“A Guitar is Like a Mini Orchestra”
OVER THE PAST four decades, Gary
Lucas has seemingly dabbled in just about every style of music out there. That long list includes psychedelic rock, world music (including Thirties Chinese pop, Hungarian folk and blues raga), film music, classical, electronica, jazz, blues and avant-garde. The common thread to it all is his guitar playing. Thanks to his fearless attitude and agility, Lucas shapeshifts like a chameleon in tune with whatever soundscape he finds himself in.
“A guitar is kind of like a mini orchestra at your fingertips,” Lucas tells us. “You can really get a full, complex orchestral effect without these pedals — just through open tunings and fingerpicking, for instance. I use a lot of open tunings and a very active finger-picking right hand to get… sometimes… several voices all at once.
“It’s like an
