Wanderson Bersani is an example of professional nowadays. Besides being a very succesful rock guitar player with a discography including albums from several styles, he still seems to very concerned about the pedagogical side of teaching guitar as the coordinator of Ig&t and as author of methods. At the following chat, the teacher talks about his work and share ideas and experiences from the guitaristic scenario...
01- Hello Wanderson, how are you? First of all, thanks for the opportunity of the interview! Please, tell us about how you got interested about music and who were your first influences.
First of all it’s a pleasure to be featured at Guitar Clinic online magazine!
Well, my involvement with music started during my adolescence, the time that we used to listen to records all day long (vinyl). In the 80’s, The British Heavy Metal was the “heaviest” kind of music that we used to listen to and we all were looking forward to the newest releases of bands such as Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, although I could find some k7 tapes of AC/DC and Led Zeppelin around my house even before we had a radio.
Influenced by the oldest brother of a friend we decided to start a band suddenly, so we bought two tonante guitars (Awful quality) and we kept trying to learn the riffs from “Breakin’ the Law” by Judas Priest and all those riffs from Sabbath.
02- Who were your guitar teachers and what’s your academic formation?
Well, after sometime my parents found out that it was more serious than they could ever think off, so they decided to give it a shot and started paying me some lessons. But it wasn’t an easy task to find out electric guitar teachers in that time (Even more in Zona leste paulistana, neighborhood where I grew up)... It was very common that people who intended to play electric guitar, ended up having acoustic guitar lessons, since this instrument had more status in conservatories and colleges.
Some people told me that the Conservatory Dramático e Musical was a great school, so I joined their course. It was something very different if compared to the guitaristic universe, but it was the best thing that ever happened to me, because I had all the instructions I needed in that place. I studied there for several years where I went through subjects like: music theory, ear training and solfeggio, counterpoint, chamber music and etc...
But since I was studying with a teacher who followed Paulo Nogueira’s ideas, I had a brazillian music repertory , from Villa-Lobos to Baden Powell.... and even being a rocker I used to enjoy studying that stuff a lot! I could see the result, it was a pleasure to get prepared to auditions and tests (which were taken very seriously!).
While I was studying there, I was playing in bands and meeting new electric guitar players, from this I had some lessons with Kiko Loureiro and Edu Ardanuy (they were not that famous back then).
My parents claimed me to have a parallel career so I majored in Science at Mackenzie University (I used to teach guitar and electric guitar all day long and go to the university at night). It turned out to be cool because I had some pedagogical disciplines which got me prepared to my universe as a teacher.
So, after I majored in Science, I left my diploma at home and I started studying at ULM (Universidade livre de música) and some people told me to have some lessons with Mozart Mello , so I was his student for like 5 years.
I also studied Harmony with the conductor Claudio Leal (who majored at Berklee, Boston – U.S.A) and after sometime, I took the the post graduation course in Popular musicar at Carlos Gomes University.
03- You are an example of electric guitar player with academic degree in an institute known in the “classical music world”. Do you believe this kind of degree is an indispensable thing? What is the best way to a launch a professional career nowadays?
I think the academic degree is just one between several ways a guitar player can choose, and no one can definitely say it’s safer.
It’s also about the musician personality: the college course demands a lot of time dedication and effort which is not always linked to the instrument itself.
The guy has to enjoy reading, learning how to write, follow rules and conventions to become a researcher... I believe the biggest interest is to get the student to these rules and get him motivated to become a researcher. These institutes need to generate publications. It ends up to be a contradiction when the guitarist starts the course and believes that he is going to play all the time. That’s my criticism: It’s missing too much the practical part in these courses. The guy leaves the course very “raw”, not ready for this market...
On the other hand, living in the academic environment adds a lot to the intelectual level of musicians, even if we are talking about a general knowledge – in the worst case! In the “guitaristic universe” we can read and listen to horrible statements which sometimes people take very seriously...and end up as true things.. these things make the musical scenario we live in much worse. I believe in education as a path in the sense of ethics. In this point I agree with Paulo Freire...
04-You have released several albums, please talk about them, since we can see influences from pop to instrumental music.
That”s true, I think it’s due to the eclectic formation I had and the fact of being always focused on the professional didactic career – having students from different styles for several years makes you look for different information. When you realize, you’re studying a theme from choro , two jazz standards and that technique exercise from Paul Gilbert , and that’s how it goes... There’s a time that you don’t really know what your style is!
Being open mind to try new things and having relationships with musicians from other styles, it all ends up by creating new gig opportunities which are very cool challenges! When people notice that you are not that intransigent guitar player and realize that you are someone with knowledge and respect for that specific style, they see you with other eyes and they also get motivated to try your style of playing, arranging, expressing yourself musically...It’s a trade!
But after all, I think I’m still a rock guitar player who flirts with other styles, just that...
05- Taking a look on your website, we can see that you are very focused on the didactic area. When did you start getting interested by it?
That’s funny because when I started studying music I had already some students... I’ve always studied a subject wondering on how I would pass that information to other people. Even today when I’m studying something new, a different technique or a new harmonic vision I start to scribble some papers and when I finish I’ve got another lesson done.
Sincerely, I think it’s my “Karma” – We have to find out what’s our musical function in this life , even if you don’t believe in anything. I think Mozart Mello influenced me a lot about this: In this thing of being always looking for new ways and different ways of explaining some subject, since each student is different , they are unique.
When they asked me to create Ig&t material, I had a lot of material done and I was just adapting it as the idea of the course was getting closer to reality. I’ve been very fortunate to have my material tried by several very well known teachers with a huge experience and even much more “blessed” to have this material used by ,literally, thousands of guitar players! When I realized it, I got very motivated to edit new books.
06- Your newest method called “Escala Pentatônica” has received very nice feedbacks from the press. How did it all come true? Do you think it’s a underestimated subject?
As I’ve mentioned recently in an interview to a specialized magazine, the method came with a modern proposal to this subject considered recidvistic. I suggest a study which works the visualization of the scale all over the neck, something that I noticed being such a problem to several students. From that the technical development starts to happen with gradual exercises. At a second phase, I suggest the conquer of a new vocabulary and applying this in different harmonic situations.
The subject pentatonic is underestimated because ,as you said, it’s very used by begginers , even because it’s very useful in this initial period, since it shows a very simple shape (two notes per string) and its sonority can be found in the musical universe of the student: the guy lerans two or three licks and he/she feels the resemblance to the solos of Angus, Hendrix , Slash....and that’s very motivating!
Applying this scale is far from being “a begginer subject”, as the book tries to show: It’s possible, through an analysis of intervals, to look for different sonorities using pentatonics over the modes dorian, mixolydian, altered chords and etc. besides alternative pentatonics. The technique question is also developed when the book suggests one string exercises using tapping, superposing scales...
07- Have you used this material with your students?
Yes, I have! And I’ve goot very nice feedbacks from teachers who have used this method in their classes and got excellent results.
I think it has turned out to be a good complementary material, since each chapter can be used in different ways during the learning process of the guitarist. There’s basic information about how to build the scale and its shape all over the neck , and as I mentioned , there are sofisticated analysis on how to use the pentatonic scale on modes and chords, as well as advanced techniques of playing , syncopes and much more. Thus, the teacher is comfortable to use each chapter during the course. I would say this a method which can be used from beginners to advanced players and teachers.
08- How does your job as Ig&t coordinator work?
I have been the responsible for the elaboration of the method of the institute since the beggining of the project (1996). This is the kind of thing that never ends, because the material has been constantly reevaluated by us: the language and students keep changing as the years go by.
There are several licensed schools all over Brazil, so there’s a spent time to the train these professionals... besides the maintenance of the team which is very big, meetings, creation of complementary courses, judging auditions, replacing absent teachers, time to resolve doubts , creating new audios to study.... besides daily evaluating and interviews with new students. I try to manage all this with my group lessons and also in the Custom format.
09- What’s the difference between teaching at EM&T and at the university?
First of all I would like to mention the similarity: I wonder everyday what I can add to the student in his relationship with music. I try to act in a multidisciplinary way (I think it’s a tendency today when it comes about guitar): technique, harmony, repertory, improvising, reading musical scores, ear training... but I’ve always tried to stand out a historical, sociological event , or even a curiosity... I’ve always been concerned (I try to watch out for it everytime) in adding a positive value due to the simple fact that we are gathered to talk about and playing music! In both situations!
The different part as I mentioned before is that the academic curriculum is too theoretical... sometimes they get stucked in certain repetitive aspects and other subjects very important to the learning process are left behind.
The academic world has created dangerous stylistic paradigms. Colleges need to understand who is the “new musician”, but it’s not only their guilty. MEC standardizes some disciplines and if the college doesn’t follow it , they can be in a very delicated situation... I think Brazil is going to take sometime to fix this...
At EM&T, as free course, I can work in something closer to the real world, more practicable. On the other hand I miss a little bit the academic language: the incentive to read some referential literature and to scientific research creates an environment of discussions and very interesting musical experimentations. It’s something that we can rarely see in a group of free course students, since it’s a heterogeneous group of people. But we can always be amazed by something new....
10- What’s your gear? Is there any difference between in your live and studio gear?
I have a collection of guitars which I bought during the past years, but more recently I was approached by Cast (brand of the luthier Josino Saraiva) to do a prototype of a guitar which was offered to me. During six months we worked pretty hard on the improvements and configurations to please my personal taste for a custom guitar.
Eventually in August of this year we released the W. Bersani Signature, a guitar built with noble brazilian wood with design and tones compared to the greatest international brands! I’m very happy with the result!
I’m also a maniac for pedals, and I have a very large collection...I like researching , setting up perdalboards according to the gigs: I know what’s the right pedal for that style...
When it comes about my solo project I have something “more formatted”: a setup with mxr Phase 90, Ibanez Analog Chorus, Delay Line 6 DL4, Tube Screamer TS9, FullDrive 2 by Fulltone and a Rat Vintage (In both channels: A and B). I use a head and a cabinet Laney 2x12 (with speakers Celestion Vintage 30) and the W.Bersani Signature with D’Addario 0,10 strings. My cables are George L´s and my guitar picks are 1.5mm customized by palhetasonline.
When it comes about studio I learned to take everything you can. Sometimes I learned the simplest guitar you have ends up to be right choice to get a interesting sound result in that specific proposal. Studio is another universe...I’ve already used pre and powers Mesa Boogie and in the same track guitars direct in line!
In Studio, the more tools you have, the better! Of course there are situations where you can take everything , so having an instrument which you can get several different tones is very useful. That’s why I asked my signature guitar to have a switch where I could change the phase of the pickups, besides being a hybrid model between modern and vintage (Tele shape, floyd rose and neck-through follow the same idea).
11- Wanderson, thanks a lot for the interview! Please, leave a message to our viewers.
Search for your own way and believe in what you’re doing. Don’t do anything just to promote your career. When there’s honesty, commitment with your musical proposal and respect to others, somehow people will notice it and your career starts to “launch”. Always think about searching – and be motivated by it – your true function is music. The electric guitar is your tool and a partner in this way!
Ah! Don’t forget to visit my website on the virtual world: www.wandersonbersani.com. I’m releasing an unpublished work about Wander Taffo: a very cool book with his alternate picking technique, which by the way was awesome!
And as he used to say: ”Rock’on, bends forever!”