The Power of Three

The joys of playing in a power trio

- JARED JAMES NICHOLS

MY FAVORITE ENSEMBLE to play in is the power trio. With only three instruments — electric guitar, bass and drum kit — there's so much freedom to explore concepts like space, time and dynamic range. There is something really special that can happen when three musicians are playing off of each other and interacting in real time. Think of all the adventurous, exciting moments you've heard in the recordings of the great rock guitar/bass/ drums lineups, such as the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream, Mountain, Rush, Led Zeppelin, the Who, Free and others.

One of the ways I like to take advantage of what the power trio lineup affords me as a guitar player is when we are in improvisation mode, expanding away from an established song structure in order to venture into uncharted musical territory.