An Interview with Don Maloney
IC: So your debut album is "Eight Rivers", and it features ten original songs for solo guitar. What led you to call it "Eight Rivers"?
Don: It was a trip to Jamaica. My girlfriend (now my wife) and I were going on an excursion down the Martha Brae River, which is one of the eight rivers around there, and the Jamaican town Ocho Rios means eight rivers. I was just very inspired by that place, so when I came home I wrote a song about it, and then the album was based off that song I guess!
IC: You're known for playing 7-string acoustic guitar. How did that come about?
Don: Well, let's see... I started out playing 6-string, and did that for a long time. Then I dabbled in bass for a little while, and eventually I got a Chapman Stick. It was very difficult to play, but I loved the possibilities that came along with that extra range. So I looked into 7-string guitar, and then ultimately looked into my 8-string Conklin electric which I play quite a bit, too.
IC: You also have a 7-string fretless that you use on two tracks?
Don: Yeah, on "Walking Like a Fox" and "Prince for a Day". That's a Godin guitar. They make the Glissentar, which is an 11-string instrument modeled after the Oud, and I thought the dimensions were about right for a 7-string. It's a little bit of a narrow neck for it, but I had a friend of mine in Chicago modify it into a 7-string, and it has worked great!
IC: What was it like getting used to playing on a fretless neck?
Don: I'd played a little bit of fretless bass before, and when I got that it wasn't too difficult. It just seemed like it kind of fell into place. The way I was already used to playing was right next to the fret, so it was a fairly easy transition to fretless. Although it did take a little while to get used to the intonation, especially on more than one note at a time (playing triads and things like that).
IC: So what led you to play fingerstyle guitar?
Don: I listened to a lot of James Taylor starting out, but Michael Hedges was probably the biggest discovery for me. I got into him about a year after I started playing guitar. I had been listening to a lot of S.R.V. and Buddy Guy - blues people. So I went into a record store and said, "Alright, I want a guitar player who does something totally different from what I'm listening to", and this guy said, "Michael Hedges is the way to go." So I got "Live on the Double Planet", and it pretty much changed my guitar playing world.
IC: Do you use a thumb-pick when you play fingerstyle?
Don: No, but I use a fingernail on my thumb and a fingernail on my pinky, and I only use the flesh part of my other fingers. With the pinky... I do a lot of this attack where I kinda flick my pinky out to get a harmonic happening or to get more of an accent on the top three strings. It's kind of the opposite direction from the way most fingerstyle players would do it.
IC: So you have a new duo project called "Dual Frequency"?
Don: Yes, that's with an incredible bassist named Ray Riendeau who has played with a lot different players (Gary Hoey, Greg Koch, John 5, Jeff Kollman, Scott Mishoe, Ron Jarzombek, Curtis Reid, Neil Zaza, etc...), and he does some solo work, too. He sent me an email right after I got to Phoenix and said, "I think we live nearby; we should get together and jam", and it turned out we live only a couple of streets away from each other! So we just get together every week and run through songs and write some stuff. It's been a challenging project because he's definitely a very high-caliber player, so it's been a pleasure playing with him.
IC: Are the two of you planning to release an album?
Don: Yeah, we've been busy in the studio recording, and the album should be out in early '08!
IC: I see you have some videos up on YouTube. Are you planning anything else in that department, such as a DVD release?
Don: I'd definitely like to. I get the comment a lot where people hear the CD and say, "Woah! That sounds great!", and then they see me play it and say, "Wow! I didn't know that much was going into it." Personally I don't know how much is going into it! [Laughs] But that's a pretty common comment I get, so YouTube has been good because people can see what I'm doing, and see what Ray is doing, too. So I think that we'll definitely go in that direction. We've got a lot of things in mind. He has been talking about instructional DVD's, and I think he has done that before. So kind of getting me moving in the direction of that, too.
IC: I read that you do some group lessons. Do you also teach privately one-on-one?
Don: Yeah, I teach out of my house. I have about thirty students a week. I try and do a little bit of the
video chat online lessons for people outside of Arizona who want to take lessons. And then I do the group lessons for the city that I live in.
IC: There's a newspaper article online that was written about you and your activity in your city's live music scene. So could you talk a little about that and what you're hoping to accomplish?
Don: Well Surprise, Arizona is one of the fastest growing areas in the United States at this point, but unfortunately the live music scene here isn't keeping up. So I'm just trying to show what can be done. I started an open mic over here that happens every Thursday night, and we have some amazing musicians that show up - people who live within just three miles of the place! So it's just a matter of letting people know that this kind of stuff is going on right nearby. I think there's the demand for it. I mean, people certainly enjoy going to see live music, so it definitely has a lot of potential. I'm just trying to bring it out, because live music was such a big part of my growing up (I lived near Chicago). Here in Surprise it's like, "Wow, John Scofield is playing this weekend", and back in Chicago it was more like, "Do you want to go see John Scofield or Mike Stern tonight?" [Laughs] So there was a lot more going on in Chicago, but hopefully we'll get that going on here as well. At least to some degree with the great local musicians here.
IC: Sounds great! Thanks again for letting us play tracks from your album on The InstruMental Case Podcast, and for the CD giveaway you've offered to the site.
Don: Definitely! I really appreciate what you're doing with the website and the podcast, and I just wanted to say thank you. Hopefully the winner will enjoy the new album!
Essential Don Maloney links:
-- Dave B.