Though his love for guitar started with Pearl Jam and a Joe Satriani record, guitarist, producer and songwriter Adam Ross has played all over the world for touring artists including Rihanna, MKTO and, most recently, Adam Lambert.
For Ross, although he has a slew of other musical interests, touring seems to be where it’s at. He has appeared on stage with artists like Jay-Z and Eminem, and played with Rihanna on the Good Girl Gone Bad Tour.
“I've played on a handful of records,” Ross says. “But I always seem to link up with artists when their touring cycle begins and they need a live guitar player.”
Ross recently sat down with Reverb to talk about his path to becoming a touring guitarist, why he prefers his Fractal Axe-FX to the uncertainties of the backline, and, of course, his favorite gear and applications.
What got you into music?
I was about 12, going on 13, and I was with some friends watching MTV. I remember seeing a Pearl Jam music video and was like, "Oh, I want to play guitar!" It was bands like Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Stone Temple Pilots that got me going on guitar. So for my 13th birthday, my mom got me a red Charvel Jackson. A few months into it, my dad introduced me to the Surfing with the Alien record by Joe Satriani. That sparked my interest into the high-octane shredding, which captured my attention for the next several years.
Was your plan to become a professional musician, or were you just doing it for fun?
It was that Joe Satriani record that led me to bands like Stingray, Steve Vai, and then on to the more classic guitar players as well as digging into music theory and all of that sort of stuff. About a year or so into playing, I started to dig in deep and I haven't really gotten out of it. There really wasn't a choice in the matter. Once I started it, it was all over and I haven't looked back.
Did you go to school for music?
I did. I went to Berklee College of Music. Once I got serious, I never thought about doing anything else. I went to Berklee on scholarship and studied with some great instructors and filled in the gaps in music theory and met a ton of people. That was a fantastic experience. Boston is a great city to be a student in.
Do you think Berklee School of Music helped you transition into being on the road professionally? What exactly got you on the gigs that you're doing now?
Soon after being at Berklee, I joined a band and started playing in the local Boston scene showcasing for labels and traveling to New York City. That got me going. I was so deep into the instrumental shred guitar scene for the first year or so at Berklee. But then, joining a band, I transitioned. Being more in the mainstream music scene got me into the real world of music, as opposed to the niche market of only playing for guitar players. After graduating, through some of my contacts in the local Boston scene, I got referred to play guitar with this Boston artist Bleu. He was on Aware, Columbia Records, at the time, along with John Mayer and Train. I did a couple of tours with him and then moved out to L.A. to hunt down even more touring gigs. I've been touring ever since.
One thing led to the next from there?
Yeah, basically. There weren't a ton of touring gigs in Boston, but I landed one of the few great gigs. But once that wrapped up, the next logical move was Los Angeles. I had some friends who had moved there before me and had some luck. That's where a lot of tours seemed to be getting put together, so it made sense.
Do you play on any of these artist's records, or are you primarily the live guitarist?
I seem to always join up with artists for the tours. I've played on a handful of records, and that's always a good time, but I seem to gravitate toward the touring world. Nowadays especially, the touring world is very much where it's at in terms of the majority of work. Recorded music seems to be a bit more disposable. I actually really like being positioned in the touring world vs. the recording world. That's how things have always ended up for me.
What do you do to prepare for longer tours? If you guys are doing 30 shows in 30 days, how do you prepare?
I'm big into yoga. It's really about trying to carve out a little bit of time every day, whether it's before the show, in the hotel room — if you get one — or in the tour bus. Just trying to carve out a little bit of time everyday to keep that mental clarity. I meditate. I definitely like when it's not freezing cold outside because I like to go for long walks and explore whatever city I'm in. That helps clear my brain.
Speaking of guitars, what guitars are you using right now with Adam Lambert?
I'm constantly going through guitars. But right now I have this Bill Crook [of Crook Custom Guitars] custom-built Tele. It's the best guitar I've ever owned. It stays in perfect tune. I've done a lot of work to it: modding it out, trying different pickups and such. I had this custom wiring job done where I have a three-way Les Paul style switch in it because I get sick of trying to grab the little Tele switch knob to change pickups. So I have that, and also a series/parallel switch. I can actually get this Tele sounding pretty Les Paul-ish with the series/parallel. The three-way knob makes it pretty easy to change sounds mid-song, so I can get a variety of tones. It means I don't have to do a ton of guitar changes throughout the set.
For the MKTO tour, I was also running playback, and I didn't have a lot of time to deal with tuning. There were some shows that went by and I realized, at the end of the show, that I didn't even tune my guitar once. It just stayed in tune. So I can't speak highly enough about my Crook Tele. It's fantastic. I also have a few Fender Custom Shop relics. And some good guitar friends of mine will frequently do a bunch of A/B testing and just sit there for hours to see which Tele has the most cut and spank to it. In really every aspect, the Crook Tele just annihilates all of my Fender Custom Shops, and my friends’, which is pretty ridiculous.
For amps and stuff, are you guys using backline equipment or do you get to bring your own?
Another major change in my amp situation has been the Fractal Axe-FX. I'm only using the Fractal now and it's been the biggest game changer to me as a guitar player. I did a lot of backlining amps in the last few tours but sometimes you get magical amps and sometimes you get absolute duds. Especially now, this Lambert tour requires a huge variety of tones, like going from direct sounding funk guitar stuff to blazing Marshall stuff to reverb-y Fender Twin sounds to big filter sweeps. To get that kind of sound with an analog pedal board … it would just be a huge board with lots of possibilities of stuff going wrong, especially with the TSA going through your stuff. So I made the decision to do Fractal and it's really superior in every way.
I actually think that, if I were to do an A/B with a Fender or a Marshall, the Fractal would beat the other stuff. It also takes away the variable of how well the amp is mic’d up. And a lot of times, situations like festival shows are a throw and go. It doesn't get mic’d up right and there are tons of other things that the engineers have to deal with. In fact, there have been a few TV shows that I've done where right before the show, they're wheeling the rig onto the set and the engineer at the studio kicks over the mic. The Fractal just takes away so many variables and the sounds are fantastic. It’s been a game changer, and I'm absolutely loving it. I do think that digital guitar solutions are the future of touring. And I think, in another 10 or 15 years, most guitar players will be using those sorts of solutions.
Interesting.
That might be a bold statement.
Well, you could be right. Who knows? Technology moves so quickly. There's exponential growth every year.
It's only going to be getting better and better. A lot of labels or management companies don't want to spend money for freighting expensive, heavy boutique guitar amps around. Everybody just wants you to be able to fly with stuff or backline an amp. I really do think that this is the future of touring. In another 10 or 15 years it will be like, if somebody is actually playing an amp on stage, "Oh, that's cute! Look at that! I remember those." It will be the same thing as when you go into some hipster's apartment and there's a record player. "Oh, that's funny. He's got a record player."
Do you write your own music at all?
I do, but since I've been so busy the last few years touring, when I have little bits of down time I'm usually spending those in L.A. recovering from the tour.
What advice would you give someone starting out right now as a guitar player?
The same advice that I've always given is just work harder than everyone else. Learn a variety of styles. Be nice and chill on tour. Personality is such a huge part of the touring lifestyle. The people who consistently work and have careers in the business are the ones with a laid back, friendly demeanor, and that goes a long way. I definitely have the reputation of being the lead shredder guitarist but, really, what's even more important is being able to listen to the artist or musical director and being able to take constructive criticism, the ability to play parts and get tones that are like the record. Those are things that are not nearly as glamorous or flashy but are way more important than being able to play incredibly fast and flashy.