RT in Acoustic Guitar

[ColinB]

Just picked up a copy of Acoustic Guitar in WH Smiths which has RT on the cover with Exclusive Lesson above his name. The track in question is "She Sang Angels to Rest".

I don't think I've seen this mag before - it's an American publication and has a sticker on saying Magazine Week 2007 17-23 September. Web site is www.acousticguitar.com

[Philip W]

Thanks for the tip-off, Colin. Interesting interview with the man, good technical discussion of his guitar style and useful transcriptions of "She Sang Angels to Rest" and bits of "Johnny’s Far Away". I wish I could hear these influences in his music that he claims from Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky etc but maybe I’m not listening right.

[ColinB]

Good to see someone else has found a copy.

I'm amazed at how he treats songwriting as a job. He says he starts at 7 in the morning and works until 2 in the afternoon so his "production rate is much higher". Makes it sound like an assembly line and it makes you wonder how many songs don't make it on to the records.

Re the classical influences he was asked if he reads scores and he admits he "did plow through Debussy and Stravinsky scores" when he was a kid and still does. He says he learns harmony from classical and jazz music.

In the 'What He Plays' section he says he uses Elixir Anti-Rust strings because he sweats "incredible amounts of sulfuric acid onstage". So he is part machine - that explains a lot.  

[MarkC]

I'm amazed at how he treats songwriting as a job. He says he starts at 7 in the morning and works until 2 in the afternoon so his "production rate is much higher". Makes it sound like an assembly line and it makes you wonder how many songs don't make it on to the records.

IIRC, he once used a figure of 9 out of 10 written are scrapped.

[Dr Clive]

In the 'What He Plays' section he says he uses Elixir Anti-Rust strings because he sweats "incredible amounts of sulfuric acid onstage". So he is part machine - that explains a lot.  

Thanks for that - I finally found something that I have in common with the Great Man (we use the same strings!). I tend to sweat, too, but the tone and longevity of these strings in any case more than makes up for the extra cost.

DC

[PLW (Peter)]

I'm amazed at how he treats songwriting as a job. He says he starts at 7 in the morning and works until 2 in the afternoon so his "production rate is much higher". Makes it sound like an assembly line and it makes you wonder how many songs don't make it on to the records.

IIRC, he once used a figure of 9 out of 10 written are scrapped.

Most successful writers work like that. Lee Hall (writer of Billy Elliott) says that 90 per cent of his stuff stays in the bottom drawer. That's why what you do see seems so good. RT is only following PG Wodehouse's sound advice to aspiring writers: "First apply the seat of the chair to the seat of the pants".