Love. Soul. Curves. Epoxy. Guitar.

Most of the instrumentalists we’ve had on the blog have shown personal connections to their respective instruments, but none of them displayed half as much adoration as Mario has for his guitars.  When I met guitarist Mario Castro this last weekend, he introduced me to Elizabeth and Tyler Bentenford Montgomery III, his acoustic guitars.  He paired me up with Tyler, and it wasn't long before I started strumming a tune. 

In the video, you can sample some of Mario’s amazing skills, and my not-so-good-borderline-scary skills. And in the interview below, you can get all personal details about Mario’s guitars, including Victoria.  She has curves.

Interview

Tashina:  When did you first start playing the guitar?

Mario: The very first time I played guitar, I found a guitar in my mom’s closet when I was like 4 or 5.  And I was plucking, and I thought that it was really cool.  I didn’t know how to play any chords or any scales or anything, but I used the E string—which is the low E string—and I just made up little melodies.  And I was like “Yeah!  I’m playing guitar!” but I had no idea what I was doing.

I officially started playing guitar when I was a freshman in high school, which was in 1999.  And I just took a beginning guitar class, and I’ve been playing ever since. 

Tashina: Did you pull out your mom’s old guitar again, when you were a freshman?

Mario: Actually, that’s the guitar I learned on.  She gave it to me eventually.  That was my official first guitar.

Tashina: What kinds of groups do you play in?

Mario: Well, right now I’m playing with the SUU guitar ensemble.  There are four guitarists:  there’s me, Josh, Trent, and then there’s Tyson, who’s the new guitar teacher on campus.  Then we have a bass player, and then Jonny—my roommate—on drums.  And we just play songs that utilize a lot of different guitar harmonies, and interesting configurations for songs.   

I also play in a band called 5ive.Sec.Hero [five-second hero], but I don’t play guitar in 5ive.Sec.Hero.  I play keyboard, which is kind of ironic.  And apparently I’ll be playing bass in their upcoming show, because their bass player can’t make it.   [The show is] this week, I think it’s on Thursday.  There’s another band in town called Goodbye Nova—we’re opening for them.  At the Sterling Auditorium [in the SUU Sharwan Smith Center].  So, that should be fun.

Tashina: Who are some of your favorite guitarists?

Mario:  My favorite guitarists are John Petrucci, Gus G—He’s a Greek guy.  His real name isn’t Gus G, but I don’t think Americans can pronounce his Greek name, so we all call him Gus G—and Tommy Emmanuel, Antoine Dufour (he’s Canadian) and Rodrigo y Gabriela, they’re a Mexican guitar duo.

Tashina: Are there any highly profile guitarists who you find less than impressive?

Mario: Yeah, there’s a couple actually.  One of my least favorite famous guitarists is Santana.  And I understand why he’s famous.  In my opinion, all the great stuff he did is in the past, like in the 70s.  Like “Black Magic Woman,” which is a great song.  Nowadays, everything he plays is like exactly the same, and it’s not really all that technically proficient.  He has a lot of soul in what he plays, but it’s like the same soul every time he plays it. 

And then another one that will probably give me a lot of flak from guitar players is Kirk Hammett, he’s the lead guitarist for Metallica.  Metallica has influenced guitarists since they started.  I mean, a lot of bands that are famous now emulated Metallica when they were beginning.  Yeah, Kirk Hammett has written a lot of really good, influential stuff.  But I dunno, he can play fast, and he can play kinda crazy stuff, but it’s just never been all that awesome to me.  And then the other one would be Joe Satriani.  I mean he’s good; I like him.  But it’s his style that’s not my favorite thing.

Tashina: Guitarists seem to personify and treasure their instrument, even more than other instrumentalists do.  Do you have a particularly special bond with your guitar(s)?

Mario:  Yes, all of my guitars have names.  I don’t know how many instrumentalists name their instruments, but probably 99% of guitarists name their guitars. 

This is Elizabeth.  Her name is actually Spanish, I never call her with a Spanish accent, like Elizabet.  I just call her Elizabeth.  And I don’t know why, she’s not really a Spanish guitar.  But she just has like a Hispanic… very Spanish… “from Spain” feel to her.  I don’t know, it’s the vibe I get from the guitar.  I actually got her in Mexico.  My family was visiting my grandma, and we were walking through their old house, and I saw a guitar case in the corner.  So I ran over, and the thing was beat up.  It only had two strings on it, they were rusted, all the way through.  I mean, it still has vestiges of its damage that it used to have.  Somebody cracked the neck, and then thought epox
y
ing it would be the best way to fix it.  Apparently it did the job.  It had a lot of problems—it had a lot of issues.  I got it fixed up, and she had a lot better tone than any of the other guitars I owned at the time.  So, that’s why she’s special to me.

And that’s Tyler Bentenford Montgomery III.  I don’t know why he’s a guy.  He is though.  He’s the only guy.  I got it for $150 out of a pawnshop, because I went away for the summer, and I didn’t have a guitar and I felt lost without a guitar, and I wanted an electric acoustic, so I bought him.  For what I got him for, he’s a really nice guitar.

And of my electric guitars… Veronica is a nice guitar, she has curves.  You’d have to see her to understand, but she has really nice curves.  She’s by far my favorite electric, even though she was the very cheapest, like I got her for $125 off of a Korean guitar website.  But when I saw the picture of the guitar, it was like the sexiest thing I had ever seen.  And so I bought it.  And I’ve had Veronica for about 5 years, and she’s starting to show her age and the fact that she was $125.  Because the frets are starting to wear down just a little bit... and she doesn’t stay in tune as well anymore.  But she has the most gorgeous, thick, full tone.  And she’s so easy to play.  I can play lightening fast on Veronica, just because she has these fat frets that just make it really easy to hit the notes.  So, she is definitely my favorite guitar.

And my other electric is Knightwing [and Jezabel is her pet name].  She’s called Knightwing because she looks like Batman’s guitar… like if Batman had a guitar, it would be her.  So her name is Knightwing, because of the Dark Knight.  And the little things on the side kinda look like wings.  Me and her, we’re still trying to figure out how to get along.  Cause she’s so different from Veronica.  Veronica is like smooth, and big, and fat, and luscious, with the curves.  And Knightwing is like super slim and streamlined.  So we’re still trying to get along.  I just got her like 6 months ago.