Featured Flatpicker for April/May 2005 - John Chapman
Name:
John Chapman
Age?
I was born in 1977
Town?
Denver, Colorado (now lives in Ozark, Missouri)
At what age did you start playing guitar?
I was around 14 or 15 years old when I started playing the guitar. I had already been playing fiddle for about three years
First guitar:
My first guitar was actually Dad's guitar. It was a '74 D-28 that he had worked on - had a friend do some scalloping on the braces.
It was actually a pretty good guitar, not a whole lot of volume. Good tone, but not a whole lot of volume.
I remember very well the first time I played it. Dad had got some new tortoise shell picks, and he had a big triangle,
sharp edge. And I was so small with that big guitar and right above and below the
fret board where it connects to the body,
I gouged the whatever out of the top of that guitar (laughs). I played that for quite a while. That was a cool old guitar.
I kinda wish I still had that around, just because.
Who were your early Influences?
I used to listen to a lot of Charles Sawtelle. He was in the area, and I listened to him a lot. Let me think here - Dan Crary,
and a good buddy of mine, his name is Pete Schwimmer; and he taught me a lot of things. Incredible musician - banjo, guitar, mandolin.
I took a lot of lessons from him. I wasn't much of a Rice fan when I started. It took me about three years after that. I guess I
really didn't understand what it was that I was hearing, and I didn't really care for it at first because I came, I think, from that
fiddle tune background. I love everybody, Dad had a great record collection, but those were probably the people I listened to first,
and really got into it with.
What was your first gig?
We played a show in Arvada, Colorado, at place called the Bear Valley Inn. It's a restaurant/bar place and they had bluegrass
every Friday night. That was the very first real thing that we ever did as a band. that was in 1989, if I remember right.
I know you have a 1940 D-18 and a new signature model from Jerry Shadrick. Why don't you tell us about those?
Well, the '40 has been my main guitar for the last three years or so. It needed a lot of work when I got it.
When Kit (of Olde Town Pickin' Parlor in Arvada) sent it to me, it sounded good. It didn't sound great. He had a hard time trying to sell it,
and he told me to take it on the road and sell it for him. I played it for about two months and called him up and he made me a good deal on it.
I bought it and figured if nothing else, I'll trade it in on something. I fixed it up, it needed a lot of work. the bridge was loose.
That was the biggest thing. that made a huge difference. Once I got that done, that guitar came to life. I've been playing it most of the
time up to now. Now with this new guitar that we've been working on for about a year now. It's actually been a lot of fun.
I've been able to nail down what I like. The coolest thing is that he listens to what I have to say and we work back and forth.
It's been great and setups have been a breeze because we go through and nail it one at a time. It's been a very cool
relationship working
out exactly what I need.
What wood are you using for it?
I'm an Adirondack spruce person. I think that's the secret. I'm absolutely sold on those tops. When we first talked about building,
that's the first thing I said, I want to do it in Adirondack. I think there's just a certain punch to it, and I was seeing it
with new guitars that were being built and I decided that's what I wanted to do. And we started talking, and you know; I've always been more of a rosewood fan,
even though lately I've been playing mahogany, but rosewood is more my deal, because I worry about rhythm. So we decided to build a rosewood guitar,
and we decided to go with Honduras rosewood. It looks beautiful and it sounds great.
Do you own any others that you want to tell us about?
For years I've played a Tony rice model Santa Cruz. That was my main guitar after Dad's D-28 until about two years ago when I got the '40.
At the house right now, Dad's got a Santa Cruz Vintage Artist that I play once in a while. I don't get to play it very much. A very good guitar.
Jeremy's got (John's brother) a D-18 Golden Era, which is an incredible guitar. Right now, it's my favorite guitar coming out of the Martin factory.
I like the D-18 GE a lot. For the price range and everything, you can hardly touch them
Do you Practice much?
Any more? (laughs) If I had more time, I would. We've been so busy on the road. Obviously, when it comes down to rehearsing
and things, we really start pulling it together. Like with this new album. This album has taken us four years to make.
Not just recording wise. It took us four years to get what we wanted and work it up, and when it really came down to it, when we got
material we liked, we just sat down and worked it to death; and we still keep working on it. Right now, we're trying to rework a lot
of that material for the stage. Because, you know, it's different. Studio-wise, you work things out with new ideas and such; but
doing it on stage is a completely different feel. So we're rebuilding a lot of our songs to get comfortable in the show.
friend".
Who are your favorite Artist(s) these days?
I'm still a major Rice fan. That probably did more to affect my playing than anything. I had great influences earlier,
but all of a sudden it hit me, and I started feeling the syncopation, you know. More of a bluesy feel. I'm a big fan of that.
Tim Stafford, great friend, great player. We sit around and talk about everything when we get together. My all-time favorite
right now is Ron Block. To me, he is by far the most underrated guitar player, and he is the most talented individual I know.
I've never been around anybody that knows as much guitar as he does, and yet he's tasteful enough to not sit there and
show everybody what he knows. That's what blows me away about him.
I know you're teaching some now. What advice do you give somebody who is just getting into guitar and trying
to learn to flatpick?
I'm a rhythm person. I am totally convince you cannot be a lead player until you are a great rhythm player.
And a lot of people take it the backwards way. I did when I started. That was my thing. I wanted to get
into playing the lead stuff. After I was playing four or five years, I realized I had to go back to the beginning
and tear apart everything that I did. And I had a couple of years where I was just absolutely struggling because
I wanted to go back and do it right. So now I stress more than anything when I start a student out - we're going to discuss
rhythm here. And a lot of them aren't too happy with me, but that's my push. I want to make sure everybody
understands the
fundamentals of rhythm and timing before we even start messing with lead. Then after that, think melody. Those are my two biggest
tips in playing. Think melody. Quit playing lots of trash and go back to playing stuff that people understand.
You've won the SPGMA Guitar Player of the year award three times. Tell us a little bit about how you developed your style.
My style came because it ended up just being me. I had a bad thing after I got started. I was trying to clone Rice stuff. I knew every
break backwards and forwards. Later on I started working things out, and I thought I was playing the way other people play, but
it winds up that so much of me comes out - the way I do things. Like I said, think melody. When I started building my own material,
that's what I go by. Think melody. When I build a break, I start out with just the basic melody - then I add a little bit more and a little
bit more. Then I know where I've got too far. There's just to much going on, then I scale it back. I want to get it to the point where
there's more than enough interest for people who are listening to what I'm trying to do, but yet they can still sit back and hear what the
song is all about. That's probably the thing that's created my style, just listen to lots of people, get ideas from everybody,
then just start putting it together in your own way.
What are you most proud of, musically? Right now, career wise, I'm definitely most proud of our new album, Simple Man. We've learned so much
and I still think we've got a long ways we can keep going. We keep getting to be with people that really know what they are
doing and that really teach us a lot. I'm proud of the album, and I'm very proud musically of the people that I get to work with.
The cool part of this career is that I get to hang out with all my heroes. Not only do they become friends, but we've really bonded and
I can call them up and we talk about everything, not just music things.
Check out the Chapman's web page.
Archives:
Terry Barnes
Paul 'Gus' Gustafson
Gary Smith
Bryan Kimsey
David Dugas
Allen Shadd
