Seth Josel is a pioneer of the guitar: he has given numerous premieres of works by major composers, including Peter Ablinger, Michelle Lou, Olga Neuwirth, among others. Alongside his concert career, he has pursued an extensive research activity, authoring two seminal books in the guitar literature: The Techniques of Guitar Playing (2014), written in collaboration with the composer Ming Tsao, and The Techniques of E-Guitar Playing (2025), co-authored with the composer Michelle Lou.
Thank you, Seth, for accepting this interview, and welcome to Obiettivo Contemporaneo!
Your research activity began several years ago and has remained remarkably prolific to this day. What was the initial spark that led you to embark on academic research?
Even during my studies at Manhattan School of Music, I cultivated a deep interest in music history and analysis, taking additional credits in the latter. I cannot point to a single spark; rather, it was my restless drive to probe beneath the surface and pursue the perennial question: what is going on here? One of my principal reasons for pursuing graduate work at Yale was the opportunity to attend seminars led by some of the world’s most renowned scholars—among them the theorists Alan Forte and David Lewin, as well as the musicologist Reinhard Strohm. At one point, I seriously considered abandoning performance in favor of an academic career in theory; yet that inclination proved short-lived during my first year of the master’s program, despite the initial encouragement of some of the aforementioned figures. Thus, although my first published article did not appear until several years after completing graduate school, my commitment to research never truly wavered.
How do you reconcile an intensive concert career with your ongoing academic research, and in what ways does your performance activity influence your research work?
Generally speaking, one endeavor continually informs the other—and vice versa. For me, the two are inseparably intertwined, and my life in music would be diminished if confined to a single path. Some projects lean more toward artistic research, such as the Lachenmann edition or participation in the reconstruction of Kagel’s Tactil and Unter Strom (conducted at the Orpheus Institute in Ghent), while others—like the book projects—were multifaceted undertakings that combined archival study, analytical inquiry, and reflections on performance practice. On the practical side, effective time management becomes essential. Unfortunately, I am not always as disciplined as I would like to be … But, let me give you one concrete example: when I was researching the first volume, I had already been in sporadic contact with the Kurt Weill Stiftung in New York regarding diverse editorial projects. During one of my visits there, the director showed me a photograph of the Lewis Ruth Band (who were in residence at Berliner Ensemble and who premiered Die Dreigroschenoper) and we discovered therein that the colleague was using a Kontra-Gitarre, which at the time was also referred to as a “Bass-Gitarre”. Hence, when asked to perform the Mahagonny Suite first with the Berliner Philharmoniker, then the whole opera last summer with the Deutsche Oper Berlin, I sought out period instruments, and the scenes where the instrument is prescribed, were thus infinitely richer for it. In summary, the iconographic work informed my practice directly.
How did the idea of writing The Techniques of E-Guitar Playing come about, and what academic or pedagogical need did you feel was missing in the existing literature on the electric guitar?
In 2008, Ming Tsao and I initially proposed a volume to Bärenreiter that would encompass both instruments. Our sample chapter—on harmonics—integrated them seamlessly into the discourse; as a “natural” phenomenon, harmonics presented few difficulties. Yet the chapter expanded to more than forty pages, prompting our editor to suggest that we separate the instruments and produce a second volume. For various reasons, we chose to begin with the acoustic book, even after circulating a survey among colleagues in the field. (A majority of respondents recommended starting with the acoustic guitar.) To this day, I remain uncertain whether that ordering was the right one, for I vividly recall how composer friends and colleagues across the world were clamoring in the 2000s for a comprehensive resource on electric guitar writing—at a time when literally nothing of substance was available.
Could you describe your working process in writing the book? How did you organize and systematize the materials, technical examples, and notation, and how much time did this phase of research and writing require?
In contrast to the project with Ming, where we literally wrote the book side by side in working blocks over the course of two years, Michelle and I—given the logistical challenges—were compelled from the outset to adopt a different approach. To be fair, the table of contents was already in a fairly advanced stage when Michelle joined, but her renewed energy helped clarify the overall arc of the book. The project ultimately spanned about four years, encompassing the refinement and adjustment of the TOC, which served as the controlling architectural framework, followed by the administration of guest contributions, the conducting of interviews, and—perhaps to address the heart of your question—the division of responsibilities. Deciding who would write which sections was, for the most part, a collegial and congenial process.
A few things were very clear from the outset: a) We sought to avoid overlap and redundancies with The Techniques of Guitar Playing. (I do recognize that the numerous references to that book may be frustrating for readers who do not have access to it. However, I did not wish to rehash concepts such as fingerboard geography or natural harmonics.) a) We aimed to draw as many connections as possible—strategically—to the first volume, since in my estimation it really constitutes one large project. Wherever possible, historical aspects and certain provenances, a major thread in the first volume, were incorporated here as well—for instance, the discourse on the history of the plectrum, which I quite enjoyed writing. (Special mention should also go to Juan Parra, whose sections on tape delay and amplification, with their strong focus on historical developments, are particularly insightful.)
As for the examples and figures, much of the work was systematic—for instance, incorporating spectrograms in the multiphonics section. One does not formally learn at university how to select musical examples for essays; rather, through immersion in academic literature over time, one develops a sense of how excerpts can underscore and illuminate an argument. Beyond that, examples must be striking and compelling, and in our case, we aimed for the widest possible spectrum in terms of style and aesthetic.
The writing – and concommitant research – itself was done in fits and starts, as time permitted. Personally, I wrote during summer holidays and longer breaks between projects. For Michelle, the process was more complicated, given her extensive teaching obligations and the challenge of carving out writing phases between her composing commitments.
I should add one comment: although culturally diverse, we would have preferred to invite more women practitioners to contribute. The e-guitar community still has room to grow and diversify in that respect.
What were the most complex methodological decisions involved in the preparation of the volume, particularly in finding a balance between analytical rigor, pedagogical clarity, and practical usability for students and teachers?
I believe all the elements you mention go hand in hand, though there are exceptions—such as the heavy mathematics in the harmonics section, which only a small fraction of readers will fully grasp. Still, with decades of experience working closely with composers at every level, I have developed a strong sense of what information is genuinely useful and what can be intellectually stimulating.
To be candid, we do not regard this handbook as a pedagogical tool, per se; rather, it was conceived as a reference work. As for the preparation—and I assume you are referring to the table of contents—the most complex structural challenges involved signal processing and amplification, particularly the former, given the vast and intricate landscape it encompasses. I could imagine a different approach altogether—and indeed, I could imagine an entire book dedicated to those topics!
During the writing process, were there sections of the book that required substantial revision or a redefinition of the original framework? If so, what prompted the change in direction?
Yes, there were a few structural changes made in the second chapter, prompted in part by our amazing editor, Diana Rothaug—who, though not experienced in electronic music, possesses an exceptionally keen intellect and was able, almost miraculously, to draw connections and maintain a sense of the whole even when our own focus drifted elsewhere. We also rearranged the placement of one interview and several guest essays. Apropos guests: some of the contributions are my absolute favorite bits in the book. Unfortunately, we had to reject one guest submission, as it did not meet our academic standards.
The suggested alterations were guided by strict conventions of structure and logical flow, though occasionally with an unexpected twist. Structurally and proportionally, the book does not resemble a perfectly cut diamond or a crystal-clear sonata form. I think in this regard The Techniques of Guitar Playing is more “classically” balanced. I sometimes think of it instead as a classic rock album from the 1960s or 70s, with shorter tracks interspersed—some idiosyncratic, some quirky—The Beatles’ White Album, for instance.
Looking at the current academic context, why do you think The Techniques of E-Guitar Playing is a book that made sense to write today? What has changed over the past ten to fifteen years in the way the electric guitar is conceived and addressed within academic environments?
I would say the community might indeed have benefitted from such a handbook had it been available 10–15 years ago. At the same time, if you look closely at the works cited, many were written within the last decade, which provided us with a far richer pool of material to draw upon. There has been a marked increase in the acceptance of the instrument as an expressive tool in contemporary art music—both on the concert stage and within academia. What was once a novelty in the 1990s, when diploma recitals featuring both acoustic and electric guitars were rare, has now become far less of an anomaly.
In your view, which changes in the academic and musical landscape have made a book of this kind necessary—or possible—today, compared to when you first began working on it?
I don’t believe the landscape has shifted all that dramatically over the past five years. The changes you may be referring to likely occurred between the time Ming and I first pitched the project to Bärenreiter in 2008 and the present. Leaving aside cultural politics and the painful budget cuts that have been felt across the board, these developments are reflected primarily in the academic sphere, but also within a generation of composers for whom the electric guitar has become a source of particular fascination. I would describe the performance technique handbook as “necessary,” for although there is a staggering amount of information available online, much of it is poorly presented and lacking in integrity. As for the preexisting literature, I think you’d agree that nothing comparable exists—neither in scope nor in ambition.
What future research or academic projects are you currently planning or envisioning
I still need to complete the critical analysis for the Lachenmann edition. (Ducking.) It has already undergone a thorough review by one of my colleagues and OI, and now I simply need to work carefully through their comments—along with one final visit to the Sacher Stiftung to clarify a few issues regarding the earliest source materialsd. After that, I hope to return to a project conceived during the pandemic: a compendium of ensemble and orchestral repertoire for the acoustic guitar. To be continued…
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