please excuse any grammatical mistakes and any words missed,
I got a call from my uncle yesterday saying that Frank Gambale is coming to mangalore (my hometown) and hes arranged a meeting with him while hes at the airport to catch a flight to mumbai. I couldn’t believe my ears, I was like OMG im gonna meet frikkin Frank Gamabale, and so we eagerly made our way to the airport today afternoon. His sound assistant is a good friend of my uncle so he says that frank is in the lounge waiting for us. I go numb and then I make my way pass the security check up the stairs to the lobby and when I enter the café, there I see him, his girlfriend and a renowned Indian music director, Sandeep Chowta. He was extremely friendly, he shook my hand, introduced me to his girl who was very friendly as well (and very beautiful if I may say so) and then I sat down on a chair a couple of feet away from him and im like ****…this cant be real. For a few minutes all I did was stare at him, trying to register in my brain what exactly is happening. Both my uncle and I were in awe that a guitar god like frank is sitting with us in a small town like mangalore. Once I calmed myself down, I begin asking him a few questions, it was like an impromptu interview, he answered everything I asked and he was like shoot me a question whenever youre ready…
Here are some questions that I asked him, I don’t remember everything he said but anyway…
-who were your childhood guitar heroes?
Jimi Hendrix, eric Clapton, john mayall and the bluesbreaker…I listened to a lot of pianists as well like chick corea and herbie hancook
-none of the influences you mentioned sweep picked, where did you get that style from?
Sweep picking is something I developed on my own, its not that I introduced, people like django Reinhardt were sweeping long before me…I just made sweep picking a different avenue of music, I took it to the moon…it took lotta practice to master it
-who long did you practice when you were around my age (i.e, 18years)?
I practiced a lot, I would practice for about 12hours a day sometimes...it took 40years for me to become an overnight success
-do you enjoy playing the acoustic as much as you play the electric?
Yeah, I’ll play anything with strings
-when did you start playing?
I started playing when I was about 6-7 years, and I was listening to chick corea when I was 12 years
-so it must have been a dream true when you actually got to play with him?
Yes definitely, I pinch myself to make sure its not a dream…
-just like what im doing now after meeting you…
Has a good laugh
-was going to a music institute helpful?
Yeah( in that sweet Australian accent) definitely, just like how you mention that you’re the only guy in your college who listens to me, it helps in that case ‘cause youre surrounded by like minded musicians all with the same passion for music
-how did you get to play with chick corea?
It’s a long story but I’ll tell you anyway, after I graduated from musicians institute, I got a chance to teach at the institute, later on I was recording an album with jeff at mad hatter studios where chick corea records…there are two floors, the recording studio on the top and the offices below…I was just overwhelmed looking at all the original artwork from his albums in the studio. Later when we were packing our gear in our car, I saw a woman come from the office and I gave her a card saying ‘ if chick corea ever needs a guitarist, lemme know’. She read my name and she said that my name sounded familiar, she was like I think my husband has played with you and I was like and he is?...he’s tommy (I don’t remember the surname) and she’s like I’ll tell him about you…6 months later I get a call to audition for chick. Chick told me to learn a few of his tunes, not an entire song but just a few sections and he asked to me to improvise over dminor or cminor. I was like I can improvise over dminor, so I went home and learnt his entire compostion, rumble,…chick was impressed with me, he was surprised that I learnt the entire song. I played rumble almost perfectly…after I played rumble he came to me and said that my amplifier should be angled a bit differently, john patitucci came to him and was like there are two more guitarists chick, give them a listen…it was as if chick had made up his mind, and within a few days he lemme know that I had been selected…so in a way going to musicians institute led me to chick corea and joining his band.
-are there any new players that interest?
Hmmm…no not really…
-how about Guthrie govan?
Guthrie is absolutely amazing, he is soo good, I am just fascinated by what he plays…
-…and
allan holdsworth?
Allan holdsworth is amazing, I don’t understand what he plays…there are times when I ask allan, ‘allan…what the hell are you playing?’…and allan is like, ‘the same thing that youre playing’
He also mentioned that he wasn’t fond of melodic minor (i.e people like yngwie malmsteen)
He also said that he was very much in love with the piano and that he used to listen to chick corea, herbie han****), he said that he very much enjoys playing his piano and feels that the piano is one instrument that stands out among others…and that he owns a 7foot c7 yamaha acoustic piano and he has come up with a new tuning to be able to create the voicings that’s possible on the piano
He then spoke to me of how important it was listen to good music, I told him that it was my uncle my mentor who introduced me to you, he was like you must be grateful to him…listenting to good music is crucial. There was this shop back in Canberra (it was the only shop which had a good collection of music from international stars) which had a good collection of records and the guy at the shop (I think frank said the guys name was rob), and he would lemme take the records and give them a listen and If I liked it I would then buy it from him…as a result I was exposed to so much different music.
He said that he really liked Indian food, and that he really liked the dosas he had in mangalore. He then took out his guitar (Yamaha as1500) and gave us (me, my uncle, sandeep, his technician (tikku) and his girl) a small concert, he blew me away…his fingers were all over the fretboard and everything he played was so clean and melodic, I asked him to play yang, rumble and then my uncle asked him a few songs like isola d'elba, Salvador once more. He played for about half an hour. He then spoke of his
picking technique, of how hes very comfortable with the planet waves d’addario 1mm pick, and that he feels that this is the pick for him. He then autographed my guitar one magazine and a black glossy paper( one for my uncle and one for me). I then went and got my guitar (the Ibanez rg 2550) and my uncles fender strat…he autographed the guitar with my name and best wishes (yay!!!)…he gave me his plectrum after the short concert
After about chatting with him for three hours on various topics like his childhood, music, Indian food, his tour of India, the indian roads, my musical interests, we had to leave because his plane had landed (), we shook hands and was like see you later, best of luck…my dream day came to an end. Before leaving the lounge I said a final second bye and my way to our car…on the trip back I held his plectrum in my hand and then closed my eyes and recalled the out of world experience I had…thank god for making this day possible and I thank Sandeep chowta for getting him to India
This day I shall never forget, frank was very humble and down to earth and was very encouraging…
i forget to ask him about petrucci, damn
i didnt record any video 'cause i was too busy watching him play, sorry
and plus he said he wouldnt be happy if what he played today ended up on youtube...
this is me with Sandeep chowta, who has helped a lot in developing and contributing to indian music scene
he signature is soo sexy
