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This
page explains more about the many instruments Chris Conway plays live, and on
his recordings.
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| guitars
Chris
Conway has pioneered the use of 9 string guitars for many years. Basically he
plays a 12-string guitar but with the highest 3 strings single course only, enabling
clearer soloing. It also gives a smoother sound than the full jangle of the 12
string. He also always plays in non-standard tuning - usually A-string course
is tuned up to B. Occasionally the B-string is tuned down to A as well. On The
Great Escapist he uses a split-course tuning with the bottom course tuned to D(low)
and E(high).
Acoustic-wise his playing has been influenced by the likes
of David Crosby, Paul Kantner, Ralph Towner and Egberto Gismonti. He also plays
an acoustic nylon string in a Latin style - especially featured on his Chocolate
Bossa CD
On electric guitar he uses effects and a swell pedal to create
atmospheric pads. Leadwise you might hear some Terje Rypdal, Dan Ar Braz and Carlos
Santana influences.
guitars - acoustic 9string by K.Yairi ; electric
9 string by Vester ; nylon string by Santos Martinez
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| keyboards
Chris
uses digital, analogue and virtual synthesizers as well as sampled electric pianos
and organs. Piano is Chris's first instrument and is an amazingly delicate and
fluent improviser. Chris has had a fascination with synthesizers ever since, as
a youmg teenager he would go into Manchester and try out all the synths in the
pioneering shop - The Synthesizer Centre. He uses them in a very subtle way -
like atmosphere boxes. He also has a fondness for playing minimal repeated patters
on electric organ in a Terry Riley vein.
keyboards - Korg Triton, Access
Virus C, Roland SH32, Spectrasonics Atmosphere, Yamaha P80, E-MU
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| whistles
& flutes
Anyone
who has seen Chris Conway live will know he usually travels with a battery of
Irish whistles and flutes. His low whistle playing has become a real trademark
sound and he is much in demand for session work with it. He has a very distinctive
sound on the whistle - he improvises on them like they are jazz instruments while
at the same time giving them a strong ethnic feel - sometimes sounding Celtic,
at other times Indian or Balkan. His low whistle (left) was given to him by a
member of the audience when he was playing a gig in Germany. He also plays a small
Chinese bamboo transverse flute. A party piece of Chris's is his trick of playing
2 tin whistles at once.
whistles by Feadog, Generation, Overtone and
K-Pro
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| theremin
Chris
has had something of a love affair with theremins in the last few years. The theremin
was the worlds first electronic instrument invented in 1920 by Prof. Theremin
in Russia. It is unusual in that it is played without touching it - the player
moves hands in space over 2 aerials. It became well known when played on soundtracks
for 1950s sci-fi and horror films.
CC uses them in a number of ways. Chordally
- playing the theremin through a harmonizer then through a delay and reverb to
create the shimmering chords. CC also plays it as a haunting melody instrument
but also for sounds creating whoops, chirrups and whirrs. His album Contact
Light especially features the theremin
theremins - Moog Etherwave
Pro, Moog Etherwave Standard
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 | kalimba
The
kalimba is an African thumb piano and it has been a part of his instrument armory
for many years. He has written several songs for it over the years - Lifespell
being the latest. It's also used on The Great Escapist where it joins the percussive
mix. CC has 2 kalimbas - one in D and one in C, both made in South Africa. They
have 2 holes in the back - by moving your fingers over these while playing you
can get an amazing vibrato.
kalimbas by by McKinney
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 | zither
When
Chris heard Alan Stivell's Celtic harp back in about 1980 he immediately wanted
to play one. He then found out they cost a fortune! When with the group The Rain
Garden he expereimented with recording zithers - small table harps - and found
he could get a similar sound. He uses them to pick out melodies like on I Cat
My Soul, and also as a textural backdrop as on 270° - Love - Spring.
He
has 3 zithers - an old German 30 string zither by Melodia, and a small 12 string
one (left) specially made for him by Rain Garden co-hort Carl Peberdy. He also
uses a rustic dulcimer-style one that Carl made from his sideboard for special
effects.
zithers by Melodia & Carl Peberdy
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| electric
kantele
Chris plays a 10 string electric kantele built by Michael King -a solid body version
of the zither from the tradition of Finland with magnetic single coil pickups.
This is played through a Zoom guitar effects pedal
electric kantele
by Michael King
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 | location
recordings
CC
sometimes records sounds around him and featues them in pieces. His Close
the Circle album features a door & childrens voices, San Francisco cable
car, audience - vocal drone (Consonance Filk Convention 2006). On Scanning
Planet 3 he included church bells, rain, street sounds and a child's voice.
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