Tight Squeeze by Jonas Tamas

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Hey Jonas, thanks for taking the time for this interview!

Hey man, thanks for having me in GPZ! Well, each time I bump into the term ’taking the time’, this Dream Theater classic comes to my mind at once…

…Take The Time!

Yeah, Take The Time… so it is a cool start for this conversation (laughs)

For the readers who may be unfamiliar with your work, how would you describe your music?
I’m a Hungarian guitar player and composer. I am both a solo artist and the guitarist of Wind’s Eye, a new progressive rock band from my country. We have just finished the recording of our first album ’The City’ and we are in the process of having negotiations with some indie labels on the release of the album.
In the meantime, I’ve started the recording of my first instrumental solo album. I’m hoping to have it finished until November. Besides this, I’m working with bassist Steve Sexton, drummer Gary Oppert & keyboard/guitar player Brandon Vaughn from USA on the second OSV CD. This is a progressive/fusion instrumental project, with various guitarists playing on the tracks. The guys from OSV have got together a killer lineup of guitarists, with one well-known guitar player as well, so it is really a huge project and I’m proud to be part of it.

Sounds cool! Can you tell us some names?

Well, I’m not empowered to go into details on that, it will be announced in one or two months on myspace.com/osproject, so stay tuned! Back to your previous question, as for describing my music, I would say melodic progressive instrumental hard rock nu-metal funk guitar! (laughs) Okay, I know it is a long name for a genre, but each item holds true in some of my songs, so I thought it would be a good summary…

Who are your main influences?

There is a bunch of them I can tell you! It would be a long list, but to name a few: Andy Timmons, Steve Vai, Guthrie Govan, John Petrucci, Neal Schon, David Gilmour, Michael Romeo, Stephan Forté, Scott Henderson, Yngwie Malmsteen, Vinnie Moore, Jorn Viggo (from Pagan’s Mind). On the other hand, I’m a huge fan of classical and baroque music, and one of my biggest influences besides the gentlemen listed above, is George Frideric Handel.

A lot of today’s musicians list Bach or Mozart as their favorites. But why Handel?

To put it simple: he is the biggest! Not only was he a brilliant composer, but he was a true rock ’n roll star of his era! As you may know, he lived in London, and he was popular, he liked dainty dishes, he liked beer and wine, he was loud and liked jokes, so he was a cool guy in all aspects. And he wrote the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve ever heard. A lot of people only know Water Music or Fireworks Suite from him, but he wrote an awful amount of great stuff, so dear readers – check his music out, you won’t be disappointed.

So how did you get started playing the guitar?
I started playing when I was 14 years old… so it’s over a decade now and I haven’t looked back since! I instantly knew that this was gonna be the path I would like to pursue. At that time, I was listening to Pink Floyd day and night, and the playing of David Gilmour simply blew me away… the melodies, the tone, the note choices, the use of harmonics, you name it… I’m still considering him one of the greatest of all time! Have you listened to his latest album, On an Island?

Yeah, it is a masterpiece…

… yes it is man! It is fabulous. He has the complete package. So I was heavily into Pink Floyd and at the time I only had a kind of small toy guitar with 4 only strings at home. I started noodling around trying to play some Floyd or Queen or Metallica stuff. As I mentioned, I soon got on to the fact, that this was my thing, so I got my first proper acoustic guitar, then I bought a Strat-like electric guitar, and there was no mercy (neither for the neigbours)!
Then, I was introduced to the musical worlds of Yngwie, Satch, Vai, and I tried to learn not just their amazing technique, but to find out, why they would play a certain lick or run. I was practicing really hard, my fingertips were bleeding, I was pouring out 5 buckets of blood on average in the bathroom at the end of each day (laughs). But slowly and steadily I started getting better and better, and the whole thing was making more and more fun!

How do you approach your song-writing?

I constantly hear sounds in my head… my physician says it is not a good thing, what’s your opinion? (laughs) No, I’m only joking, I’m totally fine, but that’s the truth – I hear melodies or rhythms and I try to capture, develope and orchestrate them, so there is no mysticism, at least in my case, in the process of songwriting – I write music that I would like, and hopefully the listeners will also like it.

What kind of gear are you using?
I have Ibanez, Fender, Samick and Schecter electric guitars for different sounds and styles, and a couple of nylon and steel string acoustics. I’m not an absoulute gearhead, I’m very content with my Boss effects pedal and Marshall and Mesa amps, so I don’t mess around a lot – just plug in and dial the knobs to eleven!

Describe a normal day for you. How much time do you spend practicing and playing, talking to fans, networking, etc. ?

I’m a maniac, without doubt! I try to practice a lot each day, though fortunately I’ve got to the point where practicing doesn’t mean playing three-note-per-string scales played at high speed, it is rather playing from the heart in different musical environments, or examining the compositions, approaches or lines of the greats. I am teaching a lot, which I like very much! Besides this, I have two online guitar columns, one is in Hungarian (http://www.mymusic.hu), the other is in English (http://www.blog.myspace.hu/jonastamas). I get a bunch of e-mails each day, of course not as many as the greats of the genre, and I try to answer all of them if I have time. Sometimes it takes more than a few days to get back to all the questions or comments, so my apologies to anyone if I’m not quick enough to answer, but I will try to do my best.

What is your main goal as a musician?

I think I have the hardest possible goals. I try to create music, which is challenging to write, challenging to record, challenging to play live. But on the other hand, the music should not be challenging for the listener to latch on to, and it should easily be recognizable after a few measures that it’s the style and approach of Jonas Tamas. This is of course a long-time goal, and I have to work very hard for years and years to have chances for reaching this – but I will try it, that’s for sure!

Do you have any advice for aspiring young guitarists who want to pursue a career in music or just better themselves as players?

I have two pieces of advice. The first one is about the general approach: if you feel that you are born to play music, then don’t let anything or anyone throw you off the track!
The other one is practical advice: always think in terms of notes, melody lines or rhythms (and combinations of these), not just scales, fingerings or fret numbers! I often encounter this problem while teaching – some guitar players are really good, have great technique and chops, but their mindflow forces them to think in terms of scales and tricks they are familiar with. So be aware of the notes and its correlation of the actual key you are in, and at the same time, try to look at your playing as a vehicle for creating music as a whole, not just using exercises or scales just on the top of the actual music. It is hard to explain in words, but I guess you will know what I mean.

Any other thoughts or words of inspiration?

Well thanks for reading this interview, guys! If you have time, visit my official homepage, http://www.myspace.com/jonastamas for more info and for more songs. In today’s time, thanks to the achievements of the internet, the mainstream media and the major labels have lost their power to tell us what to like or what to listen to or what is cool and what is not. Now everybody has the chance to choose the style of music (or film, or book) that he likes. No matter whose music do you like, you should support him or her by spreading the word, recommending the artist to the others in forums, blogs or communities. So remember: you are free to choose your favorites. Keep discovering new artists, there are tons of awesome unknown musicians and bands!

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