Acoustic ruler Kaki King graces the cover of Guitar Player’s December issue, and in it she details how she uses her signature Ovation Adamas to...
Acoustic ruler Kaki King graces the cover of Guitar Player’s December issue, and in it she details how she uses her signature Ovation Adamas to conjure sounds and visuals for her outrageously cool multimedia show, The Neck Is a Bridge to the Body. She’s performing it at the venerable folk haven Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, California on October’s third Friday, and GP will proudly be onsite with free copies of the December issue onhand. Below is an abridged excerpt.
The Neck is a Bridge to the Body is a crafty title. What you were thinking about when you came up with it?
The question on my mind at the time was, “Who is controlling who?” Was I really controlling what I was playing on the guitar, or was the guitar leading me? The title anthropomorphizes the guitar, and it reminds us that we’ve named parts of the guitar after our own bodies—which is interesting, even though I left out the headstock [laughs]. The title also expresses to the audience what players already understand—that the guitar has a kind of sentience.
How does the show flow?
It’s intentionally a slow burn from the start. I’m not a storywriter, and the creation story is the most basic tale to tell, so I went with that. Things become increasingly complex until the hero—the guitar—is fully formed and realized. Then, it goes on a hero’s journey telling the story of its life, its deconstruction, and a kind of rising from the ashes at the end. I used very basic tropes to inspire visuals and music that are ultimately pretty trippy.
What’s involved as far your guitar and the visuals?
The guitar itself looks otherworldly. There are a