Lindsey Buckingham offered up some hard learned advice about creativity to fellow musicians. In a new interview with Clashmusic.com, the ousted-Fleetwood Mac leader revealed some tricks of the trade, explaining, “I’ve always admired guitarists who worked in service of the song. It’s a choice you make sometimes, to work for the good of the song. It means some people perhaps don’t take it in on that level, but if you’re doing your job right then you become integrated into the fabric. Sure, you’re not Eddie van Halen but that’s what a song should be, I think.”
Buckingham — who spent most off his time in collaboration with his Mac bandmates — went on to talk about the difference between working with partners and on your own: “Working with other people is like making a movie. I love being a producer, and bringing songs from, say, Christine (McVie) and Stevie (Nicks) to life. But working on your own is like a painting, I would say. You start putting a few colors down, and then the canvas will lead you off in a different direction. . . But there’s validity to both, and I couldn’t have one without the other.”
Buckingham shed light on being a fully self-taught musician: “I’ve never had a music lesson in my life. I got a toy guitar when I was six, and an Elvis Presley songbook. That’s it. My orientation of guitar playing from the very beginning came from me not having lessons, so there was no one around me to tell me what was correct and incorrect. I just found my own way, and my own style. It’s more a case of imagination over knowledge.”
SIDE NOTES
- Back in January, Lindsey Buckingham has sold the entirety of his of publishing rights, including both his publishing and writer’s share, across 161 songs to music conglomerate Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited.
- The company had previously snagged 25 percent of the former-Fleetwood Mac leader’s song catalogue through its buyout from the Kobalt company. In the new deal, Hipgnosis also will own a 50 percent share of any unreleased Buckingham compositions.
- Among the classic tunes included in the deal are “Go Your Own Way,” “Monday Morning,” “I’m So Afraid,” “Never Going Back Again,” “Second Hand News,” “Tusk,” “I Know I’m Not Wrong,” “Walk A Thin Line,” “Big Love,” “Trouble,” “Holiday Road,” and “Go Insane,” along with his portions of “World Turning” and “The Chain,” among many, many more.
CHECK IT OUT: Lindsey Buckingham’s 2006 video for “It Was You”: