Steve Trovato Interview: Jazz Country Guitar

By: Dr. Matt Warnock
Photo Credit: Peter Figen

Photo Credit: Peter Figen

Making a living in today’s music business is tough on the best of days. It seems that the sun has set on the days when one could be just a studio musician, only play gigs or simply teach a few lessons a day and make a living as a guitarist, at least enough to pay the bills and get by. As those days came and went, many talented and hard-working musicians fell by the wayside, finding themselves unable to cope with the fast-changing musical environment, while others saw what was happening and adapted along the way, fashioning solid careers out of hard times.

Steve Trovato is an artist that firmly fits into the latter category. By keeping his irons in many fires, including performing, recording, writing books and teaching, Steve has managed the weather the storm that has ravaged the music industry in recent decades, and actually come out on the other side a stronger musician with an enviable career, which seems to be a rarity on today’s scene.

But, for those who know Steve’s music, being adaptive doesn’t come as a surprise. Mixing country and jazz in a unique fashion, Trovato has developed a personalized voice on the guitar, one that not only blends the best of these two genres, but that intertwines them in a new and exciting way.

With two records completed and a third in the works, as well as a long series of successful instructional publications, Trovato seems to be doing just fine, regardless of how the rest of the industry is holding up. With these successes behind him one might think that an artist of Steve’s caliber might be thinking of slowing down, but, with everything he’s got going on, it seems like the guitarist is just getting started.

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Matt Warnock: You’re music is described as country jazz, how did you become inspired to meld these two styles together to form your own unique voice?

Steve Trovato: I first started taking formal guitar lessons at about 10 years old. I was playing piano until then. My teacher was a great jazz musician and taught me about jazz guitar, harmony and standard repertoire. I was in a band after playing for only about 6 months.

My jazz playing was coming along nicely until I saw my first rock band. I was watching an old television show called Ed Sullivan when I was about 10 years old, and noticed that the girls were screaming for the rock bands and not the pianists. Now I want to become a rock guitar player.

I became fascinated with guitar and practiced 8 to 10 hours per day for years transcribing everything I could get my hands on. My favorite rock guitar players are the usual suspects: Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Richie Blackmore, and Jeff Beck. In the days before garage band, logic, Transkriber, and other software that slows down music while maintaining pitch, I had to record music on a small tape recorder and then slow the tape down. Of course it would sound an octave lower than played. It took forever.

I was simultaneously still very interested in jazz and would transcribe Pat Martino, George Benson, Joe Pass, Herb Ellis and the other greats of the day. I continued taking my jazz lessons and was fortunate to study with some of the greats: Chuck Wayne, Tal Farlow, Pat Martino and Harry Leahey.

I really never drew a thick black line between styles. As Ray Charles said, “Notes is Notes.” I like that. That has become my philosophy and my style has evolved from it. Now I’m blending jazz, rock, classical and everything else.

When I heard Chet Atkins I was hooked. I was amazed that he could be playing one guitar and make it sound like two. He also had a style that I resonated strongly with. His time and sense of melody are incredible. I learned everything that I could by Chet.

And then my life changed. I got the opportunity to become the country guitar teacher at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood, Ca. where I had just graduated. I didn’t know how to play country guitar at the time, but I said yes to the job and learned by staying one step ahead of the students. Next thing I knew I was on stage playing with my ultimate hero Albert Lee.

I was so scared but did it anyway. Albert is so down to earth and complimentary. We’re friends to this day. So, here I am playing jazz, rock, classical, fingerstyle and country. I couldn’t pick a favorite.

After many years I began to notice that I could play country guitar fairly well and jazz fairly well, and since I don’t blur the lines between genres, my style evolved into what I call Country Jazz. I saw that there may be a niche for my style. I think my style has become unique and in the spirit of the late Danny Gatton. I’m now branding my style country – jazz in order to place myself into a less crowded category.

Steve with Carl Verheyen Photo Credit: Peter Figen

Matt: Because you mix country and jazz together on your albums, and in concert, do you find that some of your audience will come just for the jazz side and some just for the country side, or do people seem to enjoy the mix of both genres together?

Steve: I hope that these days people come to see me as a musician rather than a guitar stylist. I’m trying to lose the moniker of “country guitar player.” I love playing country but there are so many world class country players that it’s difficult to compete.

There are few barn burner country guitar pieces that people always want to hear, but I try to mix it up. I hope that my style has emerged to a point where it has become somewhat unique.

Matt: All of the pics I’ve seen of you are with either a Strat or a Tele. Are you exclusively a fender player and what draws you to these two guitars as your main axes?

Steve: Telecaster’s have become my favorite guitar. They’re extremely versatile and lend themselves to my style. I have many telecasters but my favorite is an LSL. It’s made by a builder in Southern California named Lance Lerman. It sounds spectacular. When I pick it up and play it, there’s no doubt that it’s a killer Tele tone. It’s the best sounding Tele that I own.

I also use a John Suhr telecaster. It’s the most versatile guitar I’ve ever had. I have a Suhr tele pickup in the bridge position and two Suhr Fletcher- Landau Strat pick ups that he added. I have an added a five position switch and had it wired like a Strat.

Although the Telecaster is my favorite guitar, for blues and rock I use a Stratocaster. I find that a Strat is less stiff than a Tele, making strings easier to bend. I have a couple, but use my ’69 mostly. I also use a compound radius on my Strats, from 71/2 to 91/2. Fretting out on high notes is reduced with the flatter neck radius as I move up the neck.

Matt: Want amps and effects do you use and do you have the same rig live as you do in the studio?

Steve: I use the same rig for both Studio and live. Currently I’m using a Fender Vibro King, a Fender Deluxe Reverb, a ’65 Fender Pro- Reverb, a Vox AC4 and a Dumble Overdrive Special.

My Vibro King has been outfitted with new transformers from Mercury Magnetics. Good transformers make all the difference. I’ve found that the difference between good tone and a great tone is about 3%. Mercury Magnetics transformers do the trick. Amazing!

I also have Celestion Gold speakers in the Vibro King. When I need to be louder I use a 1×12 extension cabinet with a Celestion G12H speaker.

My Deluxe Reverb has also been outfitted with Mercury Magnetics transformers. It’s been slightly modified by Alan Cyr to break up a little earlier than stock. It is the perfect blues amp.
My ‘65 Pro Reverb is original except for a couple of modifications by Alexander Dumble. It sings.

My Dumble Overdrive Special is the best amp I’ve ever heard, but I don’t use it anymore. I’m afraid of it being damaged or stolen.

My Pedal board is simple and quiet. I have only a few effects. I use a Keeley compressor, a Suhr Koko boost pedal, a Monte Alums modified Boss Super Overdrive, a distortion pedal made by Alan Cyr that gives me the over the top sound and two delay pedals: Line 6 Echo Park and a T.C. Electronics Nova Delay. I like the Nova because I can get 9 presets.

The cables I use are from Nial at Solid Cables. Again, that 3% tone improvement makes all the difference.

Photo Credit: Peter Figen

Matt: You teach at USC in the prestigious studio guitar department. Do you find that your teaching will inspire your playing, and vice-versa?

Steve: Great Question. I love the energy of the students and the University. They’re very talented, eager to learn and they keep me up on the latest musical trends and technology. I think it’s so important for any teacher to stay current. It would be easy to hide in a teaching studio with no new input and teach the same thing for years. I’d think it would be very boring to a young student.

I get inspiration from both teaching and playing. I learn so much from the students. They’re so excited about learning and are always showing me their favorite player or band on YouTube. Teaching depletes some of my energy as it’s an all giving situation. I get re-vitalized by performing. Performing gets me excited about playing, and helps renew my energy. Like a re- chargeable battery. I bring in all of my new ideas to the students and it’s a perfect trade off.

Matt: How do you approach teaching guitar lessons, do you prefer to teach by ear, from a theoretical standpoint, or a mixture of the two?

Steve: I teach by ear. When I learned how to play growing up I would first learn to play a solo by transcribing it, and then figure out what the guy was doing years later. To me, the way to keep a student excited is to play, play, play. They’ll figure out the theory behind what they’re doing when they need to. I’ll bring theory into the lesson occasionally to make a point.

Matt: Do you feel that young guitarists today need to go through a formal education system, such as USC, in order to give themselves a leg up on someone who moves to a large city and tries to get on a scene in order to start their careers?

Steve: I’ve found that the paradigm of the music business has changed radically. The days of bands getting signed to major recording contracts are virtually over. There really is no live scene anymore. In this day and age, musicians tend to be much more hands on. Musicians write, produce, record, market and distribute their music using the internet. This process sometimes becomes a little inbred and isolated because many musicians tend not to venture out of their comfort zone or mix with other like-minded musicians.

I think that a formal education provides students with a broad overview of music as a codified language. There are many reasons to have a formal education in music, not the least of which is the mingling of ideas and thoughts with other like-minded musicians. A trained musician is much better able to communicate his ideas to other musicians.

So, yes, I think that a formal education builds confidence and adds credibility to any musician.

Matt: You’ve released two albums to date, do you have plans for a third album in the works?

Steve: Yes indeed. I’m in the planning stages of a new CD of acoustic Americana music. The CD will be entitled Heartland and feature all acoustic instruments. The instrumentation will be guitar, violin, Dobro, Mandolin and bass. Should be a beautiful sounding project. I don’t know if I’ll do another slammin’ guitar CD for a while. I think that I’ve proven that I can do that, so now I’ll kick back and record some relaxing music.

Matt: How do you balance your careers as a performer, educator and author in a way where you can maintain these aspects at such a high level?

Steve: Maintaining a high level career in so many facets of the music business is endless, tireless, hard work. I wish it were simpler, but it’s not. I work on something literally every day. I keep as many irons in the fire as possible. I realized that a career playing music can be hit or miss and began expanding my career into other areas to create other income streams.

I began writing instructional books, articles and lessons for guitar magazines, doing clinics, studio work, my own CD’s and master classes and teaching. I’m now able to stay busy and be very happy about it. I also have retained Joshua Paul Vittek and Associates. Josh is a publicist and a great one. He helps me to maintain a high visibility in the music industry.