IN-DEPTH GUITAR INTERVIEW WITH K.K. DOWNING

Interview by Marco "Reddevil" Schmellentin / March 2007

At what age did you seriously decide to start learning / playing an instrument and who inspired you to pick up the guitar? 

I was nearly 16 , my influences were John Mayall with his guitar greats, Clapton, Peter Green, Jimi Hendrix and everyone else that could play. 

What was your first proper guitar? Do you still own it 

It was a Gibson SG Junior, and no, I traded it in for a 2 pick up SG Standard 

Have you ever had lessons or are you an autodidact? 

I had a couple of classical lessons, but couldn’t afford to keep them up so I just got on with the metal. 

What about your knowledge in music theory (read and write music, scales etc.)? 

I can read standard notation, but very slowly. I am very much a guitar tab man now. My knowledge of music scales and theory, I think, is very good. I like to know what I am doing musically at all times. 

Talking about practising the guitar – are you one of the hard working and disciplined guitar players? Are you still practising, nowadays? If yes, how does your practising ‘programme’ look like? 

I don’t have a specific practicing program. I just practise usually when I discover something new. 

Are you doing warm-up exercises before the shows? If yes, what type of exercises are you doing? Scales? Riffs? 

Usually, never often I walk into the gig, get changed and go straight on without playing a note 

On one hand, you are very-well known for your wild whammy solos, on the other hand you can play the quiet, delicate stuff as well. How would you characterise and analyse your style? 

I like to play with as much variety as possible. I just always try to do what is good for the song, if the opportunity arises. I think I could adapt to almost any style, except rap, country etc. 

Both, Glenn and you, are among the most influential guitarists in rock and metal history. You revolutionised the way of double lead guitar playing. There may have been the Scorpions, Wishbone Ash and a lot of great bands with very talented guitarists, but the top spot is yours. Your style of playing matches perfectly to Glenn’s. How did the whole thing grow? I can imagine that it didn’t work that well from the very beginning. 

Well, we kind of thought we were pretty cool from the start, but that was a long time ago. I think it is fair to say that we have grown and developed over a lot of years and hopefully, we can still offer more cool stuff to come. 

Some solos are played by you, some are played by Glenn and some are played by you both. How do you split up the parts? Do you fight for the right to play the main solo because you popped up with the main riff? 

I personally have never had a preference which solos to take. In fact, I kind of like the challenge to come up with a solo when the backing doesn’t particularly lend itself to harmonising too easily with me. 

‘Ram it down’, one of the most underrated Priest albums ever, and ‘Painkiller’ are true jewels in the world of heavy metal guitars. Both albums have tremendous as well as complex guitar work for two guitars on it and lifted Tipton / Downing to another level. It was very surprising to welcome you back with such a bang after the more relaxed ‘Turbo’ album. What happened between ‘Turbo’ and ‘Ram it down’ respectively between ‘Ram it down’ and ‘Painkiller’? Did you invest a lot of time in developing your techniques and way of playing? 

I guess you could say that the two albums mentioned were really a natural follow on to Defenders, except that we did ‘Turbo’ in between. There really is no great explanation why bands diversify a little sometimes, but I am glad we always try to widen the audience of true metal, and don’t forget Nostradamus is coming soon!! 

How about improvising? You can do bits and pieces here and there while soloing, but, in my opinion, one of the only Priest songs that would leave space for improvising is ‘Sinner’. Most of the song structures are too strict and wouldn’t allow an endless solo or what ever. Don’t you sometimes feel the need to improvise on stage? You have a blues background and in blues a lot is about improvising. What do you think? 

Yes, I love to improvise and really a lot of my solos are ‘Sinner’, ‘Victim’, etc also a lot of solos on the records are improvised and I kind of play them more or less live (‘Judas Rising’, ‘Hell Rider’ etc.) 

Is K.K. Downing in Priest – live and in the studio – the same K.K. Downing when he’s at home and playing on his own? Are you 100 % rock / metal or do you like playing different stuff at home? 

I do play acoustic stuff, too, but I am always looking to adopt the ideas for Priest. I will jam along with anything that has played its part of the evolution of metal as we know it. 

Without any doubt, you are one of the most popular players of the V-shaped guitars. Who inspired you to choose this type of guitar? Jimi Hendrix or Andy Powell (Wishbone Ash)? 

To be honest, I straight away took to them. I guess, I naturally am attracted to the unusual, but I always thought the V was cool looking. There were only 117 of the 1967 version made. I purchased mine in the early 70s and straight away I purchased one of the 1970 limited edition of which only 500 were made mine is no. 233. 

When did you buy your first Flying V? Do you remember the specifications (model, pick ups)? 

See above 

Are you one of those guitarists who care about how a guitar is built? Are you interested in the woods, the mechanics and all the stuff that’s used to build your guitar? 

Yes, the quality of build has to be there in order for it to last and perform well - as a good lengthy world tour will see anything substandard end up in the garbage. 

How involved are you in the guitar building process (design, materials etc.)? Did you sit down with Jol Dantzig to draw and design your guitar? 

Yes I have always collaborated with Jol. He is the best and I don’t know of any one else with as much pride in what he does. It’s all about quality with him. 

In your private collection, what would I find except some Strat or V – shaped guitars? Do you own any extraordinary guitars? Are there still some of these synthesizer guitars used on ‘Turbo’ around? 

Yes I do have some other guitars and I do have my ‘Turbo’ synth Hamer V 

What is the main difference between your live and your studio set up (amps and effects)? 

I guess, I will try tons of different gear whilst recording, simply because I can. But what I take on the road will be what I end up using at the end of the day on the record 

Tell us about the components in your set up you could not live without anymore (except guitar and amp, of course), please. 

Apart from a wah pedal, I am always willing to try and update my effects. 

How do you record your guitar tracks? Do you already use effects while recording or are they usually added afterwards? 

If possible, it is always best to add afterwards, but my advice is, if you have a cool sound in a unit or processor, use it! Or at least do an extra take with it or it might be lost forever as you might not re-create it later 

Glenn and you never used acoustic guitars very often. What can you tell us about using acoustic guitars in Priest or at home? Are they often used in the writing process? Do you play them at home? 

Actually, we have used them on albums a lot over the years and only just started to play them live. I guess, until now, we just wanted to rip it up on stage and deliver the goods so to speak. 

Over the last decades you played Fender, Hamer, ESP as well as Gibson guitars and all of them are well-known for their quality products. But what I still miss is the K.K. Downing signature guitar that may offer the possibility for other guitarists to buy the guitar with the same specifications than you do. Any future plans maybe? 

I don’t see why not, although Gibson have just re-created my 67 V. I have one and it is extremely accurate. But I think there may only be 30 or so available as a collectors item combined with Glenn’s SG. 

Which one is your main guitar? Do you play the same guitars at home, in the studio and on stage? You’re maybe not using the V guitars at home as they are not very comfortable to play while sitting. 

Actually, I may be weird, but I find them the most comfortable to play standing or sitting, e.g. if you play a Strat with it placed on your right knee, your right arm will have an acute angle that, after a lot of playing, will cause fatigue more quickly than a V placed between your legs. This is more similar to how a classical player will posture himself, where the right arm is less bent. I believe this also can help prevent tennis elbow (repetitive strain injury).

How many guitars do you usually take on tour? 

As few as possible. On the last tour I had 3 Vs, 2 Strats and 2 acoustics. 

What type of pick ups do you prefer? As far as I know, you use some Gibson, EMG and Seymour Duncan products – and, of course, all of them have a different (basic) sound. Do you have your own custom made pick ups? 

Live it is hard to not use EMG s for pure output, with no noise or radio interference.