Guitarist, singer and songwriter Marcus King recently packed the house at the Nashville Guitar Center's Vintage Room for an intimate workshop and interview about his guitars, his career and his creative process. Along with some insights into how he writes and records, he performed four songs from his career, “Hero,” “Inglewood Motel,” the previously unreleased “Die Alone,” and “Goodbye Carolina,” as well as presented a couple of short guitar lessons that illustrated his approach to developing guitar parts and answered some excellent questions from the audience. King also talked about his long relationship with Gibson, playing several of his vintage guitars, including “Big Red,” the guitar passed down to him from his grandfather and father, both accomplished musicians. 

Not many of us are so fortunate as to be raised by a family full of musicians, absorbing rhythms, melodies and harmonies from before we can remember. Having that background, King's seemingly effortless mastery of guitar and voice has an organic nature that could only happen from that kind of deep immersion in music. As Nashville icon Marty Schwartz said in introducing King, “You'll hear him play guitar, and he'll just melt your face and blow your mind, and you forget actually what an amazing singer he is. But then it goes the other way. He starts singing, and you forget what an amazing guitar player he is.” 

What we're presenting here is a summary of some of the highlights of the interview, just to give you a taste of what went down. But if this isn't enough, you can get the full experience with the recording of the livestream below.

Marcus King on the Guitars He Plays

For each song King performed at the workshop, he picked a different guitar, and he talked a little about each one.

His 1961 Gibson SG-style Les Paul:

For “Hero,” King chose his vintage ’61 Les Paul, and when we asked about that guitar, he told us this: “There was this [TV] movie that Bryan Cranston was in about Santa Claus's family [The Santa Claus Brothers, 2001], and in that movie, he ended up getting this guitar, which is the guitar he wanted. My dad played this model of guitar, and seeing it on the silver screen as a kid, I always wanted this guitar—a ’61 Les Paul. And, you know, things went well, and I was able to get this one. This guitar is real special, man, and it took a real beating for a while. I took it out while we were touring the Trio.”

Pictured: Marcus King's 1961 Gibson SG-style Les Paul

His Gibson Les Paul Junior:

On “Inglewood Motel,” King played his Les Paul Junior, which he had chosen for the elegance of its simple, single-P90 design, and further explained: “This is a Les Paul Junior—I picked these two guitars because the SG and Les Paul Junior, they're both just kind of circling the Les Paul. And I just kind of like that they're like the ugly stepchildren to the scholar that is the Les Paul.”

His 1961 Gibson ES-345:

For “Goodbye Carolina,” King took out “Big Red,” a family heirloom, explaining that he always played that song with this particular guitar and added: “This is the real deal, here, man—my dad gave me this guitar a few years after my grandfather passed. It's got a lot of stories, you know? And, it's a really versatile guitar, too. I mean, you know, Jorma [Kaukonen] from Jefferson Airplane? He used to play one of these. He said it had all these settings. He was like (King moves Varitone switch), ‘Suck, suck, suck, B.B. … ’ and I always think about that. I never move the Varitone switch. But it's just such an interesting guitar to me. I love the sideways Vibrola. I've got mine locked down just so I can have a little more stability in the tuning. It's got PAFs in it, so it'll get up and go. It'll drive when it needs to drive. And, sometimes, it'll coast when it needs to coast.”

Pictured: Marcus King's Gibson ES-345 "Big Red"

On His Signature ES-345:

As he was playing “Big Red,” we asked about the original 2021 creation of his Gibson Custom signature ES-345, which was based on that valued vintage piece. King said, “Jim Lillard from Gibson, down when they had the factory in Memphis … he took this guitar and just did everything but sleep beside it for like two weeks. And he really got it locked in just right. And then, the Custom Shop here in Nashville—everybody did such a great job and put so much energy and so much love into that instrument. It's something I was really, really very proud of—to be able to give my dad and my uncle a replica of it. And that meant a lot to me and to the family.”

On a Fan Buying the Gibson Hummingbird He Played in the Interview:

The only guitar King played in the workshop that was not his was a stock Gibson Hummingbird on the unreleased “Die Alone.” On hearing this, a customer bought that specific guitar, sight unseen, based solely on King having played it. When we asked how he felt about that, he was overwhelmed and had this to say: “Man, I mean that means such a great deal to me. And I can relate to that. Like you said about comedians, you know, people I look up to … I've had such an incredible life, and I've got a lot more to live thanks to a lot of good friends and a lot of good therapy and all that. But like Bill Murray at the Crossroads, where we met, you know … it was around the time Gibson was putting out that Firebird I, the Clapton one. And Bill likes to go out and dress like Clapton through the years. So, he was playing a guitar dressed up like Cream-era Clapton. And I called Cody, my gal at Gibson, and said, ‘I got to have the one that Murray played, that Bill Murray played.’ So, I'd imagine maybe people feel the same way. Like, whoever's buying this Hummingbird today—I hope I get to meet you, but that makes me feel really, really special. If I can make somebody feel half as great as Bill Murray's made me and everybody else feel, that's a special feeling.”

Pictured: Gibson Hummingbird Acoustic-Electric Guitar in Vintage Sunburst

The Basics of Marcus King's Pedalboard

We spent a little time going over what King keeps on his pedalboard and how he uses it, and he had this to say: “I love the Tube Screamer. (Plays music) Got to love it. I mean it's meat and potatoes, baby. It just gets you where you need to go. And for a long time, all I used was a Super Reverb and a TS-9. I put the TS-9 on top of the amplifier, and I would turn the drive down really low, and the volume down really low, and crank the amplifier because you just wanted to kind of attenuate your power a little bit so you didn't freak out the local sound man. Or your touring sound man. But that's what I would use it for. I'd use it as an attenuator. And I got this little MXR booster, you know? It just gives me that little extra. Got to love that. Got my color driver here, which is kind of based off of the Gilmour Fuzz that he used. And my guy, Teddy, up in Maine, builds these by hand. He kind of reverse engineers his favorite fuzz pedals. Reverse delay—you got to love that. You got to love a Phase 100 MXR. I like this one. I got the old one at the house, and I take this one out because it's got an indicating light on it, and the old one doesn't. MXR reverb, which, I just use that for just like—if I want to get real spacey. If there's a horn solo or something going on, I can really play some kind of wild shit behind it. What else do I got? I got my Scofield in a box here. That's a Rotovibe, so kind of that Robin Trower thing. And this is an Atreides. Everybody stand back. It does some weird (plays music). I don’t really turn that one on. Every time I do, it just hurts somebody. You got to have a wild card. I've eliminated a lot of the danger out of my life, so … ”

Pictured: Marcus King's Pedalboard at Guitar Center Nashville

Marcus King on His Creative Process and Being a Channel for the Music

A big part of the interview, between the songs he performed, was talking about playing and creating music from a place of total personal honesty. King offered some excellent insights into his own creative process as well as some excellent advice for other musicians seeking to find their best, most authentic voice. He started with this advice: “The best ability you can have—just be a vessel. Allow something extraordinary to flow through you. Not saying anything I do is extraordinary per se. I just have a real respect and reverence for music, for just being able to create. And get your emotions out that way instead of harboring them.

“You know, you got to be willing to be selfless, you know? And don’t think about anything else other than the task at hand, and then stop thinking about that at a certain moment. And the only way you can do that is if you become so comfortable with the arrangement and the instrument, and so on and so forth, and your gear. You become so comfortable that you don’t have to think about anything else around you because the guitar can be an extension of yourself, and likewise for your singing voice. And you know the lyrics because you wrote them or you helped write them, or you memorized them or whatever it is. So, you can kind of keep your antenna up and just focus on the real beauty of it, which is just doing something special, letting it flow through you.”

On Being in the Moment

“I think I share a lot of Rick Rubin's philosophy as far as getting away with less and not muddying up—not having too many options, you know? And oftentimes in my life, I try to wear the same thing every day. I try not to think about what I got to do as far as … you can eliminate little things, like you eat the same thing every day. You wear the same thing every day. It just allows your mind to just be filled with so many more creative ideas.”

Pictured: Marcus King On-Stage at Guitar Center Nashville

On Singing, Playing and Getting "That Feel"

“It all started for me back at my grandfather's house. I had this big blue chair and an old television set. I just watched cartoons and played guitar. And I had a miniature Les Paul. And I got a Squier Strat shortly thereafter. I'd just spend a lot of time back there. My grandfather had this kind of … it was before tablature. So, it was like this medieval that he'd written out. It was the six strings, and he had a tracing, like a drawing of my hand over the strings, and he would kind of point out where everything goes. And he taught my dad and my uncles the same way. My grandfather was a real stickler about melody, and about simplicity and a reverence, and the honoring of the music. And my father was riff oriented. My grandfather was like, ‘You should be able to anticipate when the four is coming.’ That kind of thing. It was almost philosophical for him. You should be able to read everybody's mind up here. And the importance of being quiet and being reserved, and letting a few passes happen. So, it was almost like … because he played bass in church. But I almost try to think about it like a bass player. Less is more, and then you figure out what's going on, and then you can say what you got to say. I think of it like a duck on water. They look really peaceful and really, you know, like they got it together. But if you flip them on their head and their legs are kicking, man, that's pretty much how it is. I try not to think about it. It's a lot like patting your head, rubbing your belly.”

Pictured: Marcus King On-Stage at Guitar Center Nasvhille with "Big Red"

King also offered up some advice on approaching more delicate material with this advice: “Man, I just took everything I did and just did it about 70%. I mean, to be honest, I just wanted … it's a lot like, you know, the care and the approach that you got to take to something. It's in your hands, you know? So, just soften it up a little bit. Like, you don't dap your mom up the same way you do your buds, right? When I'm with my mom, I don’t pat her on the back the same way I do my boys. But just kind of think about what's in your hands, and what you're trying to convey. And if it's a little bit more delicate, just be a little more delicate in your approach. And there's a lot of things you can do in your tone and just work that volume knob. The volume knob is your friend.”

Marcus King on Putting Together a Band

One of the streaming audience members asked about how to make good choices in finding band members and musical compatriots. King had this interesting take on it: “Anybody that's willing to buy a van with you. Because that locks them in. They can't go anywhere. Because they know you don't have enough to buy them out of the van that you guys are purchasing together. But buying a van together is my first advice. And anybody that's willing to do that, and they want to get the hell out of their hometown. Anybody, you know, you can tolerate enough to share a bed with if you need to. That's really how you weed them out, you know? A lot of musicians we worked with, we lost a few to college, to education, and I'm happy for them. We lost a few to just … You go a little crazy out there, but that's where that sense of humor kind of comes from. But you just got to find somebody as crazy as you. And you'll find them. They're out there. They want to get out of there as much as you do. And if you're doing it for the right reasons, you'll find those people. But, you know, it's really those unique attributes that make you want to work with somebody. It's the things that they bring to the table that you didn’t even realize were missing. So, I don't really have a defined set of rules or a guideline that I like to go by.”

Pictured: Marcus King On-Stage at Guitar Center Nasvhille

Marcus King Talks About Being on the Road

As a renowned road dog, King had this to say about his relentless touring schedule: “I love being on the road. It's one of my favorite things. I love waking up in a new city, finding the best coffee spot around. Maybe, you know, a local music store. I just love hearing different accents when I wake up in the morning. It's something that never gets old to me. I love traveling. I f’ing hate the airport but I love traveling by the bus—I love traveling by bus and waking up, and the things that you see, and you witness, like, you know, Pilot gas stations at three in the morning are—it's like being on a different planet, you know? It's so bizarre, and it's so unique to what we do for a living, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. And I'm so thankful I get to tour as much as I do. And, you know, we don’t have any young’uns running around yet. And my dog, Duck, he travels with me on the bus. So, I'm really thankful to be able to do it as much as we do—it's such good therapy. I'll be so depressed, and then, after the gig, we'll sit and just laugh and laugh so hard until your cheeks hurt and your ribcage is aching, and, you know, it's just … that's my favorite thing. It's my favorite activity, sitting around, laughing at those dummies.”