Australian guitar virtuoso Tommy Emmanuel was in town last week performing at the DBS Auditorium. We sat down the man over a plate of dumpling noodles and got to get him to talk about what it means to be one of the world’s top guitarists.
love
This is your fourth time in Singapore. Not to sound facetious, but why? Well, I don’t want to wear out my welcome here, but I have a following here and I’d like to continue to build that.
love
Have guitar will travel: Tommy has better transport arrangements these days
What’s the most important thing for you as a guitarist? The most important thing is that people have a great time and they’re uplifted by the whole experience. That’s the only reason I’m there! I don’t really care to impress. I don’t care about fame and fortune. I don’t need to be rich and driving a Bentley – that’ll be nice, but it won’t fulfil me. What fulfills me is doing a good job. I’m the vessel for the music. Whatever flows through me is very powerful. I don’t know what it is, but it works.
love
What’s your pre-show ritual? Eat something good, change strings and I spend a lot of time tuning. I’m really meticulous about it. Like many guitarists I’m always searching for the best sound. Just the other day in Seoul, the sound in the hall was so good it was giving me goose bumps all night. But there are other nights where you can’t get the sound no matter what you do.
love
Have you ever had a bum gig? Thousands of them! You just carry on and do a better job the next day. I don’t believe in looking at the rearview mirror. I break it everyday.
love
Don’t you ever get bored? I get bored with myself. But I get inspired by the audience. You have to live in the moment. That’s what does it for me. I live in the today. I don’t know what I’m doing tomorrow, my business is today. And what you think of me is none of my business either, so there’s no point in my worrying about it. I just go for it in everyway and try to do my best.
love
You’re known as an acoustic player, but you actually began with the electric guitar. I was mostly electric player, and only did a bit of acoustic stuff. It’s kind of evolved and a lot of it was because in my early days, during a show, I’d do a solo acoustic segment and people kept saying to me that was the most incredible part of the show. And I thought, “There’s something in there”. So I ended up writing a lot of solo songs and it worked so well. I spend 320 days a year touring now.
love
Will you ever whip out your electric guitar again? I’m going to play all that music again. Late next year, I’m going to celebrate 50 years of playing so my brother and I are going to form a band, and I’m going to play all my electric stuff as well. Looking forward to that!
love
No part of the guitar too sacred to make music from
What advice do you have for budding guitarist? You’d better get to work! What else can I say? There are no shortcuts, you have to work your butt off to get anywhere in this business. Get some good songs to play, and play something that inspires you. Don’t just listen to guitar players – listen to singers, songwriters, listen to people whose music moves the world.
Look at Les Paul. I played with him twice this year before he passed away. And he was better than last year! He practiced all the time – and he was riddled with arthritis! He said, “If there’s a heaven on earth, it must be standing up here playing this guitar. What an inspiring statement!”
If you’re good, we’ll want to hear you. There’s nothing surer than that. It doesn’t matter where you are on the planet, if you genuinely are good; the world’s going to know about you.
More...
love
This is your fourth time in Singapore. Not to sound facetious, but why? Well, I don’t want to wear out my welcome here, but I have a following here and I’d like to continue to build that.
love
What’s the most important thing for you as a guitarist? The most important thing is that people have a great time and they’re uplifted by the whole experience. That’s the only reason I’m there! I don’t really care to impress. I don’t care about fame and fortune. I don’t need to be rich and driving a Bentley – that’ll be nice, but it won’t fulfil me. What fulfills me is doing a good job. I’m the vessel for the music. Whatever flows through me is very powerful. I don’t know what it is, but it works.
love
What’s your pre-show ritual? Eat something good, change strings and I spend a lot of time tuning. I’m really meticulous about it. Like many guitarists I’m always searching for the best sound. Just the other day in Seoul, the sound in the hall was so good it was giving me goose bumps all night. But there are other nights where you can’t get the sound no matter what you do.
love
Have you ever had a bum gig? Thousands of them! You just carry on and do a better job the next day. I don’t believe in looking at the rearview mirror. I break it everyday.
love
Don’t you ever get bored? I get bored with myself. But I get inspired by the audience. You have to live in the moment. That’s what does it for me. I live in the today. I don’t know what I’m doing tomorrow, my business is today. And what you think of me is none of my business either, so there’s no point in my worrying about it. I just go for it in everyway and try to do my best.
love
You’re known as an acoustic player, but you actually began with the electric guitar. I was mostly electric player, and only did a bit of acoustic stuff. It’s kind of evolved and a lot of it was because in my early days, during a show, I’d do a solo acoustic segment and people kept saying to me that was the most incredible part of the show. And I thought, “There’s something in there”. So I ended up writing a lot of solo songs and it worked so well. I spend 320 days a year touring now.
love
Will you ever whip out your electric guitar again? I’m going to play all that music again. Late next year, I’m going to celebrate 50 years of playing so my brother and I are going to form a band, and I’m going to play all my electric stuff as well. Looking forward to that!
love
What advice do you have for budding guitarist? You’d better get to work! What else can I say? There are no shortcuts, you have to work your butt off to get anywhere in this business. Get some good songs to play, and play something that inspires you. Don’t just listen to guitar players – listen to singers, songwriters, listen to people whose music moves the world.
Look at Les Paul. I played with him twice this year before he passed away. And he was better than last year! He practiced all the time – and he was riddled with arthritis! He said, “If there’s a heaven on earth, it must be standing up here playing this guitar. What an inspiring statement!”
If you’re good, we’ll want to hear you. There’s nothing surer than that. It doesn’t matter where you are on the planet, if you genuinely are good; the world’s going to know about you.
More...
