We speak to the bluegrass star ahead of the final Molly Tuttle Guitar Workshop and Q&A event, in association with Guitar Center
Gibson and Guitar Center recently partnered with award-winning artist Molly Tuttle for a series of special Molly Tuttle Guitar Workshop and Q&A events at Guitar Center locations, which include a draw that sees one lucky winner at every event receive an Epiphone J-45 Express courtesy of Gibson Gives. Saturday October 25th sees the final event in the series take place at Guitar Center’s Denver, Colorado store. Ahead of the workshop, we caught up with Molly to find out what fans can expect, what her number one piece of advice is for aspiring guitarists, and what Gibson acoustic guitars mean to her.
What can people expect from your workshops?
“Usually I talk about different techniques that I use, I might go through a couple of songs on my new record and talk about the different guitar techniques and different riffs and this and that. I always love taking questions—that’s how I feel like I teach the best, when I know what people want to learn. There’ll definitely be a Q&A portion and a little meet and greet at the end. And I’m really excited to be giving away Epiphone guitars—I get to draw a name for a guitar at each workshop, which is exciting.”
What are the questions that people typically ask? Are there any perennials that always come up?
“Bluegrass players might ask about my right-hand technique, people always want to know how to develop that and because my right hand looks a little different from other players, people are always asking if it’s floating or if I’m touching the guitar. Some people anchor their pinky finger on the guitar—mine kind of looks like it’s floating but I am kind of anchoring my hand on the bridge pins, usually. I get questions like that, I get questions about clawhammer guitar, and different tunings that I use. Sometimes people ask about how to improvise, what scales they need to learn, how do you build speed, technical stuff like that.”
What would be your number one piece of advice when it comes to building speed? That seems to be the hardest thing to unlock for most players.
“Well, I only know how I did it, which was working with a metronome and slowly pushing my speed each day. After a while it just kind of clicks. I’m lucky that I started playing guitar when I was eight years old so I think my brain was still being molded, I guess! Maybe that helped me learn to play faster at an earlier age! But I think anyone at any age can still get better. What I tell people is, don’t be afraid to play a little faster than you feel like you can, because if you never push yourself outside your comfort zone with speed then you are never gonna really get faster.
“I would practice with a metronome and put it a couple of clicks higher than I really felt like I could play and execute clean solos, then maybe after a couple of days of doing that, my fingers caught up with what I was trying to do! The other thing is just making sure to be consistent and work on it every day. I feel like doing 15-30 minutes a day is better than doing two hours one day and then not playing for a week. That’s not going to train your fingers as well as doing it consistently every day. It’s like building a muscle—I play shows all the time so that keeps me in shape, but I still try to practice, especially if I have new songs I’m working on.”
As you mentioned, you are giving away Epiphone J-45 Express guitars at the workshop events—when do you turn to a Gibson acoustic like the J-45, and what does it offer you compared to other guitars in your toolkit?
“I think they have their own unique tone. I have a couple of Gibsons around the house, I use them to write songs a lot. I mostly play dreadnought guitars for the bluegrass stuff, but I feel like Gibsons offer this kind of unique, warm sound that’s great for adding texture or rhythm. I really like the warmth and some of my favorite players play Gibsons—it’s such a legacy brand and I’m honored to be partnering with them and giving away these Epiphones. I’m excited to play Gibsons more and more and see what they bring out in my playing. They are wonderful guitars. I especially love old Gibsons, they always have so much vibe to the sound. I love a J-45, those are great guitars.”
Visit Molly Tuttle’s official website to find out more about the workshop events, current tour dates, and recent solo album, So Long Little Miss Sunshine.
