I asked Julian Lage a question

[@frankhumphries1927]

Good lord, that was so good.

[@richie.messina]

the bob ross of guitar

[@shrestho_]

He's great but I don't think so.

[@mtown1994]

“I’m no good at patterns” *plays gorgeous 12 bar blues intro out of nowhere*

[@archstanton3763]

That was a great question ! He really made it seem all so easy and on top of that his playing was smooth. Fantastic.

[@leaveitorsinkit242]

The irony is that Julian’s playing is very pattered and he does indeed gravitate towards certain shapes on the guitar. But what separates from Julian from most other guitar players is that he’s pulling from a wider vocabulary. If it seems like he’s playing stuff that’s new or different, it’s likely because he has so much under his tool belt that he can just play freely.

[@bubsadoozy]

Absolutely. There are "Lage'isms" that you can hear in a lot of his live performances. It's also the application of the vocabulary -- he is able to change the harmonic context of a lot of things that he frequently grabs.

[@TwangThang57]

So cool!!

[@ericpressler]

Thanks for posting this - that was a great question, and it was fascinating to hear his answer.

[@neilmarsh7437]

Such an inspiring musical master

[@stevenbeecheymusic]

Great stuff!

[@LukeTheringMusic]

🤌🤌🤌

[@dnee18]

That’s amazing to hear that he’s never transcribed any solos

[@Sam-hh3ry]

He probably picked up all the vocabulary he needed just from listening

[@whatilearnttoday5295]

Too many people say that jazz is learnt by repeating vocab. "Licks. You gotta transcribe licks!!!"... It's one method, but it's not the method used by those who innovated.

[@jamiejones7104]

⁠​⁠@@whatilearnttoday5295what do you think he did instead?

[@whatilearnttoday5295]

@@jamiejones7104 Listened deeply to all things. Listening to himself as he played. Investigated and explored sounds from his memory without explicitly setting out to duplicate one lick or another. Instead duplicating the feel and harmony. Which leads to a more innate and complete understanding of what makes a "lick" or "a sound". It's the difference between Rote Learning and simply having fun, exploring and experiencing things.

[@henryivie-gardner7607]

It’s actually not true though bc you listen to different interviews and you would hear that he used to transcribe Jim Hall a ton when he was a kid ! Not sure what he’s referring to in this video