"Is guitar a man's best friend?" - A conversation with Scott Martin (Part 1)

Eddie Van Halen said "A guitar is a very personal extension of the person playing it. You have to be emotionally and spiritually connected to your intrument" and the guitarist Scott Martin understood the assignment well. He is a singer, songwriter and producer hailing from Brooklyn, NYC. 

Scott Martin is the guitarist and one of the primary songwriters in Bulletproof Messenger - a successful modern electronic rock group with several millions plays and thousands of monthly listeners on Spotify, as well as national and international touring experience. He has also built up a successful career as a solo artist, with his music being characterized as commercial and melodic indie rock, demonstrably showcasing his love of classic songwriting and arrangement.

When I first met him through Instagram, I remember thinking "Wow, guitars are almost a religion for this man!" - but without exaggerating too much, I really think that he brought love for guitars to another level. Aside his released music, I suggest you to visit his YouTube Channel because he made some acoustic covers that are little jewels. That's why my curiousity has been stimulated and I started asking him a lot of questions. At the end, I had so much material that I figured out to divide the conversation in two parts! I hope that you will enjoy it as much as I did, whatever you are a guitarist yourself or not!

Scott, when did your love for guitar start? Had your family an influence in this? What does guitar mean to you (emotionally speaking)? 

"This one’s kinda funny - my love for guitar started in two parts, really. You see, when I was a little kid, maybe in Kindergarten or whatever, there was a record that I had called “Cowboy Mickey” or something like that. Mickey Mouse doing “singing cowboy” stuff, you know, like Gene Autry, country western or whatever. My Dad played a bit, too, as a young man - I recall him getting a very fancy guitar for his 40th Birthday (A Martin/Goya), which then kind of disappeared under my parents’ bed, he never really played it much, to my memory. So anyway, around that time, my parents bought me a little guitar - not quite a toy guitar, but nothing special, either. I can’t remember the brand or anything, but it was brown sunburst, and I used a red white and blue piece of rope as a strap, as I recall. But I wasn’t really disciplined and I didn’t learn much more than an “E” chord. Guitar was hard, and I was a kid trying to fit in with his group of friends and do things like baseball/hockey/etc, whatever kids did back when I was one.

Fast forward to when I was about 14, which was when I started really getting into music. My older cousin Doug had this amazing stereo system, and every time we’d hang out at his house, he’d lend me a CD. One day I chose R.E.M. (the album “Eponymous”, a collection of greatest hits of theirs), and that’s when I heard “It’s the End of the World As We Know It”, and became kind of obsessed with the band. I bought every record, learned every word. And then it slowly began to dawn on me that just knowing the songs inside and out wasn’t good enough for me - I wanted to know how they were MADE. I didn’t want to be a virtuoso - I just wanted to write songs. So I decided to go up into our attic, find my Dad’s old Harmony Sovereign (NOT his “special birthday guitar”), and REALLY knuckle down and start playing. That Harmony was really hard to play, too. Hadn’t been touched in like 30 years, the strings were a mile off the fretboard, just very, very hard to get anything out of it. But I kept at it, every day. Hours. I was never really one of the cool kids or anything, so I’d just hang out at home and practice, listen to records, all that. And man, it was slow.

And then in November of 1998, we moved to South Jersey. And I was an angsty teenager who was mad at his folks for moving him to the swamps of Jersey (I’m a New Yorker, it’s a big deal) as a sophomore in High School. But my mom, man, she was clever. A couple days after we moved, it was my 15th birthday, and she surprised me with the electric guitar that I’d been jonesing over for months in the window of the local music store back in our hometown. She’d bought it before we moved and somehow got it down there without me knowing. A red Jay Turser Rickenbacker copy - it looked like Peter Buck’s (from R.E.M.), and man, I did not put this thing down. I’d go to high school, deal with being the “new kid”, and then go home and practice. I sucked, and it was difficult, but I made some friends with the guitar playing kids in my new town, and that really solidified my desire to become a guitarist. And man, they knew the coolest music - Jersey is where I discovered SO many bands for the first time - Aerosmith, Pink Floyd, Boston, Springsteen, etc, etc, the list goes on. And you know, if I’d never left New York and moved, all that might not have happened and maybe I wouldn’t be who I am today.

But I think, you know, emotionally speaking... guitar was always, always that thing in my life that was there when everything else went to shit. And, quite frankly, without getting too into it, in the ten years after learning to play, a LOT of things in life went to shit - but the guitar was there, always, to help me get through it. I could write about imaginary worlds, or write about the real one I was living in. I could reveal emotions that I couldn’t let out in any other way. Guitar kinda gave me a way out, and even I guess, a way forward. So for me, it really kept me going when I didn’t have much left to go on. And so, I think, the guitar and I have a very emotional connection. It’s where I go when things are great, but it’s also my sanctuary when there’s trouble"

How many guitars do you have? Have you a favourite among them?

"I think I have thirty-seven of them, if I’m counting correctly. It’s a lot, I know. It’s a bit over the top. But like, sometimes you need a specific guitar for a specific part or gig, so you buy it, and then you realize you really dig it. I have an old Takamine classical that I used for ONE song on ONE record, but I enjoy playing it so I keep it around. And the collection just kind of grows. The guitars that I used back when Bulletproof Messenger was touring heavily are definitely not what I use now - back then I used set neck, dual humbucker guitars (Les Pauls, PRS’s) and nowadays I’m pretty much using telecasters most of the time - I have nine of them, including the classic ‘52, but they’re all different and have different applications. Every once in a while I’ll break out my Gretsch or my Gibson 335, but the situations where those work aren’t as common. I write and record mostly with a black Gibson Hummingbird, but when I play acoustic out on stage, I tend to bring a Martin 000-17 or a Breedlove Concertina. I guess everything really just has a purpose"

Who are your top 5 guitarists of all time and why?

"#1 Prince. Man, Prince is just unbelievable. Can sing, dance, and play guitar better than damn near anyone else, and makes it look effortless. You don’t hear it a lot of the records...but watch him live. The ease with which he just rips out crazy licks is truly something else to watch. And all while being the coolest cat in the room. Unreal.
#2 Keith Richards. This guy taught me what “cool” was, I think. Stage moves. Playing a telecaster with 5 strings. Wearing his girlfriend’s clothes because, hey, they look great and why not. Perfecting the fine art of not giving a f*ck. And how to be humble, even though you’re the biggest rockstar in the world. A very astute, well spoken gentleman - certainly not the crazy drugged out musician so many seem to associate him with. Oh, also, he was the inspiration for Captain Jack Sparrow’s character in Pirates of the Carribean. Check out the fourth film - he actually plays Jack’s father in a few scenes. It’s pretty cool.
#3 Tom Petty. Tom taught me how to write a song, I think. He was perfect at it. And somehow, whenever he sings to you, it feels like your best friend is singing to you. It’s a real gift that he had. And man, his songwriting. There’s something otherworldly great about it. Like, how does he just hit me right in a place I didn’t even know I needed to go. It’s incredible. And also, just a super cool dude. He’s the reason I own a twelve string. Man. Tom Petty rocks.
#4 Peter Buck. Without Peter Buck and R.E.M., I probably wouldn’t be here. I learned guitar by learning to play every.single.song by them. I know all his licks - and what was cool about Peter was that he wasn’t a virtuoso either, just a guy who picked up the guitar and was self-taught with the need to create. So he serves the song when he plays, always. I love that. Not only this, but he also wouldn’t shy away from breaking out different instruments or tones or devices - you can hear him playing things on record like the hammered dulcimer, the bouzouki, and of course, the mandolin on “Losing My Religion” (which might be their biggest hit). He’s the first guitarist I ever saw use an E-Bow, and of course, I had to get one. It’s neat device - it does something with an electro-magnetic field that vibrates the strings without you have to pluck or strum, and you can get a smooth, violin-type sound in that way. But, anyway the guy is endlessly creative, and I love his riffs, and love his band. Oh, and that black Rickenbacker 360 that he’s played forever. I had to buy one just like it. My personal “holy grail” of guitars, I think.
#5 Eddie Van Halen. I don’t know how to go about even talking about Eddie. The guy blew minds when he first arrived on the scene, blew my mind when I first heard him, and still blows my mind years later. He has this incredibly funky groove to the way he plays - he’s a rock guitar player, but everything he does SWINGS. It’s such a delicate little difference...and it makes his style really hard to cop (not to mention the fretboard pyrotechnics that are completely out of this world). For me, all the great guitarists have a little swing in their phrasing - Joe Perry of Aerosmith is another one, for example - Joe is SO funky. Keith Richards said it really well in that “Everyone remembers the rock, but it’s the ROLL that is the magic bit,” and he’s totally right.
Anyway, I digress. Eddie. A guy who just loved guitar so very much. Would tinker with amps, his guitars (check out the Frankenstrat), and just LOVED to play more than anything. What a mind. What a soul. The King"

 

Which would be your tips for a person who approaches the instrument for the first time?

"Well, first things first - guitar is not easy. Guitar is HARD. Know this going in. It will challenge you. It will twist your brain. It will hurt you. And if you break this down to what it basically is, all learning to play guitar (or any instrument for that matter) is, is, well - it’s just a battle of man vs. himself. Have patience and persistence, and understand always that what you cannot physically play today, or understand today, doesn’t matter - if you KEEP DOING IT, you’ll wake up one morning and be able to play the lick you couldn’t play for the last two months, or bang! - you’ll suddenly understand the circle of fifths. Things like that - it doesn’t always come at once.

But also, and very importantly - the thing about guitar is that it is FUN. So you want to play things which bring you joy. I don’t think you should be playing out of a Mel Bay book, or whatever it is. Pick up the thing, learn some chords, and start banging out the music that you like to sing and dance to. You don’t have to be a Hendrix or a Van Halen. That comes later. For now, you just have to play the thing - so get comfortable with stuff that isn’t too hard (though yes, to circle back, in the beginning it feels hard, of course). But that really is the best advice I can give. If you’re into pop music, if you know twelve chords and a capo, you can play along to anything. Sure, the riffs and things that are woven in might be a little tricky, but learn to strum first. Basic rhythm. Your right hand is EVERYTHING, even though everyone watches the left do all the fancy business. But that right hand, man - that’s what is gonna let you actually do the playing. Work with it, and embrace it. It’s not the flashy bit - but it’s the important bit"

Read the Part 2 of my conversation with Scott: "Tips &Tricks for guitarists"!!

Instagram: @scottccmartin

Website: scottcharlesmartin.com

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