“Hideaway” – Performed live by Scott Szeryk on the Guitar Manifesto Tour! This performance was recorded Saturday October 11, 2014 at the London Music Club.
Since I was a young child and I first started playing guitar, the Blues always resonated within me and made a deep inner connection with my soul! It was like my own personal musical religious experience. Every time I would hear the music of Blues guitarists: Robert Johnson, BB King, Buddy Guy and early Eric Clapton (Blues Breakers era) it was like my own sonic portal to a higher power. A high school friend of mine; Christopher Murphy who was a Blues Aficionado, would always be playing records recorded by Blues masters. We would have long talks about all the Blues greats and the impact they had on the future generations of guitarists. One day upon his recommendation, I purchased the John Mayall and the Blues Breakers Album featuring Eric Clapton on Guitar. Some refer to this as the Beano album because on the cover Eric Clapton is sitting with 3 of his bandmates reading “The Beano”, a children’s comic.
When I got home and put the record on, the music that leaped out of the speakers, mesmorized me and touched my soul in a way that was unlike anything I had ever experienced at the ripe old age of 15. I couldn’t figure out if I wanted to laugh or cry, so I did both as the album played. I must have played that album in it’s entirety about 10 times that day, trying to comprehend what I was hearing and experiencing on an emotional level! This was all new to me. Music had never made this kind of an impact on me. One song that stood out and became an immediate favourite of mine was “Hideaway”. There were many elements to this song that I liked. In particular, Eric Clapton’s phrasing. The way the notes were crafted together, with the most refined bending and vibrato. “Hideaway” was the first song on that album that I started transcribing in tremendous detail. It took a long time to be able to get through it and there were many revisions that followed.
I knew at that time in my life that whatever musical path I chose, that the Blues would stay at the epicentre of my musical being and provide me with that connection to something greater. I probably will never be able to explain or understand even on a metaphysical level, the “purity” of such musical magic. I’m still trying to figure that one out! “Hideaway” is a song that has remained in my repertoire for a long time. Early on I would spend countless hours trying to mimic every micro detail of that song. To this day, I frequently revisit “Hideaway” for self study or to help a student learn it and it’s a reminder that nothing in the song needs revision. It’s musically eloquent and thus perfect!
When performing “Hideaway”, I try my best to play it note for note. It’s an exercise in discipline to play it the way it was recorded. Quite frankly what Eric Clapton played, is kind of like a musical Mona Lisa. Don’t mess with it or the Hellhounds will be on your trail!
The live recording process that we used for this show was pretty simple. 10 mics and inputs.
The audio inputs were as follows:
Kick Drum, Snare Top & Bottom, Overhead Left & Right, Bass Guitar, Guitar Left & Right, Vocal and Audience Mic. That’s it! 10 inputs, really straight ahead… We went straight into a PreSonus Studio Live 24.4.2. afterwards in post-production, a good sounding mix was really easy to get as all the sounds were amazing to start with, so we spent about 30 min, over a few days just to make sure levels were where we wanted them. When you play with world class players there is not a lot to do in terms of mixing. The sounds are already there and it really a matter of capturing it with the right microphones at the source. It’s almost too easy and feels wrong, especially compared to todays recording standards, where everything is done to a grid, and drum sounds are replaced with samples, etc…Yikes… 🙁 On this recording we wanted something organic, that stayed true to the sound we were trying to create. The key element in capturing the sonic magic was the PreSonus Studio Live, in particular the X-Max Preamps. The X-Max Pre’s are the secret weapon of the PreSonus Studio live.
“Hideaway” was originally recorded in 1960 by Freddie King. It is said that Freddie King took ideas from various blues songs at the time and fused them together. In 1963 Eric Clapton was given a copy of “Hideaway” by a bandmate and he started learning it on guitar. When it was time to record the John Mayall and the Blues Breakers album in early 1966 Eric Clapton requested if they could do a cover of “Hideaway” and the rest they say, is Blues history!
Thank you for reading! Until next time my fellow guitar lovers, Happy Trails!
Scott Szeryk