musical - Gary Mullins - Professional Guitarist

Playing Wicked with LMTO – The London Musical Theatre Orchestra

September 29, 2015PermalinkLive Work, Theate Workchoir, incredible, line6, LMTO, london, music, musical, of, orchestra, piece, play, show, Sound, theatre, through, wicked Leave a comment

The London musical theatre orchestra is a relatively new organisation designed to take famous works and extend them to orchestral playing. The integrity of the original works is kept, however where necessary additional parts are arranged to accommodate extra members of the orchestra not normally present in the show’s stage counterparts.

The most recent production, that I had the honour to perform, was the music of Wicked, as part of a 100 piece orchestra which included 40 voices!

The music was orchestrated for two guitars of which I was Guitar One. This particular part had the majority of the electric guitar parts and included passages requiring me to use an Ebow and Seek Wah sound amongst typical heavy distortions and shimmery cleans. There were a lot of interesting suspended chord voicings, searing lead lines and some delicate chord and arpeggio work. A real workout!

There are many ‘corners’ in the music of Wicked, involving lots of time signature changes and variations in feel. In order to navigate these we had a rehearsal in the afternoon and a full run-through with the choir in the evening. The sound was incredible, and it was a real buzz to play this music in such a setting.

It was a shame we couldn’t perform the music to an audience (due to rights issues), however I am hopeful that the opportunity will arise in the near future. The next show will be the Sound of Music, however I will be otherwise engaged elsewhere, so I will have two wait for the next one! Do check out the LMTO, as it’s a fantastic organisation!

’13’ at the Radlett Centre

February 25, 2015PermalinkTheate Work13, 16, 3120, acoustic, aer, albans, blues, bucks, centre, electric, guitar, guitarist, ibanez, junior, martin, musical, omc, radlett, repair, rg, st., teacher, theatre Leave a comment

Last week I played guiyar for the ‘Sticks and Stones’ production of ’13’ – a youth show about a Jewish lad moving from New York to a sleepy town, and the trials and tribulations of coming-of-age and making friends in a new place.

The music is very eclectic, covering a number of different genres including Death Metal, Reggae, Funk, and beautiful acoustic ballads.

Electric and acoustic guitars are required for this show, and quite fortunately there are not many rapid guitar changes as these are mainly done between numbers.

There are two guitar parts, and as on similar shows I had to compile both into one, reading from both pads and using a series of post-it notes to indicate what to read from which pad. It’s pretty rapid at times, but I relish the challenge to concentrate so much throughout a show. I also really enjoyed the diversity of the music and trying hard to play as authentically as possible with the tools at my disposal.

Most of the sonic variation was was modified via the selector switch on my electric guitar. The switching on the Ibanez RG3120 is really versatile, giving you power and delicacy with ease.

I did the show a few years back and really enjoyed it, and it’s nice to get my hands around it again with more experience under my belt. I look forward to doing it again too!

Sweet Charity with Abingdon Operatic Society

November 2, 2014PermalinkTheate Work60, abingdon, aer, amey, band, big, blues, charity, classical, compact, electric, fender, guitar, junior, les, musical, operatic, paul, raimundo, society, sweet, tango, theatre Leave a comment

I’ve just come to the end of a run of Sweet Charity at the Amey Theatre with the Abingdon Operatic Society. This is the second time I’ve done the show, and I had a real blast doing it.

The music is really interesting, and in many ways quite unlike any other show that I’ve done. The pad is quite unhelpful, really, since it has some directions for the guitarist (such as ‘no amp’ or ‘all on highs’) which aren’t straightforward to interpret! Having said that there are a variety of different styles (big band and tango are the highlights for me) that you have to cover, as well as interesting time signature changes.

A lot of the show is in 2, so quite rapid for much of it, and this requires a good knowledge of lots of chord shapes in each area of the neck.

I mainly used my Les Paul and Raimundo classical for the run, and these guitars did a great job to cover the disciplines required. Playing the Raimundo with a Tango feel was great fun, and sounded pretty raunchy to my ears!

The theatre appeared to be packed every night which was exciting to see, and all appeared to enjoy the production.

It’s now time for me to concentrate my energies into a completely different show, as next week I’ll be playing in Avenue Q at the Court Theatre in Tring. The writing and instrumentation is very different to Charity, so it’s going to be good fun and a good challenge.

Jesus Christ Superstar

April 23, 2014PermalinkTheate Work24, acoustic, andrew, christ, custom, electric, guitar, jesus, line6, lloyd, martin, musical, paul, pod, reed, royal, slough, smith, superstar, theatre, webber, windsor Leave a comment

Just before Easter I was involved in a production of Jesus Christ Superstar at the Theatre Royal, Windsor. While I didn’t get to see the production itself, it sounded fantastic as the band were great musicians directed by a fantastic musical director. We were left largely to interpret the music how we saw fit, which gave me a lot of room to express myself and put my own stamp on this iconic musical.

I used my Paul Reed Smith Custom 24 Artist pack guitar for the majority of the run, along with my trusty Martin acoustic.

The music is consistent throughout the show, and there are no natural opportunities to change from electric to acoustic, therefore I had have my acoustic mounted in a playing position beside me so I could play it still wearing my electric. This system worked ok, although it wasn’t ideal! Still, I’d have rather have a true acoustic sound than compromise, so it was worth the stretch!

I had to use my POD as an amp sim to keep the volume down in the pit, and I thought it sounded lovely, and took the sound of my pedal board well.

I felt the run was brilliant – really consistent and a great show with fun music to dig into, be expressive and delicate in equal measure. I can’t wait to do it again!

Sweet Charity

June 23, 2012PermalinkGigs, Theate Work175, 60, aer, charity, compact, court, es, gibson, musical, sweet, theatre, tring Leave a comment

I’m currently playing on Sweet Charity for the Tring Festival Company at the Court Theatre in Tring.

The score requires me to play a Jazz semi acoustic, and a classical guitar since it’s largely made up of big band and flamenco style parts. It’s quite a challenging pad because a lot of is counted in two which makes reading it a bit tricky at times. There are some uptempo pieces in 3/4 too which are quite exciting!

I’m running my Gibson ES175 and my Manuel Raimundo classical through my AER compact sixty. I’ve got a touch of slap-back delay on the 175 for a 60’s vibe and that’s about it! It’s a nice, practical set up that sounds great and is really easy for the sound guys to work with. Lovely!

Sitting-in on Wicked

April 6, 2011PermalinkTheate Workguitar, london, musical, wicked Leave a comment

I’ve just boarded a tube train leaving Victoria Station in Central London having just had the best seat in the house at Wicked The Musical in London. I was in the pit, between Keys 1 and the Guitar player!

It was fantastic. I got to watch one of the top players in London play the part for one of the most exciting shows out at the moment, and it was fascinating. It was really interesting to see how he interpreted the music, and added his own style to the part.

It’s quite a complicated pad – lots of Ebow and ‘seek-wah’ which really help give the magical vibe of the show, and many changes to acoustic and back to electric.

The acoustic guitar parts require some explanation because there isn’t a real acoustic guitar being used! Instead it’s a Line6 Variax, and it’s necessary because it has banjo, jumbo acoustic, and 12-string acoustic sounds available whenever they’re required. It’s an important choice instrument-wise because without it there wouldn’t be enough room for all of the other acoustic instruments that are required – it’s really cramped down there!

This was the second time I’ve had the privilege of sitting in through the show and it was just as fascinating as the first. I really enjoy the music of Wicked, there are passages of real tension, lush heavily distorted lead and rhythm sections, as well as really sensitive acoustic and clean parts. The addition of the Ebow makes for a slightly more complicated experience – you have to be really on the ball to get in position, but also be accurate when sliding up and down one string.

This is the sort of gig I’m working towards. I have been working hard on my reading and putting myself into challenging environments to give me a better chance of hitting these West End heights. I think it’s going well, and I have another show in a couple of weeks which is testing my own banjo playing, only this time it’s a real one! I’ll be playing in Seussical at the Elgiva Theatre in Chesham on 21/4 and 23/4 – come down!