We recently connected with Carole Pellatt and have shared our conversation below.

Carole, appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I started playing guitar by ear when I was 11. My sister and a few of her friends would show me chords, and I’d watch them playing songs and emmerse myself it in it. I listened to music through great stereos and fabulous headphones endlessly. Then, if there was a song I wanted to learn, I put the vinyl on and started trying to translate what I was hearing to my instrument. Because I learned almost everything by ear, my ability to visualize what I was hearing onto my instrument became very fast. Great musicians have taught me that, “You’re only as good as your ears”. There is no other way to sharpen the foundation of your musical ability than to use your ears to learn. When I was 13, I ordered the book “A Modern Method For Guitar” by William Leavitt from the Berklee College of Music. That book opened my eyes to the world of musical notation, and the exercises and songs were wonderful for technique. Learning to read music is an invaluable skill. I think my trajectory to learning guitar happened as it was supposed to. It would have been wonderful to have had an instructor or mentor at that time to help me to understand the most efficient way to press the strings, hold the guitar in the most ergonomic way, develop accelerated practicing techniques and help me to recognize my strengths and weaknesses. But that would come at a later time. So I think it all worked out perfectly, because I had been playing many years professionally and honing my instincts before I met my first mentor, so I had already put in a lot of work on my own. I didn’t feel that there were any obstacles to learning more. I used every medium available, played and interacted constantly with other players, and kept putting the time in, on my instrument.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Being a “freelance guitarist” is a term not everyone understands. But it generally means you are available to play in almost any situation, configuration, scenario, or style that someone would need.

Music, like all art, lives large inside of you. But there is no roadmap to success, as everyone who succeeds in becoming a professional artist has forged their own pathway to it. I got in to my industry by performing with every opportunity that came my way.

I also started teaching guitar when I was fifteen, and it completes a huge circle of exponential learning when you teach what you are practicing.

Because my musical tastes are diverse, over the years I learned to play many different styles of music. I have been a freelance guitarist for decades now.

A month’s worth of gigs may entail a solo fingerstyle background gig at a function, private or public. I may be playing electric lead guitar in a band or playing in showband for a theatre show. Sometimes I’m in a band of freelancers backing up an artist who has come to town perform. I may be recording guitars for someone’s musical project, or playing live in a duo. You will also see in concerts with bands I’ve put together myself.

Freelance musicians have to have a large skillset to make a living playing, so sometimes it is difficult in a phrase or two to describe all the different scenarios you find yourself in. The business skillset for a musician and someone like myself who teaches as well, run a close parallel.

For me, it begins with absolutely loving what you. I feel that way both as a player and as a teacher. Understanding the profound effect that music has upon people inspires you to share it. Staying organized allows you to perform a multitude of professional tasks, and keep the focus on the joy as you go. So as a player, I am always prepared, practiced, professional and inspired. As an instructor, I have been in so many teaching scenarios, from teaching one on one, teaching guitar and theory classes in colleges, directing music camps and coaching bands.

When you go to my website you will see separate pages dedicated to the services I offer: Solo Guitarist, Freelance Guitarist, guitarist in my own band – BONEYARD, and playing with other bands such as: Freddie Duran Plan, or another group made up of other freelancers. On my website you will as well see a page dedicated to guitar instruction.

I see “clients” as people who love music. People who hire me to play live for their functions care enough about their guests or special occasion to provide live music. I see my students the same way. It is a great joy for me to share my music with people, be it in a performance situation, or an instructional one.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The rewards are truly too numerous to mention individually. Being a musician has allowed me share my joy with others. Because music is an international language, I can travel anywhere in the world with guitar in hand and have strangers treat me like family. Music is a healing force, it is a peaceful force. The power of music has peppered the landscape of my life with people. emotions, and experiences that will always be a part of me.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I think the most important part of this answer is that there are no non-creatives. We are all born creative, and our brains engage creativity on a daily basis. Math is music, music is math. So even if people are making a living in a non-creative field, that doesn’t mean they aren’t creative. Listening to music is creative. The person who appreciates art in any form is tapping into their creative spirit. So if someone thinks they are non-creative (although I’ve never met anyone who didn’t have creativity), they first need to realize that to be human is to be creative. So it’s up to each one of us to discovery the creative spirit within us. Be inspired by someone or something, and that will get the river flowing.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.carolepellatt.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clpellatt
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkZyJ2D9RmdDsd9JYa4Bi-A