The single greatest piece of guitar advice Tom Petty ever gave: “A lost art”
There are levels to songwriting and guitar playing that some of us mere mortals will never be able to reach in the same way the professionals manage. After all, it’s the dedication to their craft and the proficiency that they’re able to demonstrate on a regular basis that got them there in the first place. Perhaps the secret to being as good as the greats is to simply try harder, or maybe it just won’t come quite as naturally as it does for others. One of those who never seemed to need to try too hard and almost effortlessly displayed talent as both a writer and musician is Tom Petty.
It’s an enviable talent to be able to churn out songs on his level with such ease, but surely there must be some secret behind how he managed to be quite as good as he was. It’s hard to imagine the skill being so innate to him that after the first time picking up his instrument, he displayed an immediate sense of virtuosity, so why isn’t the secret ingredient to becoming a better guitarist or songwriter a universally shared piece of information?
Sometimes, people are more likely to not share the secrets of how they became so good at their craft in an effort to keep others from usurping them as being the best; an understandable decision to protect your own status. On the other hand, what harm is there in having a little bit of competition from others, not least if you’re still the one who will be seen as the original innovator while the successors are seen as mere copycats?
Petty might have been one of the greatest rhythm guitar players of all time, but he wasn’t afraid to share a handful of tips with others. In a 1997 interview with Guitar Player Magazine, Petty shared some of the skills that helped him become such an incredible figure in the history of rock music with then-editor Art Thompson and tore down the veil on what it is that makes a good guitarist and songwriter in a revealing conversation.
After declaring early on that spontaneity is the key to his band, the Heartbreakers’ sound, saying that “it’s in the band’s nature” and that they “tend to play best early on, when we’re discovering the song,” Petty dove in deeper with Thompson on the difference between using his custom Fender Telecaster and one of his Rickenbacker guitars on a song, and he revealed that the Telecaster was versatile and could be used for both lead and rhythm parts, but he preferred the Rickenbacker’s rich, acoustic sound for rhythm playing since that was mainly what he did in the band.
“Rhythm playing is a lost art these days,” claimed Petty. “There aren’t a lot of people who do it seriously anymore. But it’s really important to our band that I play the rhythm because the music sounds different if I don’t.” While he realised the importance of his rhythm-playing ability within the band, he would then go on to reveal what he believed to be the secret to becoming a rhythm player on his level.
While he noted that the work of John Lennon, Keith Richards and Elvis Presley during his Sun Records era in the 1950s and ‘60s were incredibly influential to his style, there was one particular element that he believed was the most crucial factor to becoming a master of the art. “I’ve put a lot of time into learning not to speed up or slow down and being real nimble with the part,” he told Thompson. “You’ve got to be confident that you’re going to be able to go through a song and sing in pitch and play in time. If you get good at rhythm, you can really make the band jump.”
If confidence and simply learning to play at one steady, continuous tempo throughout is all it takes, then surely there ought to be so many more guitarists who can play on Petty’s level. As simple as the advice is, this is the key to success as a rhythm guitarist, according to Petty, and if anyone can prove that this simple change to an individual’s playing habits is enough to transform a guitarist, then surely this has to be one of the greatest and most succinct masterclasses ever given.
