PHI YAAN-ZEK

Guitar instrumentals have supplied some of music's most evocative moments. Jason Sidwell asks top guitarists for their take on this iconic movement. This month: the multi-cultural prog-rock and fusion titan talks to GT.

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What is it about guitar instrumentals GT: that appeals to you?

PY-Z: It's the ability to tell a story without the use of lyrics, taking the listener on a journey using the expressiveness of the guitar to conjure different musical pictures or moods. Also, it gives me the creative freedom to step outside the confines of a conventional vocal song structure and experiment with different ways of conveying a narrative instrumentally. In addition, it's a relatively new musical form historically, so there's loads of musical potential here still to be explored, especially in terms of combining the guitar with new genres/sounds as well as expanding the instrument's sonic palette.

GT: What can an instrumental provide a listener that a vocal song can't?

PY-Z: Without the use of sung lyrics a lot is then left to the listener's own imagination in terms of the story that an instrumental can tell. Furthermore, melodically and tonally you can do things on a guitar that are way outside the scope of a singer.

GT: Any tendencies with instrumentals that you aim to embrace or avoid?