Aoi & Uruha GUITAR BOOK: ~aoi impression~ (pt. 2)
Hello, guys! Finally bringing you Part 2 of Aoi's interview!
Sorry it took me so long... Uni and life got in the way and then I kinda forgot I was working on this xD
aoi & uruha guitar book:
~aoi impression~
{ Part 1 }
{ Part 2 }
- Did you experience something like a culture shock when you started playing in a Visual Kei band?
Aoi: First we talked about putting on makeup. "I'm fine with it, but who's gonna put it on me?" (laughs) But then I thought "Whatever, I'll do it myself", so I went to a 100-Yen-shop and grabbed myself some cosmetics. Me and that young lady practiced putting on makeup together (laughs). And while at it, her husband would be giggling at me (laughs). The place we did a live for the first time was near hide's museum in Yokosuka. After that we often played in Tsurumi-ward. Which reminds me, that's around the time I finally got accustomed to Visual Kei. When we were playing in Tsurumi, there was a band that would destroy its drumset. I thought "Visual Kei is damn scaryyyy!" (laughs). In other genres there are generally no bands that do such things, right? "Visual Kei is a dangerous world", that's the first thing I thought back then.
- You had a "I'm not exactly into Visual-Kei" kind of stance, I guess?
Aoi: Nope, I didn't. At that time I was trying to become someone who, you could say, belongs to a typical Visual Kei band.
-page 4-
In case of failure, I do nothing but practice,
so I won't repeat the same mistake again.
- What kind of guitar were you using when you were playing in that band?
Aoi: An ESP one from the MA series. I bought it using a tremendous loan (laughs). After a while I also bought ESP's Forest. In the early days of the GazettE I was always using the Forest one.
- The one with the Humbucker Pick-Up, right? Were you also using demo-tapes in your first band?
Aoi: We were. However, these were rather recordings done at home using a MTR (multi-track recorder). The very first time I entered a studio and recorded something was when I was already in theGazettE.
- Speaking of MTRs, you noticed various things about your play when you recorded it yourself, didn't you?
Aoi: I did in the beginning. I was deeply moved when I recorded something for the very first time. I thought "My guitar play has become a part of the musical composition!". However, when this excitement faded after recording several times, I started to think "What the hell is this?! I have to do it more properly..." and so on. But well, I should probably say that my first band was an amateur one. OK, theGazettE was in the beginning like that, too, of course (laughs). The vocalist of my first band ended up not being that good. And then, at the same time I was playing in that band, I met the other theGazettE members.
- So it was after you entered the GazettE that your consciousness changed to feeling that you are a guitarist?
Aoi: That's right. To put it another way, it was after I started the GazettE that I thought I have to improve my skills in every aspect. The first thing I noticed when I entered the GazettE was that I couldn't perform the "cutting"* technique. Like I said before, I really liked speed-riffing, so I would just skip all the "x"s** that were written on the sheet music. (laughs)
*Aoi uses the English word "cutting", but I'm not sure about the actual term in English. Anyways, he means these 'scratched' guitar sounds, kinda like in the beginning of Smells Like Teen Spirit.
**I don't know much about guitar, but according to my research "x" means either to omit the string when strumming or to mute whatever string that "x" is on. Here are the tabs of Smells Like Teen Spirit for example. For a better explanation check out this video (around 06:02).
- The strumming parts, huh? (laughs)
Aoi: Right. Back then I was like "What's that? I don't get the rhythm" (laughs). So I wouldn't do the "cutting". The first demo that Uruha brought was a twin guitar arrangement. When I listened to it I was like "Sorry, can't play that" (laughs). So when I started the GazettE, practicing "cutting" was my very first challenge.
- Is that so? And yet you perform "cutting" all the time nowadays.
Aoi: Well, it was something terrible for me back then. Plus, our first manager was an awfully strict person. He was constantly criticizing me and urging me to improve. Although I was rebellious towards him, I was practicing really hard. That's what it was like.
- So rather than suddenly starting to practice hard because of some big incident, improving your skills was always on your mind, right?
Aoi: Right. It's because I don't get that pessimistic in case of failure, or rather, I don't give up. When I've failed something I just do nothing but practice so I won't repeat the same mistake.
- And till now you've never thought "Maybe I shall quit guitar..."?
Aoi: Well, no, just once. Actually it's not that long ago. Last year when we were playing in Saitama Super Arena I stopped performing during one song. I thought "That's it, I'm giving up".
- What? There's really been an incident like that?
Aoi: Well, ok, although I said I quit, it was more like I just stopped playing. How shall I put it, more like... it had kinda come out of the blue. There are songs were Uruha and I are playing both acoustic guitar. I can't remember very well, but while I was playing I suddenly thought "Argh, I'm making mistakes!". And then I stopped playing, although it wasn't entirely because of the mistakes either. Without even trying to cover them, I just stopped playing. Even thought I was playing like usual till then....
- This must have been a shock even though you stopped at your own will, right?
Aoi: It was terrible shock. To the point that I thought "I'm gonna die.....". I hadn't experienced anything like that till then, not even once. Even if I was nervously making mistakes while playing and thinking "Aaah, I'm messing up", I'd usually keep playing. I thought that there's no way I would ever stop playing. But before making these mistakes, I had already given up. Such a thing has never happened in my whole life, only that one time back then. We stopped playing that song for a while, because I was absolutely traumatized. As one would expect, I was quite bothered by it for some time then.
- It must have been a moment that felt like entering an air-pocket, right? By the way, how do you hold your pick?
Aoi: Like usual, with the index-finger and the form. However, depending on the phrase the positioning changes, but basically I hold it so that the tip is protruding quite a lot. I think it's quite a common form.
- And that hasn't changed since you started playing guitar?
Aoi: No, because I'm a person that places importance on outward appearances when taking up something*. In the beginning I had a guitar-manual which I was using as reference. Because things like "Hold the pick like that, place your hand here..." and so on were written there. But I actually couldn't play well when I was holding the pick the way it was described in the manual, so I put the book aside and I played with the style that felt more natural to me. And I've stuck to that since then.
*He used the expression 形から入る which means something like... Say for example that you want to start playing the guitar. But instead of practicing right away, what you first pay attention to is for example getting the same guitar your guitar-idol has, holding it like he/she does, playing like he/she does and so on... Kinda like focusing on the outward aspects first~
.... to be continued.
Sorry it took me so long... Uni and life got in the way and then I kinda forgot I was working on this xD
aoi & uruha guitar book:
~aoi impression~
{ Part 1 }
{ Part 2 }
- Did you experience something like a culture shock when you started playing in a Visual Kei band?
Aoi: First we talked about putting on makeup. "I'm fine with it, but who's gonna put it on me?" (laughs) But then I thought "Whatever, I'll do it myself", so I went to a 100-Yen-shop and grabbed myself some cosmetics. Me and that young lady practiced putting on makeup together (laughs). And while at it, her husband would be giggling at me (laughs). The place we did a live for the first time was near hide's museum in Yokosuka. After that we often played in Tsurumi-ward. Which reminds me, that's around the time I finally got accustomed to Visual Kei. When we were playing in Tsurumi, there was a band that would destroy its drumset. I thought "Visual Kei is damn scaryyyy!" (laughs). In other genres there are generally no bands that do such things, right? "Visual Kei is a dangerous world", that's the first thing I thought back then.
- You had a "I'm not exactly into Visual-Kei" kind of stance, I guess?
Aoi: Nope, I didn't. At that time I was trying to become someone who, you could say, belongs to a typical Visual Kei band.
-page 4-
In case of failure, I do nothing but practice,
so I won't repeat the same mistake again.
- What kind of guitar were you using when you were playing in that band?
Aoi: An ESP one from the MA series. I bought it using a tremendous loan (laughs). After a while I also bought ESP's Forest. In the early days of the GazettE I was always using the Forest one.
- The one with the Humbucker Pick-Up, right? Were you also using demo-tapes in your first band?
Aoi: We were. However, these were rather recordings done at home using a MTR (multi-track recorder). The very first time I entered a studio and recorded something was when I was already in theGazettE.
- Speaking of MTRs, you noticed various things about your play when you recorded it yourself, didn't you?
Aoi: I did in the beginning. I was deeply moved when I recorded something for the very first time. I thought "My guitar play has become a part of the musical composition!". However, when this excitement faded after recording several times, I started to think "What the hell is this?! I have to do it more properly..." and so on. But well, I should probably say that my first band was an amateur one. OK, theGazettE was in the beginning like that, too, of course (laughs). The vocalist of my first band ended up not being that good. And then, at the same time I was playing in that band, I met the other theGazettE members.
- So it was after you entered the GazettE that your consciousness changed to feeling that you are a guitarist?
Aoi: That's right. To put it another way, it was after I started the GazettE that I thought I have to improve my skills in every aspect. The first thing I noticed when I entered the GazettE was that I couldn't perform the "cutting"* technique. Like I said before, I really liked speed-riffing, so I would just skip all the "x"s** that were written on the sheet music. (laughs)
*Aoi uses the English word "cutting", but I'm not sure about the actual term in English. Anyways, he means these 'scratched' guitar sounds, kinda like in the beginning of Smells Like Teen Spirit.
**I don't know much about guitar, but according to my research "x" means either to omit the string when strumming or to mute whatever string that "x" is on. Here are the tabs of Smells Like Teen Spirit for example. For a better explanation check out this video (around 06:02).
- The strumming parts, huh? (laughs)
Aoi: Right. Back then I was like "What's that? I don't get the rhythm" (laughs). So I wouldn't do the "cutting". The first demo that Uruha brought was a twin guitar arrangement. When I listened to it I was like "Sorry, can't play that" (laughs). So when I started the GazettE, practicing "cutting" was my very first challenge.
- Is that so? And yet you perform "cutting" all the time nowadays.
Aoi: Well, it was something terrible for me back then. Plus, our first manager was an awfully strict person. He was constantly criticizing me and urging me to improve. Although I was rebellious towards him, I was practicing really hard. That's what it was like.
- So rather than suddenly starting to practice hard because of some big incident, improving your skills was always on your mind, right?
Aoi: Right. It's because I don't get that pessimistic in case of failure, or rather, I don't give up. When I've failed something I just do nothing but practice so I won't repeat the same mistake.
- And till now you've never thought "Maybe I shall quit guitar..."?
Aoi: Well, no, just once. Actually it's not that long ago. Last year when we were playing in Saitama Super Arena I stopped performing during one song. I thought "That's it, I'm giving up".
- What? There's really been an incident like that?
Aoi: Well, ok, although I said I quit, it was more like I just stopped playing. How shall I put it, more like... it had kinda come out of the blue. There are songs were Uruha and I are playing both acoustic guitar. I can't remember very well, but while I was playing I suddenly thought "Argh, I'm making mistakes!". And then I stopped playing, although it wasn't entirely because of the mistakes either. Without even trying to cover them, I just stopped playing. Even thought I was playing like usual till then....
- This must have been a shock even though you stopped at your own will, right?
Aoi: It was terrible shock. To the point that I thought "I'm gonna die.....". I hadn't experienced anything like that till then, not even once. Even if I was nervously making mistakes while playing and thinking "Aaah, I'm messing up", I'd usually keep playing. I thought that there's no way I would ever stop playing. But before making these mistakes, I had already given up. Such a thing has never happened in my whole life, only that one time back then. We stopped playing that song for a while, because I was absolutely traumatized. As one would expect, I was quite bothered by it for some time then.
- It must have been a moment that felt like entering an air-pocket, right? By the way, how do you hold your pick?
Aoi: Like usual, with the index-finger and the form. However, depending on the phrase the positioning changes, but basically I hold it so that the tip is protruding quite a lot. I think it's quite a common form.
- And that hasn't changed since you started playing guitar?
Aoi: No, because I'm a person that places importance on outward appearances when taking up something*. In the beginning I had a guitar-manual which I was using as reference. Because things like "Hold the pick like that, place your hand here..." and so on were written there. But I actually couldn't play well when I was holding the pick the way it was described in the manual, so I put the book aside and I played with the style that felt more natural to me. And I've stuck to that since then.
*He used the expression 形から入る which means something like... Say for example that you want to start playing the guitar. But instead of practicing right away, what you first pay attention to is for example getting the same guitar your guitar-idol has, holding it like he/she does, playing like he/she does and so on... Kinda like focusing on the outward aspects first~
.... to be continued.