Kaki King Interview Part 1

[SuperNoobTroll]

the intro is pretty lame

[JsRf13]

It's ridiculous that people say Kaki is 'stealing' from Hedges or Reed just because she plays in a similar style. If you were smart enough to educate yourself before you so stupidly commented, you would know that this is not the only style she plays in. Besides, your argument is just broken; by your logic, all blues guitarists are ripping off the genre's progenitor. Same with funk, metal, post-rock, any genre. Get your close-minded head out of the gutter and realize that she is TALENTED.

[abossinger]

@JsRf13 Well said! As a guitar player, you're not only correct, you're dead on!!

[deaconwalken]

Get your tongue out of her asshole Gary! Your not a dog are you Gary?

[petrofski88]

-_-'

Who cares if she makes whomever remind of whoever else??? as long as what she plays sounds good?!

Jeez... she is THE perfect type of artist: she makes the music "for herself" (I bet) so not "for others" and she has her style/likes/flows/waves (everything you are and imagine derives from what has surrounded you since you were born... just like dreams).

And she's awesome! The music is warm, soft and nice to hear either you're on the train, working, chillin!...

Cheers

[culturalicon]

If she is annoyed by the comparisons here is an idea - don't play any of the Hedges style rip-offs that she's written over the years that made her famous.

[MrBombard0]

she didn't seem annoyed. In fact she used the word flattering.

[culturalicon]

when she says "it's really flattering" she is talking about the comment from Rolling Stone about being a genre unto herself. I took her distancing herself from Hedges and Reed (their music is "old" and apparently unpopular now) as being annoyed or, I suppose more accurately, that she sees herself as something newer and better.

[Saviortune32]

hey guys its 70 degrees in cranston with a slight chance of summmmmerrrr!!!i love kaki king/

[redking15ca]

I think it was dumb, how about antoine dufour and andy mckee, don ross, ect.

their careers werent 20 years ago

[photopicker]

lots of great players and few who wish to endure the reality of a career in music ...

[dhunragh]

how many guys have seen the movie august rush man the guitar part right from the beggening till the movie ends is played by her only the tapping part

[oberones]

the fact that she took risks in her career is something many artists ought to do more. This Lass will shine long after many of the others have gone. Even though she might gain from her art, I believe she will continue and would continue even if all she gained was a peacefulness for her self and those whom she loves. How could anyone buy a slow summers evening with friends and the spirit of the artistic talents of kaki resonate the coolness of the air?

[iamjezuzchrist]

You cannot suppress originality. If everybody would just follow their true nature...

[r3No1]

omg, she speaks english

[sarahj108]

Wait. What?

[playerthe2nd]

yeeeesss, thats what they speak in America you know.

[phatrhombus]

I first heard kaki king about three years ago. about six or seven years after I heard kottke, hedges, etc. I think she is an amazing artist, and an excellent musician. just because she sounds like those other guys doesn't mean she sucks. it's all relative. lay off her, she's fucking amazing, deal with it.

[yesveldigbra]

I guess iv benn listening too long to people like Don Ross and Michael hedges and Antoine Dufour to find her particular good.

[xxgypseerosexx]

I think honestly who cares if she is a guitar god or not? her guitar playing is AMAZING!

[MrPieGuy]

No. Her music is enjoyable to listen to, sure, but she is far from a guitar god of any kind.

[mickcivic]

Cool man, now that you've voiced your opinion, let's hear some of your stuff.

[Zman72]

Stop defending this horrible horrible musician. Loslo is absolutely right. She's incredibly untalented, she has to slow down to play parts she has trouble with(true sign of a novice guitarist).

She's such an arrogant pompous idiot. "Guitar God" my ass. More like "barely mediocre female".

[mickcivic]

Zman, I'm not defending her. Nowhere did I even say that I like her music. But I would like to hear some of loslo's music, since, judging by his comment, he's an amazing musician and I want to jump on the bandwagon early.

[alexbericheath]

She has to slow down to play parts she has trouble with? Doesn't that go for all musicians? What else would you do? Are you one of these inanely fast shredders that never slows down because you have each one of your fingers trained to play the same shapes across the whole fretboard every day of your life? Kaki King - in my opinion - is a very talented woman. She's doing something different with her songwriting and she's doing it well. She has a following. Do you?

[danghippies]

i agree......even Brain May the guitarist from Queen had trouble playing the solo part in Bohemian Rhapsody, brian may is widely regarded as one of the worlds guitar greats. also Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin always has troubles playing a clean riff without several mistakes (the evidence is in their live performances), and hes another guitar great....

[slayerofgods425]

well she does use a 5/4 time and irregular timing constantly shich makes her music more complex.

[mineheadX1]

anyone who's studied music for more than 3 months can play in odd time, God help the morons who still think this belongs only to prog bands and "guitar-Gods"...this world has been so dumbed down by bad music that when someone shows up that has a modicum of talent, the mainstream media thinks they've discovered Beethoven all over again...this chick's solo guitar is good, her latest band work is very "average"...she needs work on band compositions...she's got great rhythm though...

[Adriancrazysir]

this can't be possible especially since she's been trained on drums. When she performed using a loop pedal, her time was perfectly in sync with the drums. this is very hard to do, and she pulled that off.

[carrier5555]

You, Zman72 and every other negative comment on her are STUPID in every sense of the word. Maybe you enjoy rules too much and havent realized that tempo is part of the music and can flow freely and shape the music how it should be, music isnt about being amzing or not, its about the feeling and technician of it. If she feels that its right and that those tempos construct the song how she feels it should be then she is an amazing musician. Screw you asshole!

[carrier5555]

You, Zman72 and every other negative comment on her are STUPID in every sense of the word. Maybe you enjoy rules too much and havent realized that tempo is part of the music and can flow freely and shape the music how it should be, music isnt about being amzing or not, its about the feeling and technician of it. If she feels that its right and that those tempos construct the song how she feels it should be then she is an amazing musician. Screw you asshole!

[flyhead2]

Agree with every word exept for the coda. There are so many misanthropes that surf YouTube simply to disparage that it takes some fortitude not to sink to their level; I do understand and share your frustration and pique.

[winkedinkie]

'guitar god' ...f yeah!

[auldstock]

dont really agree with the preston reed comments! i still go see him every now and again and he still blows me and all my friends away! and when i play his songs at house parties they always go down a storm!!!!

[doinaheckuvajob]

She is fantastic. People forget Michael Hedges, he was an originator of the style she plays... he was more intricate, but Kaki's talent for a beautiful composition is boundless and such a gift. Wow.

[Zman72]

Uggghhh you are such a puppet. She is soooo talentless.

[ephixius]

Ability to make enjoyable music is talent in my personal opinion. She may not have the dexterity of slash or antoine dufour, but she makes good music and she's not "talentless." She's better than I am, probably better than you are and MOST people producing music out there. No, she's not a guitar God by MY standards, but either is Slash or Malmstein--because I can't make myself listen to them. I idolize mckee, dufour, villareal, etc... it's pointless to bash others' taste in music.

[thesigh]

those hosts love one another and it makes me feel happy.

[mellodei]

what does she say at 3:51? 'it usually involves being upset about something... possibly some ____?' i feel so left out :(

[imthomyorke]

she said "possibly some percocet"

[lukeashmoore]

She is officially a new hero of mine for so many reasons.

[luvTNS87]

how old is she?

[lukeashmoore]

mid 20's

[buckdich1]

Marry me woman!

[lukeashmoore]

if your a girl your request is valid. If not then it may pain you to learn she is a lesbien! :)

[NakedInmate]

i'd heard similar kinda guitaring by rodrigo y gabriela, but kaki's playing it all herself. that's crazy. love the vid

[katanamanatee]

Preston Reed only came to promenance just over ten years ago... Sure he isn't a peer but her over the top of the neck playing is pretty much text book Reed. Comparing her to him is fair, she uses the same make of guitar, same tunings and same style of playing...

She is good, but hardly a genre unto herself in the realms of solo guitar. Her looping stuff is cool though.

[mymentor]

How typical that this comment, a reasoned and well-thought-out one, would illicit the ole' thumbs downs by certain predictably unintelligent tubers.

Anyway, well said. Everything you say is correct, by the way.

[katanamanatee]

Thank you my friend, it is not as if I even dissed on her either ha ha. I just disagree with the "genre unto herself" because she hasn't done much to depart from what has already been done on solo guitar for more than a decade and blatently sounds like a Preston Reed copy at times.

She is a very skilled player, she just needs to find her own solo guitar voice, right now it sounds too much like she is just borrowing Reed's.

[abbeylovesthebeatles]

hey, i met kaki at one of her concerts! she so cool!

[thenerocomplex]

she's really really awesome and so cute!

[kurt990]

Thank you so much for this!

Kaki King Rocks!