First of all thanks for taking the time to do this and giving us the opportunity to ask you questions like this, that's really cool man!

ChinaGuitar: Hey Clark Colborn! Could you please introduce yourself for guitar fans in P.R. China?
Clark Colborn: Sure, it's a pleasure! I'm from Rockford, Illinois, U.S.A., which is near Chicago. I've been playing in hard rock bands all over the American Midwest
for a long time. My bands played big festivals & concert clubs, we were very busy. We played nearly 300 shows a year for many years. Eventually I felt the need to strike out
on my own and express myself.

ChinaGuitar: We know about you recently released your first solo recording, please tell us something about it?
Clark Colborn: It's all-instrumental, guitar focused hard rock, and it's called Clark Plays Guitar. I played all the instruments - although the drums are really done with a synthesizer - and recorded it in my studio, which is called Krypton Studio. I tried to create a wide variety of sounds to reflect different moods and styles. There are some very aggressive, high-energy songs, a delta blues type of thing, and some very melodic songs with thick lush harmonies. It's a real mix. It's available on Guitar9.com, CDbaby.com, amazon.com,
and several other web sites.

ChinaGuitar: How would you define the style of your music?
Clark Colborn: Progressive, instrumental hard rock. Although many people tell me they think it's progressive metal, I prefer the term "hard rock."

ChinaGuitar: What is your favorite music lately?
Clark Colborn: I've been listening to Jeff Beck's last two recordings ("Jeff" and "You Had It Coming") as well as "Freak Guitar" by Mattias "IA" Eklundh. Vinnie Moore, Steve Vai, and Joe Satriani are always in rotation in my CD player, too. When I need something really different I put in some Mozart, Beethoven, or Bach.

ChinaGuitar: Which guitar players would you like?
Clark Colborn: Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Michael Schenker, Vinnie Moore, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Toshi Iseda, just to name a few. This is the best time for fans of guitar music because there are so many really good guitarists making recordings now.

ChinaGuitar: I was wondering who would give you that flutter of excitement to meet?
Clark Colborn: Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck or Steve Vai, because they are all such legends. Very influential guitarists that changed modern guitar playing.

ChinaGuitar: What are you plan for in 2004?
Clark Colborn: I'm putting a band together for concerts right now, so we can tour this summer. I am also working on my next recording, aiming for a release date in mid 2005.

ChinaGuitar: Do you regularly give guitar lessons to other people? Have you released instructional informations in any format?
Clark Colborn: No, I don't have the patience to give lessons any more! (Laughter)  I haven't done any instructional materials either, I'm too busy working on the new band and the new record.

ChinaGuitar: please talk about your  guitar ,your effects,what about your equipment?
Clark Colborn: I have always used guitars with humbucker pick-ups, mostly Gibsons: a Les Paul, some SG's, and my favorite is a Flying V. I am building a custom Flying V right now, but I have also been talking with Dean Guitars about some custom guitars. For amps I have always used Marshall amps for the distorted sounds, and Fender for their clean sounds. Although I am thinking of going to either the new Vox Valvetronix or the Mode Four from Marshall for this upcoming tour.

　　My effects are pretty simple, really. I use a wah-wah pedal, some delay and reverb, and a compressor. I never use distortion pedals. I prefer to get the overdrive sound from the amp.

　　On my CD I used some other effects like chorusing and a pitch shifter that I may incorporate into the live show. I might get a T.C. Electronics G-Force and use that for everything. It's a very powerful and flexible unit.

ChinaGuitar: Would you give us a definition in one word of your culture for the following each great guitar player?
Clark Colborn: Okay, I'll try!

ChinaGuitar: Steve Vai:　　　Clark Colborn: Perfection!

ChinaGuitar: Joe satriani:　　　Clark Colborn: Influential!

ChinaGuitar: Eric Johnson:　　　Clark Colborn: Tone!

ChinaGuitar: Yngwie.j.Malmsteen:　　Clark Colborn: Fast!

ChinaGuitar: S.R.V:　　Clark Colborn: Soulful.

ChinaGuitar: Jimi Hendrix:　　Clark Colborn: Legendary!

ChinaGuitar: Marty Friendman:　　Clark Colborn: Complex...

ChinaGuitar: Michael Angelo：　　Clark Colborn: Fastest, or maybe indescribable! One word is not enough for him!

ChinaGuitar: Could you talk about your live  studio? If you had to pick, what amp sounds on record define your tone?  Could you give us some tips on how you handle your effects?
Clark Colborn: My studio is very humble. It is just a 16 track ADAT set-up, with very few effects. I have a Korg Triton which I used for the drum sounds and keyboard parts, as well as
　　some of the bass lines. Most of the bass stuff was done with a cheap bass guitar direct into the mixing console, but the Korg had some great bass sounds that I just had to use.I feel that capturing the emotion of the song is the important thing. How you capture that sound is secondary to the performance, so I just have minimal studio equipment.

　　The amp sounds on my record that most define my tone would be track 2, Return From Oblivion, and track 4, Bittersweet, because they have the big fat Marshall lead tones, the Fender cleans, and　some thick distorted sounds. I forgot to mention the other effect that I use is an old MXR 15 band EQ. I can really shape the sound of my amp with that EQ. Sometimes I use it right after the guitar, going into the delay and reverb next. But most often I use the EQ last. First the wah-wah, then delay, reverb, then the EQ.

ChinaGuitar: How do you go about writing solos?  Do you go about the progression analytically and think what you can do scale wise with each section, or is it a series of improvisational techniques.
Clark Colborn: Each song is a little different, sometimes I work out the solos or the melody lines based on scales or chords, other times it is improvising. What happens sometimes is this: I hear a melody 　"inside my head." Sometimes I wake up with an entire song in my mind, all the drum parts, the bass lines, everything! Then I just work on getting it all recorded.

ChinaGuitar: To be a renowned guitarist,you must have a lot of gteat shows.Tell us some stories.
Clark Colborn: There are so many! One of my favorites is from a show in a medium sized club in Iowa City, I think. There was no backstage area, we had to enter and leave the stage from a set of steps on the front of the stage. It was a poorly built stage, also. Our drummer had to practically climb over his drums to get in or out, because the stage was too small for all our equipment. But we were going to still give our best show under
the circumstances. We started our show, playing very enthusiastically, and in the middle of the second song the drums stopped unexpectedly. I turned to see why the drummer had stopped. Imagine my surprise when I looked, but he was gone! It was as if he had just disappeared! We knew he had not come over his drums in the front, and behind him was a wall! We all stopped playing and looked around us, but he was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly we heard his voice from under the stage! Then we saw his head come up through a small gap behind his drum set. It turned out that his drum stool was near a small crack in the stage, and had moved into this crack causing the drum stool to tip over. When it tipped over our drummer fell though a small gap behind his drums and rolled under the stage! Luckily he was not injured. He climbed up, moved his drum stool away from the crack, and finished the show.

　　It wasn't funny at the time, but we have laughed about it in the years since.

ChinaGuitar: Have you ever been to P.R.China?  How do you think about P.R.China?  Could you say something to guitar fans and internet friends in P.R. China?
Clark Colborn: No, I have never been to P.R. China. I would love to come someday! The culture of P.R. China is one of the oldest and most fascinating cultures on Earth, with many wonderful traditions. I would be very honored to be able to play
my music in P.R. China. Guitar music speaks to people of all cultures, and I believe it can bring the world a little closer together by giving us all something in common: the love of good guitar music.

ChinaGuitar: thanks
Clark Colborn: You're very welcome. It has been my pleasure. Thank you for talking with me!

The official web site for rock guitarist Clark Colborn：

共2共  1 2 下一页