PAUL JACKSON JR. //
IN THE GROOVE
by Doug Doppler
You’ve heard him on records like Thriller, you’ve interested in, and there was a $29 guitar. And [Paul] Pretty much, although I’m learning the
seen him on TV on American Idol, and he’s also that’s what started me on the guitar. banjo legitimately – the five-string banjo with
a chart topping solo instrumental artist. What
you might not know about one of the most
the legit tuning.
[WM] What kind of guitar was it?
successful session players in the business is
[WM] You came up in the Los Angeles area,
that Paul Jackson Jr. is a full-on believer, whose [Paul] It was a Custom Kraft, a blue single the epicenter of the TV and music worlds.
career has been blessed by his obedience to pickup Custom Craft guitar that I still have. When you started playing, were you thinking
God’s leading. Paul’s also a contributor whose
about having a career ‘in the business’?
passion for music includes passing it on to the [WM] That begs the question, how many
next generation! guitars do you own, and do you ever sell them?
[Paul] Not really, because I didn’t decide I
wanted to be a musician until high school.
[WM] Let’s start with the beginning of your [Paul] I very, very rarely sell them, but I’m not Before that I wanted to do what my Dad
musical journey! What drew you to the guitar like a collector. All told including banjos and did, which was electrical engineering at an
and was it your first instrument? mandolins, I probably have about twenty or aerospace center. I was always good at math
thirty guitars. and pretty good at science so that’s really where
[Paul Jackson Jr.] It was piano. At Gardena
I was drawn. It was when I was in my junior year
Valley Music Valley music, and there was a [WM] Years ago, I had a chance to talk of high school, second semester, when a light
drum set in the window that was $369. My with Tommy Tedesco on a studio date and switch kind of went on and I decided to make
Mom said, “That is not going to happen!” So he commented that he tuned everything a change.
we walked into the music store and she asked to standard guitar tuning. Do you do the if there is anything else in there that I might be same thing?
March 2019
[WM] You went to music school at USC –
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