Andreia Gomez: Christmas special - Ten questiions for the new exciting legato talent

[Shreddelicious] 1 When did you start playing guitar?

[Andreia Gomez] I was born in a small fishing village in the south coast of Portugal. I took interest on the guitar when in 1998 when I saw footage of Slash on the Appetite for Destruction Tour. That summer I got a job and bought my first guitar. I learnt the basic chords from a book and from my cousin and uncle who both played acoustic and sung. I learnt the first pattern of the pentatonic scale from a drunk fisherman and that was it! As far as I was aware I'd learned to play the guitar... Kurt Cobain, Slash and Kirk Hammet were my only influences for years! I didn't really have much access to music, I lived in a small village and knew very few people who played the guitar. I came to England in 2002 to learn to play and really embarrassed my self by asking my fellow guitar students who Joe Satriani was.... That sums up my guitar knowledge at that point but also marks the beginning of my journey into the world of guitar playing.

DiMarzio Artist: Andreia Gomez

Solos from "Soul Rise" a new song from M.I.N.D's EP

Soul Rise Solos

[Shreddelicious] 2 What made you decide to take guitar seriously?

[Andreia Gomez]The turning point was when I got into University to do a physics degree and realized that wasn't what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to be a guitarist since I first started playing but that wasn't really an option in Portugal, it's not a “real job”. So I started looking abroad for something that could replace my physics degree, teach me how to play guitar and more importantly, convince my parents that it was a good change of career! When I enrolled on a 3 month course at the Guitar Institute I knew I was going to go all the way.

Solo from M.I.N.D's song "Insight" featured on our EP

Insight Solo

[Shreddelicious] 3 What are your favourite albums?

[Andreia Gomez] This is always the hardest question, mainly because it's hard to pick favourites and I always get the feeling I've left half of them out... From solo guitarist's albums I'd pick Joe Satriani's Surfing with the Alien, Andy Timmons' Ear X-Tacy I and II, Guthrie Govan's Erotic Cakes, Alan Holdsworth's Heavy Machinery, Shaun Lane's Tri-Tone Fascination and Greg Howe's Introspection. From band's I'd go for Dark side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, 2112 by Rush, Paradigm shift and Waterfall Cities by Ozric Tentacles, Images and Words and Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence by Dream Theater, Lateralus and 10,000 Days by Tool, Crack the Skye by Mastodon, Odyssey by Symphony X, Watershed and Deliverance by Opeth, Animals as Leaders by Animas as Leaders and Cynic's Traced in Air.

DiMarzio Artist: Andreia Gomez

[Shreddelicious] 4 What do you think of the use of social media for promoting your work?

[Andreia Gomez] Not really, I think being able to use social media to promote my work is a great advantage. It takes power off the label's hands and into to the artist's, making it possible for anyone to promote themselves and be heard virtually anywhere in the world. I'm not so concerned about my ownership of the material, rather about the usual privacy threat that those sites usually represent...

This is the solo from "Coma" - a song I wrote for my prog band M.I.N.D. I made a video lesson for this solo that you can find at http://marketplace.live4guitar.com/guitar-instructor/Andreia there you can buy the lesson for $4.70 and get full transcription, backing track, slow and full tempo close up shots, chord and scale diagrams plus loads of useful tips to incorporate these techniques into your own solos. Enjoy!

Combining Advanced Techniques

[Shreddelicious] 5 If you had a chance to play with anyone who would you pick?

[Andreia Gomez]Might sound like an odd choice given the style that I'm most known to play but Tony Levin on bass/Chapman stick and Bill Bruford on drums and Chick Corea on piano/keys for the ultimate prog funk fusion jam!

[Shreddelicious] 6 Have you ever had any live show disasters?

[Andreia Gomez]I blasted my ears off the first festival I ever played. It was in Germany and I was impersonating Angus Young in an all girl AC/DC tribute band. I never played such a massive gig before and I went on to play an hour and a half set without earplugs! I got Tinnitus ever since...

The worse gig I ever played was in a pub in London that shall not be named. The stage was so small I was standing behind the speaker! There weren't any monitors so I couldn't hear the band nor myself so I decided to just closed my eyes and enjoy it. About half way through the song I opened my eyes and my fingers had moved down a fret! It must have sounded horrible to the (very small) audience...

DiMarzio Artist: Andreia Gomez

[Shreddelicious] 7 How do record your guitar videos?

[Andreia Gomez]I don't really have many tricks. I record my videos at home with a reasonable camera. The audio I record into Nuendo and then sync with the video. I don't do much editing, once I have a good take I keep it and just add the fades and a few image enhancing effects. For me the trick is keeping it simple, what matters is the quality what you're delivering musically.

This is the solo from "Control" - a song I wrote for my prog band M.I.N.D. I made a video lesson of this solo that you can find at http://marketplace.live4guitar.com/guitar-instructor/Andreia there you can buy the lesson for $4.00 and get full transcription, backing tracks, slow, medium and full speed close up shots, chord and scale diagrams plus loads of useful tips to incorporate these techniques into your own solos. Enjoy!

Progressive Shredding

[Shreddelicious] 8 What do you think of illegal music downloading?

[Andreia Gomez]I'm sorry to disappoint you here but although I understand where you're coming from, I do believe people make too much of a fuss about intellectual property. I just finished recording my first EP and it was a year of very hard work that nearly got my a nervous breakdown. Having said that, I'd rather thousands of people downloaded and listen to it than having it heard by just a few hundred who bought it. Most of the sales money goes to the label anyway. I'd prefer to make money with the live shows which can't be “stolen”. The more people know and listen to your music the more people come see you play. I don't see illegal downloading as a threat to the industry, just a challenge.

The whole idea of “technology is killing music” never gets old... It was first said when we got tape recorders, then when we got CD burners and now it's the illegal downloads. For me what kills the music industry is taking the heart out of it and making it into a business. Music started from sharing an experience and now it's turned into selling a product. The mainstream label's dictate what's worth it or not based not on quality but what can be manufactured quick and sell a lot to a generally uneducated crowd. I think that's changing now and it's in part due to the fact that the internet allows people access a lot more music than before and the artists to promote themselves. Once the label's loose their grip maybe we'll see some real change in the industry and for the better.

On the other hand, it's a shame that people don't buy CD's as much any more... Buying and owning a CD is a totally different experience from downloading it, you get the artwork, you have a physical collection to look at and there's something very ritualistic about picking up a CD and putting it into the player. But that's each individual's choice and we must adapt to the inevitable changes the world goes through.

This is the solo from "Sacred Sin" - a song I wrote for my prog band M.I.N.D. I made a video lesson of this solo plus the instrumental section that comes before it (not shown in this video). You can find it at http://marketplace.live4guitar.com/guitar-instructor/Andreia there you can buy the lesson for $4.10 and get full transcription, backing tracks, slow, medium and full speed close up shots, chord and scale diagrams plus loads of useful tips to incorporate these techniques into your own solos. Enjoy!

Tapping + Neo-Classical Solo

[Shreddelicious] 9 Can you tell us a bit about your Guitars and Amps?

[Andreia Gomez] I own an Ibanez RG7620 fitted with EMG pickups, a revamped Ibanez RG320 fitted with DiMarzio pickups, a Fender Stratocaster and a Tanglewood acoustic. I have a an Engl Powerball Head, a Laney LH-50 Head and a 2x12 Laney Cab. For effects I use a Boss GT-10 and an original Crybaby Wah pedal.

“DiMarzio artist: Each note echoes a measurable amount of energy and an immeasurable amount of feeling.... DiMarzio pickups don't just conduct the energy, they're the best at conveying the feeling.”

[Shreddelicious] 10 Can you tell us about your latest recording?

[Andreia Gomez] I've just finished recording an EP with my prog band M.I.N.D. It's been sent to the label to be mixed and produced and it should be out sometime next year. It's a mix of different influences from rock, grunge, prog, fusion and metal. I was very pleased with the contribution that our new rhythm section made to the already written songs, they really brought them to life! We ended up re-writing during the recording which made it a much longer process but totally worth while.