| Larry Carlton |
Many of the most interesting and impressive guitarists go virtually unnoticed by music fans worldwide, for a variety of reasons. Some never get picked up by record labels with enough clout to let them get worldwide publicity. Many choose to play a style of music which, although other guitarists may appreciate, the general public finds uninteresting. Then there are others, like versatile guitarist Larry Carlton, who have spent much of their careers playing on other people's records, so although many people recognize their playing, they're never quite sure who they're listening to. Despite the high praise of critics, (Rolling Stone magazine called Carlton's solo on Steely Dan's Kid Charlemagne one of the three greatest guitar solos in rock history), true "Guitar Hero" status, on the level of a Jimi Hendrix or a BB King, has always eluded Carlton.
This relative obscurity certainly isn't a result of a lack of saturation; Carlton himself estimates that by the early 1980's, he had completed over 3000 studio sessions, covering a huge variety of musical styles. Because of tasteful solo acoustic and electric work on high profile recordings, like Joni Mitchell's classic album Court and Spark, Carlton has won many awards (including Grammys for his work on the Hill Street Blues soundtrack).
Since the 1980's, Carlton has focused more on his own recordings, and given up much of the studio sessions that he became so noted for. His work in the light-jazz fusion band Fourplay has garnered him some attention from fans of that genre, as did his earlier work in the Crusaders.
Larry has also made a terrific contribution to students of the guitar worldwide. In several great free online Larry Carlton guitar lesson videos, the guitarist outlines his fundamental approach to playing guitar. Carlton has also released two excellent instructional videos, in which he further details his playing, geared towards intermediate and advanced level guitarists. Volume 1 in the series deals with ways to bring new sounds into your guitar solos, details the specifics of Larry's guitar, amp, and effect set-up, as well as various techniques designed to improve your mastery of the instrument. Volume 2 deals with creating chord melodies, playing over ballads, extending phrasing, and much more. Both videos contain many clips of Larry playing in live situations, generally illustrating in his solos exactly what he was explaining in the lesson. Each of these videos has proved invaluable to me, being far and away the most useful guitar videos I have ever owned, and I highly reccomend both.
For those looking to learn some of Larry's solos note for note, Eddie Low has provided some Larry Carlton transcriptions, on a website maintained by Roland Kalus. If this still isn't enough for you, Amazon Books offers An Annotated Guide to the Guitar Technique of Larry Carlton.
