BILL FRISELL

Guitar instrumentals have supplied some of music's most evocative moments. Jason Sidwell asks top guitarists for their take on this iconic movement. This month, we welcome one of the great modern jazz innovators

- Jason Sidwell

GT: What is it about guitar instrumentals that appeals to you? 

BF: It's a lot to do with the whole way of thinking about the instrument. For me, the guitar is my voice, and it depends on the circumstances that I find myself in. I’m really influenced by the sound of a singer. A lot of the music I play is a song that I might associate with someone singing it. What I’m hearing in my head and what motivates me so often is the sound of the human voice and that has so much to do with the sound I make. Guitar instrumentals go all the way back to when I was a kid, when I was listening to surf music, all that these bands were playing were guitars and that’s kind of the beginning of my fascination for the instrument. I was born in 1951, you just look at the music that was happening in the 50s, 60s and the 70s and line it up with my age, those periods are kind of extraordinary. When I was 11 years old, I was listening to surf music and then a couple of years later The Beatles, Wes Montgomery and it just kept expanding out.

GT: What can an instrumental provide a listener that a vocal song can't?