Bio
Oscar Suh-Rodriguez is a guitarist, composer, and music-educator based in New Jersey.
After acquiring his BFA in Jazz Performance from the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in 2013, Oscar went on to tour the US and Europe as a sideman for various artists. While working as a funk, rock, and blues player, he continued his solo guitar and jazz studies under guitarists Pedro Rodriguez, John Stowell, Gene Bertoncini, and Vic Juris. He received his MFA in Music Composition from Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2022, where he studied under Ravi Krishnaswami, John Mallia, and Carla Kihlstedt.
Currently, Oscar resides in northern New Jersey where he continues to freelance as a sideman, perform regularly as a solo guitarist, and teach select private lessons.
Oscar is founder of and lead producer for the indie record label Kidokoro Records.
Thoughts:
on solo guitar
Vic Juris once enlightened me with a simple question. “What are the rules to playing solo guitar?”
I considered some technical ideas: “you must keep the harmony afloat? You must play occasional bass notes?” but hesitated to guess. “I don’t know” I said.
With satisfaction, he replied, “There AREN’T any rules.”
I do my best to keep this at the core of my playing. How many heartbeats away from silence am I? Does this instrument have six strings or three pairs? Do the fatter strings feel lonely? What does the air say if I stop? Each new improvisation or composition is an opportunity to create a little universe with its own set of rules and properties. The limitations of the instrument, the limitations of my fingers–they present infinite possibilities. I put a few of those possibilities into a basket and call that home for five minutes.
on Practice
I’ve been playing guitar for fifteen years now and believe I’ve only just started to hear the actual sound of the guitar. I’d seen glimpses before but only now know how to direct my practice. My current process involves wandering in my listening and my playing until I fall in love with a sound. That sound becomes by target. Working backwards, I then gradually decipher the trajectory of my arrow. I’m launched into a creative process of writing miniature etudes, experimenting through improvisation, recording myself and listening back.
Over time, I forget about the target because I’m having so much fun with the process. Then I let it all go. It becomes a part of me, like a memory–foggy in some places, vivid in others. And I’m happy with that.
on Intervals
Harmony is a city with paved roads and named streets. To study it is to study the map of the city. It’s important to understand the principles that guide traditional and even more contemporary harmony so as to better connect with your palette and your audience.
In my early studies, tensions and intervals seemed to have their own predetermined functions. In my recent practice, however, I’ve spent time getting to know the sound of each interval from scratch, attempting to set aside what the radio tells me is right. Exercises from Joe Diorio and Jimmy Wyble and even a few I’ve made myself have laid out new paths along the fretboard–opening up forbidden alleyways and sewers.
As a result, my personal relationship with each interval has blossomed. Discovering my own value for each harmony has brought so much freedom and satisfaction to my solo playing. I frequently check in with myself: How do you value each interval?
The Minor 2nd: the soul
The Major 2nd: love
The Minor 7th: an empty room
The Major 7th: tears
And so on. I recommend sitting with the instrument and creating a similar list. What do these sounds mean to you?