“There’s no riff that I find challenging”: Sting guitarist on how difficult it is to play The Police songs
Sting’s guitarist Dominic Miller has shared how he feels about playing Andy Summers’ guitar parts, and it seems there is no riff he finds too difficult to tackle.
Currently, Sting is on his Sting 3.0 tour, for which he is joined by Miller and drummer Chris Maas. He plays a mix of solo material, and tracks from The Police. Though Miller says he highly respects Summers’ guitar work, he’s keen to also “have fun” with his approach to playing, and where possible, go a little off-script.
READ MORE: “They would argue about anything… it was pathetic really”: Producer recalls tension of recording The Police’s Synchronicity
Miller tells Ultimate Guitar that Synchronicity II is the most challenging Police track to play live, though it’s not a matter of technicality that makes it tricky: “It’s always important to get the right energy on that one,” he says.
“It’s not about the riff. There’s no riff that I find challenging in The Police. Everything is playable. There’s nothing that I find challenging. But just, it’s all a question of energy, finding the right energy. And Synchronicity II is a sweet spot that we’re looking for. And that’s quite challenging to find it sometimes, but when we do, it’s great.”
Asked if there are any Police songs that prove tricky to recreate the vibe of the original, he replies, “No, I don’t think so. Because, first of all, I think they’re really good guitar parts. I highly respect Andy Summers, and I don’t want to mess with what he’s actually done with The Police. So, I’m trying to play what he’s playing, but I want to have fun with it. So I’m not going to stick completely to his script.
“So the thing for me is to get the main riff and then let me improvise. Because we do improvise a lot, even on Police songs. We improvise all the time, but it’s very structured. So the riffs, the important riffs, I’m always going to play. I don’t want to mess with them, because I can’t come up with better material than that.”
Want to catch Sting on tour? You can still grab tickets to see him live.
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