Here is an archive of the GUITAR related 2nd interview that I conducted on January 7, 1999 and January 8, 1999, with ®Grammy Award winning Austin, Texas guitar virtuoso, singer, songwriter, composer, Eric Johnson in 2 very in depth lengthy interview sessions. Some of the more guitar related discussion in the remaining text of our 2 interview sessions where we discussed Eric Johnson’s guitar playing was originally published in edited form, as the July 1999 Cover Story in the UK’s “Guitarist Magazine”.

(The majority of the 2 interview sessions was published in edited form as a biographical career retrospective in “Goldmine Magazine” in October 22, 1999 which I have also posted on the forum.)

Here’s a fond look back with Eric Johnson and his COMPLETE/UNEDITED GUITAR INTERVIEW with me from January 1999, discussing his guitar playing, technique, gear, Eric’s music influences, and the untitled new album that he was working on in his studio at the time.

Arlene R. Weiss-July 27, 2017

“The Renaissance Heart of Eric Johnson”
“Eric Johnson talks about his new album, and illuminates a celebratory course in musical discovery.”

By Arlene R. Weiss

©Copyright By Arlene R. Weiss January 7, 1999 and January 8, 1999, July 27, 2017-2060 And In Perpetuity-All Rights Reserved

As 1999 turns the corner to the quickly approaching new millennium, prophecies of computer chaos and armageddon coincide with general optimism and predictions for an age of Renaissance. Such an age already exists in the heart of Eric Johnson, a Renaissance Man if ever there was one, on music’s horizon.

Currently back in the recording studio working on his soon to be released new album, the visionary flame burning within Johnson is continually candescent, furious with the artistry, passion, and aesthetic fire so acquainted with his luminous music.

Eric Johnson has always been a musical explorer, in his continuous lifelong quest to constantly create otherworldly soundscapes and to captivate people via music. Ever swirling through Johnson’s imagination, is a prism of dazzling musical light and color that endlessly flows from his consciousness. Arising out of his creative fires are sonic canvasses sublimely painted with eloquent, loving brushstrokes which dance alive as works of exquisite beauty and regal magnificence, surfacing on his landmark albums, “Seven Worlds”, “Tones”, “Ah Via Musicom”, and “Venus Isle”. His celestial brilliance on the guitar charts his ceaseless journey to develop and refine eloquent tones and lush melodic contexts which entwine themselves into narratives of poetic lyricism. From Fenders to Gibsons, Lap Steel to Dobro, Johnson has taken the guitar to heights regaled in the azure of the firmament.

The ethereal Johnson is something of an enigma in this industry, not only as a musician, but in his outlook regarding music and life’s vistas. Refreshingly free from cynicism, he is always filled with the celebratory joy and wonder at musical discovery and the uplifting, inspirational light that music possesses.

The last few months have been bright and busy for Johnson. While composing, arranging, and laying down tracks for his new, as yet untitled record, Johnson has seen the current release of the long anticipated and highly acclaimed “Seven Worlds”, his debut solo album from 1978. “Seven Worlds”, the landmark release which was meant to introduce Johnson to the world in 1978, was not released until now due to the imposition of lengthy legal wranglings. The master tapes, stored in a vault for twenty years, have been mastered to completion and released on CD for the very first time. Johnson at last, can now bask in the glow of what should have been his breakout release.

And so, Eric Johnson discusses crafting music as he navigates, explores, and charts its wondrous frontier.

Arlene R. Weiss: Aren’t you currently back in the studio working on a new album?

Eric Johnson: Yes I am. I have five songs completed and another three songs almost completed. I want to put at least ten songs, maybe twelve songs, on the record. All of the songs are pretty much written. I only have to record another four after I finish these, but it’s well on the way. It’s over halfway done.

Arlene R. Weiss: Can you discuss what some of the tracks are about?

Eric Johnson: I’m not so much going for a tied together, conceptual thing as maybe the last record. It’s comprised more of individual songs. I have some instrumental rock guitar material and some vocal pop material. There’s a country piece, a tribute to Jerry Reed, which is actually a piece that I wrote a long time ago, but I redid it. It’s a little different now. Then there’s this straight ahead jazz piece. I think it’s the most diverse record I’ve ever done. It doesn’t conceptually run together. It’s just all these different tunes. I’m trying to concentrate on improving my writing and at the same time, putting the guitar a little more up front than I did on the last record, so it’s a combination of both. It shows more of where my roots come from.

Arlene R. Weiss: With each new release you evolve as a musician and as a conceptualist. What do you aspire to accomplish on this latest album?

Eric Johnson: Just to do the best job that I can at making records, improving my songwriting, and my singing. Fundamentally though, it’s to keep pursuing the guitar thing. But at the same time, in tandem with that, I want to provide as good a vehicle as I can for the guitar playing. I want the guitar playing to evolve into something. It can have moments of virtuosity or verboseness, but I want it to be something that somebody will appreciate personally rather than just saying, “Well check out that fast lick he played.” I believe there’s a bigger message than that. It’s like listening to certain classical musicians; you don’t really get the vibe that they’re out there just to hot dog, although that could be part of the curriculum in a bigger picture, but there’s a bigger message there. It’s easy to say that in words, but I’m trying to figure out a way to translate that into whatever I’m trying to do musically to where it still has that impact and ferocity. I want to do it in a way where people can appreciate it personally, rather than just showing my antics.

Arlene R. Weiss: Have you titled the album yet?

Eric Johnson: I have several working titles. I don’t have anything just yet. It will be a two volume set. I’m going to try to get this first record out as soon as possible. It will definitely be out this year, hopefully the first part of the year, because I’m over halfway finished with it. It will be volume one of a two volume set and I have the songs pretty much written for the 2nd volume.

Arlene R. Weiss: When is it set for release?

Eric Johnson: There’s no release date just yet. It depends on a lot of external factors, but I hope to have it finished by late Spring.

Arlene R. Weiss: You have always expressed a deeply personal reverence for music and the guitar. Where does this depth of feeling come from?

Eric Johnson: When I was a little kid I just loved music. I remember when I was three years old and hearing music and then I got into playing the piano. Then when I heard Scotty Moore, Nokie Edwards of The Ventures, Brian Jones, The Yardbirds, Cream, Hendrix. I just loved the sound of the guitar, especially that era of the tone.

Arlene R. Weiss: Your trademark is your gift at musical experimentation in the quest for new and unique tones and melody. What drives your fascination with this process?

Eric Johnson: I want to be lifted up. I want to be able to impart something to people that makes them feel good. I can do a better job at that if I’m also excited as well. What will get us excited will sometimes change as we progress or get older. It’s got to be a little bit more sublime, more elegant. I just try to find a song idea or a sound that excites me and I can put more calories into it.

Arlene R. Weiss: Describe your process of creating a new tone, from its inception, through its various dissonant stages, bending and molding chords, notes; to crystallize into your completed aesthetic vision?

Eric Johnson: It’s just sitting down and having fun with the playing. You don’t know where you’re going to end up or what it’s going to be. It’s kind of surprising, you just fool around until you find something that interests you. Sometimes it’s all just happenstance and sometimes the less lexiconic I get about it, the better.

Arlene R. Weiss: Since you are exploring for and searching to create new tonal sounds as yet still unknown, how do you know when you have found what you are searching for, that is, when you have finally found the perfect tone?

Eric Johnson: I don’t know if I’m inventing any new sound. I’m just trying to pick up where certain people left off and I’m trying to refine it. I hate to use that word because it’s a bit pretentious and I don’t mean that it can be refined, but I think it’s a two-fold thing. I’m trying to, in as much as I can, how I hear it, refine it to where it is more consistent, as if you would pick a really wonderful old violin out of the case, and to a certain extent, it’s consistent. I have to look at the bigger picture of my whole implemented gear. I’m trying to get it to where I can return to it day after day and there’s a certain refinement of a tone although I didn’t invent it in any way. If you listen to a lot of old blues records which have such beautiful tones, or listen to Clapton or Hendrix, there’s already that element. I’m just picking up where that left off. I don’t know if I could take much credit for inventing anything. I’m just trying to put my own little thing on it.

Arlene R. Weiss: Your approach and search for fluid, luminous melody is as determined and intense as it is for tone. Can you expand upon your uniquely eloquent approach to developing such exquisitely beautiful melodic context and structure?

Eric Johnson: They’re just melodies that I hear in my head. I try to work on them and then I try to figure out the best way given the medium of the guitar to implement them. There’s so many different ways you can go about playing it, because on the 6th string there’s various ways. If you try different processes, it speaks better; it has more of a focus to speaking to whatever muse you might be lucky enough to pick up on.

Arlene R. Weiss: How as a composer, an arranger, and a musician, do you conceive, orchestrate, and entwine melody lines around your poetic lyric narrative?

Eric Johnson: Yes, I think it’s the whole picture. To sometimes get across the impact of what you’re hearing and what you want to do, it is helpful to try to look at the big picture, orchestration wise, because that’s what will support and define it with more impact and graphic.

Arlene R. Weiss: You mean in terms of the lyrics?

Eric Johnson: Yes, the lyrics, the orchestration, and the multi-instruments.

Arlene R. Weiss: Arpeggios are an integral element of your music. Explain how you implement and play them with precision while maintaining subtle elegance.

Eric Johnson: They’re just spurts of things that I hear in my head. A lot of times if I can’t play it, I just have to sit there until I can figure out a way to play it.

Arlene R. Weiss: You’ve mastered so many eclectic and varied musical styles and genres. You’ve toured and performed with B.B. King, Steve Miller, and The G-3 Tour with Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, musicians who are vastly diverse in their musical styles and influences from blues to jazz to fusion. What style or genre of music most influenced you and why?

Eric Johnson: There are a lot of styles that I haven’t mastered. In fact, I don’t know if I’ve even mastered any of them or a lot of styles. I think if you try to just do well what you do, or what you know how to do, then you can sometime, which is true with everybody. Nobody’s really a master at anything. There are a handful of people that are so gifted, they’ve worked so hard that they’ve become…I would term, free, musically, meaning at any moment, right in the moment, they can play anything they hear or any style. I’ve dabbled in all the different styles. It started with blues and rock as far as the guitar and that was such an indigenous sound, especially the blues. It’s such an indigenous characterization for the electric guitar sound, and it rose out of that, and then it stemmed into all these other styles. I enjoy classical music, playing piano, although there’s only certain types of classical music that I like. I’m not a big fan of melodramatic classical music.

Arlene R. Weiss: When did you first realize that you wanted to be a musician and a guitarist?

Eric Johnson: I guess when I was probably three years old and heard Elvis Presley. That was it. It was the sound, the whole thing.

Arlene R. Weiss: Who were you most influenced by?

Eric Johnson: Guitar wise, Nokie Edwards of The Ventures, Scotty Moore, and Elvis Presley.

Arlene R. Weiss: You were heavily influenced by jazz, particularly by the music of the great Wes Montgomery. What is it about his music that fires your imagination?

Eric Johnson: I think he’s one of a kind. He was really into the sound of what he was doing and from reports I’ve heard of people that knew him or had experiences with him,. that was a major proponent of his thing. It was not only just endless hours of practicing to become free musically, and play all these beautiful lines, and play over the changes so eloquently, but also as that happened, what would the listener’s ear hear? That was a big thing. That was as big a part as what he played. It was how he played and how it sounded and so, consequently, you have this consummate omnipotent thing that’s just beautiful.

Arlene R. Weiss: Was he your source of inspiration for the song title and song, “East Wes”, on “Ah Via Musicom”?

Eric Johnson: Yes, he was. What I’m doing is pretty much a straight ahead pop version. It’s by no means a jazz piece, but it was paying homage to one of my favorite players that ever was.

Arlene R. Weiss: You produced your last two albums “Ah Via Musicom” and “Venus Isle”. What prompted this decision?

Eric Johnson: I think that I just wanted to do something that was a little more indicative of me and my guitar playing. I wanted to impart more of what I thought I was about…and that’s a double-edged sword sometimes. You can get too into your own self if you’re doing everything yourself. There’s pros and cons to both ways I’m sure.

Arlene R. Weiss: What production techniques and effects do you improvise in the studio to attain your desired results?

Eric Johnson: The first thing is to get a really great track of the songs which speaks about the vibe of what the songs are about, and then you’re just chasing down sounds that will emphasize that and substantiate it, learning parts.

Arlene R. Weiss: What are the predominant guitars that you use in the recording studio?

Eric Johnson: Well this time around… I only own a few Stratocasters. I really don’t own that many of them. I just have several Strats. I’ve weeded them down and sold off the others. I use these several Fender Stratocasters that have a nice sound and then I actually have one song cut that I use a Gibson SG on, which is interesting. I’ve never used one of those in the studio. It’s sort of a muted trumpet sound, but it’s a neat tune.

Arlene R. Weiss: Which guitars do you prefer when you are striving for a brighter and broader tonal palette?

Eric Johnson: Well, the Fender is going to be the most broad in that it can go from very fat and clean, to thin and clean, to distorted. Sometimes a guitar with a stronger pickup called a Humbucking pickup, can give you a more forceful, louder, saturated type lead tone. I would say the Fender is pretty broad based.

Arlene R. Weiss: Aren’t Vintage Fenders a personal favorite of yours?

Eric Johnson: Yes, and I don’t know why. I’ve tried to figure it out. In fact, it’s funny nowadays. I don’t work on equipment anymore or fool around with it like I used to. I think about six months ago something happened and I just decided to give up on that, because it’s like trying to figure out why something works and something doesn’t. I don’t know because I’ve played a lot of new guitars that are probably made better than they used to be.

Arlene R. Weiss: Do you think that maybe it’s the original craftsmanship that goes into them?

Eric Johnson: But there are great craftsmen now too. There are people at the guitar companies now that are wonderful craftsmen. They’re paying more attention and being more….artists, nowadays than ever before. That’s the real anomaly. I think they’re perhaps made better.

Arlene R. Weiss: Have you ever played a Paul Reed Smith?

Eric Johnson: Yes, I have. They’re great guitars.

Arlene R. Weiss: What gauge strings do you use to attain your incredible tone and sustain?

Eric Johnson: 10, 13, 18, 26, 38, 50.

Arlene R. Weiss: Can you elaborate on some of your equipment, such as your pickups and amps?

Eric Johnson: It’s really kind of stock stuff at this point. I’ve been trying to pare it down, use less effects. At this point, I’m just using one Echoplex, a T.C. Chorus, a Fuzz Face, and a Tube Driver. That’s pretty much it at this point. I’m using about half the stuff I used. Every once in a while, I’ll use a wah wah, but even as more of a treble than as an actual wah. The amps are pretty much stock. The guitars are pretty much stock.

Arlene R. Weiss: With quality control being paramount to you, how do you implement and arrange the monitors during the recording process?

Eric Johnson: Right now, I’m building a studio that I’ve been working on for five years. We haven’t gotten the monitors totally together so sometimes we just depend on headphones. We have a system that we’re getting ready to put in, but if I’m doing an overdub, a lot of times I’ll be in the control room and I’ll get the sound just right and put a double track on the headphones that we know are particularly flat.

Arlene R. Weiss: How much guitar overdubbing do you generally use?

Eric Johnson: Usually I do tons. This record is a little different and I’m not doing as much overdubbing. I’m trying to get it to just a couple of guitars, sometimes just one guitar, sometimes just a couple, but not so massive overdubbing. I’m trying to get it more…

Arlene R. Weiss: Spontaneous?

Eric Johnson: Yes.

Arlene R. Weiss: What about reverb?

Eric Johnson: Yes, I use a little bit of that. I’m using less of it on this record though than I have before.

Arlene R. Weiss: So it’s going to have a very natural clean sound.

Eric Johnson: I think it’s going to be less reverby, a little bit more straight ahead, natural. I would say so, definitely.

Arlene R. Weiss: How do you achieve the same sound when you are playing live without the benefit of overdubbing?

Eric Johnson: Sometimes if you have two parts and you need to play both of them live, you take the most apparent, important parts of one and the other and you put it together to create a specified arrangement for playing live that would be an abbreviation so that you can play both parts.

Arlene R. Weiss: Do you switch from playing with a pick to fingerpicking and describe the benefits of each.

Eric Johnson: Fingerpicking is going to have a different sound. You can pick the strings at the same time which would be more like a piano type of technique, rather than with picking where you pick one note at a time or you have to strum the chord.

Arlene R. Weiss: How much did your country musical influences play into this and how you approach your music?

Eric Johnson: The fingerpicking style definitely came from country playing, so that influenced the way I might play any other style in how it affects how you would use all your fingers of your right hand to play the parts. Then there’s certain bends that you do in country music, which I’ve always found really interesting to learn.

Arlene R. Weiss: Who are some of your favorite country artists?

Eric Johnson: I would say, of course, Jerry Reed, Chet Atkins, Merle Travis, Jimmy Bryant, Speedy West, Curly Chalker, Julian Tharpe.

Arlene R. Weiss: How do you create your extraordinary violin like tones on the guitar, in particular, on your iconic songs, “Cliffs of Dover” and “Trademark”?

Eric Johnson: Really, it’s just how you pick the string. You get the sound right and just crank it up and then pick the string where it’s picking up on a note rather than across the note, so that it huffs out this tone. It’s hard to describe. There’s not as much attack I guess. The attack comes from having the treble set right rather than hitting the string hard with the pick.

Arlene R. Weiss: What inspired you to write the radiant melodic line texture of these two
hallmark compositions?

Eric Johnson: It was just something that I heard in my head and came up with. I like the regality of them, so I pursued it.

Arlene R. Weiss: In “Friends” off of “Tones”, “Cliffs Of Dover” on “Ah Via Musicom” and throughout your album “Venus Isle”, you create orchestral string flourishes on guitar. Did your classical training and esteem for classical music, play a part in your drive to expand the landscape of guitar playing?

Eric Johnson: Yes, because I like the refined sound, the way classical music, violin players, pianists…I like that refined approach, so I try to put that into what I do somewhat.

Arlene R. Weiss: As a musical inventor and visionary, have you ever encountered would be doubters who are locked into a mindset, standard school of thought of what can and cannot be achieved on the guitar?

Eric Johnson: You mean in the industry or musicians?

Arlene R. Weiss: Both actually, because of the extraordinary things that you’ve done on guitar that have not yet been done. You’re the innovator, so has anybody ever said to you, “Oh, that can’t be done”. You’re like the Thomas Edison of certain techniques.

Eric Johnson: I think if you’re pursuing something “south of”, people say, “Well that’s really not the purpose or the place for guitar.”, and sometimes you have to really push yourself in how you play something, how you set up the sound to get that sort of smooth brilliance to it. Unless you really push the envelope, it’s not going to happen.

Arlene R. Weiss: How does it feel to break down such barriers and chart new musical horizons?

Eric Johnson: I guess it’s hard for me to think that I’m really doing that. I’d like to think that I was, but I always see it as whatever I’ve been able to do, that I could just do it with more content that would really be of more use to somebody as they listen to it, really transport them somewhere.

Arlene R. Weiss: Your career has spanned three decades. With each album, describe what you hoped to express and achieve as a musician, your conceptual goal with each album, and the signpost or chapter that each meant in your life.

Eric Johnson: The “Seven Worlds” thing that I did in 1978 was my first solo record that I did. It was a collection of my songs to date. “Tones”, I wanted to make an important comment about the situation with the Native American Heritage in America. I was inspired by Peter Gabriel a little, and that was the first solo record I had that came out nationally. “Ah Via Musicom”; my point was to try to make the best guitar record that I could.

Arlene R. Weiss: Always the musical explorer, what uncharted areas do you hope to pursue as a guitarist, singer, songwriter, and composer…and in what ways do you aspire to evolve as an artist in the future?

Eric Johnson: Probably to do soundtrack work and even if there’s no movie, to get deeper with the music where it really goes different places and has more depth to it. I think eventually, I want to not be so much into writing little songs and try to get more into becoming an orchestral musician type thing. I don’t necessarily mean conventional orchestra, but that type of nice sound.

©Copyright By Arlene R. Weiss January 7, 1999 and January 8, 1999, July 27, 2017-2060 And In Perpetuity-All Rights Reserved

[Edited on 7/27/2017 by ArleneWeiss]

[Edited on 7/27/2017 by ArleneWeiss]