QRD – What was your first guitar & what happened to it?

Sarah – My first guitar was my grandfather’s.  It’s a Fender San Luis Rey.  I still have it - it’s an acoustic, but has an electric headstock.  I played it when I first started doing live shows when I was 17-19.

QRD – What’s your typical set-up from guitar to effects to amplifier? 

Sarah – For recording, I have my Gretsch hollow-body jazz guitar plugged into a standard amp (I have an old Epiphone amp) & I just put the amp in the back corner of the room & then I play & sing into the mic, so that most of the guitar is mic’d acoustically, but some of the amped sound is also picked up.

QRD – What’s the most important part of your rig – guitar, amplifier, or effects? 

Sarah – My guitar.  I don’t use any effects (except some reverb if the sound-guy at one of my shows puts some reverb on my guitar).  My guitar is so important because I do so much intricate finger-picking.  I have to have a guitar I’m very comfortable with & that has a very specific sound.

QRD – What’s your main amplifier & why?

Sarah – Right now I have a Spider amp - Line 6, & also an old (70s) Epiphone Pathfinder.  The first one was just cheap & I don’t really need much as far as amps go & the other one just has a great sound because it’s old, huge, & just looks cool.

QRD – What’s your main guitar & what are the features that make it such?

Sarah – I have a flat black Gretsch hollow-body archtop.  I like jazz-box guitars.  The features that make that guitar my main guitar is that it has an incredible sound just acoustic - very warm & jazzy.  It also is very sturdy & stands up to how hard I play it very well.

QRD – If you had a signature guitar, what would it look like & what would some of its features be?

Sarah – It would be flat black with ivory piping, a jazz-box archtop that is loud even when not plugged in & only a tone & volume knob.  I like simple.

QRD – If you had a signature pedal, what would it be & what would some of its features be?

Sarah – I like the chorus pedal - but I would like to have the chorus effect, but with some of the loop-station pedal effects.  So I could tap it once to change to chorus effect & tap it twice to record a loop.

QRD – How many guitars do you own?

Sarah – I own 4 guitars - a Gretsch, an Eastman El Rey, a Takamine small acoustic-electric, & a Fender.

QRD – How & where do you store your guitars?

Sarah – I store the Eastman El Rey in its hardshell case & my Gretsch is on a stand because I play it daily.

QRD – What do you wish guitar cases had that they usually don’t?

Sarah – Right now, I wish I could just find some non-standard size cases.  I can’t fit my Gretsch into any cuz it’s too big.  & believe me I’ve shopped around everywhere.

QRD – What features do you look for when buying a guitar?

Sarah – The sound when played acoustic.  I like fairly high action.  No fret buzz.  I like guitars that are weighted well - not a very lopsided feeling when playing it, like the body is super light & the neck is really heavy.  I like small guitars with a big sound, because I’m a very small person so a large guitar can be hard to play while standing.

QRD – How much do you think a good guitar should cost?

Sarah – Well, it seems that the very good guitars run between $2500 - $5000 or more.  But my best guitar was only $1000.  The most expensive one I own was $4000, & I play it less!

QRD – Do you upgrade & customize your guitars or just stick with what you get?

Sarah – I customize them minimally.  Mostly I change the action (usually it is too low), & I always put flat wound nickel strings on.  I also usually have to adjust the intonation, but other than that I don’t really change anything major.

QRD – How thoroughly do you research or test a piece of equipment before buying it?

Sarah – Basically I just play it.  I don’t really research much.

QRD – Do you change your rig around often?

Sarah – Nope.  I play it until it falls apart usually.

QRD – Are you after one particular guitar tone & locking into it, or do you like to change your tone around a lot?

Sarah – I have a very signature style of guitar playing, so I don’t change it up drastically.  But I do change my tone & sound up at times for different bodies of work.  But my playing style still doesn’t change much.

QRD – What are some guitars, amps, & pedals you particularly lust after?

Sarah – Guitars - I like hollow-body jazz guitars.  I love Gretsch.  I also would love to get a really nice Taylor acoustic someday.

QRD – What do you think are some important features to be on a person’s first guitar that aren’t always there?

Sarah – Personally, I think that if someone wants to play guitar, it’s good to start off hard.  That may sound weird, but it worked for me.  I started out on a huge acoustic with insanely high action & very big strings.  My fingers bled & it was so hard to hold strings down & even get my arms around the damn thing.  But when I finally got good on that guitar, playing any other guitar since then has been a piece of cake.

QRD – What have been the best & worst guitar related purchases you’ve made?

Sarah – Worst guitar purchase was from Musician’s Friend online.  Sorry.  They just really screwed me over.  Sent me an Epiphone with literally a chunk of wood hacked out of it.

QRD – What are some effect, amp, & guitar brands you particularly like or dis-like & why?

Sarah – I don’t like a tone of unnecessary distortion or fuzz, when it is not artistically layered.  I don’t like Epiphones that are mid-range because they are all made like crap - you can see how they are just slapped together.  I also don’t like the 80s metal style guitars in the shape of stars or V’s or stuff like that.  It’s like a mid-life crisis car.

QRD – What’s the first thing you play when you pick up a guitar?

Sarah – Weird, but I play my little version of “God Rest Ye Mary Gentlemen,” because it’s become a very quick little practice of fast fingerwork.  I also usually will test out “Blackbird” since that involves a lot of moving up & down the neck & any intonation issues will stand out while playing that.

QRD – How old were you when you started playing guitar?

Sarah – 13 years old.

QRD – At what age do you think you leveled up to your best guitar playing?

Sarah – 19 years old I think I reached being “very very good,” but I’m better now only in that I can play things with less concentration & more ease due to muscle memory.

QRD – Why do you think a guitar fits you more so than other instruments?

Sarah – It is intimate to play.  I like that it is an instrument that reverberates against my body while I play it.  I grew up playing classical piano & while I loved it, I felt detached from the instrument, since I wasn’t actually touching the strings & was sitting at a chair in front of it.

QRD – Do you think guitar should be people’s first instrument as often as it is?

Sarah – I think that it can be a frustrating first instrument, because if you’re trying to actually play well, it’s not very easy.  & I mean fingerpicking or playing classical or jazz or blues.  & doing it well.  But I think it’s a great instrument to start with.

QRD – Do you see your guitar as your ally or adversary in making music?

Sarah – My ally.  My guitar part is the first part of writing a song always.

QRD – Who are the guitarists that most influenced your playing & sound?

Sarah – Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake, Ani Difranco

QRD – Do you think people anthropomorphizing their guitars is natural or silly (e.g. naming their guitar)?

Sarah – Yeah, that’s silly

QRD – What’s the most physical damage you’ve done to a guitar & how did you do it?

Sarah – Somehow I scratch up the back of the neck of every guitar I play.  Like scratch all the finish off.  It’s weird.

QRD – What do you do to practice other than simply playing?

Sarah – I do practice scales & all that crap.  I also practice a lot by just turning on a song I like & making my own improvisational part to go along with it.

QRD – How many hours a week do you play guitar & how many hours would you like to?

Sarah – I play probably 8-10 hours a week.  That’s pretty good for me.  I’m obsessed with playing guitar.  I play at least an hour a day usually.

QRD – What type of pick do you use & why?

Sarah – I use a thumbpick, & then my fingernails are grown out on my right hand because I play claw-hammer.

QRD – What gauge strings do you use & why?

Sarah – I use 11 guage nickel rockers.

QRD – How often do you change strings?

Sarah – When they break

QRD – How often do you break strings?

Sarah – Whenever I’m about to go on to play a show it seems.  Right before I break a string.  Totally irritating.

QRD – Which do you feel is more proficient, your strumming hand or fretting hand & how does that effect your style?

Sarah – I think they are both at the same level honestly.

QRD – Do you set-up your guitar yourself or send it to a guitar tech (or not set it up at all) & why?

Sarah – Depends - I do a lot of the simple things myself, but a lot of times it’s easier for me to bring it in, just because I don’t have all the tools to do everything I need to do.

QRD – What tunings do you use & why?

Sarah – Standard only, because I’m a purest I guess.

QRD – Do you prefer tablature, sheet music, or some other notation system for writing down your own ideas?

Sarah – My own notation system that is loosely similar to tablature.  I can read sheet music just fine.  I just don’t prefer it.

QRD – How high do you hold your guitar when playing (strap length)?

Sarah – High.  Not slung low at all.

QRD – What’s a bad habit in your playing you wish you could break?

Sarah – Bad “form” or position of my fretting hand that causes me to cramp sometimes.

QRD – Playing what other instrument do you think can most help someone’s guitar playing?

Sarah – Piano.  Makes your hands work independently of each other & also makes the transposing of chords up & down the scales make more sense.

QRD – What’s a type of guitar playing you wish you could do that you can’t?

Sarah – Slide.

QRD – What’s a guitar goal you’ve never accomplished?

Sarah – Slide guitar playing!

QRD – What’s the last guitar trick you learned?

Sarah – Flamenco guitar style.

QRD – What’s your favorite guitar gadget (ebow, capo, slide, string cutter, etc)?

Sarah – Capo!

QRD – What’s a guitar technique you’d like to master, but haven’t?

Sarah – Playing with a flat pick.  I’m so used to claw-hammer that anything else is awkward.

QRD – Did you ever take guitar lessons & if so, what did you learn from them?

Sarah – I took some guitar lessons when I was 16.  I’d already taught myself for 3 years before.  I learned a lot of improvisational guitar, bluegrass, & jazz scales.

QRD – What would you teach someone in a guitar lesson that you don’t think they would generally get from a guitar teacher?

Sarah – No paper.  No writing things down.  Everything by ear.

QRD – What’s something someone would have to do to emulate your style?

Sarah – Lots of complex fingerpicking, & a lot of mixing styles of jazz, blues, & classical.

QRD – What’s your take on tremolo systems?

Sarah – Not a fan.

QRD – How often do you adjust your tone knob?

Sarah – Not really ever.

QRD – What do you see as the difference between lead guitar & rhythm guitar players?

Sarah – Lead guitarists have to know hot to improvise & know their scales & transposing chords up the neck.  Rhythm guitar players need to know basic chords & keep a very steady rhythm.

QRD – If a band has good guitar work, can you ignore the rest of the band not being good?

Sarah – Nope.  Everything’s got to be good.  Otherwise, just be an instrumental guitar group.

QRD – What famous musician’s guitar would you like to own & why?

Sarah – Ani Difranco’s guitar.  Because she beats up on that thing so it must be sturdy as hell.

QRD – Who do you think is currently the most innovative guitar player & why?

Sarah – Ani Difranco - still.

QRD – Where can people hear your best guitar work?

Sarah – My latest album in black robes.  I think on the songs “judgment day,” “from my window high,” & “bluesy melody.”

QRD – Anything else?

Sarah – Thanks for interviewing me!

Other QRD interviews with Sarah June:
Sarah June interview (January 2009)