first , my bass , just to get myself sort of into the mood and get my fingers loose , but that ’ s really just plugging into the amp and jamming for a second . But I don ’ t have a good routine . I am one of those , I say newer to playing guitar somewhat professionally . So , I ’ ve been subscribing to a lot of YouTube to try and learn some good habits . But what I find is , like I said before , every time I pick up the guitar , I end up landing somewhere and I started writing . And so , I guess that ’ s my practice . My warmup is seeing if we can come up with something new .
CM : Do you have a favorite guitar or piece of gear ? Anything with a sentimental meaning or great story behind it ?
Corner : I ’ ve got a few guitars that are pretty fun . My favorite thing to play right now is my Thunderbird bass . I love the sound I ’ m getting out of it . I ’ m a smaller dude , so this thing is as big as me , if not bigger . I just love the feel of that instrument , but my Epiphone Les Paul custom is pretty special to me . It ’ s really what I learned on ; it ’ s my sister ’ s guitar that she handed down to me . She was pretty hip and cool back in the day , and played a lot , but that thing has been there since the beginning of my journey and , and the first thing I had the confidence to write a song on . After making this record , we bought an Epiphone Casino . It ’ s beautiful . We flew to Toronto to finish up the record at Warne ’ s for some of the overdubs , and we use his Epiphone Casino John Lennon , and I loved how it played . I loved its sound , and it felt great . And so , I left there wanting to get one of these . I was like , ‘ I can ’ t afford to spend $ 3,500-45,00 on a guitar right now ; we ’ re making a record .’ So , I went the $ 700 route with the Casino Worn Blue for now , but it ’ s still got a beautiful tone . It ’ s right here to my right , and has been my go-to for the last four or five tracks we ’ ve written .
CM : What advice would you give to newer players for improving their craft ?
Corner : Don ’ t be intimidated , I think is the best advice there is . It ’ s so easy to see . There ’ s just so many talented guitar players out there . And it ’ s easy to turn on even a tutorial on YouTube and just be totally daunted and intimidated . So , I would say
just go at it with a sense of real curiosity and humility . And remember , as long as you ’ re strumming , you ’ re doing more than others . And you ’ ll get there . I would say don ’ t try to model yourself after your favorite guitar player . Don ’ t necessarily try to hold yourself to account on that . Just play to feel and play because it ’ s friggin ’ fun .
CM : What is one instrument or piece of gear you ’ d next like to acquire ?
Corner : I ’ ve always wanted a Strat . I don ’ t have one . But instrument-wise in general , honestly , I want to figure out the drums . I love playing my guitars , but through the process of making this record , we had Blake Manning playing drums on the record . He ’ s incredible . And just watching him and really hearing some of the elements he brought , that really changed the dynamic of the songs . I want to figure that instrument out . There just seems something fun about bashing the hell out of some skins on the stage .
Manus Hopkins is the Assistant Editor of Canadian Musician . He can be reached at mhopkins @ nwcworld . com .
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