On the way to a gig Easter weekend, I was heartbroken to hear about the passing of my guitar teacher John McGann. I studied both acoustic guitar and mandolin with John at his home in Boston between 2004 and 2005 while finishing my degree at Berklee College Of Music. I remember the effort I made just to get to his house in the middle of the New England winter without a car. Two trains, an infrequent bus line, and a mile long walk in the snow I climbed my way up the often icy steps to his house. Though I’ve had many amazing teachers, John was special because he was the gatekeeper in the final year of my musical education in Boston. He fine tuned my technique, my awareness of timing, and among many others, helped me develop and respect the importance of repertoire in ones comprehension of a genre.
Sensing my reaction to the news a band mate of mine asked me, “but, what did you really learn from him?” That question got me to thinking about my time spent with John and so I decided to make a Top 5 list of some of the many things I learned from him and how it impacted where I’m at today as a full-time musician.
1) Improvising From A Melody vs. A Chord Scale
When I was a student at Berklee I spent the majority of my time playing electric guitar in jazz combos meandering my way through blitzing chord changes trying to find ways to connect chord scales to the harmony. An often frustrating process, I was unable to digest the language of be-bop because I was spending too much time thinking about whether I should be using that lydian dominant or that mixo b9 scale. It wasn’t until I studied with John that I learned how to improvise by embellishing a melody through an entire piece of music, creating new variations on that theme without departing from the core elements of the tune.
2) Right Hand Technique
At Berklee, I played with a med-light pick probably around .80 or so and I had very light touch. I was completely ignorant of how to pull the tone out of a dreadnaught guitar or any guitar for that matter. John asked me to step it up and use a thicker pick. He then showed me how to drive the pick through the string, decrease the distance that my pick traveled with each stroke, and help me increased my overall control of the right hand. Understanding the full dynamic range of my picking hand has helped me deliver the right tones on many sessions.
3) Performing Endurance
When I was working on playing tunes at faster tempos I had a problem with endurance and the ability to hang at that faster tempos for a long periods of time without getting tired. At one lesson with John, I played a fiddle tune at the fastest tempo I could at that time and after finishing one chorus he said “yeah, sounds great, now play that for 5 minutes straight”. Prior to that lesson I had never considered the stamina necessary to perform on a very long or physically demanding gig. John showed me how to practice tunes to develop strength and stamina.
4) A Proper G Run
When I started playing bluegrass, still working on controlling my right hand, I learned a few variations on a G Run from a book. Unfortunately, that book didn’t inform me of the stylistic punch you need to make a G Run pop out in a band. I was playing much in the way that telecaster player would play a G Run, light with finesse but no power. Though there is a proper time and place for that lighter style, John taught me how to play a G Run with a proper rest stroke that allowed me to achieve the power and volume to needed to cut through the mix of a band.
5) Developing A Repertoire
Out in Los Angeles, there are musicians who say they can play lots of different genres. I’ve met players who claim they play a mix of “folk, blues, rock, jam band, jazz, bluegrass, and funk”. The sad truth is that most of these folks don’t know anything about any of those genres! John was the kind of musician who could change styles at the flip of a switch yet was wise enough to respect each idioms rules and guidelines. He helped set me on a path to learn how to identify key elements of genres, how to respect those rules, and when it’s okay to break them. He also help me learn how to chase down essential recordings, learn from the right sources and search out the essential repertoire that defines a genre.
John, you will be missed. However, your passing will not hold me back, but inspire me to work harder and to follow the examples you have set. And yes, I will work on the proper down up accents of my triplets…even if it takes me another 20 years.
Rest in peace,
Craig