YUSUF/ CAT STEVENS

He’s one of the most influential singer-songwriters in the world but left fame behind to complete a journey of spiritual growth. Now he’s returned to music and joins us to talk guitars and songcraft – and explain why he decided to revisit his most famous album, Tea For The Tillerman, 50 years on

- Jamie Dickson

Steep Learning Curve

“My first guitar was an eight-quid Eko made in Italy. It was pretty cheap and didn’t sound that great, either. All the problems you have learning the guitar were quadrupled by the fact it had such a high action, and I didn’t understand what strings to use or what gauge. So I was trying to keep my fingers down and make the notes as clear as possible. I was trying to do The Kinks’ You Really Got Me... But it was way too fast. My fingers just wouldn’t react quick enough… It was just too much of a challenge, so I gave it up. But then I came back to it and, when I did, I found I mastered it more easily. I don’t know why that happened. But the second time around I knew what I was doing. So that was the process that got me going towards playing the guitar.”

First Good Guitar

“I never had any doubt that I had something. It was just how long would the world take to catch up with me? Even though I wasn’t really that great at writing songs in the beginning, although I did have a few – in fact, The First Cut Is The Deepest was one of the earliest. So I had this confidence pretty much from day one… I’d written a few songs and I think my brother had seen the light, you know? A bulb flashed above his head and he said, ‘Hang on, this sounds good.’ And so he convinced my father to layout 80 quid. And I bought myself a Hagström 12-string. I loved 12-strings because I was always a fan of Lead Belly. Those kind of early blues-folk songs were also relatively easy to learn as well. And the Hagström sounded loud, which was great.”

Coping With Fame