Most readers know that Tommy Emmanuel’s mentor Chet Atkins dubbed him a “C.G.P.” meaning Certified Guitar Player, but Certified Guitar Performer is also appropriate given the dazzling display he puts on in front of an audience. The energetic Emmanuel has elevated the solo acoustic art form to a high-wire act on six strings. Nobody “brings it” quite like the man GP chose to grace its August 2017 cover for a themed issue addressing the 50 greatest acoustic players of all time.
Ripping bluegrass licks at light speed on his signature Maton acoustic guitar, Emmanuel’s timing is steady like a human metronome, and yet the man himself is practically timeless. The Australian transplant to Nashville, who will turn 70 on May 31, shows zero signs of slowing down. We caught his act at the lavish Guild Theatre in Menlo Park, California, at the outset of a major world tour. Peering out from behind the curtain around the sold-out venue, the audience is as broad as it is enthusiastic.
“When I walk onstage, I’m very much aware that I’m in the entertainment business,” says Emmanuel, who shared his top tips for guitarists with us.. “I don’t care about impressing musicians. I care about my audience, and I will turn myself inside out to give my audience a great time.”
He proceeds to do exactly that, not so much flying without a net as simply letting it fly. There’s never a set list, but there is always a methodology behind his presentation. He carries three axes of different sizes in different tunings and plays clusters of tunes that flow together in suites. He does a fully-fledged “drum solo” banging with his hands and even playing with sticks on his acoustic.
At select opportunities, he scratches the top with his right hand percussively while hammering out melodies on the fretboard with his left, which always gets a reaction. He sings a bit, plays originals and covers, makes funny faces and gestures, tells jokes and humorous anecdotes. He also offers up some truly inspiring motivational speaking.
It's all part of the greatest solo acoustic show on earth with Emmanuel acting as ringleader of a solo guitar circus. Close your eyes and you’ll swear there’s more than one cat doing all that. There’s nothing like bearing witness in the flesh, but it makes for a fantastic listen as well. Emmanuel’s new album Live at the Sydney Opera House does an incredible job of making the listener feel like a ticket holder with an unobstructed sonic view of Emmanuel and his cast of Matons.
Can you share some insights on the current three-guitar strategy?
There are at least two good reasons for bringing three guitars. I always have a backup in case anything goes wrong, and I want to spend most of my time perfectly in tune. I also have different tonal pallets to choose from, and I want the show to flow seamlessly as I move from song to song.
All three of my stage guitars were handmade by Andy Allen at the Maton Custom Shop. My main guitar is the last one he made for me before he retired. It’s a one-off Maton TE Personal with a cutaway that simply has “An Australian” written on the inside. The shape is closer to a Taylor style. The back and sides are made of Queensland maple, and it’s got a spruce top. I string it up in standard tuning with a set of Martin MA540FX Flexible Core Phosphor Bronze Tommy’s Choice, gauges .012 to .054.
I use the other two guitars for deeper tones. I string my jumbo-sized guitar with heavier gauges, .013–.056 and tune a whole step down from standard. Maton made that guitar especially for me in the style of an old J-200. It’s made from Queensland maple and spruce as well. The third Maton is a little deeper than their thinlines. I’ve had it for 12 years and its sounds great for altered tunings. I mostly use drop D [low to high, D A D G B E], and from there I can easily get to G6 tuning [low to high, D G D G B E].
Did you use those guitars to record Live at the Sydney Opera House?
The main guitar was my previous 808TE Personal, which has a yellow face and no cutaway. It sounds fantastic, but I found that the new one has a little better bulge down in the low mids. I can get a slightly bigger sound with the cutaway. I can’t dial that via EQ, it must come from the instrument.
That’s rather counterintuitive to get a bigger sound from an instrument with a cutaway.
Yeah, go figure.
What was the set concept going into such a glorious homecoming show?
I started with “Countrywide” because it’s like a signature tune of mine to Australians. I wrote it back in the ’70s as the theme to a TV show called Countrywide. You can hear the audience applaud on the introduction because they know it. That led me into “El Vaquero,” which Chet recorded for My Favorite Guitars [released in 1964]. Wayne Moss, who played on “Pretty Woman,” co-wrote that song with Chet. He played a nice rolling rhythm while Chet played a single-note melody on top.
I worked out a way to play them simultaneously. It was funny when Wayne came to see me at the Ryman Auditorium. He walked up and said, “You did my part and Chet’s at the same time!”
When I heard the first single, “The Jolly Swagman,” I could have sworn there was a second player at times. But then I realized it’s just Multiverse Tommy. What’s the trick to truly pulling that off all by yourself up there?
You just play it with a certain conviction that tells your senses, “That sounds like more than one person.” Keeping a constant groove going is an important element. I’m in standard tuning with a capo at the second fret. The key is F#, so I’m working out of an E position. I could break it down to show how it all works, but I’m thinking like a band, and I play it with conviction.
Can you share some inside musical intel about the second single, “Gdansk / Tall Fiddler”?
It’s a combination of two songs that are in the same tuning and in the same key. “Gdansk” is a new song that I wrote in that little Polish town on the Baltic Sea. It’s in the key of A, and I play it in G6 tuning with a capo on the second fret. It sets me up perfectly to go into “Tall Fiddler.” I’m about to record my first album of solo acoustic originals since It’s Never Too Late [released in 2014], and when I take it into the studio “Gdansk” will have a different beginning and ending. I’m road testing it to see what happens with an audience.
How did the sound of the venue inform the new live album?
The Sydney Opera House sounds so good, and it has a recording studio upstairs. They’ve got the room and the stage miked a certain way, so we recorded everything direct from the stage. My two signals are one from the amp and one direct. There were microphones to capture the sound on the stage as well as out front to capture the sound of the P.A. system in the room. When you listen to that album sitting right in the middle of speakers, it sounds like you’re right in front of the stage.
Can you detail the amp and direct signals?
I split the guitar signal to and AER Pocket Tools Dual Mix 2, which is the primary house signal, and an Udo Roesner Da Capo 75 amp. That acts as a personal monitor next to me onstage, and a direct signal off the back is the second signal to the house. Udo was at AER when we developed the Compact 60 that suddenly became the industry standard for acoustic amps.
Then Udo went his own way and brought his new amp to my attention at a gig in Frankfurt, Germany, where we did a side-by-side comparison with the AER amp that had server me so well for so long. The best description I can give is that the AER had a tubular kind of sound, and when I plugged in Udo’s amp, it opened up. There was a more transparent high end, a wider field and a punchier bass. I set all the controls flat in the middle, and there’s the sound.
What are your thoughts onstage volume?
People may say, “Boy, you play loud.” And I say, “Well, it’s actually not loud. It’s big.” There’s a difference. Loud is like, “Ooh,” whereas big is, “Wow!” I’ve got a ton of room to go with my volume, meaning I could play a lot louder than I do. That’s the thing I always tell people. If you want a big crowd, make a big sound.
What’s it like for an Australian kid to grow up and play the Sydney Opera House?
It’s a very iconic place, and it was a big part of my younger experience working as a studio musician in Sydney and seeing that beautiful building nearly every day of my life. I dreamed of playing there. When such things come to fruition, you know that you’ve put in the work to get yourself to a better place.
You show no signs of slowing down as you approach age 70. What’s your secret?
I’m not ready to slow down. I feel like I’m just getting started. I simply love playing. And as much as I love playing, full stop. There’s no greater thrill for me than to play for the audience. That’s the greatest thing I know.
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