Story of a Session Guitarist, with Andrew Synowiec

You might not know Andrew Synowiec's name, but chances are you've heard his guitar playing. Heck, chances are you heard his guitar playing this week.

Synowiec makes his living as an LA session guitarist, with a list of credits as long as the California coastline. Among those credits: you can hear him on the score for pretty much every recent Disney film (Frozen, CoCo, Zootopia), as well superhero flicks like Logan and Spider-Man: Far From Home, TV shows like The Simpsons and The Good Place, as well as on records with recording artists like The Who, HAIM, P!nk, Nick Jonas, Donna Summer, and so many more.

A couple weeks back, Kirk sat down with Andrew to talk about his career as a session player, how he finds a good balance when doing creative work for hire, his approach to practicing and guitar tone, how he designed and built his home studio, and why he continues to make the time for his own personal music projects.

FEATURED/DISCUSSED ON THIS EPISODE:

Guy Lacour etude No. 4 as performed by David Hernando Vitores: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyGo9NmZUNw
Wes Montgomery on “No Blues” from Smokin’ at the Half Note w/ the Wynton Kelly Trio, 1965
“Where The Streets Have No Name” by U2 from The Joshua Tree, 1987
“Sad But True” by Metallica from Metallica, 1991
“Blood and Thunder” by Mastodon from Leviathan, 2004
“Last Goodbye” by Jeff Buckley from Grace, 1994
“Already Taken,” “Second Story,” and “Humor Me” by Andrew Synowiec from Second Story, 2019
“Jonkoloni” by Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba from Segu Blue, 2006, feat. the Ngoni
“Salsa Caliente (Versión Aumentada)” by Meridian Brothers from Desperanza, 2012
“You Are Young” by Keane from Strangeland, 2012
A video with Andrew about his work and his home studio
A Spotify playlist Andrew maintains featuring things he's played on
Andrew's website, with lots more credits and other info

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FEBRUARY 2022 WHOLE-NOTE PATRONS

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