Session Ace Michael Thompson

Here's a compilation of 30 years of session work by guitarist and friend Michael Thompson.

And an interview with him by Tim Pierce and Pete Thorn.

Reading in the Studio

Often on sessions being the best sight reader isn't really critical. There are times when the cue (piece of music) is so short you have plenty of time to learn it and master it all before they've finished getting drum sounds. However, you should never count on all a show's cues to be as short as the ones below. These are what's called bumpers. The music you hear coming in and out of commercials. I've seen bumpers of just one note before. 

The two bumpers below were from a recording session for a show called "American Detective" and were two of a dozen or so. Probably the shortest two. So while I might have had time to look over and rehearse these charts five or six times silently before tape was rolling there were others where sight reading chops played a far greater roll.

Now on this show every episode took place in a different city, so the composer themed each episode a little different. And yet it was themed. Meaning that similar melodic and rhythimic devices were utilized throughout the episodes. The best part was that I was on every week as second guitarist and the first guitarist was a revolving chair. A different guy every week. Michael Thompson, Dean Parks, Grant Geissmann, John Goux. I was getting paid to go to school!

I was reminded of this this past month when I did two gig where I was in the less-pressured, second guitar chair admiring the playing and gear of the players to my right.

Create and decide

I've always maintained that to be a good rhythm guitarist one must be creative, yet decisive.

A chart may be something as simple as.... G / / / C / / / Em / / / D / / / .... and a good creative guitarist could find a hundred or even a thousand ways to play through this progression. But to find a good part fast that works with everything else around it, that's a skill. To do it quickly. That is art.

Years ago I worked with session ace Michael Thompson and was amazed at his skill in this area. He interpreted the chart in front of him almost instantly. Reading it, coming up with a part and a tone all in the time it took me to pick up my pick. Humbling to say the least. But I made it my goal from that point forward to be that guy who could come up with the prefect part and tone quickly. Not there yet, but I see shades of it every now and then.

One of the keys is to be a fan of music. Different styles. Be a voracious listener. But just listening doesn't make you creative. Try to think like they thought to create. Learn the creation process, not so much the mimicking process. Also the more listening to great music you've done the more likely you are to recognize the tone when you've dialed it in.

One of the best things you can do is write, write, write. Write, record and arrange. Produce. For every track I play on for someone else's CD or film or TV Show, I probably record a song at home, or at least an idea of some kind. A lot of times my experimenting at home ends up on tracks for others.

Most guitarists spend 95% of their practice time on soloing and only 5% on rhythm. But when one gets out and plays or does a session the inverse is the reality. 95-100% of your time will be spent on rhythm not soloing. The busiest players are the ones who realize this truth.