By now, Yvette Young is synonymous with fingerstyle and tapping, her unique brand of playing earning her accolades such as being named one of the greatest guitarists of all time, two signature models with Ibanez, and a devoted following for both herself and her instrumental trio, Covet.
However, a year of legal battles and intense personal reckonings have led Young to reconsider her relationship with music – including her style of playing – a journey that ultimately set her on a solo path, beginning with her latest single, Always.
"I don't think about technique at all now,” she confesses in a new Guitar World interview. “For Covet, it's post-rock riffs with a little bit of tapping. But for these songs, I'm letting melody take the wheel. Everything is about melody.
“Everything is about, ‘I want this to be stuck in your head. I want you to sing this later.’ I want people to hear my guitar tone and be confused about how I got it. It's a lot of sonic exploration.”
Always marks a change of direction for Young – one she describes as being in the “pop world” and “less focused on virtuosic shred”. Additionally, it sees her taking full unequivocal control of the project, which includes giving herself the space to deconstruct and experiment with her guitar tone.
“I'm using a Hologram [Electronics] Microcosm [Guitar Looper & Glitch Pedal] to turn my guitar into glitchiness,” she reveals. “I was really going for things that degrade the guitar sound and make it like a dying battery. I wanted to make ugly, pretty, and abstract sounds and then put them all together to make a sonic universe. I wanted you to be able to hum it back.”
On Covet's 2023 record Catharsis, Young had already started expanding her toolkit, which she explains was a natural evolution reinforced by a busy touring schedule.
“We tracked these songs and then we toured, and something happened to me on tour where my guitar playing changed. I started almost pseudo-picking; instead of fingerpicking, I would use the tips of my fingers or my nail to make a pick and get more attack. I started bending more and using the whammy bar more,” she explained in a 2023 Total Guitar interview.
“My playing totally evolved. I just expanded my toolkit. When I went back to the studio after the tour I ended up re-tracking a ton of the songs because I play them differently now. The solos have a lot more character and flavor.”
In June, Young publicly played live with a pick for the first time in her career at Bonnaroo's Emo SuperJam.
Guitar World's full interview with Yvette Young will be published later this month.
