--- Dave Weiner Interview --- Added 12/Feb/07

SA - First question - what is it like being beside super virtuosos such as Billy Sheehan, Steve vai and Tony Macalpine?

DW - It’s educational. Just being near those players, you can observe the experience coming from them. The way they play, the way they act on stage, the way they treat those around them, they're real pros.

SA- How long have you been playing and what advice do you give to guitar players?

DW - I’ve been playing for 20 years I advise players to improvise every single day. Get some sort of device (sequence, DAW, 4-track, anything) that can provide backing tracks for you and pick a different key and a quality (major, minor, etc) every time and jam that... even if just for 15 minutes a day. Also, for those that want to be recording artists, I advise to start writing and recording ASAP. The more you do it, the better you get at "song crafting" and the more you'll discover what you're inherent "sound" is.

SA - You released an album titled "shove the sun aside" how was the recording process and were there days things weren’t going to plan?

DW - Short story, I wanted to learn how to produce and engineer and mix so I bought everything I’d need and did it all (except the drums, which were recording at Vai's Mother ship studio) in my apartment in Hollywood. It took a while, but without having to watch a clock constantly, I was able to take my time and learn the craft so that I could be able to keep making records on my own forever. Of course there are days when things don't go well. It's mostly during the writing process more so than the recording or mixing stages. The long story on STSA is on my site here - www.daveweiner.com/stsarecording.html

SA - There are many stand out tracks on the album like “long run” and the title track which can be heard on your MySpace, a lot of people would expect vai esque songs, what got you to break away?

DW - Well I don't play like Vai... I know the long association may make some people think I'd write like him, but my playing and writing is very different from his. Sure you might here a little lick here and there that could be related, but you hear that in any player at any time. The similarity between Steve and I is that we're big on orchestration in our writing. Most of the tracks on STSA were about 50 tracks each. That's allot of guitar parts, rhythm parts, percussion parts, electronic drum parts, samples, etc... It's not for the sake of loading a song up with unnecessary junk... it's for the sake of embellishing an idea and the dynamic of the song. Some songs take less tracks, some take more. Whatever works. I love building songs like a puzzle. However, I'm trying to keep the new cd from getting out of hand hahaha.

SA - Home recording is becoming very popular, what software do you use and what advice can you give to players who can play songs perfect, but when they push the record button things go wrong?

I use Protools. My advise to those players is just remember that you can do as many takes as necessary, there's no need to feel pressured to nail the first take perfectly. Relax and take your time. You're not using tape.

SA - Signature guitars are becoming popular, you use custom built guitars, any thoughts of a signature model or have you been approached?

DW -That’s entirely up to Ibanez and most of the time happens for players of relatively large records sales. Hopefully someday we'll get to a DW model

SA - Awesome, you have been very generous to take lessons with you through your website, what will these lessons involve and are they open to anyone or is it just for the advanced?

DW -They are open to anyone, any style, any age, and any level. We cover anything the person would want to work on. It's completely catered to the student. I don't force a teaching style down their throats

SA -Great stuff, what’s your opinion on music theory and do you think it is important?

DW - Theory is the key to unlocking you’re playing, bar none. The more you know, the more you can utilize and experiment in melodic and harmonic possibilities with chords and scales.

SA - Instructional material is available everywhere but being a guitar player myself I’ve found that the best stuff is in DVDs like John Petrucci's rock discipline and Michael Angelo Batio’s speed kills series, any plans for a DVD yourself or guest lessons with a guitar mag?

DW -Yeah, I've thought of writing a book or doing a DVD, but that'll be in a couple of years. 07 is writing and recording year for me. I'll definitely have 1 new cd out, hopefully 2 if time permits. I won't be doing two-necked gymnastics though hahaha

SA - Hah! Who were your influences growing up and any players of the new blood that you like?

DW -Tom scholtz from Boston has always been my favorite player. Besides being an intellectual genius, his ability to create melodies and the perfect harmonies to go with them is very inspiring to me. Him and David Gilmour. These guys utilized amazing tones and playing the perfect part rather than "shredding". That's what I go for, but today, I love Scott Henderson's playing. He's a master at fusion playing... whether that fusion is a mixture of blues, funk, jazz etc... Just awesome stuff he does. He’s my kind of "shredder"

SA - Awesome, before we finish, can you give us an opinion on these guys - Randy Rhoads, Shawn Lane and John McLaughlin?

DW - All awesome players, what Rhoads did in his short time was amazing to me.

SA -Thanks for the interview, any closing statement?

DW -Thank you, it's my pleasure. Check out daveweiner.com for the latest news, touring, recordings and Riff of the Weeks... check out my forum which I check everyday and interact with all the fans... and anyone interested in guitar lessons can find the details on my forum as well.

Interview arranged and conducted by Alistair Campbell (BLACKORCHIDX) of the shred academy forum.

www.daveweiner.com
www.myspace.com/daveweiner