Michael Friese, guitarist

Michael Friese, guitarist. Playing jazz? This is the best way to show us how deep and various is the soul of human. We are able to feel the how deep and various is the soul of human. We are able to feel the different of moment. I very like feeling first and understanding the music.

Michael, thank you very much to expend time on our interwiev. Michael, please, say something about yourself?

Many thanks for this invitation. I'm German, born 1955. I growend up in a home where my father often played jazzy music. We've had a lot of instruments around, so I got some opportunities. As a young person I wanted to become, actually, a musician. However, something others happened. I became a journalist. By the way, I never wrote one single line about music in my whole working life. But as a private individual I always remained loyal to the music, practiced hours and hours and played a lot.

When did you see that the jazz is your direction? When were you sure this is the best way for you?

I've got the understanding for the enlarged chords very early, provided by my father. He pointed me out what a diminished chord is or how a Major's 7 chord sounds and what it means. At the age of twelve or 13 I heared beside the rock musicians the first jazz musicians playing their guitars and special lines. For example, Joe Pass. Wow, this was so difficult and impressive. I also wanted – no, I must - be able to do this also. And thus I tried to learn the international language of jazz.

Do you accomodate what I mentioned before? Feeling and understanding?

Absolutely. Let me add another to three words: expressiveness, freedom and at the same time discipline. Jazz is an art form which requires open ears. A person who has never dealt with it before, therefore, it will be heavier for him. And with increasing complexity he'll decline the jazz. Who keeps open himself, nevertheless is recompensed with big musical moments. This is valid for the listener just as for the player.

Michael, what is the most important inspiration when you pick up your guitar? Trice? Something happend or what else?

First it's simply the desire to play the guitar. I feel physically how my fingers want to touch the strings. An addiction. Then there is the reason that I have a melody in my brain the whole day long and I like to allow to asound now in the evening. That often leads to a whole composition. I wrote nearly 100 compositions, distilled on my YouTube channel. Shure not every is good, but I wanted to play and record them anyway. Sometimes I'm inspired to such songs by a private, tiny event.

Jazz exclusively? Do you have time or energy to play or run on other style of guitar music?

Oh yes. I love bluegrass music. I like the virtuosity from flat picking in the teamwork with violin, banjo, mandolin and bass. Moreover, I am a big friend in the baroque music, especially from Johann Sebastian Bach. This or that I sometimes play on the guitar. But I also hear Gustav Mahler. László Halmos and Igor Stravinski belongs to my favourits, not to mention Béla Bartók.

Michael, I would like to know something – no, everything – about your sound! Guitars, amps everything else!

Allow me to start with the backing tracks. I generate them by myself using the wellknown program "Band In A Box“. It permits the application of real instruments. My guitar goes via a Behringer-Mixer directly into the sound card. I play clean, just add a little bit of reverb. I do the mastering with a special Magix-program. Here I put some more bass to the middle and lower sound section und light up the higher region. Very close to that sound is an amp I use on live performances: Vintage Polytone Minibrute III. My favorite guitar is a Gibson ES 175 from 1990. She is so ergonomic and fits in her size to my 1.80 meters. Moreover, Gibson full resonance guitars have this silky sound I prefer. This is also valid for my Gibson Super V CES from 1979. A very rare instrument on which I'm a little proud of. If I play accoustic I take my Martin guitar. I still own a 12 strings Gibson Hummingbird which I play, however, seldom. For classical music I take a Spanish classic guitar. Shure I know, that these instruments are expensive and it took me some dekades to collect them. In fact more cheeper instruments will spend the same fun and even nearly the same sound results. My early teacher told me, the right hand makes the music on a guitar. So I often play with my index nail which generates this very creamy jazz tone.

Last, please say something about your plan!

Well, in fact I don't have a real plan as a musician. In three years I will retire my job, hoping to find more time for live appearances. Hopefully.

Michael, thank you very much and best wishes in the name of the hungarian fans!

Thank you very much.