Craig Wagner: Keeping Your Own Counsel

An interview with guitarist and educator Craig Wagner from Louisville, KY. A virtuoso jazz guitarist, Craig also regularly plays as a soloist with major symphony orchestras and has toured and recorded with the platinum-selling rock band Days of the New.

Highlights

• Craig’s unique technique - 11:48
• Improvisation and playing - 14:15
• How you can improvise - 21:04
• Rock music and Pop music - 22:27
• Craig’s College experience - 29:19
• Learning with imitation at first - 30:57
• Trying to avoid things - 34:48
• Listening to it over and over again - 40:59
• How the pandemic has affected his teaching - 41:57
• The nature of music - 43:06
• Years of training for a five-minute audition - 47:06
• Guitar heroes that inspired him - 48:47
• Craig’s life - 52:22
• Being a solo player - 53:07
• Different versions of similar repertoires - 59:49
• His experience playing at orchestras - 1:03:37
• A big learning experience for him - 1:08:21
• Finding a way to approach music - 1:12:31
• Having an amazing trajectory - 1:15:04
• Barriers between two sides of thinking - 1:16:49

Episode Resources

• Connect with Robert Hunt Simonds:
• [email protected] 
• http://roberthuntsimonds.com/
• https://www.instagram.com/simondsviolin/?hl=en 
• https://twitter.com/simondsviolin?lang=en 
• Connect with Craig Wagner
• https://www.facebook.com/craigwagnerguitar 
• http://craigwagnermusic.blogspot.com 
• The Craig Wagner Trio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5qG2Tzu9k8&t=532s 
• Craig's "Autumn Leaves" solo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep15H1X321s 
• Craig with Carly Johnson live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX9ItvRGeU8 
• Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized: https://www.amazon.com/Range-Generalists-Triumph-Specialized-World/dp/0735214484