Marcus King may be lauded as a modern-day guitar hero, but you won't find him obsessing over the instrument when he's back home from touring – a conscious choice which he says has improved his songwriting chops.
“When I’m at home, I don’t like to touch the guitar,” he tells Guitar World. “I play a lot of piano, which I write on. Or I’ll sit, and I’ll play my pedal steel guitar or my fiddle, banjo, ukulele – anything but the guitar.”
And, if he does pick up a guitar, King says, “It’s a gut-string, fretless number.”
Explaining his deliberate guitar omission, King likens guitar playing to something akin to “riding a bike” or “speaking the English language.
“If I moved abroad and only spoke Spanish for six months, it’s not like I would forget how to speak English,” he explains. “Guitar is so deeply rooted in me. I like to play different instruments, and it helps my playing when I go back to the guitar.”
King cites Victor Wooten's book, The Music Lesson, as key to informing this approach. “He harped on about the importance of being a musician, not a bass player, and I’ve always been influenced by that idea.
“It’s a holy experience to be able to sit at a guitar and say exactly what I have on my mind,” he concludes.
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