FINGERSTYLE
"AMAZING GRACE, HOW SWEET THE SOUND, THAT SAVED A WRETCH LIKE ME. I ONCE WAS LOST, BUT NOW AM FOUND; WAS BLIND, BUT NOW I SEE."
Jay Leach's rubato rendition of Amazing Grace is one of the hippest we've ever
heard, as it mines open G for some cool pianistic chordal sounds and features
an overdubbed Dobro drone on the downbeat of the phrase (tuned in GBDGBD). And
yes, the melody is kept center stage throughout.The 3/4 time signatures are
omitted for the sake of clarity. Listening to the companion CD is a must with
this one. Amazing Grace is from Jay's CD Beyond Words, and can be ordered
directly from him at (800) 700-7078 or from his website at www. Jay Leach.com.
NEW
LIFE TO AN OLD CLASSIC (review) (Tablature
appeared in this issue)
These words, which comprise the first stanza to the classic hymn, Amazing Grace, have special meaning in the life of Los Angeles studio guru and recording artist Jay Leach. In ' 87, while returning home from a rehearsal one night, he was hit by a drunk driver who plowed into the driver's side of his car after running a red light. Contusions were sustained on Jay's left arm, along with broken ribs. Spending weeks in intensive care, he was placed on the critical list, and told that he may never regain the function of his left arm. Another eight weeks went by before Jay was able to play guitar with any kind of competency. And as fate would have it, he was scheduled to record a solo album of Christmas material on nylon-string guitar.
Beginning the long haul back, he landed a job the following year producing demos and masters. "I didn't have to rely on playing guitar as heavily for a couple of months," he remembers. "As a result, I had time to practice and get my chops back." He recovered steadily, though, "My recovery was due to the prayers of a lot of people," he says, and one year after the accident--to the month--Jay was in the studio recording his Christmas album. "It's a great testimony to the mercy of God," he exclaims. "And by the end of the next year, I was back completely. From a purely natural standpoint, it looked as if my career was over. But God has a way of really reversing things, making everything turn out for the best. Things are greater for me now than they've ever been. I just finished my fourth project, Beyond Words, and I couldn't be more proud of anything I've been a part of!"
Grandiose stories often have humble beginnings, however. Jay's introduction to the guitar came in a roundabout way, via his grandmother. "Before my eighth birthday, she told me. 'You're almost eight, so you need to think about what musical instrument you would like to play.' The way she presented it, it was like everyone on the fact of the planet decided on what instrument they wanted to study by the age of eight. Anyway, when the time came, I decided that I wanted to play drums. She responded by saying, 'You can play any instrument you want to, as long as it's piano or pedal steel guitar!' Well, I didn't want to play piano, so I chose steel guitar, which I played from the age of eight to the time I was thirteen. So by that time I had gone from a six-string double-neck steel with not pedal. I could play Sleepwalk and some blues tunes, but you cann only play it so many times, and my friends wanted to play surf tunes So at the age of thirteen, I made the transition from steel to electric guitar."
Lured by the sounds of rock and roll. Jay's early influences primarily consisted of the Ventures. "When I got a little older-fifteen through seventeen-I started getting interested in jazz-guys like Kenny Burrell, Howard Roberts, and Barney Kessel," he says, "Later on, at eighteen or nineteen, Mick Abrams from Jethro Tull really turned my head around; he was a great player. The song that really knocked me out was Cat Squirrel. He really took that tune in a jazz direction. It was his approach to that song that pushed me over the top, and made me decide to become a guitarist."
Knowing that he wanted to paly for his livelihood, Jay set out for L.A. with his guitars and a few belongings. He possessed blues and rock chops, but not reading ability. "When I came to town, I just had a horrible time trying to find work. My whole world was what I had back in Kansas as a band member. So for the first six months, I starved!" But again, grace smiled on Jay, and he ended up getting a job as a sales man at the Guitar Center on Sunset Boulevard. "It was interesting, because I had lived on Sunset, and used to walk into the store often," he says. "They used me as the demo guy when someone walked in and wanted to buy an amp or guitar. Actually, the job turned out to be one of the greatest blessings. Because of working there, I met studio wizard Jay Graydon. He and I became friends, and he began to recommend me for all kind of different things. There were all kinds of opportunities for guitar players back then; everything involved live bands for demos and such. Graydon was plugged into all of that, and he referred me time and again for gigs. As a result, I began to meet people and make contacts." Jay's knowledge and expertise increased at the Guitar Center, and they responded by offering him a joba as assistant manager, which he turned down, "I quit!" he laughs. "After all, I didn't come to L.A. to work in a music store; I came to play guitar!"
Doors opened for Jay gigging in Latin-rock bands, a couple of which were on the verge of signing recording contract. However, his life took a sharp turn. "My life took a radical change." he reminisces, "and considered going into the ministry. So for a year, my guitar stayed on its stand. But about a year later, I felt really called to be a musician, but on God's terms." Casual gigs contined to open up for Jay and in '75 he began a two-year study with renowned chord chemist Ted Greene. "I began playing solo guitar during the breaks," he says, "so i came to Ted with the tunes that I needed to learn, and he showed me chord substitutions galore, That whole experience was a fantastic on-the-job way to learn solo guitar. I never dreamed that years later it would come back to be such an integral part of what I do."
Realizing the neeed to drastically hone his sight-reading skills, Jay began studying with a symphony conductor who had a particular system that worked well. It was at that time that his pedal steel skills proved helpful, and the doors of opportunity for studio work started to open wide. "I began to do more and more recording," he says, "but what really opened up the door for me was getting the gig as Barry Manilow's guitar player in '78. He was ridinmg high, as he was named pop singer of the year that year, and I became his guitar player, which gave me immediate credibility. And the fact that I could read and play pedal steel made me especially marketable. Opportunity followed opportunity, and in '81, Jay became the guitar player on the John Davidson Show, during which he became fluent on five-string banjo, adding yet another instrument to his arsensal. The dam broke, and recording opportunities flooded in.
As of late, Jay played on the Harrison Ford film, Six Days and Seven Nights, and he played on the CBS show Touched by an Angel. "That particular gig consisted of me doubling a sampled twelve-string." he says, "but it turned out really well." For his television work, he has been asked to provide humor music, at times, for which he returned to his banjo. "I've also been asked to provide nice nylon-string chord melody material on the spot for romantic scenes." he says. "My study with Ted has really come in handy."
Not being plugged into a major label or management, Jay spends a lot of his time on the phone, promoting his solo career. "When I do sit down and practice, I try to write and do various right and left hand picking technique exercises," he says. "And I always practice with a metronome. After years of playing to click tracks in the studio, you get it in your soul; you can feel if the click track is drifting at all. But I try to play the guitar every day. My optimum would be to practice several hours at a time, but I seldom do that. I do, however, keep practice logs of certain things I find difficult. I'll write down the metronome settings I have for different exercises, and try to speed up over time. But if miss a few days I have to go back to a lower setting."
When composing a tune, Jay starts with little phrases. "Once I get one, I'll start sniffing around with it, and develop in into an A section," he explains. "From there, I ask myself, 'Where can I go from here?' Eventually, I'll come up with a B section. The other day, I was noodling around, going places I wouldn't normally, and managed to find something that caught my ear in a new way. And that became my tune. Paul McCartney once said, 'There are a lot of great tunes floating around up in the air; you just have to reach out and grab them!' And I really believe that." When he sits down to write, he usually has a feel in mind. "On Walkin' the Walk, from Beyond Words, I wanted to write a dance tempo, jazzy, bluesy piece, with a definite melody," he says, "I wanted to write an everyday rubber-meets-the-road kind of tune."
On developing one's own sound, Jay recommends refraining from directly coping other people's licks. "Instead," he offers, "learn the lick, and them put your own touch on it. Ask yourself, 'Where do I want to go with this?What do I want to do?' That way, the lick becomes a springboard to your own sound." People remark to Jay that they sometimes hear traces of Earl Klugh, Larry Carlton, Or Lee Ritenour in his playing. "Though I've listened to all of those guys, I haven't spent hours transcribing their stuff, or listening to their licks," he says. "What I like to do-I like a few Ritenour albums from the early '80s-is to listen to them in my car while I'm driving, and let the music permeate me. I've done that with a couple of Larry's albums, as well. Basically, I try to get a feel for where these guys are coming from, but I stop short of analyzing every note and mode they use. To me it's like analyzing a joke. Nothing dulls a joke faster than analyzing why it is funny." He continues, "Everyone has their own personality, I like to joke around a lot, and I think that is reflected in my music. I might go to an unexpected place. I try to be reliable, but I'm not very predictable, according to my wife!" (laughs).
On the subject of his guitars, Jay notes that he has found some moderately priced instruments that sound great. "Right now, my main acoustic steel string is a Laguna", (note* this guitar has since been replaced with a Larrivee L-09), " I bought it in a shop in Laguna,California, that belonged to Kirk Sand, in those days the yen was in favorable exchange with the dollar, and Kirk had been working with Japanese luthiers to build guitars with their great wood, but to his specifications. After a while, Kirk started bringing these instruments into his shop.Anyway, one day I took $1000.00 and went to his store to find a really good nylon-string, to replace the one that I had just sold, and of all the under $2500.00 nylon-strings that we went through, one completely stood out -- a $500.00 Dauphin (# 40) . So I came out with $500.00 in my pocket,and a great-sounding instrument. To this day, I think it sounds great".
He continues, " I also purchased a wonderful-sounding steel-string for the some price- a Luguna L60S Jumbo. It's set up really well, and the frets are in very good shape. " I use a Highlander pickup in it, which I really love. I also have a couple of Yamaha APXs-both the nylon and steel-string, and a Takamine twelve string."
On the subject of the ever present squeak, Jay responds,"I always go in with new strings and allow myself, one to one and a half hours per set, breaking them in. The other thing I do is to take three or four finger of my left hand and rub my forhead, pulling some of the oil out of the skin. It's not high-tech, but it helps your fingers to slide and not squeak so much." As far as the strings themselves, Jay uses John Pearse, phospher bronze, light gauges. "I'm normally not a phospher bronze fan, but I really dig these," he says.
When asked a few sage words for those traveling the path he has chosen, Jay responds thoughtfully," I guess the best thing that I could say, looking back over the panorama of my career, is to practice really hard in a focused way. Practice doesn't make perfect but perfect practice makes perfect. Learn to practice so when you come away, you feel like you've made real progress. And that happens through setting goals. On the personal side, be humble, make it fun for people to work with you, and realize that when you come to work, you're not there because you're a big shot, but because you've been invited to make the best music you possibly can for the guy who called you. Take a servant attitude. Bring the talents and gifts taht God has given you to help people any way that you can.Make people feel good about themselves, and be the biggest blessing you can be.
"There are no guarantees in music, but you can sure stack the deck. And if you keep loading the deck with aces, then your chance of pulling one is increasingly good".
