Yamaha Podcast - Sophia's blog

When Sophia Johnson called by The Artist Suite to record a demo for the March edition of the Yamaha Download, we managed to grab 5 minutes with her to get just a little more info...

Easy stuff first - tell us a little more about you and just what you play.

My name's Sophia Johnson and my band is The Toy Hearts. I'd describe my playing style as a mixture of bluegrass and swing - I always describe it as trying to tread a line somewhere between Clarence White and Django Reinhardt. I've been playing for 20 years and instrument-wise use a Martin D28CW steel string, Gitane D500 gypsy jazz guitar and have just got my hands on a Yamaha NTX1200.

What's your history with nylon string guitars?

Like a lot of guitarists, I started off on nylon strings - my dad (who is, in fact, the banjo and dobro player in The Toy Hearts) was keen that I learn to read music and play 'properly'! Probably my first really serious band was an instrumental 3-piece, Trio Gitano. We all played nylon-string guitar and the set was a mixture of jazz, flamenco, latin and classical music.

Just what do you like about nylon strings?

I love nylon strings because of the tone – there is a richness, and a roundness to the notes that you just can’t get on steel strings. Two nylon string guitarists that have been really influential to me are Paco de Lucia and Charlie Byrd, both of them quite different players but fantastically expressive. I think a great example about the power of nylon strings is the recording Friday Night in San Fransisco (Mclaughllin, Di Meola, De Lucia). Paco de Lucia is the only nylon player on the stage– and in my opinion, I think his tone and understanding of how to get the best dynamics from his guitar, really outshines even the enormous talents of Al Di Meola and John Mclaughlin.

What do nylon strings bring to you, personally?

Nylon strings give me the chance to get back into the way I used to play. I remember being really obsessed with getting the sweetest tone possible, something I lost track of when I started learning the technical elements of flat picking. Using nylon strings is really helping me rediscover and develop my tone. I think listening to yourself and the sound you are making is a really important element of practice – somehow I find this easier on nylon strings. Its also really nice to play chords on a nylon strung guitar – Gabriella (from Rodrigo Y Gabriella) is a great example of someone who can really lay down the rhythm and get really percussive sounds from her instrument without using a pick - I'm not sure you could get the same result on a steel string.

Does it work playing nylon strings as a steel string player? Do the disciplines of the different instruments complement other?

I think one of the wonderful things about the guitar is its versatility as an instrument that can be used in so many genres – I think any guitar player worth their salt has to dabble with nylon strings, it's part of understanding the guitar as a whole. I’m thinking here of George Harrison’s solo on ‘And I love her’ – George was, as we all know, not a traditional nylon player – yet sometimes a nylon string is exactly what a song is calling for! Technique-wise, you don't have to approach nylon strings any differently to steel strings - I played a flatpick number (Beaumont Rag) on the Download and played it just the same as I would on my steel string - you naturally get a different tone thanks to the nylon strings. Obviously there are other nylon-specific techniques you can learn, but you can play it the same as a steel string and still get something new.

How do nylon strings work for non-nylon music?

It's easy to get hung up on getting exactly the right guitar for whatever style you are playing, and a lot people assume that nylon strings are just for classical or flamenco. I think the NX series is great because it lends itself really well to a lot of genres - a great guitar is one that doesn’t have limitations and all the great musicians innovate – why stick to the rules? J

Is there anything you particularly like about your NTX1200?

It's all about the playability - as someone who has suffered with repetitive strain injuries through playing classical guitar, the great thing about the NX I have is that it has a neck the same width as a regular acoustic guitar, which means I don’t have to risk aggravating my wrist.

You're going out on some Yamaha in-store demos this year, playing NX - what are you planning to do?

Talking to the guys at Yamaha, one of the big things behind the NX range was the desire to make a guitar that crossed boundaries - so I'm going to do that. That means I'm going to do what I do, just on nylon strings - so lots of bluegrass, flatpicking and western swing - things that 'proper' nylon string players would massively disappove of! Some of the shows will be solo but some will be with Dobro and Banjo - which is interesting as not many people mix dobro and nylon strings, but actually they work really well together. I'll probably throw in some classical tunes as well and I just got a GL1 - which is a little ukelele sized guitar - that I love already, so even though it's not NX I'm already plotting a way to get that in there! My first show is at the Irish Guitar Fair April 9th-11th so I'm just getting together the material now...

Do you have one top tip for someone getting into nylon strings for the first time?

Experiment with different positions on the fretboard - if you have a melody or a part that's around the bottom 4 frets or with open strings, see if you can find a way to play it in the middle of the fretboard (7-12 frets) - for me, this is the sweetest sounding bit of a classical guitar and just moving up there can make a huge difference to the sound of your playing.

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