Phil Collen And The Psychology of Guitar Playing
Joe Satriani’s G4 Experience promises four days of “guitar magic.” The annual event, happening July 24-28 in Carmel, Calif., this year, features Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen.
Ratt guitarist Warren DeMartini and Mr. Big’s Paul Gilbert will also be on hand this year, and they’ll share stories and wisdom from their six-string adventures over the years. “I’ll just free-form and then describe stuff and actually play stuff for people,” Collen tells Ultimate Classic Rock. “I’ll also get to play with the guys, which will be really cool. I’m looking forward to that.”
Moments before taking the stage with Def Leppard in front of thousands of people at the recent Carolina Rebellion festival, Collen knocked off a quick video teaser in which he talks about the “technique, the psychology of guitar playing, being in a band [and] all of the stuff that goes with it.”
“What’s really amazing, because I’m a touring musician and I’ve played around the world, you get to bump into people and you have these amazing stories,” he says. “Like, talking of technique, here’s the weird thing. You learn to play guitar and I taught myself how to pick a certain way. It’s not the correct way of doing it. It actually leaves it open to being sloppy, especially when you’re shredding. I have to [watch] the angle of the pick, but I like playing that [way]. I’m a rock guitar player — I like resting my palm on the thing, and it’s kind of faulty, if you want to get your playing and technique perfect. I think this was in the ‘80s, I was sitting there and Vinnie Moore was backstage, and we were just talking guitars and I was just playing. He said, ‘Whoa, you hold your pick in a weird way!’ I looked down and I was like, ‘I’d never noticed that!’ No one had ever pointed it out.”
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