What is sweep picking?Sweeping is a picking technique which has been around about as long as guitar has been around. Basically, most guitarists learn alternate picking ( picking up and down all the time regardless of what you’re playing ). While this a good and standard technique, it is certainly not the most practical or efficient in all circumstances. The above explanation is accurate for when one picks every note. Of course guitarists nowadays are combining sweeping, tapping, hammer-ons and pull-offs all at the same time. Sweeping is incredibly efficient and doesn’t waste any picking-hand motion. It enables different kinds of phrases to be played on the guitar. Two-octave arpeggios are a breeze once sweeping is mastered. I believe the popular thought until I came along was that this technique was not possible. Lots of guitarists played one or two small sweep licks but that was it. I believed in it and developed it diligently over the last 22 years ( after 10 years of alternate picking prior ). I strongly urge all guitar players to develop a good sweep picking technique to incorporate it into their playing. It is as important as alternate picking and tapping and should be part of any good guitarists playing arsenal. Back to Top
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What guitars do you use?I’ve been using my new Yamaha AES-FG models recently. This guitar was the result of one and a half years of hard work with Dave Cervantes, a brilliant luthier at Yamaha Custom Shop. I gave him major hurdles to jump in the construction of the guitar. I wanted pickups mounted from the rear plus a bolt-on neck and all frets accessable before the body. Needless to say that that was very difficult to achieve. Interstingly, through Dave's huge committment to getting it right we stumbled on a creative step that has never been done in 50 or so years of guitar construction. When we put the Wilkinson tremelo on the guitar, in the back, there was no place to put the claw that holds the springs except on the end of the neck. This has created a string loop. The strings pass though the block and the vibrations return to the neck. The resulting sustain has to heard to be believed. It's the first thing you notice when you plug the guitar in. I also have 2 beautiful Yamaha SA-2200s. It's a semi-hollow electric. I have one set up with flat wound strings and the other with light stainless steel D'Addarios. The one with flat wounds is perfect for jazz and I have used on the latest LIVE AROUND THE WORLD CD with Vital Information. I also used those guitars on THE LIGHT BEYOND CD. I lashed out recently and bought a vintage jazz guitar. It's a 1968 Johnny Smith with 2 pickups. It is absolutely mint. Even the case is in mint condition due to the fact that the previous owner had a zip-up case cover. The guitar is perfect except for one slight nick. Dave Cervantes ( the only person I trust with this guitar ) will be making a replica scratchplate and a few other player-friendly changes to it. I will of course keep all the original parts in original condition. I recently got a new acoustic from Yamaha which is one of the best sounding acoustics I ever heard. I tend to prefer the smaller body acoustics. They usually sound bigger and fuller than larger bodied acoustics. It's called an FPX-300. It's awesome. An Ovation Elite, which is about 10 years old now is on most of my earlier recordings. I have a matching 12-string. I also have a Coral sitar guitar These are just a few of my favourite things. Back to Top
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What amps do you use?I currently use a Marshall JMP-1 preamp, a Stewart PA1000 power amp and the magnificent TC Electronic G-Force multi fx. These go thru a 4x12 Marshall JCM-900 cab with Celestion speakers. The box is stereo. I use 2 Ernie Ball Volume pedals and a Rolls Midi Buddy switcher. The way it is plugged in is as follows; From one side of the JMP-1 outputs I connect to a Volume pedal. From there back to the input of the G-Force. The stereo L&R outs from the G-Force go to the input of the power amp. Then stereo speaker outs to the box. The other volume pedal output connects to the G-Force expression connection. This is a remarkably small and simple setup, but I am very satisfied with my tone. Back to Top
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What kind of picks do you use?I use 1mm ( regular heavy ) triangle picks similar to the Fender bass pick. All three sides are the same so you get three picks for the price of one!!! And, because it’s big, you have a better chance of hitting the string!! ( sorry folks, I’ve answered that question too many times!! ). Back to Top
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What are your top 10 favourite and influential albums of all time?Only 10 eh!! Well here goes. These aren’t in order of preference OK. 1. Spectrum - Billy Cobham. ( I never did learn how to count to 10!!! ) Back to Top
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What do you think are the most important things to practice?I’ve met guitarists who tell me they’ve been playing for 20 years, and when I listen to them play, I think they suck. Other players I listen to and they tell me they’ve been playing on 7 years and they sound amazing. This leads me to believe that how well you play has nothing to do with how long you have owned a guitar! It has a lot more to do with what you’ve actually done with it. What is needed is quality time over quantity time. Nowadays I don’t have a lot of time to practice so if I do have a 3-hour piece of time, I will spend ten minutes deciding what I need to learn in that time. It might be learning to play a new tune, or soloing over some chord sequence from a new song I’ve written. It could also be learning to use a new scale or mode or whatever. The point is focusing in on something that I don’t know. There’s no point learning E minor Dorian if you already know it. Move on! E Dorian will still be there when you get back!! Learn something new every time you sit down to practice. I remember a time when I couldn’t play in the key of Eb. That’s because it was in-between the dots on the neck!! The way I resolved that was, for one month, everytime I picked up the guitar to practice I would only play in Eb. I soon realized it was the same as E, only it was one fret down! Or the same as D but one fret up!! I think it’s very important to know all you can about Harmony and Theory, and also to have a good reading ability. It’s also critical to have good time. Always practice with a drum machine or a sequencer and feel the pulse and synchronize yourself with it. Back to Top
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What strings do you use?I’ve been using the same gauge on electric guitar now for about 25 years. The last 10 years or so I’ve been using D’Addario EXLS520 Stainless Steel. The gauges are a standard 9 set ( 9,11,16,24,32,42, ). I love stainless steel strings. They outlast nickel and they retain their brightness for ages. On my new Yamaha signature series guitar I have gone to a standard 10, 13, 17, 26, 36, 46 set. The 9s felt too slinky on this new guitar. Back to Top |
What was it like playing with Chick Corea in the Elektric Band?I was a huge fan of Chick when I was 15. Most people don’t know it but, when I was 17 years old, I gave up guitar altogether for the keyboards ( I wanted to be the next Chick Corea!! ) for a whole 2 years. My brother Nunzio, who was a great bass player at the time and we had worked together in many group settings, said “ listen Frank, you know, I think it’s great that you want to learn the piano, but, you can already play the guitar, do you want to throw away 10 years of guitar??!!. And besides, you suck on the piano ( at the moment ) and even more importantly, if you want to eat, you’d better pick up that guitar ‘cause we have a gig on Saturday night!” It turned out to be an encounter for which I am eternally grateful to Nunz. If it’s one thing Chick didn’t need, it was another keyboard player in the Elektric Band!!! Nevertheless I continued playing keyboards and guitar more or less simultaneously. So, I’d better answer this question huh! Working with Chick for me was like a dream come true. It was an experience akin to learning and being in the influence of a great master. What I learned was all I needed to know about music, performance, positive attitude, being true to the art of music etc. etc. I auditioned on Labour Day in October 1986. I had two days to learn the music. The vague instructions were “ just learn a couple of Corea standards and listen to the new Elektric Band album and learn the solo sections, there’s no need to learn the melodies, Chick just wants to hear if you improvise well’. I learned the melody for Rumble, I didn’t need to learn the solo section, it was Cmin7 or something easy like that. I was as ready as I would ever be. When I auditioned, I played like there was no tomorrow. I blasted. Chick jumped up off the keyboard and said “Frank, your amp will be pointing at this angle across the stage......”. It was then that I knew my life would change forever. It’s one thing being elated about passing the audition and being hired. It was then that I realized, “ oh my goodness, I have to learn to play the rest of these unbelievably hard tunes too!!” I was definitely up for the challenge. Back to Top
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How long did you work with Chick?I was with the band from October 1986 until January 1992. Roughly 6 years. That’s longer than most marriages last!! We won a Grammy for Best Instrumental Performance By A Duo or Group in the Instrumental R&B category!!! It was for live version of the song “Lightyears” from the GRP Super Live album recorded in Tokyo. And we also had two Grammy nominations. We toured the world over consistently for 6 years on mammoth tours. You could throw a dart at a map of the globe and I’ve probably been there 3 times at least!! I’ve earned some serious frequent flyer miles!! Back to Top
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How many albums did you do with the Elektric Band?I did Lightyears, GRP Super Live, Eye Of The Beholder, Inside Out, and Beneath The Mask all on GRP records. Back to Top
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What do you look for in a drummer?I prefer drummers that play the music first and think about the chops second. I don't like playing with a drummer whose audience is only sitting there waiting for the next "amazing fill", and aren't listening to the music as a whole. I think Steve Smith and Dave Weckl are good examples of what I'm talking about. Don't get me wrong, both these guys have amazing chops, but they know when to use them, that's the difference. Back to Top
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