"For me, everything starts from improvisation": Lari Basilio on Expressing Emotion Through Guitar, Finding Her Sound, and the Genius of Satriani | Interview

Lari Basilio on Expressing Emotion Through Guitar, Finding Her Sound, and the Genius of Satriani | Interview

Since making her mark in the early 2010s with a solid debut EP and a trio of impressive full-length releases over the past decade, São Paulo’s finest, Lari Basilio, has become one of the most compelling modern voices in the world of guitar—not just for her blazing technique, but for a rare melodic sensibility that sets her apart from the average shredder. Now, with her latest album, Redemption, out worldwide, Lari sits down with Guitar Interactive’s Jonathan Graham to talk about the making of the new record, the art of expressing emotion through melody, the artists she’d love to collaborate with, and her ever-evolving gear setup.

Congratulations on 'Redemption', Lari. This feels like a particularly special album for fans. Did it feel that way putting it together?

"Absolutely! This album is very special to me. It's been a really interesting process throughout the making of this record. Every album, for me, marks a specific time in my life, and I get inspiration from my life in general—relationships, my relationship with God, my daily life. With this specific album, the journey coincides with my motherhood journey, so it's been a very emotional time. I think the result is that the songs are very emotional as well."

Do you find that, as a songwriter, you need those changes—the ups and downs in life—to inspire your music?

"Yes, I do. For me, it works that way. I like to feel the freedom; whatever inspires me, I'm here for it. Life, in general, is what inspires me the most. I try to take advantage of all the feelings and emotions that I'm experiencing in certain situations, and I put them out through songs and melodies. I try to tell stories for people to listen to. That's pretty much it."

You have a real gift for conveying emotion through your playing. Do you have any advice for truly expressing through your playing—how do you translate what you feel into what you play?

"I tend to focus my songwriting—my songs, my tunes—on the melodies. Every album, for me, the challenge is, 'How can I be myself and yet sound different, but still sound like me?' The challenge is always to create new melodies with every album, every song. Songwriting requires a lot of practice, and that's really important. People might think you just have to be inspired and that's it, but I think it takes time to develop your own methods of writing and to understand yourself within the music you're trying to create—how you're going to express yourself. That takes practice.

"For me, I always try to focus on the melody, because I think that's what can really tell a story to everyone listening. I want whoever is listening to understand that my song has a beginning, a middle, and an end—it makes sense as a whole. I really believe that melody is what makes a song remarkable, somehow, in some way.

"I see the guitar as a voice, and I think that allows me to bring this idea of melodic playing. It's like the guitar is my voice, it's the singer in a song. I try to let the song breathe and create space. I think that helps a lot to make the song happen in the best way possible."

Before you were even playing guitar, do you remember hearing a great melody that moved you for the first time?

"Oh yeah, there are many remarkable melodies for me in my life. But one that is very remarkable is definitely the melody of 'Flying in a Blue Dream' by Joe Satriani. That's probably one of the instrumental songs I've listened to the most in my life, for sure. I think Joe is a genius. He's definitely a master at crafting beautiful melodies. That's the one for me."

In terms of crafting a guitar solo like the one in "Redemption", is there improvisation involved?

"For me, everything starts from improvisation. For that specific solo in "Redemption", it's funny because I actually started writing the song from the solo section. After I finished the solo, I created the beginning, the intro, the main theme of the song. I love that—you never know how the song will go, but it's beautiful when it happens a little differently.

"For that solo, I had the chord progression, and I started improvising over it many, many times. I kept listening back, keeping the parts that I loved, and discarding the parts I didn't. I started to improve it until it became the full solo. But everything for me starts from improvisation, basically."

Has that always been your approach to solos?

"Yes, pretty much. I love starting from improvisation, but I also love to analyse every part of the song I'm writing, so it truly makes sense and doesn't get lost in the song. I like to go somewhere, then come back—the song has to make sense. So, I start from improvisation, but I love to sit down and really pay attention to every section and build the song well."

Does that ever cause a problem for you? Live—sometimes with improvisation, could you come up with something out of this world, then it's a challenge to be able to play that again?

"Exactly, yeah, sometimes it happens! I always make sure that I write everything down. I do the notation, the tab for everything, or I video everything, because we have this problem—sometimes, something we just played, we can't play again. It's crazy.

"But yeah, I like to start from improvisation and analyse every part so the song truly makes sense and doesn't get lost. I like to go somewhere, come back, and make sure the song has a journey."

As usual, there are some incredible tones on this album. Can you talk us through the gear you're using?

"Yeah, sure, amp-wise it's pretty much the Laney Lionheart for the album. That's the amp I use most of the time—for all my stuff in the studio and live. It's an amazing amp, super versatile, and it's my go-to for both clean sounds and heavier parts, like the rhythm guitars on "The Way Home." I have other amps I love—the Cub Super Top, the LA Studio as well from Laney—but the Lionheart is the one I use the most. It's a fantastic platform for pedals, and I'm super happy with it."

Did you instantly feel that 'this is my sound' with the Lionheart?

"Yeah, I never encountered difficulties finding my sound through this amp. It makes me find my tone easily, and that's the point of finding a piece of gear you like. I just love it. It feels really great under the fingers. That's the feeling I'm always looking for as a guitar player—it has to feel right under the fingers when you're playing."

Guitar-wise, I'm assuming your signature Ibanez LB1 is doing most of the heavy lifting on the new album?

"Oh yes, it's amazing! Since I got the guitar I've written so many new songs and tunes with it. I literally felt at home from the first chord I played. Ibanez absolutely nailed this guitar in the first prototype. It's versatile and fits all the different styles I play—heavy tunes, groove stuff, ballads, acoustic tracks. I'm grateful we achieved that, also with my signature pickups from Seymour Duncan. There are so many features I love, especially the compound radius, the fretboard, and the dynamic switch, which gives me nine different tones."

What about 'Seven'—which guitar are you using for that track?

"'I use the AC7 from Ibanez there. Beautiful guitar, plays so well, and I love the sound of the pickups on that guitar as well. If I'm not mistaken, it's the Hyperion from Seymour Duncan. Sounds really good, and I'm trying to explore the seven-string guitar more, incorporate it in my playing, my style, my compositions. It's been a lot of fun. It's a fun track, one of my favourites to play, actually."

The production on 'Redemption' is modern and fresh, yet still incredibly dynamic throughout. Was it challenging to strike that balance?

"Yeah, exactly, it's a fine line between dynamics and losing it, losing the life. I self-produced the album and I was looking for a more modern sound, but of course not losing the dynamics at all. I'm careful with my tone, expression, and technique—switching between pick and fingers helps with dynamics and expression. I always try to follow my ear with that sort of thing."

In the early days, was there ever a technique that you remember working on that was a real challenge for you and the hardest to add to your arsenal?

"I think legato for me was always not so easy, because of the strength. Even nowadays, it's something I keep practicing so I don't lose the strength and keep gaining more in my fingers. That's the technique I'm always coming back to, so I can have more... fluidity, yeah, in my legato. That's still something I'm always coming back to.

"In my daily practice routine, I try to divide my day between just noodling for fun, playing whatever, random backing tracks, improvising, and also practicing my own songs and some techniques that I feel I need. That's how I try to divide my practice time during the day."

You've got an incredible band on this album—Vinnie Colaiuta, Lee Sklar, etc. How was it working with these guys on this one?

"Amazing. They need no introduction—they're absolute legends. I feel really good about it, and it's such a blessing and an honour to work with them, to play with them, and to have them as friends. Vinnie—this is the third record we're doing together, and he always brings a great vibe to the studio. Leland is such a sweet guy and an elegant player, with so much class and a beautiful tone. We also had Sean Hurley on bass and Marina Jacintho on keys. It's an amazing team; they bring so much to every song. The songs wouldn't sound as beautiful without those guys—they know exactly what to do to bring life to the song. I feel just blessed and honoured to work with them."

You must have very specific ideas about what you want from them, but are you able to let them go wild in the sessions from time to time?

"Oh yeah, absolutely! I have to do that—it's Vinnie, it's Lee, it's Marina—they need to be free to do what they do. I love to go through the writing process and pre-producing the songs very carefully, but of course, I need to give them the space they need so they can shine. And they did! It's amazing. At the same time, they're such amazing professionals that they really understand and listen to the ideas. That's part of being a really good musician—they know what they're doing. I'm really glad to be able to do that and to have them on this record."

Looking ahead to the next album and beyond, is there a dream collaboration?

"Wow, yeah. It's amazing to be able to collaborate with artists that I admire. That's the case with all these musicians—Vinnie, Lee, Sean, Nathan East from the 'Far More' album, Greg Phillinganes. I also had Joe Satriani on that one. I'd love to collaborate more in the future with some more of the guitar players I admire—let's say, Steve Lukather, maybe Richie Kotzen. I love them so much. That would be awesome!"

Have you written songs over the years that you felt would be well-suited to actually have a vocalist?

"Yes, I have. A few songs I've written, actually, to be honest, I wrote with that in mind, and I ended up thinking, 'Okay, I'm just going to play over it.' But I feel that I need to take this idea forward and really complete a song with a vocalist. That would be really cool for sure. I think it's very interesting."

You're going to be back on tour in Europe in September—are you coming to the UK at some point?

"Yes, I'm hoping to be going to the UK very soon. I'm not sure if it's going to be on this run, but soon for sure—I have to be there! I'm super excited for this European tour. It's going to be like a month-long tour, so I'm pretty excited for that. I can't wait to be on the road and play, because I love to do it."

'Redemption' is out now worldwide.

For more information and tour dates, head to laribasilio.com.