Jethro Tull Guitarist Martin Barre | INTERVIEW

[@j___mmdcclxxvi2125]

One of the finest most memorable guitar leads of all time, Aqualung, my friend...legendary.

[@ThePedalGuy]

Excellent

[@hazzard8760]

Had a lovely chat with him and my guitar mad son at the Square and Compass pub in Somerset 4 years ago where he did a small gig with his band . Very down to earth guy. It was awesome to think the same humble guy played before a massive crowd at Madison Square Garden in New york with Jethro Tull many years ago and there we were in a little country pub having a beer.. Such a nice guy

[@ThePedalGuy]

Love it. !

[@uncleambient]

Martin Barre, a great guitarist and a lovely man.

[@ThePedalGuy]

Very true

[@rattleshakti]

Martin comes over as a really nice guy, and down to earth which is very refreshing these days. I'm glad.

[@ThePedalGuy]

Couldn't agree more!

[@gloryrow100]

Martin is a very friendly guy, I ran into him on the street in Boisey and we had breakfast together...Very open fellow.

[@ThePedalGuy]

Cool. Thanks for sharing

[@DavidLeBlanc]

Thanks for a good interview. Barre is a classy guy, very approachable, very knowledgeable. What I have always like about Tull is their willingness to change and experiment, don't get too comfortable. Listening to him, and if didn't know who he was, I would have thought he was a musical professor.

[@ThePedalGuy]

Thanks. We had a lot of fun with that interview

[@guacamolekid3899]

It's great to have a chance to listen to an hour of real conversation with one of my musical heroes!

[@ThePedalGuy]

It was a real kick to speak with Martin. A real class act!

[@guacamolekid3899]

@@ThePedalGuy Yeah, he's great. Saw him first time when I was 13 at A Passion Play concert in Louisville and he played about 2 miles from my house in Springfield iL a couple years ago in a small bar- what a treat!

[@lgwappo]

I like Martin's style. It fits the music & adds to it. Martin doesn't compete with the band or try to be a flashy showman & that actually draws me to the sound of his guitar.

[@ThePedalGuy]

Couldn't agree more.

[@PeterHuebner]

Martin Barre war mit seiner Band im Oktober 2019 im Bayrischen Hof in München zu einem Klubkonzert.Ich sah Martin mit seiner Frau im Hotei und er gab mir ein Autogramm.Martin war so freundlich,das Konzert war super. Clive Bunker und Dee Palmer es war so schön.Ein unvergesslicher Abend.Martin ist eine Rocklegende❤😊🎉

[@ThePedalGuy]

What a wonderful memory. Thanks for sharing

[@wildbill2122]

Martin Lancelot Barre is a complete original, inspired by no one but his music in Jethro Tull and what he/Ian wanted it to sound like !

[@ThePedalGuy]

Right on

[@Paul_Lenard_Ewing]

Martin reminds me of my times in the West End of London in the 70' when I was in the Prog Rock band Tallis. Butisdefinatly awhole new day. LOL I have just turned 74 and have used the lockup time to work on my new power trio. I have a great singer vocalist that retired her tenor Sax for a 360 watt rig 3 vintage American basses a P. a Jazz and a Music Man Sting Ray. ...and without a blink brought in some serious pro pedals a compressor, a para EQ, and even tube pre/ OD etc. Each of the basses has it's own pre to save time as she swaps basses frequently all according to the tune in question being played. I am using 3 different drummers as they are killer so they are offered a lot gigs and recording sessions that pay the bills. lol ...It seems to be working it will shake down eventually. I have used the time to expand on my theory. I have also used the time to increase my speed and dexterity. Perhaps I am genicially lucky. I can literally shred now. Accurate triplets at 180 BPM are a given now.They were not in the 70's. I like the 3 piece format. It puts most of the weight on me. I have got to play two rolls simultaneously of accompanying the vocals yet creating an orchestration at the same time. It needs both simplification and complexity in unison. I have to both add and subtract from any core idea or there are no dynamics in the arrangements. A rest is often more important than a manic cluster of notes. I expect 2021 could well be more about heavier lock downs then a slow opening of live gigs. I expect to make the best use of it. My soloing has overwhelming content but far less substance at that speed.lol I am determined to fix that. Early efforts have even surprised me. As for pedals I use about 70...and live too. It is easier than you would think. I have two pedal boards that link together. The pedals are grouped as 4 independent self contained boards. My switcher literally switches between boards ...not individual pedals. Each has its own Comp, Reverb, Delay and several choices of OD or Fuzz pedals. I have one of each of the proverbial modulation pedals & a couple EQ's a synth pedal and a ambience style reverb and the same for one of the delays. It is more about getting a post produced recorded sound live. For example I can have a modern Metal sound and switch to a surprisingly good Roger Mcguinn Byrds tone in a split second. An optic compressor goes into a 1966 Vox V806 treble booster and then into a Digitech Mosaic 12 string effect .& then into a second optic compressor. I use a Ric PU I have in a Fender Duo Sonic It was even hand wound for me by the lady who still works a few hours a week for Ric. She wound the same pickups for both Townsend and Roger. I can do a flat picked thing for the middle 8. Then perhaps to a solo using the 55 Tele PU at the bridge through a Fuzz. My dirt pedals cover all decades and genres of Metal. A reviewer described my playing as Sabbath but with a Prog Rock sensibility. I also use 9 different guitars. I use a PAF in the bridge on most guitars as my anchor but I cover a lot of ground with the neck PU's using Tele, Strat, P90 Ric and Gretch even a Magnatone late 50's. Here endeth the Epistle of Paul ...Chapter one and all the verses. LOL

[@ThePedalGuy]

Nice! Thanks for sharing Paul

[@crusheverything4449]

Well, that was a significant amount of completely unsolicited information. Thank you…?

[@crusheverything4449]

It was Iron Maiden who covered Cross-eyed Mary. Their bassist, main writer and producer, Steve Harris and singer, Bruce Dickinson, are both big Tull fans. I find it amusing that Martin doesn’t know the difference between Def Leppard and Maiden, which is akin to Coors Light and Guinness, respectively.

[@ThePedalGuy]

LOL

[@charlestidwell4970]

"Standing still" Reminded me of a Tull concert I was at and Anderson had the band come out in some kind f white trench coats and mill around like techs. They all dropped the coats and roadies came out with the guitars and they started up a tune. I distinctly remember that at the beginning Ian started to get in Martin's face trying to get him to move around while on stage. He didn't and never did that I can recall the numerous times I saw them live, Memories

[@ThePedalGuy]

Cool

[@papadopp3870]

Sounds like Thick as a Brick in 1972! Unforgettable. Almost 51 years ago. We need to cherish Martin. We lost Jeff Beck today😢 Long live Martin Lancelot Barre

[@aschule5684]

Love Martin Barre, "Rock Royalty"! I would have never guessed David Gilmore's solo on "The Wall" was a Les Paul?! As Martin said it screams "Strat" and I've never seen pictures or videos of Dave playing a Les Paul ..... Interesting piece of musical trivia! And bad Martin that was Iron Maiden not Def Leppard 🙄🤣

[@ThePedalGuy]

Nice

[@stevedalton8297]

Its class man

[@stevedalton8297]

1st class

[@ThePedalGuy]

Thanks!

[@chrisnolan5607]

Have Doane Perry redo the drums for the Under wraps album!

[@ThePedalGuy]

👌

[@naamanpratt]

💫

[@ThePedalGuy]

Thx

[@jf8961]

why you stopped playing with ian anderson, what was the tail of the split?

[@ThePedalGuy]

Martin has actually answered that in previous interviews. We felt it wasn’t necessary to cover that again

[@rocksteady9115]

Ian said Tull was done in 2011, so Martin and Doanes services were not required, but now in 2021 due to more and more dollars its undone, basically Martin and Doane got shafted by Ian

[@justgivemethetruth]

If you watch the videos of Martin Barre playing check out the massive hands this guy has.

[@ThePedalGuy]

Cool

[@taab7]

Re-mixing the Under Wraps album with real drums is a great idea. There are really good songs on that album and a re-mix would really high- light their worth.

[@ThePedalGuy]

Agreed

[@jf8961]

vanity is a disgrace that ends any band, especially the beautiful years that jethro played in an original way with ian and martin

[@Gbhbbgvsbnjhhdchhb]

Hey pedal guy! Too many ads

[@ThePedalGuy]

Sorry. Welcome to KZbin.

[@justgivemethetruth]

Yeah, I have to agree ... and now where they used to have just one ad, they push in two ... and then a long fade out for the second one so you have to click to go back to the program. It's just not right. What's next ... 3 or 4 ads in a row?

[@OTOss8]

--- SO --- MANY --- COMMERCIALS --- BREAKING --- UP --- THE --- INTERVIEW ---

[@ThePedalGuy]

Welcome to KZbin

[@joeprine1543]

God you think there's enough commercial ads in this! Screw it I'm out of here!

[@ThePedalGuy]

Welcome to KZbin

[@dominiclarosa6731]

Martin now that your solo . . why not move away from Tull since JethroTull is really Ian . .

[@ThePedalGuy]

i think it's more of a POV thing. Not that I'm speaking for Martin, but in his case, he makes his living playing the classic Tull songs while still mixing in his own to his live sets. It's a legacy thing. I wish solo artists could just wander off from their bands and do their own thing once in awhile whilst still making a decent living at it, but that just doesn't happen any more.

[@dominiclarosa6731]

@@ThePedalGuy I agree with you 100% . . it would make perfect sense to always play some of the Tull classics . . but his carrying on playing Tull like as if its still Tull. . Ian didn't abandon him either as some people think . . its Just that Ian dismantled Jethro Tull as it was way pass that time since his age & vocal would not be able to live up the expectations that makes it Tull . . its Now Ian Anderson solo but he gets tag as being Jethro Tull no matter what anyway

[@AFaceintheCrowd01]

These two haven’t the slightest idea who he is.

[@ThePedalGuy]

🤦🏼‍♂️