Afleveringen
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Welcome back for a special season finale of Wong Notes!
Weâve saved one of the best for last: Brad Paisley.The celebrated shredder and seasoned fisherman joins host Cory Wong for one of this seasonâs most interesting episodes. Paisley talks his earliest guitar-playing influences, which came from his grandfatherâs love of country music, and his first days in Nashvilleâas a student at Belmont University, studying the music industry.
The behind-the-curtain knowledge he picked up at Belmont made him a good match for industry suits trying to force bad contracts on him.
Wong and Paisley swap notes on fishing and a mutual love of PhishâPaisley envies the jam-band scene, which he thinks has more leeway in live contexts than country. And with a new signature Fender Telecaster hitting the market in a rare blue paisley finish, Paisley discusses his iconic namesake patternâwhich some might describe as âhippie pukeââand its surprising origin with Elvisâ guitarist James Burton.
Plus, hear how Paisley assembled his rig over the years, the state of shredding on mainstream radio, when it might be good to hallucinogenic drugs in a set, and the only negative thing about country-music audiences.
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Produced by Jason Shadrick and Cory Wong
Additional Editing by Shawn Persinger
Presented by DistroKid
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Legendary shredder Joe Satriani was the first ever guest on Wong Notes, so it makes sense that heâs the first returning sit-in with Cory Wong. Satch is busy as ever, juggling enough projects to make a normal guitaristâs head spin. But Satrianiâs not a normal guitarist.
He teases a new song with Sammy Hagar, plus delves into the intricacies of Eddie Van Halenâs playing and why he canât quite replicate itâevery guitarist has their strengths and deficiencies, claims Satch. And believe it or not, Satriani didnât figure standing in front of huge crowds to be one of his strengths when he was younger. Fate figured otherwise.
Satriani goes deep on one of his favorite tools, the Sustainiac pickup, and talks about how itâs defined his playingâjust like his trademark sunglasses, even in dark rooms. (âStupid idea, right?â he jokes.)And young guitarists, listen up: Satriani has some wise words on the importance of rigorous practice while youâre budding on the instrument. The big takeaway? Learn. The. Notes.
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Produced by Jason Shadrick and Cory Wong
Additional Editing by Shawn Persinger
Presented by DistroKid
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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Grace Bowers just released her debut record, 2024âs Wine on Venus, with her band the Hodge Podge, but sheâs already one the most well-known young guitarists in America. On this episode of Wong Notes, Bowers talks through the ups, downs, and detours of her whirlwind career.
Bowers started out livestreaming performances on Reddit at age 13, and came into the public eye as a performer on social media, so sheâs well acquainted with the limits and benefits of being an âInstagram guitarist.â She and Cory talk about session work in Nashville (Bowers loathes it), her live performance rig, and Eddie Hazelâs influence.
Bowers plugs the importance of networking as a young musician: If you want gigs, you gotta go to gigs, and make acquaintances. But none of that elbow-rubbing will matter unless youâre solid on youâre instrument. âNo oneâs gonna hire you if youâre ass,â says Bowers. âPractice is important.â
Tune in to learn why Bowers is ready to move on from Wine on Venus, her takes on Nashville versus California, and why she hates âthe blues-rock label.â
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Produced by Jason Shadrick and Cory Wong
Additional Editing by Shawn Persinger
Presented by DistroKid
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You might not know Greg Koch, but weâll bet your favorite guitarist does. In 2012, Fender called the Wisconsin blues-guitar phenom one of the top 10 best unsung guitarists, and in 2020, Guitar World listed Koch among the 15 best guitar teachers. Heâs been inducted into the Wisconsin Area Music Industry Hall of Fame. Koch is a bonafide midwest guitar god.
He joins Cory Wong on this round of Wong Notes for this meeting of the Middle-America minds, where the duo open with analysis of music culture in Wisconsin and MinnesotaâKoch taught at Saint Paulâs now-shuttered McNally Smith College of Music, which Wong attended. Koch and Wong zero in on the blues roots of most modern music and talk through soloing theories: It can be as easy or as hard as you want it to be, but Koch shares that he likes to âpaint himself into a corner,â then get out of it.
Koch and Wong swap notes on the pressures of studio performance versus the live realm, and how to move on from mistakes made onstage in front of audiences. Plus, Koch has created scores of guitar education materials, including for Hal Leonard. Tune in to find out what makes a good guitar course, how to write a guitar book, Kochâs audio tips for crystalline live-stream sessions, and why he still prefers tube amps: âI like to crank that sh*t up!â
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Produced by Jason Shadrick and Cory Wong
Additional Editing by Shawn Persinger
Presented by...
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Mike Stern has been around the block. The jazz-guitar virtuoso earned his stripes through the â70s and â80s in New Yorkâs jazz scene, playing 6-string with drummer Billy Cobham before tapping in with artists like Miles Davis and Jaco Pastoriusâeven at a time when guitar wasnât necessarily a cornerstone piece of a jazz outfit. In this episode of Wong Notes, Stern fills Cory Wong in on the ups and downs of 50 years spent in one of the most complex and underappreciated music genres.
Stern made the leap to New York from Boston when Davis invited him to join his band (back when jazz was the pop music of the day, notes Stern), but it was a rocky rideâStern says he and many other musicians were âbottoming outâ from addiction, until a friend went sober and convinced them to give sobriety a try. Stern talks about Milesâ hidden love for the guitar, and how he succeeded in fitting into non-guitar environments.
Wong and Stern touch on the decline of arts spaces and cultures in America (thanks, Stern says, to misallocated funding), playing gigs where the band outnumbers the audience members, the benefits of running the same rig in every room, and how to pick the right pickâfor Stern, that involves a bit of wig glue. Tune in to get the details, and be sure to check out our 2018 Rig Rundown with Stern, too.
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Bluegrass music is bigger than a genre. Itâs become an entire world of ideas and feelings in the popular American imagination. And musician Jerry Douglas has been a key part of its celebration and revival over the past 30 years. âIt's an old form of music that came from people in the south playing on the porch and became this juggernaut of a genre,â says Douglas. âItâs a character. It's a physical music.â
Douglas has racked up an impressive cabinet of accolades, including Grammies, American Music Association Awards, and International Bluegrass Music Association Awards. Heâs been dubbed the CMA Awardsâ Musician of the Year three times, and played with everyone from Allison Krauss and Elvis Costello to Bela Fleck and John Fogerty. Heâs an encyclopedic guide to contemporary American roots music, and on this episode of Wong Notes, he walks Cory Wong through the most important moments in his 50-year career.
Tune in to hear Douglasâ assessment of bluegrassâ demanding nature (âHonestly, there's not so many genres nowadays that require as much technical facility as something like bluegrassâ), whatâs required of roots players (âGet it right, get it fast, make it hookâ), and why the O Brother, Where Are Thou? soundtrack connected with so many listeners. Wondering how to get involved with session work? Douglas says thereâs no one-size-fits-all answer, and what worked for him might not work today. The key is to be dynamicâand know when to keep your mouth shut.
There are plenty of gems in this interview, like Douglasâ thoughts on what makes a good solo, but the most significant might be Douglasâ big takeaway from decades of sitting in on communal roots-music sessions. âWe can play in all genres,â says Douglas. âWe just have to listen.â
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At 26, Blu DeTiger is the youngest musician ever to have a signature Fender bass guitar. The Fender Limited Player Plus x Blu DeTiger Jazz Bass, announced in September, pays tribute to the bassist and singerâs far-reaching impact and cultural sway. Sheâs played with Caroline Polachek, Bleachers, FLETCHER, Olivia Rodrigo, and more, and released her own LP in March 2024. In 2023, Forbes feature her on their top 30 Under 30 list of musicians. So how did DeTiger work her way to the top?
DeTiger opens up on this episode of Wong Notes about her career so far, which started at a School of Rock camp at age seven. Thatâs where she started performing and learning to gig with othersâshe played at CBGBâs before she turned 10. DeTiger took workshops with Victor Wooten at Berklee followed and studied under Steven Wolf, but years of DJing around New York City, which hammered in the hottest basslines in funk and disco, also imprinted on her style. (Larry Graham is DeTigerâs slap-bass hero.)
DeTiger and Wong dish on the ups and downs of touring and session life, collaborating with pop artists to make âtimelessâ pop songs, and how to get gigs. DeTigerâs advice? âYou gotta be a good hang.â
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Produced by Jason Shadrick and Cory Wong
Additional Editing by Shawn Persinger
Presented by DistroKid
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There probably arenât too many artists out there as busy as Mark Tremonti. Aside from his celebrated careers in alt-rock mainstays Creed and Alter Bridge, the guitarist, songwriter, and singer organizes guitar and songwriting clinics while on tour; has a line of signature PRS gear; and cut a 14-track charity record, Mark Tremonti Sings Sinatra. Did we mention heâs aiming to become a pinball kingpin, too?
Tremonti joins Cory Wong on this episode of Wong Notes to dig into his musical trajectory since the late â90s, when he blasted to the top of the charts with Creed. The band drew comparisons to other grunge-era staples like Pearl Jam, which irritated Tremonti but pleased Stapp. Tremonti discusses the gulf between the bandâs popularity and the critical backlash they received: âPeople can be cruel, but itâs part of the world. You gotta deal with it.â
Tremonti analyzes what makes a good riff and why everything in âthe middleâ is boring to him, and unveils his songwriting and demoing routines. (âI think melody is the most important part of everything,â he says.) But his biggest passion project these days is his step into classic crooner music. Inspired by his daughter to do a charity project to benefit the down syndrome community, Tremonti recorded a Frank Sinatra covers album, complete with more than a dozen musicians who played with Olâ Blue Eyes himself.
Tune in to hear all about Tremontiâs artistic life, plus a peek at what happens during his pre-show guitar and songwriting clinics on Creedâs fall 2024 tour. Expecting him to demonstrate some ferocious warmups? Think again: âI play like grandmaâs in the room,â says Tremonti.
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âSkunkâ Baxter has had an interesting career. The Washington, D.C.-born musician was one of Steely Danâs founding members in the early 1970s, and played on some of their most iconic numbers, like Canât Buy a Thrillâsâ âReelinâ in the Yearsâ and âDo It Again,â or Pretzel Logicâs âRikki Donât Lose That Number.â Then, he moved on to join the Doobie Brothers, from roughly 1974 to 1979, where he fatefully invited Michael McDonald into the band. After that stint, he became a go-to session player for artists like Rod Stewart, Joni Mitchell, Dolly Parton, and Donna Summer, and a touring performer for Elton John and Linda Ronstadt, among others.
That was just the beginning. Baxterâs interest and background in electronics, science, and recording technology gained him a position in the U.S. defense industry. Turns out, a lot of digital music gear shared similar principles with emergent defense tech. âBasically, a radar is just an electric guitar on steroids,â says Baxter, noting the same four fundamental forces at work over everything in our universe.
Wong and Baxter trades notes on how to navigate studio sessions (âJust shut the hell up,â offers Baxter), early conversions of pitch into digital signals, and how Baxter cut his solo on Donna Summerâs âHot Stuffâ on a $25 guitar. And can mediating between artists and producers feel like high-stakes hostage negotiations? Sometimes.
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Produced by Jason Shadrick and Cory Wong
Additional Editing by Shawn Persinger
Presented by DistroKid
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Jason Newsted spent 15 years holding down the low end in Metallica, playing bass for the band from 1986 through 2001. That era included records like âŠAnd Justice For All and MetallicaâAKA The Black Albumâplus the iconic S&M live album with the San Francisco Symphony.
But that was just the beginning for Newsted, an artistic polymath who has since pursued a life of balance and creative freedom. On this episode of Wong Notes, he opens up to Cory Wong about why he left Metallica, and details the âOlympianâ physicality and discipline that hard international touring requires. Newsted needed a break; the band wanted to keep going. âYou gotta sometimes give it a minute,â he says.
Newsted shares his thoughts on Dave Mustaine and his predecessor Cliff Burton, and goes deep on the issue of cellphone usage at concerts. (Spoiler alert: He doesnât like it very much, and heâs got good reasons for his disdain.) But Newsted isnât just a performer. He talks about his painting and the way that practice differs from music-making, plus his private artistic journeys with theremin, mandolin, and sequencers and loopersârabbit holes he might not have gone down if he stayed in Metallica. âI donât say no to any medium,â he says.
Maybe leaving Metallica created the need to explore. âI did not get to fulfill that journey,â he says, âso Iâm making up for it.â
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We know what youâre thinking: Dave Navarro is gonna talk about the onstage brawl. But Cory Wong starts this episode of Wong Notes with an important caveat. This show was recorded long before the awful breakdown and confrontation between Navarro and Janeâs Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell, so donât expect any salacious gossip. But that just makes this episode all the more interesting.
Navarro talks Wong through his formative influences, from Hendrix, Zeppelin, and the Doors to Maiden, heavy metal, and goth. That melting pot, he says, became one of Janeâs Addictionâs calling cards: âPerry and Eric [Avery] ended up in a band that is influenced by bands they hate,â laughs Navarro, who geeks out on Rush and prog-rock.
Navarro discusses how Janeâs Addiction has a propensity for jamming live, a practice developed out of a mutual appreciation for nontraditional song structures. But the delineations can sometimes go wrong. âWe do run into trainwrecks,â says Farrell. âSometimes weâll find ourselves in a part that weâre vibing on, and weâll keep going, and Perry doesnât know what weâre doing. Heâll come in and itâs in the wrong place, and weâre fucking him up.â
Tune in to hear Navarro talk his ârabbit hole de jourâ practice style, how to exercise your fingers and your brain, and a lead technique he calls âthe Navarro smear.â All this and more on this latest episode of Wong Notes.
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Keith Urban has spent decades traveling the world and topping global country-music charts, and on this episode of Wong Notes, the country-guitar hero tells host Cory Wong how he conquered the worldâand what keeps him chasing new sounds on his 6-string via a new record, High, which releases on September 20.
Urban came up as guitarist and singer at the same time, and he details how his playing and singing have always worked as a duet in service of the song: âWhen I stop singing, [my guitar] wants to say something, and he says it in a different way.â Those traits served him well when he made his move into the American music industry, a story that begins in part with a fateful meeting with a 6-string banjo in a Nashville music store in 1995.
Itâs a different world for working musicians now, and Urban weighs in on the state of radio, social media, and podcasts for modern guitarists, but he still believes in word-of-mouth over the algorithm when it comes to discovering exciting new players.
And in case you didnât know, Keith Urban is a total gearhead. He shares his essential budget stomps and admits heâs a pedal hound, chasing new sounds week in and week out, but what role does new gear play in his routine? Urban puts it simply: âIâm not chasing tone, Iâm pursuing inspiration.â
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Produced by Jason Shadrick and Cory Wong
Additional Editing by Shawn Persinger
Presented by DistroKid
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This time on Wong Notes, guitar legend Kurt Rosenwinkel joins Cory Wong to go deep on all things jazz. The genre has always been a haven for free-thinkers and adventurers, so itâs little surprise when Rosenwinkel reveals that heâs incorporated a Fractal FM9 into his live rigâthough itâs still working in tandem with a good olâ Fender tube amp.
Rosenwinkel divulges the details on his âsofter, darkerâ attack, which combined with his approach to toneâincluding a fair bit of top-end roll-offâconstitutes a big piece of his signature sound. Rosenwinkelâs forthcoming live record, The Next Step Band (Live at Smalls 1996), captures this sound in the place that formed it: New York City. Rosenwinkel takes Wong back to the halcyon days of the cityâs kinetic 1990s âhardcoreâ bebop and free-jazz scene, where Mitch Bordenâs legendary Smalls Jazz Club was an artistic hotbed (and crash pad) for players of all stripes.
Nowadays, more and more artists are forming their connections online rather in a jazz club. But can TikTok and Instagram replace an all-night jazz joint for up-and-coming players?
Tune in, and be sure to check out Kurtâs career-spanning new Ultimate Book of Compositions.
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Produced by Jason Shadrick and Cory Wong
Additional Editing by Shawn Persinger
Presented by DistroKid
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The legendary shred maestroâbest known for his work as a solo artist and as a member of Return to Forever and other high-profile, hot-shot collabsâdrops by to chat with Cory about his new epic full-length, Twentyfour. It features âsixteen brand-new compositions and theyâre all very involved. I hope I donât have to do this again.â
One of Di Meolaâs biggest projects is, of course, the guitar trio he shared with John McLaughlin and Paco de LucĂa and their thrilling 1981 record, Friday Night in San Francisco, which elevated the acoustic guitar ensemble to the level of high art. Di Meola shares the behind-the-scenes stories of that tour and the 2022 archival release from the next nightâs concert, Saturday Night in San Francisco. He calls the ensembleâs dynamic a âreal healthy competitionâ and explains, âI knew I was up against two guys who were relentless in their delivery of phenomenal ideas. When they finished a solo, it was like, âOh my god, what am I gonna come up with.â
No chat with Di Meola, who famously opened up his kitchen in the post-lockdown part of the pandemic, would be complete without a survey of Southern Italian food. Why is sfogliatelle the maestroâs favorite pastry, and where does he get his? If heâs on tour and thereâs nowhere to eat but an Olive Garden, whatâs his order? And much, much more.
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Marcus King has already been through the wringer, but heâs on the come-up. His hotly anticipated third LP, Mood Swings, drops this Friday, April 5, and on this episode of Wong Notes, the earnest, honest 28-year old South Carolinian goes deep on his career with Cory Wong.
The two shredders open by swapping notes on how touring has changed post-pandemic. Costs are way up, but theyâre managing to make it work. King reveals to Wong that on his upcoming tour, heâs wrangled a few sizeable, must-have creature comforts into the trailersâtune in to find out what King brings on the road.
King walks us through his custom amp and cabinet setups, detailing why he prefers 10" speakers to 12", how he became friends with Orange Amplifiers founder Cliff Cooper, and the family history that led to his signature Gibson Marcus King 1962 ES-345, complete with sideways vibrola.
He and Wong get down to the nitty-gritty, too. Marcus talks about pressure to conform to certain genre communities, his struggles with self-medicating, and how sometimes, music feels like the only medicine weâve got on hand.
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Produced by Jason Shadrick and Cory Wong
Additional Editing by Shawn Persinger
Presented by DistroKid
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The ascendant roots shredder shares intimate details from his musical upbringing and gets philosophical on the past and future of bluegrass.
Millennial folk philosopher Billy Strings joins this episode of Wong Notes. The Grammy-winning acoustic picker is an open bookânothing is off limits with Billy, from recounting his days selling magic mushrooms in exchange for passing grades in math class, to an emotional drunk-driving revelation that might have saved his life.
Now, Strings can recount war stories of playing with his heroes in the bluegrass scene, and learning important lessons from the greats about respect while onstage. Strings is at the intersection of the old and the new, often stuck between the traditionalists and the new era of American folk music. He says he doesnât belong to one or the other; his music is more of âa goulash of all the things put together.â Speaking of which, Billy and Cory connect for a brilliant mashup of Coryâs funk stylings and Billyâs bluegrass flatpicking, proving that music really can be a universal language.
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Produced by Jason Shadrick and Cory Wong
Additional Editing by Shawn Persinger
Presented by DistroKid
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This time on Wong Notes, Cory is joined by his Vulfpeck and Fearless Flyers copilot Joe Dart. Wong doesnât waste any time, diving in by asking Dart, by now renowned as a modern bass wizard with flawless fundamentals, how he developed he signature âvoiceâ on the bass. As Dart explains, it came from listening to players who had their own distinct âvoice,â who sound like âtheyâre singing a part within the song,â he says. These âphilosophers of the low-end,â like Flea, imprinted the value of total intention and feeling in every note, as if any single one could be your last.
Dart throws it back to his first bassâa Samickâand remembers how itâs ridiculously high action was like weight training for the rest of his career. He still likes his strings suspended up higher than most, which allows his âbrute forceâ slapping. Wong and Dart trade notes on practice regimes, and Dart offers advice for young players: Learn your scales, sure, but most importantly, âplay with as many different people as you can.â Plus, Dart breaks down his differing approaches to instrumental and vocal tracks.
Later on, the bandmates ponder the mental trap of the social media comparison game, and wonder at how algorithms impact which music rises to the top of the heap. What does Dart hope to remembered for? With any luck, heâll have works as iconic as his grandfatherâs, Israel Baker, whose violin playing youâll recognize not just from collabs with Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, but some of the most famous film scores and TV show theme songs.
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Multi-instrumentalist Louis Cato has had a lot on his plate since taking over as bandleader for Jon Batiste on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in late 2022, but has been enjoying every minute of it. "I feel like I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be, with exactly the people I'm supposed to be there with," he tells Cory on this episode of Wong Notes. Of course, given his role there is a fulltime gig, the release of his second solo album, Reflections, last August was kind of a big deal. Its music was largely inspired by things Cato was forced to confront when the pandemic hit, including "self-analysis, putting on the mask, the egotistical parts of attraction and love songs, and things of that nature," he shares.
Early on in the conversation, Louis answers Cory's question about how his approach to chord voicings is so different from the norm. A lot of it comes from his childhood influence of Ron Kenoly's praise and worship music, featuring Abe Laboriel Sr. on bass. His first guitar was from a yard sale and had just four strings, and his experience learning Laboriel's bass lines on it still informs how he approaches voice leading on the guitar today. There was also his mother, the pianist, from whom he absorbed into his guitar methods the piano style of playing octaves in the left hand and triads in the right.
After Louis shares about what makes his creativity tick as a multi-instrumentalist, he and Cory get into the meat of the biggest mistakes a guitar player can make. A lot of it, for Cato, has to do a lack of dynamics and inflection, or playing 10 notes where you should just play two, he says. Towards the end of the ep, Louis hops on a drumset in the room to illustrate how drummers can also create a "jerky" beat if they don't stick with just straight or just swingin'. Listen to the full ep to get a deep dive into the mind of the Late Show bandleader.
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Session drum ace Aaron Sterling might have fusion roots, but his bread-and-butter work lives at the top of the charts, whereâs heâs featured on tracks by artists such as John Mayer, Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, and Lana Del Rey. He tells Cory what brought him to Los Angeles, why heâs âmeant to be in the studioâ instead of the stage, and he shares the surreal story of playing with EVH in a floristâs parking lot for Tracy Morgan.
Sterling defines his approach to recording in his studio as a âpedalboard approachâ and explains:
âWhen guitar players started getting more pedals, in the old days, and then they started getting a pedalboard. And then thereâs the rack. This was this evolution where you guys started controlling more and more of your sound and it was less waiting for a mixer to do interesting things later. And you were just like, âHereâs the sound.â You have your own plugin, you have all this stuff that youâre doing to control your sound so that thereâs less work later.I got inspired by that concept when I started recording, even before I had my own studio, to give an engineer the most amount of stuff thatâs done. So that when I started recording myself, my philosophy was always the pedalboard philosophy, which is Iâll give you the sounds, Iâm not just gonna play the drums and let you do stuff later. I donât wanna think of myself as a drummer. Iâll think of myself as a creator using drums to give you sounds that hopefully are the right thing for the song.âStick around for the drummerâs opinion of the Beatlesâ âNow and Thenâ and learn why he prefers large cymbals.
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Cory Wong sits down with indie-rock bandleader Margaret Glaspy for an in-depth dialogue on artistry, celebrity, and the wisdom of Bruce Lee.
Glaspy shares how she cut her latest record, Echo The Diamond, live off the floor, with most of the âhomeworkâ happening beforehand and studio performances happening in-the-moment. âIt really felt like air blew through the studio and then the record was made,â she says. âWhat youâre hearing is mostly what happening.â The songs are like photographs of a particular moment, rather than an essential, unchanging thing; Glaspy says she values the âdying artâ of taking risks in music.
Glaspy runs down how she and husband Julian Lage work on each otherâs projects, and highlights one of their key criteria in assessing performances: are you your best guitar player right now? âWould you hire yourself or fire yourself?â poses Glaspy.
The conversation turns to Glaspyâs rig on the recordâshe played through a Magic Amps rendition of a black-panel Fender Princeton, plus a Fender Champ comboâbefore revealing that these days, sheâs bypassing her tuner pedal and letting the audience hear the process between songs. âLetâs not hide whatâs needed to make this actually go,â she laughs.Wong and Glaspy swap notes on Bruce Leeâs winning combo of talent and work ethic (and how one of his quotes inspired Glaspyâs record) before finishing with a fascinating philosophical dissection of artistry, pop culture, and celebrity. âThe business of celebrity intertwines them in a way thatâs hard to escape,â says Glaspy, who sees a clash between surface-level fantasy and bone-deep darkness in pop culture.
Tune in to the episode to learn all the gems from Echo The Diamond.
Listen to the full episode here: https://bit.ly/WongNotes
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Visit Margaret Glaspy: https://margaretglaspy.com/
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