When did you first learn about music business contracts and how to collect royalties for multiple recording projects? Otherwise, the process isn’t fun and audiences pick up on that. Groove and time, chops and tradition are important…but mostly I need to play with players who are a good hang and are willing to take risks and mess up now and then. How do you recruit the musicians for your projects? Also, I read pretty well for a guitarist so I can notate and then read to refresh if needed. But the key is knowing the music, and preparing carefully and slowly enough so that the memory process is lasting and comprehensive. Then once it is memorized, it’s usually there for keeps, with the occasional brush up. I go through music in my head, both visually and theoretically, often months before shows or tours. I think ahead, in every sense of the word. What’s your process of mental preparation so that you can memorize all of the music for these different bands? You’re in like five different acts from Fareed Haque and Flat Earth to Goran Ivanovic and Fareed Haque duo, your own classical guitar act…all of these groups have a different and diverse set of sounds. Great! Garaj Mahal has a fantastic new drummer named Hassan Hurd and the great Oz Ezzeldin is hitting on keys, so we will be touring and recording again soon! Kai and I have lots of new music written. You guys did a short tour recently, how did that go? In my opinion, Garaj Mahal is one of the most innovative jazz rock bands, like a second incarnation of Mahavishnu Orchestra. Let’s talk a little bit about Garaj Mahal. Of course from there, John Williams, Julian Bream, Andres Segovia and the Romeros were huge. Who were some of your influences when you first playing guitar?Ĭlassical guitar influences were Jose Rey de la Torre, from his album Romantic Guitar that we had at home. I just love his tone and elegant phrasing. After that I fell for Al Di Meola and Paco De Lucia, then John McLaughlin and Pat Martino and later on Grant Green, Wes Montgomery and Jim Hall. It was natural for me to embrace all of this and it melded together very easily and subconsciously. At home, I listened to American radio and was into everything 1970s like Foghat, Rush, Led Zeppelin, etc. That was a pretty good starter kit from mom! Later, we traveled a lot to France, Spain, Mexico, Canada, Iran, Pakistan and I was introduced to all kinds of music and musicians. When I started to play guitar, my mother bought home three records: Al Di Meola – Elegant Gypsy, Pat Martino – Joyous Lake, and Pat Metheny – Bright Size Life. They took me to see McCoy Tyner, Pat Metheny, Santana. Later on my dad, who is from Pakistan, and mom, both played records of Indian music, jazz, and classical guitar music. I have fond memories of her trying to get through Spanish and Chilean folk songs. What kind of music were you exposed to as a kid?Įverything, my folks are music lovers – my mother is from Chile, she sang and played a little guitar. If you remove the F, you get D,F#,G,A,C,D, which is a very Indian sound – still a pentatonic scale, but basically a blues scale with one note left out….great sound! For example, if I have a D minor blues scale, it’s very common for traditional blues players to add in the F sharp. Check out my course JAZZ ROCK WORKSHOP, it goes deep into this. What’s different is the way I use the pentatonic scales (bends and such) and the notes that I add into them to give them a raga like sound, while also retaining a soul jazz bluesy feeling. Did you get into blues while residing in Chicago?Īctually that’s wrong, I play almost exclusively traditional scales and pentatonic scales. You’re known for utilizing modal and exotic scales that sound very different from traditional pentatonic blues.
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