O Matter Their Level of Achievement Or Fame, Most Guitar

a blues album, Fire Red Moon, on the Blind Pig label. A mix of originals and covers, it’s highlighted by “Lie To Me,” with lead vocals by Noah Hunt, of the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band. There are also renditions of Robert Johnson’s “Crossroads,” an instrumental take on Albert King’s “Born Under A Bad Sign,” a cover of Muddy Waters’ “Rollin’ And Tumblin’,” and originals that reflect Chaquico’s time spent listening to Cream, Hendrix, ZZ Top, and other acts. What prompted you to pick up a guitar? You were right in their demographic wheelhouse when the Beatles hit the U.S. I was just start- ing to play guitar at the time. My first instrument was the accordion, and I’ve heard that Clapton played one... o matter their level of achievement or fame, most I guess it was p o p u l a r guitar players spent time “in the trenches” – jamming with our in garage bands, playing clubs, maybe getting to tour parents; regionally. But Craig Chaquico didn’t kick it much my dad p l a y e d with kids of questionable talent or inclination. Instead, by accor- the time he was 17, Chaquico (pronounced cha-KEY-so) was dion and jamming with the likes of Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady, sax, but I gravitated and the Grateful Dead. • Growing up 100 miles from San to guitar be- Francisco, Chaquico took to the cause of the city’s music scene at a young Beatles, and age. “We’d pile in a van and go there wasn’t a lot of accordion music to concerts at Winterland, get on the radio (laughs)! home at four in the morning, get grounded,” he recalled, laughing. “But really, I dug [being grounded], because I’d sit in my room, listening to records and learning to play guitar.” At age 14, he was invited to join a band radio-oriented pop. Ultimately, with a bunch of “grown-ups.” Chaquico would serve as the only “My English teacher heard my band member to play on every Jef- play, and then asked me to join his,” he ferson Starship/Starship album. said. The gig presented some unique After the original Starship challenges. “To get into clubs, I had to stopped recording in the wear a fake mustache and lie about my late ’80s, Chaquico shifted age,” he said. But it proved worthwhile, his focus to a solo career as as the English teacher’s circle of friends a jazz/new-age guitarist. included members of Jefferson Airplane. His work – still rooted in “One thing led to another, and next blues and rock – proved thing you know, I’d met all the these popular, and since 1993 he My mom and dad were really supportive, people I used to go see at concerts, and a recorded 10 solo albums, being musicians when they were younger. couple years later, I was in the studio with selling more than a mil- They knew it was a tough road to make them – Graham Nash, David Crosby, Jerry lion copies and charting #1 a living playing an instrument, so they Garcia, Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady... singles and albums in the insisted I keep my grades up. That was It was a great time. genre. He was also chosen the leverage – if I kept my grades up, I “As corny as it sounds, we were kind of a Best Pop Instrumental could play guitar. family. It was neat to play with them – we Guitarist in Guitar Player’s Did any particular music or player were on the same page. In the late ’60s/ annual readers’ poll win- motivate you? early ’70s, it was part of the counterculture ner, and landed on Jazziz My older brother’s record collection movement; there was your parents’ music, magazine’s list of 100 most really spun my head around. I was 14 or the Vietnam War, and then there was us. infuencial jazz guitarists of 15... maybe younger, when I discovered his It was a great opportunity.” all time. His 1994 effort, headphones and Jimi Hendrix’s Are You After recording and touring with Jef- Acoustic Planet, garnered Experienced? album. That changed my ferson Airplane’s Grace Slick and Paul a Grammy nomination life, man! I didn’t know anybody could Kantner for their early-’70s side projects, for Best New Age album. play guitar like that; I’d been listening to he was invited to join their primary band Now entering his fifth the Beatles and a lot of great music – the in the mid ’70s as it moved away from decade in music, Cha- Stones – but when I heard Hendrix, it its San Francisco sound to harder rock, quico recently went turned my life around. I remember once and changed its name from Jefferson retro by releasing when I was supposed to be babysitting, Airplane to Jefferson Starship. In the mid/ and when my brother and his wife came late ’80s, the band dropped “Jefferson” home, I was sitting there with headphones from its name and focused on making on while their kids were having a pillow Photo: Pat Johnson. 42 VINTAGE GUITAR February 2013 VintageGuitar.com fight, jumping on the furniture... I was When I look at my playing – and I said ’90s, when you stepped away from Not really. I’ve always felt that my oblivious! this to Blind Pig when we were talking Starship and started making jazz/new musical inspiration has been blues-based, So it must have been a real trip for about a blues record, because I was a age music? but rock-influenced. Being in Jefferson you, as a gung-ho 15-year-old, to end little apprehensive. I told them, “My Well, a lot of that was because an Starship, we had to wear a lot of hats, and up in the thick of it. blues roots don’t go back all the way to acoustic guitar was more welcome around I often found myself thinking, “God, do It really felt that way at the time. There Robert Johnson and Albert King, they the house during my wife’s pregnancy they know I’m faking this right now?” was kind of a reality check So, doing an acoustic record because I was still in school. taking the same inspirations Being in a band with my gave it a different intensity, and English teacher helped my gave me a recognizable style. English grades (laughs), but I Part of that was taking the had to go through some stuff. acoustic guitar and modify- I was still riding my bicycle ing it so it would be more to school, then on weekends like a Les Paul or one of my doing sessions with some of Carvin V220s, with bigger my heroes. But I learned pretty frets and the wider neck; I did early that it’s not just about some things to make it more partying. You have to take it comfortable to do electric seriously. When I was asked techniques besides the actual to move to San Francisco fingerstyle or flatpicking that to record the first Jefferson you expect on an acoustic Starship album, Dragon Fly, I guitar. I was able to do bends was thinking, “Well, I can go with the higher frets; I’d do back to college, or go to San blues bends and hammer-on Francisco and play in this band techniques, slide, and all kinds with Grace Slick!” rock influences showed up on What was life like, being my acoustic records. But on a rock star. my acoustic guitar and with Depends on how you define a little bit mellower beat, it “rock star.” I had the best job was perceived as smooth in the world – playing guitar jazz, new age, instrumental, in a band. I had to pinch contemporary instrumental, myself every morning. Be- or whatever. To me, it’s still ing that young, it was such a rock and roll, or soft blues. blessing, being around great Lately, I’ve been bringing in musicians and songwriters, some of the tunes I wrote in learning about guitars and Jefferson Starship, like “Jane” amps. I remember how it was for example, or “Find Your such an eye-opener, working Way Back,” and they went on recording; it’s not the same over really well with the “jazz as giving a good performance. crowd.” I thought to myself, “A It’s another art form, re- lot of us grew up with rock and ally. And the music business roll,” but as you get older, your wasn’t like what it became tastes broaden. A lot of people later – everybody was into the who listened to Jefferson camaraderie and expressing Airplane or Starship started themselves through the band. listening to jazz-orientated There were no serious ego stuff – their tastes evolved. problems or butting heads, Still, it surprised me that and the last thing we expected rock went over so well in that were platinum records. setting. One of your best-known Was there any particular licks is the opening of “Find reason you decided to do a Your Way Back,” from Jeffer- blues album? son Starship’s 1981 album, I thought it would be fun to Modern Times. There’s a do something blues-based – a country song getting a lot little more rock-oriented – not of radio play right now that screamin’ rock or anything, borrows heavily from that but energetic in places. It was lick – “Something To Do just something I loved and With My Hands.” Have you (TOP LEFT CLOCKWISE) In the era of on his main guitar, a Carvin V220.

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