Photo by Susan Wilson

Guitarist Jane Miller has roots in both jazz and the acoustic world of songwriters and is an active composer and freelance guitarist. She has performed with SONiA, of disappear fear, guitarists Leni Stern and Emily Remler (her former teacher), saxophonists Cercie Miller, and Billy Novick. She is currently in a working Chamber Jazz Trio with Cercie Miller and bassist David Clark for which she contributes many compositions. Her own group, featuring pianist Tim Ray, has three CDs, including the most recent, The Other Room which highlights Jane's compositions and an arrangement for string quartet. Jane is on the faculty at Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Guitar Sessions: Who or what events inspired you to play the guitar? Was music a part of your household when growing up?

Jane Miller: I used to love seeing Rex Trailer play his guitar on a cowboy show in Boston called Boomtown. I thought he was the coolest thing because he had a horse AND a guitar. My grandmother on my mother's side was a piano teacher. I barely remember her, but I do remember sitting at the piano with her from time to time doing little finger exercises. People used to say I must take after her, but I'm not sure how that's possible. I used to dismiss it, but now I'm a bit more open to the possibility of music and art and creativity being in our blood. There are no other musicians in my family, though, although my mom's a good singer, and my dad could sing the hell out of some of those bass parts in Christmas carols.

How old were you when you began to play? Do you feel that your starting age is a critical factor in playing your current style?

I started to play seriously at age 11 when I began watching Laura Weber's show Folk Guitar on PBS. My dad walked by the TV room one day and saw me trying to play along with her on some old beat-up guitar we happened to have around the house probably from one of my three older sisters; it had a total of two or three strings on it. I remember hearing him say to my mother, "We gotta get that kid a guitar." I was, of course, completely taken with the Beatles, as were most of us growing up in the 60s. Also, around that time, the folk movement had really caught fire, and I was drawn to the whole acoustic guitar sound. I had been taking piano lessons for 4 years before I started really getting to know guitar, and guitar was by far much more fun for me. Timing was critical in terms of what I was into stylistically and what I continue to respond to as a listener and as an artist these days.

Do you remember your first guitar?

The first guitar that my parents bought for me after seeing me try to play was a little red acoustic guitar from Sears. The action was a mile high, typical for a student guitar at the time, which really should have been called the anti-student guitar because they were so hard to play. It had a painted white area on it that was supposed to look like a pick guard. It was pretty cute, really. I learned about capos after a while, because I was so desperate to lower the action. When I first tried to learn an F chord on the first four strings with that little barre on the E and B strings, I remember thinking, "Well, that's it for me; I better learn to sew or something. "I gave it to my oldest nephew quite a few years ago, and sadly, I don't think he held onto it. Not sure where it ended up...

What styles interested you when you first began to play? How do those preferences influence your current music? What factors prompted your focus on jazz?

At first, I was all about learning to play contemporary folk music songs. I was so excited to be learning chords, as opposed to the more classical approach that I had been learning on piano. My ears were really tuned in to chord progressions and harmony even at a pretty young age. I think I always had great ears for music, but didn't know that it was anything unusual until I studied it a little more. That love for acoustic guitars and noodling around with new and interesting chord progressions and fingerstyle patterns has never left me, so I just incorporate it into my playing and writing, even if it is so-called jazz. I just reflect what I'm into through my writing and recording and live performances. I think there is room for a fusion of sorts with contemporary jazz instrumentals and acoustic fingerstyle guitar. And that's right about where I live, musically.

Who were your teachers, mentors, and guitar heroes? Who did you listen to early on, and who do you enjoy listening to now?

Laura Weber was my first teacher. Oh, man, I wish I could have met her. I never missed a lesson. She was so ahead of her time, doing lessons on TV like that long before anyone even had VCRs; never mind all of the instructional videos and DVDs that have come along in her wake. She was so generous and funny and patient and really had a lot of good information to share about technique. She also brought guests onto her show, like Hot Tuna, and whoever was passing through, I guess. I totally learned right-hand fingerstyle from her, and even barre chords, which I now forgive her for. She would say things like "Ok, now pick up your guitar from the floor where you just threw it and let's try that again," and I would be sitting in the den laughing.

I listened to all of the singer-songwriters that were popular, including the Beatles, and then Joni Mitchell, Janis Ian, Paul Simon, Bruce Cockburn, Kenny Rankin. Through checking out players like that, I would trace back their influences, so I would learn, for example, that since Janis was into Billie Holiday, I should check her out. Since Kenny Rankin had this gorgeous nylon-string Latin bossa nova thing going on, I thought I'd better check out his Brazilian influences. So, the next thing you know, I've got this serious Ella Fitzgerald record collection, and Billie Holiday, and Joan Gilberto, and Sarah Vaughan, and on and on.

I learned so many jazz standards just by playing those records over and over again. And from that, I heard players like Joe Pass, Barney Kessel and Herb Ellis who played with all of those singers. That lead to more tracing back roots, and it just became like this great research project. I got turned on to Wes Montgomery and life was different from that point on. I could say that about any of those people, but, you know, Wes changed lots of guitar player's lives, and I guess I have to acknowledge him and his powerful contribution to our musical heritage. I studied piano at Berklee for a little while, while I was also studying arranging, harmony, etc. I kept learning guitar though, either from friends or from coming back from harmony class and figuring out what I had just learned there on the fretboard.

Then I studied privately with Mark Marquis, a friend of mine from Massachusetts, and Rich Falco, also a good friend and remarkable player and teacher with impeccable technique. Also, with Emily Remler a little, although that was always pretty informal and more like a friendly hang when she would be staying at my house while traveling. Recently I studied a bit more with Mick Goodrick through a faculty mentor opportunity at Berklee. I probably learned more from Emily than anyone else, just because we had such great communication with each other. She was a hoot, and I could really relate to what she was doing musically, even though I never came close to having her chops. I think we heard things the same way, and that really helps when you're trying to learn from someone.

I still love listening to her recordings and passing on the ideas she gave me to my students. I also love to listen to Pat Metheny, as much for his composing and arranging as for his playing. I love Wes and Mike Stern, for examples of extremes, and I listen to singer-songwriters like Shawn Colvin, Janis, Patty Larkin, Sonia, and Susan Werner. I have a new ipod, so I am loading it up with things that I have been missing over the years, like Tony Rice and David Grisman. Guy Van Duser is a guitar hero of mine, and I sometimes play gigs with his musical partner, [clarinetist] Billy Novick. It took me a few choruses (at least) to stop saying to myself, "He plays with Guy Van Duser." When I met Guy in Nashville last summer at the CAAS convention, it was just as I imagined- a couple of regular folks talking about the coolness of guitar. He's a generous person when it comes to sharing and teaching, and I already have learned a lot from him as well as from Muriel Anderson. She's a fantastic player with a keen sense of detail and control.

What are the key areas a serious student of the jazz guitar should pursue?

I think listening a lot is essential. Ear training is very important as an improvising tool. Recognizing ii-V-I chord progressions when you see them and hear them is absolutely essential, since that shows up so much and it will keep you grounded if you know what key you're in at least for a measure or two. Movable shapes applied up and down the neck are very useful for comping and for soloing.

Everyone should have a bag of tricks full of licks and chord voicings. Having said that, we should all be ready to say something spontaneously when the moment occurs. To do that, we need to be equipped with a large vocabulary. It really is just like carrying on a conversation, very different from reading a speech from a page. We can do that too, but at some point, someone's going to ask you a question and you better know how to speak freely on your subject matter. That's what improvising over a tune is about. Knowing the material, and being able to say a lot about it musically, colorfully, artfully.

The art of conversation is made so much more lively by metaphor and humor. We can stretch ourselves in our solos that same way. Take that idea just a bit further this way. Now come back to the punch line. Aha! Everyone gets it. Brilliant! That's what I aspire to do anyway. But really, it all comes from practicing scales and learning all kinds of ways to find cool chords with tensions. To do that, just keep playing Real Book [fake book] tunes with friends. That helped me a lot when I was first trying to figure out what to do.

In your role as a teacher, what areas do you emphasize with your students?

Honesty, creativity, originality, anti-intimidation factors- all of those emotional kinds of things that can free us to learn and grow. I see so many people who are afraid of doing or saying something wrong or stupid, when really it's all good and ok, as long as it's honest. Then we can get started with the nuts and bolts of scales, exercises, chord voicings, theory, ear training and different ways of seeing the neck. Just when I think I know the neck, I see it a new way and I'm stumped all over again. So I try to get students to find their own new ways to see things, and Iet them know that it never ends, as far as I can tell, so it's always ok to ask more questions and keep growing. And you're never in a bad place with it because it will always get better. Fear and intimidation and jealousy, though- they are the biggest hindrances to students and probably to any player. If we can get over that, we can just relax and make music and it will be good. I also think reading music is great practice and very important in developing command of the language and the instrument.

What is the best way to enhance ones harmonic sensibility? Is there a method you would recommend for learning to apply chord substitutions?

My philosophy lately has been that chords exist to support the melody. I have been saying that for a few years now, long enough that that I'm going to make "Melody Awareness" buttons and get a bunch of us in the guitar department at Berklee to wear them around school. Like maybe have Melody Awareness Week or something. I support melody awareness. So I am starting with that, because that is the only way harmony can make sense to me. As much as I love playing chords and gorgeous progressions, and in fact that's how I learned and that's what first attracted me to the instrument, the composer in me needs a melody to hum while walking down the street.

A melody can certainly be suggested by first playing with a harmonic idea. Many of us write a chord progression first and then come up with a melody. But I think it gets dangerous when players think they have something great when they have a cool progression, but they've forgotten to pay attention to any melody. I've seen some great players, mostly in the acoustic guitar world, a world I love, please remember, but nevertheless, I've seen players whom I will not name who have a gorgeous sound and beautiful fingerstyle and dazzling chords going by, but I am left to wonder-where's the melody? So anytime I discuss my harmonic approach, it has to start with melody. Then, it's a wonderful playground.

I wrote a song called "Same Tie, Different Shirt," which employs the same melody played twice, but the second time it uses the relative major or minor chords of what was used the first time. Just last night I was fooling around with an idea on the piano, and I hatched a melody with an obvious implied chord progression under it. So instead of going with the obvious, I went somewhere else with the harmony and it was so much more exciting to me. The chords alone may not have been exciting, but in the context with the melody, they were interesting.

How do you go about enhancing your harmonic palette?

Developing chord-melody solos is a way that I have found to get at some interesting harmonies and reharmonizations. Because the melody takes priority, we are forced to work within a structure. Given those boundaries, we are challenged to come up with something different to try to put under the melody or around the melody in some cases. I like to create lots of pull in the case of dominant chords that resolve to their one chord, so for example G7 going to C, I would use all kinds of altered tensions on the G7 chord. It's a basic idea, but it's a great place to start, and keeping in line with that, if you then reharmonize that to be Db7 instead of G7, I'd then like to keep the tensions natural on the dominant chord since it's not resolving V to I.

With a few guidelines like that, it's just a matter of seeing how many fingers you have left over to play with some ideas and make up some chords. After you've done it for awhile and really studied harmony, you can make shorter work of coming up with something pretty nice, but you can always work harder to come up with something truly incredible. I like to push just a bit more these days and try to really stretch myself. Speaking of stretching myself, I spent a good part of last summer getting used to my then recently-acquired nylon-string and wrote some chord solos on that.

Did any Mel Bay books figure into your development as a guitarist?

I really love Selected Guitar Solos, Volume 2 by Jorge Morel. I got in the habit of practicing a piece in the morning and at night for awhile. I was on a pretty good roll with it. My position is: Reading helps my writing, and writing helps my reading.

Have you ever had to weather a creative dry spell in your playing or composition? If so, how did you overcome it?

I don't usually pay much attention to "dry spells" because I just have faith that something will happen eventually. I figure, I'm a musician, so that's not going to suddenly change. I guess if I woke up and found myself in a strange office job or something then I would freak out. But seriously, I just trust my own process. Once in awhile, I will notice if I haven't written anything for awhile. Or else I will notice that my chops are down from not practicing. Usually around that time, I will be feeling great because I have been swimming a lot, or taking lots of walks or something.

What is your practice schedule like? Do you recommend any particular techniques?

If students need to be on a schedule, or even professionals who are writing and playing, then I think that's a great way to do it. Aside from practicing every morning and night for long stretches, I have not responded well to scheduled writing or practicing. It's hard enough for me to get to the local swimming pool on their schedule, which is not at all my schedule. So I'm just not real disciplined, but I encourage my students to be if they- or we- feel like it will help.

How has your family affected your music?

I have three older sisters and they all bought records before I did, so I had the Beatles all around me before I was even old enough to go looking for them myself. I still have those original recordings- shhhhh! My dad loved big band music like Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey. My mom used to sing in her church choir; she can still sing, but doesn't "gig" anymore. But I don't really think of my family as very musical, because I'm the only one who went into it seriously. I felt like the black sheep of the family, and my parents really tried to discourage me from making a go of it. That made it hard to accept the fact that they later seemed proud of what I'm doing. I feel like overall, they don't quite understand what I'm doing musically, because- musically or in terms of lifestyle- it is not their stylistic bag.

But I have to tell you, and this is not at all a sob story, but rather an uplifting one- when my dad died six years ago, we played all of his favorite recordings for him as he was making his transition. Glenn Miller, the Dorsey Brothers- non-stop all through the house. And at his memorial service his ex-son-in-law (a bass player) and I played an acoustic version of "Moonlight Serenade." It was a powerful expression of what music means to some people even when you don't think of it as playing a major role in their lives. It is a huge memory trigger. It is so emotionally charged. It is healing. It is agitating. It can bring people together and, I suppose, tear people apart. I think the fact that my commitment to music has been unwavering, in spite of my family not quite relating to what I do, has given me strength as an individual.

Apart from music, what are your interests?

I swim laps. In the summer I love to row my scull boat, paddle my canoe, and take walks. I am nuts about dogs and my current best dog friend is a neighbor of mine who is a frequent guest at my house. She is an avid year-round Frisbee catcher and retriever and also a high caliber swimmer and walk-taker. At last count I had about twenty books on my shelves that I have not read yet, because my latest habit is book shopping. I am catching up on things like Mark Twain and Shakespeare as well as essays and short stories by David Sedaris, Sarah Vowell and Dorothy Parker. And I can't resist a good memoir! I also love movies and good stories well told whether in songs, theater, film, TV, books, magazines or friends. I can't resist things that make me laugh, and I love to make other people laugh. And I really love to cook. I am sort of a jazz cook-experimental, improvising, with a couple of things I repeat now and then.

So there are definitely things that hold my attention other than music. I just go with it- but when I am feeling musical in one way or another, I am so grateful and just thank whatever force sent it my way because I feel like I am just sort of a receptacle for it or a channel of sorts. When that happens, it's important to me that whoever might be around at the time understand that I might not be available for awhile, and it's just as important for me to believe that it's not only ok, but absolutely important to my work.

How do you go about choosing and learning new material?

Sometimes I just thumb through the Real Book- any of the few volumes and find a tune that will tickle me somehow. Sometimes, another musician will bring in an idea. Sometimes, as in the case of "Walk Away Renee," I hear something on the radio in a store and think, "Oh baby, I've always loved that song. I should do something with that." And sometimes, as in the Jorge Morel book, I hear someone mention a name, and I go about investigating their work.

What are the key elements of your style?

I think what makes me different from lots of players is my acoustic guitar sensibility, even when I'm playing my jazz electric, and my attachment to comping fingerstyle and keeping close attention and focus on the melody- always, always, always! Even when I'm comping, I'm trying to make it melodic. And I guess people say that I have a sort of sensitive style. Even if I'm trying to be aggressive, I guess I don't pull that off so well.

Any suggestions for developing right or left-hand technique?

I'm an advocate for slow warm-ups with the left hand. I've had my share of muscle strain, so I am very careful with that: 1234, one finger on each fret, usually starting at the fifth fret, slowly. Keep each finger down as you add the next. Repeat on each string- slow, long tones, like a horn player. Also, opening and closing your hand very slowly- wide and then clenched, wide and then clenched. I do that a lot when I'm driving.

I have a list of right-hand finger patterns that I have found helpful as places to start. I used to play them a lot when I was a kid on open strings, over and over- probably driving people within earshot crazy, but I can really make my right-hand fingers move fairly independently and quickly when I need to. Some of the patterns are things you can practice away from the instrument, like riding on a bus or something. Just keep tapping out a pattern. But ultimately, it's best to have the instrument in your hands to acquire muscle memory of the spacing of the strings and the neck width and the action. People have asked me if I recommend things like squeezing a tennis ball for gaining left-hand strength. My answer is if you want to get good at squeezing the tennis ball, then yes, do that. But the best thing for guitar playing is to actually play the guitar.

What are your preferred guitars, strings, picks, pickups, amps, and mike? Do you have any product endorsement agreements? Is there anything on your wish list as far as equipment?

I have an artist deal with Martin Guitars, although I don't think they officially have artist endorsements. I have had a deal with Guild Guitars, which then led to a deal with Fender when they bought Guild. I have a nice deal with K&K pickups, and was their Artist of the Month on their web site in May 2005. I have an artist deal with Acoustic Image Amps, and I am really taken with their product.

My luthier friend, Jack O'Brien of Jaffrey, NH turned me on to K&K Sound, and I have their pickups installed in both my nylon-string and my steel-string. I use the Mini Pure Western pickup on both. It's a very simple design: 3 small transducers attach to the bridge plate (Jack just reaches in and sticks them on) strategically spread out under the string span, and they all connect to form one wire that comes out the endpin jack. He had to enlarge that hole just a wee bit, but no other alterations were made to either guitar.

What is your favorite amp?

In August, 2005, I picked up an Acoustic Image Amplifier, the Coda R model. It weighs 24 lbs. so I can schlep it around with one hand and eat an ice cream cone with the other. The incredible thing is that it puts out 600 watts.

I happened to get this amp as the manufacturers were transitioning to their updated models, so rather than getting the usual 300 or 400-watt model (which would have been way enough to blow my music room walls down), I got upgraded to 600 watts through a generous offer from Rick Jones at AI. The Coda R has 2 channels, one with two 1/4" inputs for instruments and one with an XLR input for a microphone. There is also an XLR lineout option. In addition to playing solo acoustic gigs through the Coda R, I have also played my Hohner Steinberger copy, headless bass through this amp. It is an amazing, powerful, clean as a whistle sound; like my guitar, but louder.

Lots of acoustic bass players use Acoustic Image amps, but guitarists are starting to catch onto them, too. The Coda R is perfect for my three main axes: my steel-string Martin (2002 OOO28H), my nylon-string Martin (1967 O16NY) and my Guild hollowbody jazz electric (1967 X-50). It has two channels with regular 1/4" inputs on one, and an XLR mic input on the other. The R in "Coda R" stands for "reverb". I am just raving about this amp. People say, "It's your guitar only louder." That's what it is- no noise, no hum, no distortion, just clean pure good sound with lots of EQ options and such. [See http://www.acousticimg.com.]

I have a Martin OOO28H steel-string acoustic guitar, which I bought new in October, 2002. The neck is 1 11/16th" and is a perfect fit for my small hands. It has a spruce top and rosewood back and sides, with scalloped bracing.

I also have a 1967 Martin O16NY, a nylon-stringer (the NY stands for New Yorker, a discontinued model). It is a folk-style guitar that was popular in the 60s; the bridge accommodates ball-end strings. It has a cedar top and mahogany back and sides, and the neck is smaller than that of a traditional classical guitar, making it suitable for my style. I found that guitar in April, 2005.

Both Martins are outfitted with K&K pickups: I use the Mini Pure Western model for each. It is a simple passive 3-tranducer design that attaches to the bridge plate under the top and connects to a jack which replaces the end pin. The pickup is very lightweight and very clean and powerful. My guitars sound like they are supposed to sound, rather than too thin and stringy.

Most acoustic guitars and especially classic guitars sound terrible when amplified using pickups only. You're absolutely right about lots of under-saddle sounds. It doesn't seem to matter how nice your guitar is, or what the wood selection is that we so carefully think through; it all sounds like nothing but strings when the pickup is right there under the saddle. My K&Ks sound like a real, natural, wonderful guitar sound. I just love them. K&K made me artist of the month for May '05, which was a nice treat. They have been real nice folks to deal with.

I also regularly play my jazz box, a 1967 Guild X-50 hollowbody electric. It has one pickup, which also gets along great with my Coda R. Jack O'Brien performed surgery on this guitar when I first bought it in 1988. I said, "Nice guitar, too bad it doesn't have a cutaway." He said, "Well, Jane, I could do that for you," and I said, "Yes, you could, couldn't you." With that, I handed it over, and he studied my hand and playing style, which he was already pretty familiar with, and went to work carving out the perfect cutaway for me on what will always be my guitar

I have a Guild F5CE acoustic, in which Jack installed a Fishman Rare Earth soundhole pickup, bypassing the factory-installed under-saddle Fishman. That guitar tends to stay near my computer in my home office these days (songs are born that way) but it has been a roadworthy gigging companion for most of its 6 years, and is the acoustic guitar heard on my group's recording, The Other Room.

Beside my writing table upstairs, I keep a 1/2 size Amada nylon-string children's guitar that was a gift from a friend who wanted me to have something handy, yet reliable with which to write music. I have a 1971 Guild M65 3/4, cherry finish, hollowbody guitar that I keep at Berklee for teaching; a real cutie with one pickup, a hollow body, cutaway style jazz box, and a real hand-saver at 3/4 scale. Also at Berklee, I keep my 1987 Ovation Custom Balladeer, a shallow-bowl acoustic with an Ovation pickup and EQ, and a dark sunburst finish. The neck feels like an electric and it plays like butter, so it's perfect for long days at the office.

What sort of home recording equipment do you have?

For home recording, I use a Korg D8, with Event PS6 monitors, a Presonus Blue Tube preamp, a CAD condenser mic, and/or an MXL condenser mic, a Behringer UB1202 mixer, and a Yamaha YDP-121 electric piano with 88 weighted keys. For live performances, I either use a Tech-21 Sans Amp acoustic DI, or the Blue Tube preamp. I like to mic the acoustic guitars as well as use the pickups for the best natural sound and clarity. I mix to a Sony CD burner, sometimes using an Art Quadra FX box. Depending on the venue and sound reinforcement available, I use the Acoustic Image amp onstage as a monitor if necessary. For a recent solo recital I brought my amp and did the whole thing on the nylon-string. They miked the guitar, too- I'm not sure what they used, maybe a Shure 57.

I use Finale notation software with a Casio keyboard. I have a no-name fretless electric bass that I occasionally try to learn to play. I also keep "my" Casio PG380 synthesizer guitar in my home office, but I will always think of that one as my friend Emily's guitar. Emily Remler's parents handed that one over to me after her passing in exchange for a donation to the Jazz for Kids fund in Pittsburgh. I used it on the track "Get Your Own Drummer (Jane's Song)" from my group's first CD, Postcard.

I have a Boss drum machine, but I still like the big Yamaha drum machine that I got used to using which is now about 20 years old. I have a few other guitars scattered around the house for writing and a couple at school for teaching. I use Finale for notation and a Casio keyboard that I bought at some department store going out of business sale. It was cheap and it still works and suits my needs quite nicely. I also have a Yamaha YDP-121 electric piano with 88 weighted keys, and Event PS6 monitors. When I use picks, I use Dunlop 1.14- the purple ones that are smooth but not slippery. I use D'Addario strings- chromes (flat wound) on my jazz box, bronze-wound on my steel string, and ball-end nylon strings, which are kind of hard to find.

It's hard to imagine a wish list, because I already feel pretty blessed for someone who is actually not much of a gearhead compared to some. But Jack is making me a nylon-string guitar some day that will be just right and very special.

I have Digital Performer in my computer, and I know how incredible that is. But, even though I've never had any problem learning to program drum machines or learning to use Finale, and even learning to record and mix with all of my various gadgets over the years, I have not yet learned Digital Performer. So I suppose my wish list would include some magic dust that would help me learn that program in my sleep some night.

You recently wrote a set of melody chord arrangements as part of your faculty obligations at Berklee. Were the compositions intended as repertoire pieces or studies? What was your departure point? What did you learn from the experience?

I think the new chord solo arrangements as repertoire pieces, but I also think of repertoire pieces as excellent study and practice material. The project was to come up with ten new arrangements-five originals and five standards. One of the hardest things about getting started was choosing the five standards. So, ok, out of every song in the world ever, pick five. That was really hard, but I wanted to go for a balanced program, so I made my choices based on what I wanted to do for original material too. Did I have too many in 3/4? Too many Latin, not enough swing?...that kind of thing.

I knew I would be doing a recital of the material, so I had to think about program balance and not just the contributions of the notated pieces to our guitar department files. We have so many chord solos already, so I knew that I wanted to think a bit outside the normal scope of things stylistically. I am drawn to beautiful songs and of course melodies, so I chose favorites of mine from when I was a kid, like Jimmy Webb's "Wichita Lineman".

I learned so much about writing and notation and performance details from doing this project. Playing an instrument and growing musically from it is all experiential. You can do a whole lot of thinking about it, but there is no substitute for actually doing it. Just the chops aspect alone is evidence of that. But the attention to detail and the focus and the communicating the ideas and the decision making that goes on are just unfathomable. As I mentioned, writing helps my reading, reading helps my writing. I just keep going with that.

What is your advice to students who are considering becoming career guitarists? Do you recommend private lessons and gigging, or a university degree?

It's pretty hard to generalize with this kind of advice. Each person has different needs, goals, work habits. All of those things are valuable. I've probably learned more from gigging in a wide variety of situations than from any other study situation. But life experiences take, well- a lifetime! In the meantime, study and practice anything and everything you can get your hands on. You will know what feels good when you are drawn magnetically to a style, a certain guitar or certain players. When you don't know what time it is anymore because you've been practicing or recording or writing, then you're onto it. That's the easy part. Check out other styles, too, though, and glean whatever you can from the whole world of music which is so easily available to us all.

Thanks for sharing so much of your life and music with us.

My pleasure, Stephen.

To learn more about Jane Miller, please visit her website at:
http://www.janemillergroup.com/