We were lucky to catch up with Mark Navarro recently and have shared our conversation below.

Mark, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I remember in my early teens begging my mom for a guitar. At first, she wasn’t convinced that it would be a wise investment for me. After years of putting me through private piano lessons as a child, I had given up on it.

I understand why she was hesitant at first, but I kept bringing it up and talking about it for a week straight until she caved in and, with the help of my grandma, got me my first guitar. The only stipulation was that they wouldn’t invest any further, and if I wanted to get better, I had to figure it out on my own.

So I got to practicing. I started by learning how to play my favorite pop and rock songs at the time, from “The Temptations” to “Nirvana,” “The Smiths,” “Stevie Wonder,” all the way to “David Bowie” and beyond.

When you teach yourself guitar, you recognize shapes and patterns that anchor your musicianship. There isn’t much thought or meaning to any of it other than it sounds right and feels good to you, but as you learn more songs, you start to see that many songs, especially pop songs, use the same shapes and patterns.

Then I started experimenting with switching these shapes and patterns around. I wondered how things would sound if I flipped them, rearranged them, or played a shape in a different spot on the neck. For years, that’s how I learned, played, and wrote music.

It wasn’t until I started taking music courses in college that I really began to understand it all. The shapes and patterns I had learned now had names, and there were reasons and explanations for why some shapes worked together and why some patterns didn’t work as well.

Music theory was very helpful to my growth as an artist. It added structure and more meaning to what I knew at the time. However, in my opinion, it’s not necessary. I believe that an artist doesn’t need to know everything right then and there to create something. You only need to know exactly what you need to know to express exactly what you want to.

It might sound corny, but to me, music is like a language. When you speak, you say what you mean to say with the words you know how to use. You learn grammar on how to use those words to convey what you want to say.

Music is the same way. There is power in knowing how to precisely convey what you want to express. Timbres, textures, notes, chords, and scales are like words. Music theory is just the grammar on how to use or not use these words.

An old mentor once told me that music theory is like a toolbox. There are tools in your toolbox that you can use in any given situation, but the tools in your box are entirely up to you. You might not have as many tools as another person, but depending on what tools you do have, you may be able to use them unconventionally as long as it gets the job done!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a Filipino American artist born and raised in Baltimore City, Maryland.

From a young age, music has always been a source of comfort and inspiration for me. While I was in school, I found that nothing resonated with me as deeply as music did. As a result, I developed a strong passion for it, which has only grown stronger over the years.

Throughout my creative career, I’ve been fortunate to have had close friends and colleagues who share my love of music. Some of my most cherished memories involve sitting together and listening to our favorite albums, as well as discovering new music from our favorite artists. We would discuss and analyze the songwriting and music theory in great detail, and it was these experiences that truly solidified my love and understanding of music.

I take pride in my ability to support others in their musical endeavors. Whether it’s by playing guitar or keys during a live performance, adding a new instrument to a song, or recording, mixing, and mastering someone’s music, I always strive to bring something unique to every project I work on.

I believe that it’s from my unconventional view on music, writing, and sound crafting; which is all driven by a desire to push the limits of sound and sonic timbre, while still staying within reasonable bounds. For example, as a guitarist, I have a deep appreciation for the conventional sound of the instrument, but I’m always looking for ways to make it sound unique and unexpected.

This approach guides my creative process in all areas of my work.

I find the process of working on someone else’s music to be both challenging and rewarding. It requires a great deal of trust and respect, and I always strive to approach each project with care and attention, ensuring that I’m always working in the best interests of the music.

At the core of everything I do is a deep love and respect for music. I believe that it’s this foundation that allows me to bring something truly special to every project I work on.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

There was a period after my first band disbanded and before I got into producing and audio engineering, where I didn’t really know what to do. I was in a band for 5-6 years and we went on three tours, traveling the US East Coast together. After it all ended, I didn’t know what was next, to be honest.

At least not until I was given a cracked version of Ableton Suite. Soon after, I bought a cheap Scarlett interface and an AKG C214 condenser microphone to start experimenting by recording myself and friends who came over to my house a lot. Back in those days, I used to host weekly open jam sessions, so thankfully there was no shortage of creativity. There would be days where people would come through and jam for hours, and even have rap cyphers. Some people would even bring in ideas to workshop or even to want to record. I gained a lot of experience alone by these weekly jam sessions during these years.

I am very thankful to all the friends I made and retained from those years because I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing now if not for those days.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

It’s funny how, after leaving school for music, I found myself in a huge creative rut. It was ironic because I had gone to school to learn all this theory and musicianship to help me become a better artist.

What ended up happening, in my case, was that I felt pressured to use everything I had learned in 4-5 years. Additionally, I realized that during all those years, it was other people telling me what to play and how to play it. This almost removed a lot of my own creative autonomy.

I don’t mean to say that it was all useless. I did get exactly what I needed from that experience. I just had to unlearn a lot of things that I didn’t need. It took me about 2 years to unlearn much of what I learned in school so I could write and think outside the box again.

Of course, this is just my personal experience.

Contact Info:

• Website: baatchoy.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baat.choy/?hl=en
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/baat_choy?lang=en

Image Credits
Anna Divinagracia Megan Elyse Bryita Herrera