Yasmin Williams: Explorations in sound By Ceili Cornelius Correspondent
Yasmin Williams has had a guitar in her hands since she was young. She originally fell in love with the instrument from playing the popular video game, “Guitar Hero 2.” “I beat the game and asked for my parents to get me an electric guitar,” said Williams. Williams started out her guitar journey by playing what she thought she wanted to — hard rock on electric guitar. She quickly realized that was not the style that she wanted to play in. “I loved writing my own melodies too much, and electric guitar almost felt like it wasn’t enough. There was more variety of what I could do on acoustic, you can really do whatever,” she said. Williams has a unique fingerpicking style that she came up with on her own. She prefers fingerpicking over the use of a pick because of the variety of patterns and sounds that she can create. Williams also plays lap style guitar which is exactly what it sounds like — the guitar is played horizontally on the lap. “I basically do a series of hammer-ons and tapping on the guitar, and it allows for more percussion and use of the whole guitar,” she said. Williams enjoys playing around with various acoustic guitars, writing her own tunes, and figuring out ways to create a unique sound. With her lap-tapping technique, she can play melody and harmony at the same time, making it easy to perform solo. “I don’t need a band, I just need my main guitar and I can do a lot with that,” she said. Williams doesn’t just play your traditional six string acoustic guitar. In recent years, she has branched out to playing various types of instruments. She has started playing a Kora guitar, which is a traditional West African instrument. A Kora typically has 21 strings, which are played by plucking with the fingers. It combines features of the lute and harp. “It’s basically a large gourd with strings and it is quite tall with 10 strings on one side, 11 on the other,” said Williams. She plays some 12-string guitars too, and has recently gotten back into playing banjo. She also plays the clarinet. Williams doesn’t bring all these instruments with her on tour, but she always brings what she can. Williams’ songs are exclusively instrumental, written entirely by herself on her various instruments. “It is a pretty long process,
“I like to say it fits writing one of my songs; I within the folk tradition usually write the melody, and is sort of alternative then the harmony,” she folk,” she said. said. The pandemic last year Often, she has 30 seconds of a sound that she forced Williams to cancel came up with months ago her entire planned tour. that she will come back However, there was a silver to in order to create a finlining: She was able to setished piece. tle down a bit and record “I usually record it on her latest album which has my phone or write it down been a life changing record as sheet music and come for her. back to it. It is like putting “I was able to get a thousand-piece puzzle my latest record, Urban together and the elements Driftwood, recorded and and sounds match up as out into the world and it time goes on,” she said. got really positive press Because her songs are and that is how I got my entirely instrumental, they manager and a bunch more don’t really follow a tradigigs,” she said. Williams tional song structure when was able to turn a rather they’re being written, but negative time into something positive for herself when they come out, she PHOTO PROVIDED and her musical career. says, “they actually do have “I am really proud of it, that typical verse, chorus, Yasmin Williams enjoys utilizing the entire guitar while playing lap and I am glad I was able to bridge aspect to them, style guitar and fingerpicking. put out something hopewith a less rigid song know why, I just have an soul, and Americana can be ful,” she said. structure.” The 2021 Sisters Folk Williams has other people inability to connect with the heard in Williams’ music, but words,” she said. she primarily categorizes her- Festival is Yasmin Williams’ name her songs. Influences of the blues, self under the very large “folk first time to the Central “I have friends and family choose the names. I don’t R&B, West African music, music” umbrella. Oregon area.
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