Interview with JOHN TAYLOR, the world’s fastest guitarist: “It’s really otherworldly the hold, music can have on me.”

May I present you JOHN TAYOR, Fastest Guitar Player in the world (current Guinness World Records holder)…

Hi John, and welcome to Metal Shock Finland! What was the first song you played today?

Great question, and I wish I could remember!  The first thing I played on my guitar today was a student’s lesson, and the first song I played in my car’s CD player was off of Helloween’s album “Gambling With the Devil”.

You’ve stated that you’ve a serious passion for music… would you like to tell me how and when you got into it?

My mom, Jane, is really the person responsible for planting the seed, and my dad, Mark, is the first person to help make it grow.  My mom suggested I ask my dad to teach me how to play guitar after he had just placed his first electric in my closet for storage.  It was pretty much a, “sure, why not?” kind of feeling at first.  After he started showing me a few things to play I decided that I really wanted to learn the main riff to the song “Machinehead” by Bush.  Not too long after that it was Iron Maiden that really made my new love of music take off.  Music moves me in a way that nothing else can.  It’s really otherworldly the hold music can have on me.

Let’s make a hypotetical question, IF the guitar didn’t exist, what would you do in your life?

I would probably still be drawing.  I used to do that a lot as a kid, but eventually lost interest; I think the guitar had a lot to do with that.  I would probably also be far more into bodybuilding since that’s my number two passion in life right now.

Your musical background is primarily in rock and metal… but you have also other influences in other genres. What are the bands that have influenced you the most?

Norah Jones would be the biggest, along with acoustic guitarist Peppino D’Agostino.  I also really took a shine to some Portishead a friend showed me.

How many hours a day you play the guitar? and is there still something you’d like to learn?

It really depends on how long I teach during the day, and even then I don’t really count that as playing.  I feel lucky if I get an hour to play my own stuff on any given day lately.  Right now what I’d like to learn most is slap/pop bass playing.  I can play rock and metal bass lines, but I never put in the effort to master the funky side of bass playing.  It sounds really awesome when you’ve got someone tearing it up like that on the bass.  Victor Wooten is a huge inspiration to me when it comes to that style of bass playing.

10 years ago you started to give guitar-and bass lessions… what is your ABC for a person who’d like to learn, like me, who knows only the guitar basics, and the most important chords?

I don’t have an ABC way of teaching since everyone learns in different ways and at different paces.  The first thing I do is establish what goals the student has for themselves and ask them to show me what they’ve learned so I can evaluate their technique and see if we need to improve on anything.  My main goal with any student is to give them exactly what they want so they enjoy their lessons, learn just what they want, and grow as a musician.

Are there any special characterial requirements for a good guitar-player?

You have to have the heart, passion, and drive for it.  Some people say they want to be good but aren’t willing to put forth the effort.  You’ve got to be willing to work your ass off to make big improvements to be a good or even great guitar player.

Let’s talk about Dr. Hot Licks’ School of Guitar… how everything got started?

When I was 16 I decided that my career path was going to be music.  The original plan was to make it big in a band… and like most people that just didn’t happen, and didn’t seem like it was going to with the music I wanted to play.  Teaching guitar seemed like a good alternative to the professional musician path and so, with the help of my teacher, Eric Morrison of Sac Valley Guitar, I started to advertise myself as a guitar teacher.  Teaching guitar was also originally just a means of getting extra income as I was deeply in debt, and my full-time warehouse job wasn’t cutting it financially at the moment.  After getting sick of my warehouse job I decided that since making it in the band wasn’t working that I would pour my efforts into making my teaching career my only job.  The name of the business was chosen to help me stand out in the crowd of other teachers in the area.  My friend and band mate, Niko, needed me to come to his house to record some guitar leads for some music he was hired to write and record for a musical production.  I ended up playing some 80′s styled leads, and Niko and I jokingly called them “hot licks” due to the cheese factor involved.  Somehow I ended up calling myself Dr. Hot Licks in self jest since I made a house call like a doctor would to record some hot licks.  So what started off as a joke nickname for myself ended becoming the name of my business to attract attention and stand out.

Talking about live shows, what has been, so far, the best act that you’ve played with?

Envinity

What would you like to tell about your own solo work?

That stuff is pretty secret right now.  I have a lot of ideas I need to get recorded, and I’ve been working on it little by little lately.

On february this year, the Universal Record Database recognized you as the Fastest Guitar Player in the world for playing Flight of the Bumblebee at 420 BPM, and a couple of months later on was accepted your attempt at 600 BPM for the current record. Please tell how you prepared yourself for this occasion? (CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE VIDEO)

The biggest thing I did was play that song thousands of times slow and fast to burn it into my subconscious and do endurance drills with a timer to push myself to the point I would cramp up.

Then, in May of this year, you received a verbal confirmation over the phone from Guinness World Records that they accepted your 600 BPM attempt as the new world record. Compliments! What are your feelings about this that you would like to share with us?

It really is quite surreal.  I was in tears I was so overjoyed with the news that I had reached my long time goal.

What have been the benefits, so far, of these two international recognitions?

I am now an official artist of Sik Pik and PreSonus.  I’ve received some great new stuff from both companies!  Lots of free Sik Piks and PreSonus’ Studio One recording software.  I highly recommend both.  I was also approached by the Japanese magazine “Young Guitar” and was featured in an interview/article for having set the new Guinness record.  I have also been asked to be on one of their instructional DVDs that they put in their magazine.  I still need to record everything for that.  My schedule has been rather full lately!

And what would you like to tell us about Shred Academy and about your activities there?

My friend, Randall Padilla, suggested to me to contact them to see if I could get some more exposure on there.  Right now they’ve accepted two lessons of mine; one on how to use 7th chords in a metal setting, and 7th chord sweep picking.  I would like to do more lessons in the future, but it will have to wait as I’m trying to knock things off of my to-do list one at a time.

In the past years when I was a singer in a band, I fell in love with Schecter and its warm sounds… but what are your favourite guitars, and why?

Monson Guitars.  I’m actually an official artist with them too, but that’s through the band, Envinity.  When I got my custom guitar from Monson in the mail it felt as if I had been playing it my entire life; it just felt PERFECT!  I recommend to everyone who can afford one to get one.  Two of my students have purchased their own custom guitar from Monson and they agree with me that this guitar is the best they’ve ever played.

And what are your plans for the next future?

I’m currently writing a book that details my musical journey on the guitar.  I have received a lot of similar questions from aspiring guitarists and I think this book will help a lot of people.  Eventually I will have video to accompany everything in the book.  The next project to finish right away is some recordings of my own stuff to give to a drummer to practice, then record my video footage for Young Guitar, and then start practicing my butt off for Envinity to play a show in 2012.  We haven’t played a show in over 4 years, and we have all finally decided it’s time to get out there again.  I can’t wait!

Now the word is yours… What are your greetings to our readers?

Most people ask me about tips on how to play faster, and the biggest thing to do is practice with a metronome and always push yourself to go faster.  You also must be patient with yourself as the faster you get the harder it is to get faster.  Keep playing your instrument fun.  I play my guitar fast because I get a huge thrill out of it.  Don’t be afraid to try and create your own sound as an individual musician.  There are plenty of bands that sound like other bands out there, and it’s much easier to just copy another’s style.  Of course, if just copying a style is what you most enjoy, then go for it.  As long as you’re having fun with your instrument, and enjoying music, that’s what really counts!

Thank-you very much for this interview and for your time, John! All the best vibes for you and your guitar!

Interview by Tarja Virmakari

For more information, please visit: http://www.drhotlicks.com