Instrumental Inquisition!

Guitar instrumentals have supplied some of music’s most evocative moments. We asked some top guitarists for their take on this iconic movement. Today Dutch prog band Focus’s brilliant guitarist and now solo artist, the great Jan Akkerman.

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

JA: A good friend and songwriter came up with a great lyric, “Words are made to lie” which is very appropriate, and I’m too lazy to lie about that which is a luxury not everyone can afford, so to speak.

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

JA: One could say the same about the book or the film about the bible, but in this case I like the film better because it has both. But the mystery in music is greater and takes your spirit to different places. Imagine Django Reinhardt playing on Montmartre at the Hot Club du France on just an acoustic guitar, with Stephan Grappelli on violin.

GT: Are there any tendencies with instrumentals that you aim to embrace or avoid - specific rhythms, harmony, playing approach, tones, etc?

JA: Actually none of these, otherwise I wouldn’t play the guitar. For me it’s a privilege to be able to incorporate all these things in a piece of music written by people who know what they’re doing, and to my shame and scandal sometimes, I can’t live up to the occasion. That’s also the challenge to get better in the art of guitar playing and proceed to develop your own style and not just copy second-hand blues licks (or me in some severe cases).

GT: Is a typical song structure of intro, verse, chorus, middle eight, verse, chorus outro, etc, always relevant for an instrumental?