James Bay on Failed Solos, Onstage Adrenaline, and How to Hire a Band

About this episode

James Bay discusses his guitar approach, hiring musicians, and shares insights on performance and music etiquette.

On this episode, James Bay joins Cory Wong from backstage at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. (It takes Wong all of 10 seconds to recognize and name the green room.) Bay is still supporting his fourth full-length record,  Changes All the Time , and Wong picked up on a different guitar approach on the new album. Bay walks him through how his playing matched the collection’s title. Bay also reveals the first solo he learned to play (or, rather,  failed  to learn to play; it’s a Bon Jovi hit), and how Jack White’s philosophy of struggle against his instrument has shaped Bay’s relationship to his own guitars. As bandleaders, Wong and Bay both have plenty of experience hiring players to join them in studio and on the road, so what do they look for when selecting colleagues? Tune in to find out. It wouldn’t be a chat with a Minnesotan guitarist without some Prince talk, so stick around to learn the appropriate etiquette for covering The Artist when touring his home state. Listen to the full episode here: https://bit.ly/WongNotes Get 30% off your first year of DistroKid by going here: http://distrokid.com/vip/corywong Visit James Bay: https://www.jamesbay.com Hit us up…

People in this episode

Host: Cory Wong

Guest: James Bay

Topics covered

• guitar playing
• band leadership
• music industry
• live performance
• artist collaboration

Keywords

• James Bay
• guitar
• band hiring
• live performance
• music industry
• Bon Jovi
• Jack White
• Prince

Sponsors

DistroKid

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Premier Guitar

Books & works: Changes All the Time, Bon Jovi

Places: Washington, D.C.

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