John Williams, guitarist, on... ensemble skills

John Williams on... ensemble skills

Australian Guitar Journal 1990 - John Williams cover

From the "Australian Guitar Journal" interview by Austin Prichard-Levy
(early 1990's).

AP-L: Julian Bream has remarked in A Life on the Road that he was glad he came onto the guitar scene in the 1950's because it gave him the time to develop a proper musical personality without the pressure to achieve quickly that exists today. Do you feel the same way? Would you feel as confident starting out today as you might have been in the late 50's and early 60's?

JW: I don't remember that from his book, but it's a very good point. There's no doubt that it is true, and Julian has achieved that development magnificently, and I think coming somewhat in his footsteps in England also made it a little easier for me. I suppose both of us have found it less pressured in the UK by being the leading players there and while Julian and I have different attitudes about some things, we are close friends and both of us feel the same about allowing musical abilities to develop at their own pace; to some extent that's a another justification for expressing reservations about competitions.

AP-L: To many players, you are an icon of the guitar, due to the power of your technique and playing style. Has it ever bothered you that a generation of young players have sought merely to emulate your technical prowess and perhaps have neglected discovering their own musical identity in the process?

John Williams, Paco Pena and Inti Illimani

JW: Well, if it's like that, then it's a pity! I know that that is the case to a point, but if one doesn't develop one's own musical personality, that's a major problem facing any player. I guess I have been lucky to an extent, because having a well formed technique from an early age I haven't really had to think too hard about it, but it has always been at the service of musical goals rather than an end in itself for me, and it should be that way with all musicians. I suppose it is part of the history of the guitar that guitarists have been obsessed both with technique and also the technical aspects of the instrument.

I often notice students preoccupied with fingerings and not notes, much less sounds, and yet at the same time finding it difficult to immediately locate C sharp on the 4th string, say. Of course, if students do see me as Mr. Technique, then that can also reflect negatively on me too, because Mr. Technique isn't usually also Mr. Music! But in the last five years or six years, there has been a very great acceleration in the awareness of some very basic musical facts by guitarists, and that's a topic I would like to talk more about because so much is changing for the better.

Another thing I've noticed in master classes, is that players will come on and play the most difficult solo works from memory, and yet if you give them a part to play in one of the easier Haydn String Quartets, as I often do, they're lost in no time, and have a very poor sense of ensemble or timing.

Guitarists are among the worst sight-readers I've come across. Julian Bream and I are both dead average sight-readers by orchestral standards, but among guitarists, we are outstanding! This is an area of the guitar that has been poorly taught up until recently.

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