Tommy Emmanuel has been a working professional musician from the somewhat staggering age of six, when he toured his native Australia playing rhythm guitar in his family’s band, living on the road in their cars and rarely going to school. He was inspired to play after hearing the Travis picking style of Chet Atkins on the radio, a lightbulb moment and one that he still remembers vividly. Six decades on, Tommy is widely regarded as one of the world’s finest acoustic fingerstyle players, a guitarist whose emotive playing and impeccable feel are matched by his sublimely dextrous technique.
He sets the bar high for himself, and his incendiary live shows regularly wow audiences in venues across the globe. Who better, then, to offer advice on how to hone your technique, your creative processes, and your entire mental attitude when venturing out to the studio and the live circuit? “Well, it’s all about the homework you’ve already done. I have to be absolutely be in love with the song and know that this is a song that I want to record.
I write songs and record them on my iPhone and that’s my demo. That song, in every way, has to stand up and once I’m certain of that, then when I go to the studio, I’m in heaven. “It’s really all about the quality of the music and your belief that everything about the song is as strong as you can get it.
Once I feel that every part, every minute detail, is right and that the song does what I need it to do, it satisfies me in every wa.