-beat Police songs
like 'Roxanne' or 'Synchronicity II' on the electric one minute, then
over to nylon string to explore the delicacy of songs like 'Shape Of
My Heart' and 'Fields Of Gold' the next.
Guitarist talked to Dominic just after he'd finished a world tour with
Sting. 14 months on the road with little time off would prove more
than enough for many, but Dominic is eager to elaborate on past and
future projects with the enthusiasm of a consummate pro. He begins by
telling us why he still considers the nylon string his first guitar.
"That was what I learned on. It wasn't until I was 14 or 15 that I
picked up an electric. So the nylon string is definitely my main
instrument. I can get more sounds out of it than I can out of an
electric. The first thing I played was Brazilian stuff. I was always
listening to Argentine music. It must have had an effect on me,
because what I do now is influenced more by the South American sound
than anything else. People think South American music is just
Brazilian music, but it's not, it's a whole world of different styles.
There's Peruvian, Argentinean, tango, samba... it's amazing."
Other influences are obvious in Dominic's work, though.
"My elder sister played guitar and she taught me. We got records by
The Stones and The Beatles and I was really into that, too. But nobody
dared play that in Argentina, so we stuck to what we knew best,
playing simple tunes and songs."
A prominent feature of South American music is its intense rhythmic
feel, which Dominic says prepared him for Sting's 5/4 and 7/4 time
signature aberrations.
"Technically, it's a constant movement in the bass. It's like having a
bass line and a chord line instead of just strumming. I always use my
right-hand fingers - your fingers play a chord and your thumb plays
against the rhythm. The thumb anticipates the rhythm by playing before
the downbeat, so that kind of thing comes naturally to me. I learned a
lot of really cool sounding chords, too. The thing about Brazilian
music which is great is that there's always movement; for every chord
there's another note you can put in to create movement. For example,
instead of just playing a static major seventh, you'd alternate with
the major sixth as well."
Do any of these techniques transfer to electric guitar?
The idea of movement within a chord does. That's how I approach all
the 'jangly' stuff with Sting. It's moving all the time, as opposed to
staying on one chord. You find the other colour to the chord and
jangle it! But rhythmically speaking I don't so much differently,
except hold the note longer when I transfer to electric to give the
note more depth and breadth."
What about picking style on electric?
"I'm playing more with fingers now. On electric, I play about 25 per
cent finger; I love the idea of using fingers when playing; it's like
you're working the guitar. You get a better sound with fingers. If
you're going to do widdley-widdley stuff, then forget it! I've tried
it, and I think we should let Jeff Beck deal with that. He's the
master right-hand man!"
I ask Dominic what he sees as the main difference between playing
nylon string and electric guitar in a live situation.
"I think a nylon string cuts through much more than an electric. The
only dilemma I have on stage is where to use nylon strings. I have to
ask: 'does this song really need it? Am I just using it because this
is what I do?' I play it when I think it needs to be there, so over
the last few years, it's there a lot - on more traditional-sounding
Sting songs, for example.
"It depends what the set is, but I use the nylon string on 'Fields Of
Gold', 'Shape Of My Heart', 'I Was Brought To My Senses' and 'Seven
Days', but occasionally I change. I play 'Seven Days' on nylon string
now, I've banned the electric. But sometimes I might just alter things
radically on stage and see if Sting notices!"
The catalyst for Dominic's live work with nylon strings evolved
because of the development of his Fernandes P-Project
electro/classical.
"The guitar was made because I needed an acoustic nylon string on
stage. I told Fernandes I was looking for one, and I went to Japan and
there it was! It's a solid-bodied nylon acoustic guitar, slightly
hollow on the bass side. I don't know what that's about, but I'm sure
it's got something to do with the depth of the sound. There's a real
contrast between the Fernandes and any other solid nylon string. It's
tone is more crisp, so the high-end sounds much better. If I play a
Gibson Chet Atkins, I find it's a very round sound; if you look at the
actual signal, you'll find it's round, and I don;t hear the fingers. I
can't hear the index finger going through the string before it strikes
the note, I just hear the note. It's like a classical guitar and a
flamenco guitar. The flamenco is lighter, so it's brighter and the
same is true of the P-Project."
Dominic's P-Project nylon string also has an under-saddle pickup with
bass and treble EQ controls on the rear of the guitar.
"I usually get the sound I want if I leave it flat. I've also got a
steel-string version of the same guitar, but for years I couldn't get
it to sound right. Fernandes told me to try electric strings, and
instantly it sounded great. I'd assumed all along that it should have
an acoustic set on it. They were horrified!"
Is the P-Project nylon string used in the studio as well as for
playing live?
"Yes - I plug in and the sound is right there. Engineers are amazed at
by the sound, because it's like someone sitting out there with this
elaborate mike arrangements. It sounds good whatever you plug into.
And it's great for live work too - you can use it on a big stage and
there's no feedback. With a lot of other acoustics, you'd have
difficulties. The way round it is to cover the soundhole, but then you
lose some of the sound and just hear the strings. I don't use an amp
for it at all; I just DI and have it through the monitor system. Out
front, I think it gets slightly different treatment, but it's user
friendly and never lets me down."
But if things suddenly go awry, Dominic's got that covered too.
"I've got three P-Projects, but I've never had used the spares, which
is impressive considering the guitar's been around the world with me
two or three times. I use the others for different tunings where
they're drop-tuned to E flat. Sting does a couple of things in E flat
so I like to have the open strings available."
Dominic admits he has a bit of a rebellious streak when playing live.
"It's great when it goes mad on stage - I live for those moments
because it's dangerous. Sting will suddenly start jamming on something
else completely, and then he finds himself in a key that's alien to
all of us and we just have to pick it up. We have to learn how to get
through it then go back to the song we were on. It's a bit mad at
times but it's worth it!"
As well as his sideman role, Dominic is fostering his solo career. His
album 'First Touch' was recorded in 1995, and is now available
world-wide.
"It's only recently that people have picked it up. In America, it's
available through Dreamworks. I'm really glad I've finally got a
distributor in America, because that sort of thing can be very
difficult, but Dreamworks think it's perfect and are putting it out.
It's been a slow climb; I didn't mean for for this record to take the
world by storm, but it's got a life of it's own now which I'm really
happy about because I'm moving on."
Not one to let the grass grow under his feet, Dominic already has
other projects in the pipeline as well as his own solo gigs.
"I'm working on two different things now. I'm doing an album with Manu
Katché and Pino Palladino where I'm going to use half electric and
half acoustic - probably steel string a little more. But I'm also
working on my next acoustic album. The gigs are pretty scary,
especially playing and not singing because people think 'He's not
going to play is he?' And I'm going, 'I'm not really going to play, am
I?' It's more nerve-wracking playing in front of 100 people alone than
playing in front of 100,000 in a stadium. That's easy!"
© Guitarist
More press >> |
|