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Guitar World
Guitar World
Entertainment
E.E. Bradman

“Even if you learn to play bass from YouTube videos, you’re still not self-taught. Autodidactic learning is awesome, but everyone needs a teacher”: How Esperanza Spalding created the most complex music of her career under the guidance of an alter ego

Esperanza Spalding performs on stage during Day 1 of Cruilla Festival at Parc del Forum on July 8, 2016 in Barcelona, Spain. .

It’s been said there are as many ways to write a song as there are songwriters. Some follow a strict regimen to invite the muse, while others depend on the harsh reality of deadlines and bills to inspire their creative process. Still others swear by long walks, prayer, yoga, or just the right psychedelics.

Emily, however, needs none of this. She knows exactly what moves her, and she knows how to get it: Complex chords, hard-hitting drums, multi-tracked vocals, shifting time signatures, loud guitars with overdrive, and theatricality are the things that rock her world, and when it's time to shine, Emily is happy to step up and wail. Oh, and by the way, she never, ever plays upright.

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