Jim Campilongo Clinic

Join faculty host Kevin Barry for a clinic with Berklee American Roots Music Program guest artist Jim Campilongo. Jim has eleven albums of original material and guest appearances on dozens of recordings -- from the Bammie-winner's contribution on Cake's million-selling Prolonging the Magic to (most recently) doing lead guitar duties with The Little Willies, his band with Norah Jones -- Campilongo has played with JJ Cale, Al Anderson, Gillian Welch/David Rawlings, Peter Rowan, Martha Wainwright, Bright Eyes, Teddy Thompson, and Burning Spear to name a few, has earned two Gold records, and has written music for national ads for National Grid, Volkswagen, SBC, Michelin and Jack Daniel's

#berkleevs

[misisipimike]

I took two lessons from Jim. I think at the time it was $25 an hour. The first one he showed me an incredible scale. I was already a sort of known guitar player in SF so he went for the more moderate stuff. The next week I showed up and he asked me how I did with the scale. I confessed that I hadn't worked on it. I just wanted to hang out with him and play guitar. He told me "Mike, you can hang out with me for free." I learned so much from Jim (and his friends) by going to his weekly shows. I saw him play with Norah Jones and there were only three people there. What I learned most from him is how to show up, play the gig, and appreciate the opportunity to learn on the fly. He is the nicest guy in the world. Years later I got to see him play on (I think it was) his 60th birthday at Yoshi's in Oakland with Nels Cline. It was easily the best concert I've ever seen.

[cb]

Wasn't expecting all the Joe Bonamassa jokes 😂😂😂 "Alpha Blues"

[christianscazzieri]

This guy has a whole pedalboard in-built in his bare hands. Just amazing.

[robhead]

Jim Campilongo is a national treasure! Buy his cds! Such a joy to listen to such a too shelf artist!! We are lucky to have him!!!

[AnodyneHipsterInfluencer]

Love everything about this guy, especially his playing! A true American original.

[realitynuggets]

I regret not seeing Jim more in SF years ago. What a talented guy, so willing to share, and his mixed bag of music is so eclectic and awesome.

[ampgent]

A testament to why technical virtuosity is not synonymous with good musicianship. What a thoughtful and creative musician!

[Vern]

He plays music differently, and i like that..👍

[gushutchinson]

I've never clocked this character before...I'm going to be alright finishing my songs.
Great attitude...need to listen to the man's music asap!!!

[lightkeeper]

Thank you a lot for sharing this clinic with the world! is an amazing thing to be at my house and listen to jim give an extended clinic about guitar.

[hearpalhere]

This was thoroughly enjoyable, thank you for uploading this! There were so many great stories from Jim, it really felt like you were just hanging out with him at someone's house or something. I love his attitude regarding knowing what a song is about and trying to convey the emotion of it. He's very humble and I love his approach to his playing too.

[leohipaucha]

Jim is a great inspiration. Thanks a lot!

[tidepoolbay]

Jim is a Great Guitarist! I own his Fender Custom Shop Telecaster! Peace & Love! WooF!!🐶🐶

[philipellis]

Presumably they don’t study sound recording at Berkeley!
Just listening to the part where he talks about self promotion, etc. Now I have never been a great musician and hardly play at all now but I played in bands and other guitarists, invariably better musicians than me, didn’t or couldn’t get a gig or felt they couldn’t. And it’s that realisation that someone has to book the venue, do the Facebook page, manage a band diary, etc, etc, and if you are prepared to be the person who does that you are ahead of the other 300 guitarists who can play the same three chords as you.
And interesting about the do one thing for your career every day, I was listening to a recent interview with (comedian)Jimmy Carr who said that almost word for word. Eventually you get the cumulative benefit of it (or not, I guess we don’t see many interviews with people who did all that but still had failed careers!).

[georg.camerone]

Totally excellent! The guy is so humble. But by crikey, the Cat can Love it :) Audio was awful low, had to crank my studio, guess it would be bad on a pc/phone etc. But thank you for uploading - respect.

[davidvistas]

Jim is really special.. love him! thanks for this!

[Bob-irbj]

Well appreciated, thank you. Please look into audio volumes and balance improvements in the future, after all, it is all about sound.

[toastoftowne]

This was absolutely fantastic. Hard to hear but great non the less. Thank you

[JerryCherryBand]

Beautiful interview and playing. Thank you for posting.

[JulesLeyheGuitarPlayer]

This kicks so much ass, not sure why so many people can't hear it very well- just listen closer if you can't hear it/ you can easily figure out what the q was based on Jim's response- come on people! Jim you're the man, this was thoroughly enjoyable. I'm a Berklee grad and the advice you give the Berklee students is spot on!