You might not recognize his face, but you would absolutely recognize his work. Gibson man Andy Abad’s guitar licks have been smacking audiences in the face for decades, through his touring and recording with a vast array of artists, from Marc Anthony to Bonnie Raitt to J.C. Chasez,

With a diverse history deeply rooted in African, Latin, and classic rock, Andy’s musical abilities have made him one of the most sought-after guitarists in the music world. Currently on the American Idol tour, Andy took some time out to chat with Gibson.com’s Courtney Grimes about the challenges of supporting artists in a variety of musical styles, about his “tank” (his Les Paul) and the arsenal of Gibsons he takes into battle.

CG: You have toured with tons of big names. Which have been some of your favorites so far?
AA: For me every tour presents its own challenges. I have to approach each tour in a different way for the most part. For me, playing with J.C. Chasez was challenging because the way he recorded his album, his producers used a lot of technology with the recording. They did things to it digitally, that you can’t normally do live. So my role was to recreate the effects live, that they did with a computer in the studio, and I really enjoyed that challenge a lot. And again for me, doing that kind of thing, is what I really enjoy doing.
Playing with Marc Anthony, half the gig involved acoustic guitar, which was completely organic, with minimal processing, maybe a little delay, a little overdrive, no computer, no track, just completely organic. The flip side is J.C., where I’m completely becoming a part of a computer generated sound.

CG: Who are your musical influences?
AA: As early as I can remember I always wanted to play guitar. And it was probably Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix who were the first big musical influence for me. I had an older brother who was really into Zeppelin, and I remember being into the Stones in the fifth grade.
That was one side of it. Andy Summers had a big influence on me as well. The thing about his style is that he’s about as far away from Hendrix and Page as you can be, but his approach is that he was a three piece band and he brought colors and chord extensions and a different sense of harmony to the guitar and to pop music. He introduced the 9 to chords, and delays to chords, and he was kind of like the “original Edge” of U2. He started the whole ball rolling.

Franco, a guitar player from Zaire, was my hero. That style of really great, guitar driven music is what led me to record with Bonnie Raitt. I recorded an African song with her, and I got to do all the little lead stuff on it. And that came from doing all African stuff in the ’90s. And then there were all the Latin influences which had a huge, huge influence on me. I grew up listening to Latin music because of my parents, who are Mexican and Equadorian. And I grew up listening to Latin music but never really appreciating it. It got in the way of rock and roll for me. When I was in my late teens I got into it, and then I just dove into it, and started to learn it.
On a completely opposite genre, there’s trio music – the master is Gilberto Puente, and for the Cuban Trés, there’s Nino Revier and Nelson Gonzalez. Those were the guys for me. They’re basically like the Jimi Hendrixes of their own fields. And they were major influences for me. So I think the trick is, when you do a lot of different gigs, working with different artists like the different artists that I have, the trick is to blend in and become the music of the artists. But at the same time, be able to draw out the unique influences that you have, in a way that will complement it. Having an incredibly varied background really helps.

One of the hardest things I remember is the Marc Anthony tour of 2000. I did this feature guitar piece, which was just fingers and nylon string. We would play that piece right after “Hotel California.” I would start in with the delicate feature piece, right after that heavy rock tune with my Les Paul, right after shredding through the bends and everything. I would just set down the Les Paul, and then try to go into the sensitive nylon piece, then the song after that was the Cuban Trés. It was kind of a mind game, not to mention your hands themselves were killing. Then it was like, all of a sudden trying to change a diaper on a baby.

CG: Tell me about your Gibsons. Which one is your favorite?
AA: It depends, it’s kind of like…well, if I’m going into a situation where I wanna rock, and I want the power behind me, and I want the tone, it’s my Sparkle Les Paul, ’cause you know, that’s like going into battle with a tank or something, you have everything you need at your disposal. With the American Idol tour, I used my Firebird VII, and I use that at pretty much every gig now. It is a unique sounding guitar and it has mini humbuckers, an ebony fingerboard, and a vintage tone to it. That’s probably been my guitar of choice in the last year-and-a-half, I would say. I’m using the Firebird on the JC Tour and the Marc Anthony tour and also on Marc’s last video that we did. The other guitar I’m using is a Les Paul Classic DC. Because the music on American Idol is a lot of oldies, Motown, and a lot of ’70s music, I wanted a sound that was something like a 335. A Les Paul would be too thick, and the Firebird is the sound of a Les Paul, but not as beefy, so it’s great for a lot of the oldies. Not to mention it’s half as heavy!

I’m also using a J-200 acoustic which is probably my favorite. It’s a great guitar. It has tone which I really love. And I do a duet with John Peter Lewis on American Idol, and he has a Hummingbird Custom, with the Custom logo on the back. It’s really a beautiful guitar. And the funny thing is, I found out I was going to do a duet with him and I thought the guy might have some cheap guitar and he pulled that Hummingbird out, and I was like “WHOAH!”

I have a lot of guitars and I want to make sure I’m using the right guitar for the right occasion. It’s not uncommon for me to switch guitars three or more times, within a set. They have started calling me “the fastest switcher in the West.”


CG: Do you have time to write on the road?
AA: Yeah, I do. It’s not as easy, when you’re traveling with a great bunch of guys, especially when everybody really hangs out together. But I am still writing and doing projects. Computers and internet make it a lot easier to work with people on the road.
Right now, I’m writing the music for “Diego,” which is a Latin based version of the children’s cartoon “Dora the Explorer.” This project is on the side, so it’s a lot of fun. I bring in a lot of the African styles and Latin styles and try to blend them all together.

CG: What has been the best part of your career so far?
AA: I can still say that recording with Bonnie Raitt on Silver Lining was still probably the highlight for me. Yeah, she is just such an amazing musician and human being and her band is so amazing and wonderful to work with. And I got to play African guitar which is great.

CG: Where do you see yourself five years from now?

AA: Well given that I never had a plan, I always went day by day, I don’t know. If I’m still doing what I love to do, I will be very happy.