Tactical Guitarist Podcast Interview
I’m honored to be interviewed on the Tactical Guitarist Podcast, Episode #39. Host Jesse McCann, a guitarist and university professor living in the Pacific Northwest, interviews me about a number of topics and tactical areas including approaching a music career part-time vs. full time, writing and publishing for guitar, composing, goal setting and much more. Listen for free on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play and at www.tacticalguitarist.com
It was fun and interesting to revisit my early history with the classical guitar. My first guitar teacher, Wilbur Cotton, is an African-American classical guitarist and teacher, originally from Texas, who came to LA as a young adult after WWII. There are not many African-American classical guitarists even today, and back in the early 1960s there were even fewer. In the podcast interview, I recall my father driving me across the LA River from Paramount, CA, into Compton, CA, where Wilbur Cotton lived and still resides. We spoke just a few days ago over the phone. I also recall in the interview my second teacher, Richard “Rico” Stover, an expert on Latin American and Brazilian classical guitar, and notably the person who restored the reputation and fame of the great Paraguayan composer and guitarist Agustín Barrios Mangoré. Back in the early-mid-1970s, studying with Stover, I was fortunate to learn many of Barrios’ pieces while Stover was compiling the first anthologies of Barrios’ music.
Jesse and I speak at length about the spectrum of what it means to be a musician. I have never considered, nor have I tried to pursue, a full-time professional career as a classical guitarist, but being a guitarist has always been a part of my identity. The guitar is, for me, more than a “hobby” and less than a “profession.” As a “semi-professional” guitarist, I feel fortunate to be able to pursue my passion to some degree on a professional level, while enjoying a rewarding career as a publishing professional and educator. These multiple identities help to ensure a fulfilling, vibrant, and interesting life.
We also discuss setting goals, which I find to be important at both an organizational and personal level. While many of us work on setting goals for our department or company, just as important is to reflect on and set personal goals. Ask yourself, on a regular basis: What do I want to accomplish on a personal level? What are some of my overall goals, and what small steps, objectives, and tactics do I need to take in order to achieve these goals?
This is the first time I've been interviewed for a podcast in English, and about the guitar; I was interviewed in Spanish back in 2009, about publishing, by a Mexican-based podcast at the Guadalajara International Book Fair. I've been following the whole podcast thing since 2005 or so, whenever Pete Alcorn got going with podcasting at iTunes.
https://www.tacticalguitarist.com/media/2020/4/2/episode-39-john-w-warren
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-39-john-w-warren/id1233554178?i=1000470383503
Listen on Google Play: https://play.google.com/music/m/Dqmcf7yy34qtsocnuicm34bt2yu?t=Episode_39_John_W_Warren-The_Tactical_Guitarist
Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6W5WMua13iLWvFWvb6H5ol?si=HpZeYfUySGOx20rL3RFZNA