"AI doesn't concern me at all. Music is a thing people do. We get together and we communicate, we dance, sing, celebrate, praise and commiserate. It's not a passive object we just observe and admire."

Jon Gomm: The Knight & His Excalibur

Jon Gomm is a singer-songwriter and acoustic solo performer based in Yorkshire, UK, known for his once-seen-never-forgotten virtuoso guitar style. This involves slapping, tapping and retuning as he plays, producing a huge, multi-layered sound filled with bass, drums and near-orchestral depth and complexity from a single guitar. His songs are often deeply emotive, whether with or without his soft, affecting voice. And his live performances are intimate and powerful, but always punctured by his natural North Of England wit and self-deprecation. In 2020 Jon was voted "Best Acoustic Guitarist In The World" in the largest online poll of its type, conducted by MusicRadar / Guitar World.

(Jon Gomm / Photo © by Tom Martin)

Ibanez guitars launched the JGM10 and JGM5 Jon Gomm Signature Model guitars in 2021. He's the 3rd guitarist ever to design a signature acoustic with Ibanez, the previous two being Joe Satriani and Steve Vai. In 2023, Jon's song Passionflower was placed 6th in Total Guitar's "50 Greatest Acoustic Guitar Songs Of All Time", just behind The Beatles' Blackbird and Tears In Heaven by Eric Clapton. Jon is also a passionate advocate for mental health and neuro-diversity.

Interview by Michael Limnios

How has the music influenced your views of the world and the journeys you’ve taken?

The first time I toured in cultures different from my own, like China and South America, I was very apprehensive about whether my music would be accepted. I'm weird in the West, let alone here. But you know what: It's the same. Humans are the same. Cultures and nationalities: They're just the skin we're born in, not what's inside.

How do you describe your sound and music philosophy? What's the balance in music between technique and soul?

My guitar playing is very technical and looks crazy to watch, but the music I write is made of very simple parts. I just play a lot of very simple parts at the same time.

Technique is just how music is made. Everything between the artist's imagination, and the listener's imagination, is technique. So to me, there's no conflict between feeling and technique. The problem is that some musicians use an abundance of technique to compensate for a lack of feeling.

What moment changed your music life the most? What´s been the highlights in your life and career so far?

Watching gigs with my dad when I was a kid, this is what made me a musician. Most of the musicians we watched weren't famous, but they were my heros. It was mostly blues guitarists, like Walter Trout from California, or Norman Beaker from Manchester. They would stay at our house after the show, so I got to know them and learn from them, about playing guitar but also about what life as a musician meant.

"I love art, poetry, theatre, literature, TV. But more unusually, I'm very influenced by science and nature. I find metaphors for some of the deepest struggles and challenges of life in the growth of a plant, or the metamorphosis of an insect, or the death of a star. It's all just life, after all." (Jon Gomm known for his once-seen-never-forgotten virtuoso guitar style / Photo © by Tom Martin)

What do you miss most nowadays from the music of the past? What are your hopes and fears for the future of?

I don't miss anything, because it's all still there. Music is in a period of enormous change because the way people listen and discover has been transformed by social media. But the internet has also preserved everything old and made it accessible to the world.

AI doesn't concern me at all. Music is a thing people do. We get together and we communicate, we dance, sing, celebrate, praise and commiserate. It's not a passive object we just observe and admire.

If you could change one thing in the musical world and it would become a reality, what would that be?

I'd make governments around the world realize the importance of music to communities and societies. The Moth Club in London is under threat right now, because an apartment building is gonna be built right next door. There's no point having more and more human habitation units and human employment units, without the stuff which makes life worth living.

What is the impact of music on the socio-cultural implications? How do you want the music to affect people?

My music is about the biggest, deepest stuff I experience in my life, or witness in the world. I'm happy enough when people find my guitar playing impressive, or find my music to be pretty. But what I find truly rewarding is to change how people feel at that moment. I want to share the beautiful catharsis I get from playing music.

What are some of the most important lessons you have learned from your experience in the music paths?

Never stop learning. When I see another musician do something different musically, or how they perform to the audience, or how they get a particular sound, I just wanna steal it. I love not understanding something, it's like standing on the edge of a cliff. The safety of your own knowledge is behind you. Or you can jump off into the abyss of ignorance, and see where you land.

"My music is about the biggest, deepest stuff I experience in my life, or witness in the world. I'm happy enough when people find my guitar playing impressive, or find my music to be pretty. But what I find truly rewarding is to change how people feel at that moment. I want to share the beautiful catharsis I get from playing music."

(Jon Gomm, an English singer-songwriter and performer. He employs percussive techniques on acoustic guitar, and his influences include genres such as blues, soul, rock and metal / Photo © by Tom Martin)

Life is more than just music, is there any other field that has influence on your life and music?

I love art, poetry, theatre, literature, TV. But more unusually, I'm very influenced by science and nature. I find metaphors for some of the deepest struggles and challenges of life in the growth of a plant, or the metamorphosis of an insect, or the death of a star. It's all just life, after all.

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