Zen Guitar for
the 22nd Century
. . . and Beyond
Chasny and Bishop are avid listeners and
students of music—esoteric and otherwise.
Bishop and his brother Alan participate in
running Sublime Frequencies, a record label
that specializes in unearthing obscure ethnic
music that includes everything from Egyptian
guitar heroes to East Asian pop radio broadcasts. But while they’ll readily rattle off
lists of influences from Jimi Hendrix, Sonny
Sharrock, Donovan, and Jimmy Page to the
keyboard playing and sax work of Marshall
Allen and John Coltrane, Chasny and Bishop
both find value in a clean slate.
“The most important element in my playing now is keeping my mind clear and ready
for anything,” says Chasny. “The clearer my
mind, the better I am able to improvise. If
my mind is focused on something else, I tend
to fall back on patterns or sleepwalk my way
through a set.”
to his most ordinary interactions with the
instrument. “There was a point early on
when I made a conscious decision to avoid
teachers and lessons, and stop trying to play
like my favorite guitar players. That led to a
personalized approach and resulted in a lot
of experimentation and freeform playing.
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It wasn’t pretty at first, but it was a major
turning point for me. Now I have a revela-
tory experience with the guitar every time
I pick it up. Each day, I’ll just start playing
something and create a three- to five-minute
piece without any preconceived plan or
desired outcome. Doing this instantly forces
me into a creative situation, and the end
result is always a surprise.”
Bishop echoes those sentiments, applying
them not only to performance, but also
Moving Forward
If there’s one thread that runs through
the philosophies of Ranaldo, Zinner,
Chasny, and Bishop, it’s that moving
beyond guitar clichés and stylistic traps
is a conscious decision that has to be
followed by a largely unconscious approach
