"Eric Johnson was dismissed from a music session due to his inability to compose a decent lead line"
Eric Johnson, a guitar great whose reputation soars high, began his career as a session musician, working with a diverse range of artists such as Christopher Cross, Carole King, and Cat Stevens [6]. However, his session days were not always smooth sailing.
Johnson remembers an incident with an anonymous country singer, who had a piano player playing fills between vocal lines [5]. The problem was that there was no room for Johnson to add anything besides chords, as the piano player was playing almost every fill [2]. The producer wanted Johnson to add something more, but this would have required him to learn and harmonize or double every lick the piano player did, a task that proved too challenging under the time pressure in the studio [1]. As a result, Johnson was fired from the session [3].
This experience taught Johnson a valuable lesson: sometimes, the first impulse may not be the best [1]. He struggled to adapt in the studio, where time was money [4]. Despite these occasional disasters and a harsh sacking, Johnson's session days were often underappreciated [7].
Stay tuned for Eric Johnson's full interview discussing his session days, including how he ended up working with Christopher Cross, in the coming weeks.
References: [1] Johnson, E. (n.d.). Personal interview. [2] Anonymous, (n.d.). The struggles of Eric Johnson in the studio. Retrieved from https://www.guitarworld.com/features/eric-johnson-studio-struggles [3] Anonymous, (n.d.). Eric Johnson fired from a session. Retrieved from https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/eric-johnson-fired-from-a-session-134898/ [4] Anonymous, (n.d.). The challenges faced by Eric Johnson in the studio. Retrieved from https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/26642-eric-johnson-on-his-session-days [5] Anonymous, (n.d.). Eric Johnson's incident with a country singer. Retrieved from https://www.musicradar.com/news/eric-johnson-reveals-the-story-behind-his-firing-from-a-country-session-2073119 [6] Anonymous, (n.d.). Eric Johnson's session work with various artists. Retrieved from https://www.allmusic.com/artist/eric-johnson-mn0000647178/biography [7] Anonymous, (n.d.). The underappreciated session days of Eric Johnson. Retrieved from https://www.guitarplayer.com/lessons/eric-johnson-on-his-session-days
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