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by Andrew DuBrock of Acoustic Guitar Magazine

Note: The full version of this article including MP3 samples and tabs are available at: http://www.acousticguitar.com/article/default.aspx?articleid=21969

INSTRUCTION
Willy Porter
The acoustic folk-pop rocker shows how he mixes picking styles gets the percussive bass sound that drives his live shows.

By Andrew DuBrock

Willy Porter plays mean thumping bass, funky rhythm guitar, and sings with serious soul. But, unlike many instrumentalists and singers, Porter does it all at the same time. Since he began touring in his Volkswagen in the early ’90s, Porter has been around the world supporting adult-alternative radio hits like 1999’s “Mystery” alongside artists like Tori Amos and Rickie Lee Jones. In 2006, Porter released his sixth record, Available Light, a stellar mix of folk-rock songs and instrumentals.

I met up with Porter in Portland, Oregon, in the middle of a tour and we sat down to talk about his hybrid pick-and-fingers technique, how he gets his unique bass/kick-drum sounds, and what he does to modify his playing when he has a full band behind him.

You use a flatpick-and-fingers style for a lot of your songs. How’d you start doing that?

Playing with a flatpick was borne out of playing with a band and needing the guitar to have a bit more edge, and also for playing single-note lines. My first guitar was a very dark, rosewood guitar and it would not work in a band setting at all. It would just get erased as soon as there was a bass player. Then I heard Richard Thompson and realized there’s incredible power and versatility in combining sounds with your fingernails and the flatpick. And those old Neil Young records where he’s palm muting. That all sort of crept into my mind. By thumping like that [ plays Example 1, palm muting by slapping the strings and bridge with the palm of his hand], I’m implying the kick-drum feeling, and that gives people more to hang onto if I’m playing solo guitar.

On some songs, you stick to fingerstyle. On “Available Light,” for example, you combine alternating-bass fingerpicking with a classic rock-type riff and a section with driving folk-rock strums.

Yeah, that’s all fingerstyle. It is challenging, but I think that’s what makes the music exciting. I’m such a fan of pop and rock ‘n’ roll that I’ll combine what I think is more of a Travis-style blues [ Example 2] with [ Example 3]. I do a lot of that kind of stuff more out of the need to do it than really thinking about technique. I have these pull sweeps [ an upward sweep with the thumb on the and of beat three in measure 5]. When I pull back, I come down with the palm [ slapping the bridge while strumming the next beat]—bang!

It seems like some of your guitar parts would be difficult to pull off while you’re singing. Do you have to slow your parts down when you first write them to get comfortable with singing and playing them together?

Absolutely. I also record just the guitar parts and then sing them separately. I think a big problem for guitar players is that we often end up singing the same rhythmic structure we’re playing because it takes a lot of brain power just to offer up a consistent rhythm in the hands. Two of the greatest musicians [at playing and singing different rhythms] are Paul Simon and Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix could play something like Coltrane and be singing a completely different line. And Paul Simon’s the same way. He can sing in three over a 4/4 thing, or even a bar of five, and it feels natural.

Do you find that you play differently with a band as opposed to playing solo?

I do, because when those guys kick in, it’s not as important for me to fill the full range. I’ve got to leave a lot of stuff out. I might alter my rhythm pattern a little to make room for the bass player, and certainly for the kick drum. If I’m filling up that space and they’re throwing that down, then we have a conflict—I change my tone to fit more of a midrange position.

But I also find the opposite is true. I’ll play with the band for a while and then go play a solo show and realize “Look, you got to step up now.” Where I used to just lay out and sing for a minute, I’ve got to keep it rocking.

“This is from a tune called ‘Moonbeam,’” Porter says. “It incorporates the kick drum [palm slaps] with some open strings.” Watch the double hammer-on at the beginning of each measure and the double slide in measure 2. Both of these moves require that you pluck and hold a note while you sound another note (or two) before hammering or sliding both notes together.

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