{"id":6123,"date":"2012-04-30T13:38:15","date_gmt":"2012-04-30T20:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/?p=6123"},"modified":"2022-06-28T19:30:58","modified_gmt":"2022-06-29T02:30:58","slug":"guitar-pioneer-debuts-sexy-new-collaboration-to-san-diego","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/30\/guitar-pioneer-debuts-sexy-new-collaboration-to-san-diego\/","title":{"rendered":"Guitar Pioneer Debuts Sexy New Collaboration to San Diego"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Interview with Frank Gambale<\/h2>\n

by Casey Pukl<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This is one of those interviews that is absolutely damn near impossible to write an introduction for. Why? Because simply put, Frank Gambale is the man. Not only is he a joy to interview, but his list of accolades could very well take up this entire article. Let me give you the short version:<\/p>\n

Frank Gambale is a Grammy Award-winning guitar virtuoso and educator with over 200 published songs over 20+ records, the creator of the Sweep Picking technique, Gambale Tuning, former member of the Chick Corea Elektric Band, Vital Information, and has had numerous custom guitars designed in his name. There’s no way one could ever truly grasp the amount of technical discovery that this man has contributed to guitar players around the world.<\/p>\n

Not bad, eh?<\/p>\n

Gambale’s latest project is a collaboration with his wife, and incredibly sultry singer\/songwriter, Boca. Read on to find out what it was like working with his wife, what highlight of his career came recently, and just what his latest contribution to guitar technique is…<\/p>\n

CP:<\/strong> I have to admit, I\u2019m a big Elektric Band fan, so this is pretty exciting right now.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0FG:<\/strong> So am I (laughs). Those were amazing days.<\/em><\/p>\n

CP:<\/strong> Absolutely. And I know you were also on the most recent Return to Forever tour with Stanley Clarke and the rest of the gang, right?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

FG:<\/strong> Yeah, that was all of last year! Wow, was that a trip around the world. We played all the best stages on the planet, and that was just incredible fun with what I consider to be an iconic group. That was a complete blast.<\/em><\/p>\n

Being an Australian as I am, one of the highlights for me was playing the Sydney Opera House with all of my family present. It doesn\u2019t get much better than that in Australia.<\/em><\/p>\n

CP:<\/strong> It has to be amazing to continue to have those highlights after so many accomplishments over the years.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

FG:<\/strong> Yes, indeed. It was a real highlight in my life, and it was such a memorable evening among many (laughs).<\/em><\/p>\n

CP:<\/strong> Tell me a little bit about this latest record\u2014 I know you worked with your wife, who explains the super sexy vibe behind the first single, \u201cForbidden Kiss\u201d. What inspired you guys to start this project?<\/em><\/p>\n

FG:<\/strong> Well, this is music I\u2019ve wanted to do for a long long time. It\u2019s been on the backburner in my head for quite a long time. I\u2019ve always loved vocal music, and many of my albums have a lot of vocal music on it. My albums have had a touch or at least some sort of indication that this was on its way. There have always been vocal tunes on my records. While I haven\u2019t done anything vocal in a long time, and that was the seed. When I was younger, all the groups I was ever in in Australia were vocal groups where I was the singer, and I always loved vocal harmonies. I\u2019m a huge fan of vocal harmony.<\/em><\/p>\n

It was just a matter of the right timing and a number of different things. Boca entering my life and her incredible talents as a songwriter, as a performer and singer, it was just the right time had finally arrived. So it just happened. We started writing, and the chemistry was great. The music just evolved, and everything just felt better and better until it finally culminated in this record that we\u2019re very excited about.<\/em><\/p>\n

CP:<\/strong> What was it like writing together?<\/em><\/p>\n

FG:<\/strong> I\u2019d love to say it was all smooth and peaches and cream (laughs), but we had our troubles. The point it that we\u2019re both very passionate musicians and we\u2019re both very strong willed. WE had a lot of beautiful tunes that came out smoothly without a tremendous amount of effort, and others were more difficult. That\u2019s just how the writing process is a lot of the time. The point is we\u2019re both passionate, and we were both putting the music first. Our desire to make the best possible music together was first. We didn\u2019t take it personally, but we sometimes tried different things. I may have been resistant or she may have been resistant, but in the end, the music prevailed (laughs).<\/em><\/p>\n

CP:<\/strong> (Laughs) As we always hope it does!<\/em><\/p>\n

FG:<\/strong> Yes! But we certainly still love each other, so that must say something for the writing process that we just went through (laughs). It was a challenge at times, but I would do it again in a heartbeat, and I will\u2026 but we don\u2019t need to mention that at this point!<\/em><\/p>\n

CP:<\/strong> That\u2019s exciting! Tell me a little bit about working with vocalists\u2014 do you feel like you take a very different approach to your playing style when working with a vocalist?<\/em><\/p>\n

FG:<\/strong> Well of course. One of the biggest changes is just to play softer (laughs). As a guitar player, we\u2019re always accused of being too loud. It\u2019s usually the guitar player that has to turn down. So there\u2019s that, and I love playing softer. My ears have been thrashed enough over the years.<\/em><\/p>\n

What we try to do is have a real nice dialogue between the guitar and the voice. That\u2019s something we really tried to achieve. It\u2019s like the voice and the guitar are really dancing together on top of the song. That\u2019s what we tried to do in most cases. I know where the melody is, so I try to be in the spaces and around it, and even sometimes supporting the harmony to the vocal part in my line. I find it enjoyable. I love listening to her sing, and she\u2019s an incredible singer and performer, as you\u2019ll see.\u00a0 To me, it\u2019s just a joy to have that little dialogue going all the time. I don\u2019t find it that difficult. I find it enjoyable if anything.<\/em><\/p>\n

CP:<\/strong> I think listening to the single, it definitely sounds like you playing, but it\u2019s also nice to hear the interplay between her vocal and your guitar. You\u2019ve laid back a little bit, and it\u2019s neat to hear.<\/em><\/p>\n