«I guess what underpins everything I do on the guitar is play. The enjoyment comes from just exploring, from not thinking but feeling and experiencing sounds. When I'm starting to form a composition I still see that as playing, I guess arranging the Lego bricks. That’s how I arrived at having a career in solo guitar really. 

There was always an intention to have a career in music or art in some way, but I never had a pre-determined idea of what that would be like, and the guitar playing thing just was the most fun. The music making part, the delivering workshops, the writing tab books, the touring and meeting great people and seeing great places - in fact even visiting not so great places. It's been my real education really.

As for influences, John Martyn was the first person I emulated doing anything percussive. But its important to understand that this was without seeing him. So a lot of percussive techniques and sounds I formed by listening, not seeing. I had a jazz teacher at uni who introduced me to Tuck Andress who did lots of percussive style stuff on the strings too. Again we were using our ear to work out what he was doing. So I guess that process was helpful in getting me to really tune into the guitar itself, even though it might have meant it took longer.»

«Percussive fingerstyle to me is really a technique, or a collection of techniques and approaches to playing the guitar. A way to play the instrument, a way to play where you’re not bound by a right way but instead an intuitive approach that the guitar leads you to. A lot of the techniques to me are logical or make sense, as a way to get the best sounds from the guitar. A lot of these techniques I arrived at naturally, by exploring the instrument and problem solving. I think it shows these approaches are not conventions instead they are as intuitive and universal common sense as walking one foot after the other.

My performances are I suppose simply about trying to show my compositions in the best way possible, or the most authentic way possible. For me this usually means a degree of improvising and ultimately just trying to connect with the instrument whilst using the energy and uniqueness of the space. Its usually a bit of a battle to bring myself back from thinking about the future, worrying about the note Im about to play and to just being in the moment and connecting with my instrument just like I would at home, except with the rocket fuel energy of playing in a new space to new people.»

Chris Woods, October 2023