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  • Guitarist

    SPIRIT OF ’88

    Apr 28, 2021 4 minutes

    MIKE KENEALLY

     It’s amazing to think that the guitar isn’t Mike Keneally’s first instrument. He originally approached Zappa to audition for keyboards, but finding that role already filled he decided to go for the guitar position instead. Having proved to Frank that he could handle the most complex music thrown his way, Mike joined Zappa’s band for the 1988 tour.

    When you first started the tour, how did you manage the leap from keyboard to guitar?

    “I quickly had get up to speed. It’s not just executing notes on an instrument, which was kind of the way I approached it at the time, because as a keyboardist initially, I sort of conceptualise the fretboard as just like

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