Guitarists friends we have followed for you the Luca Colombo Masterclass organized by the Fine Studios Association in Montesarchio.
Luca he presented himself to the public who came to the Master with his PRS Custom 22, mini pedalboards with essential sounds and two Vox AC30 kindly provided by Sannio Music Store.
The Master began with two songs accompanied by his "virtual band" (backing tracks recorded by the "Luca Colombo Band" - Lele Melotti to the battery, Paolo Costa at the bottom, John Boscariol keyboards) expressing immediately what would then be explained in detail during the master. Perfect sounds, a well-kept dynamics, safety of execution and expressiveness are the result of a solid preparation and thirty years of experience. After playing, Luca was able to clarify how, according to his experience, it is possible to be high-profile professional musicians and, very interestingly, he defined the working fields that any other musician should develop according to his own inclinations and passions.
from recording studio al live,, From television to the didactics, From 'arrangement to the writing, very honestly he clarified that, in order to work in music today, one must know how to develop each of these areas, not only having the skills, but knowing how to deal with them.
Technique, study of harmony, improvisation, ear training, instrumentation and in-depth knowledge of guitar sounds, entrepreneurial spirit are all characteristics that a good modern guitarist must have in order to work in music. During the course, he showed some of the warm-up exercises present in his method "Life as a guitarist”, A manual consisting of three volumes that guide the student to develop many of the characteristics indicated above.
Explain how to strengthen the bending through a simple but effective exercise on a larger scale, one's ways of studying sweep-picking solid and stable, and how to manage the study phase with clean sound and with the distorted sound.
The spoken interventions were followed by several passages taken from his album such as Sunderland, Rock'n boll, Sottovento, Deja Vù, etc., which gave rise to other points of discussion and various arguments which, in the end, made the entire Masterclass. There were very interesting notes regarding the study of the pick and the search for a good sound on the guitar in all its positions: brilliant, in my opinion, was the explanation on the use of the different sounds obtainable. Not least, the attention paid to the use of the few essential pedals to accompany his explanations, exploited to the maximum of their abilities, including the dynamic use of the controls on the guitar, the choice of amplifiers, pedals and guitars. depending on the work requirement. Luca brought a pedalboard with him Vermuram Jan Ray, (splendid overdrive that he uses for a light drive that gives voice and color to his sound. Ed); L'SL Drive of Xotic for a drive in Marshall style used for heavier sounds; then, combined use of the two, for lead sounds with a strong character.
The use of the Zoom MS-70CDR to create environments and “vibe” effects in some songs.
In addition, he employed two pedals from the TcElectronic: Ditto Looper which he used both to create pads in combination with the Zoom MS70-CDR, and as a looper to record on-the-fly bases used to explain the use of scales and improvisation. The second pedal was a Spark mini booster which gave it the necessary boost for the lead parts. A volume pedal completes the setup Boss FV500H connected between overdrive and Zoom.
Particular attention has been paid to the quality of the cables: a subject not very dear to guitarists but essential for letting a good signal pass from the guitar to the amplifier.
Curiosity: Luca uses and is endorser of picks Essetipicks, a company that makes wood picks and other very interesting materials that generate very beautiful sounds on the guitar and have a very particular shape. I highly recommend checking it out.
Available to answer the questions of the present and competent public, and honest in his answers, Luca Colombo proved to be a great professional, who did not spare himself even on personal anecdotes that helped to better understand his path and amused the public.
Last but not least, the excellent organization of the Fine Studios Association, kind and passionate guys who warmly welcomed the audience of the master and will soon organize other events.
Stefano Turin
