Many an overeager job applicant has spent their interview time bending professed weaknesses into perceived strengths. They care too much. Work too hard. Don’t know when to quit.
Without intending to, Yasmin Williams applied for — and earned — a job as one of her generation’s most innovative guitarists. And in Williams’ case, every strength she possesses was forged from an honest recognition of her weaknesses. Sure, necessity is the mother of invention. But limitation is in the family, too.
Williams, who will perform at the 2021 MerleFest, creates atmospheric, textured instrumentals through techniques including using the guitar as a percussion instrument and lap-tapping — which is exactly what it sounds like. Williams cradles the guitar in her lap to access its sound from a different vantage point.
Williams grew up in Virginia on beat- and groove-heavy music: R&B, hip-hop, the smoother side of jazz. Customarily, these sounds don’t rely on the guitar. So Williams experienced something like revelation when she picked up an iteration of the instrument to play “Guitar Hero 2.” The video game put her through its paces — and introduced her to heavier, yet quite technical, rock and metal sounds.
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Williams became “obsessed” with getting her hands on an actual guitar, her head filled with notions of replicating what she heard “shredders” produce. She quickly realized that type of guitar playing wasn’t for her. “My fingers just didn’t move that fast that way,” she said.
And so Williams gravitated toward musical mad scientists, fingerstyle and percussive guitarists who laid out their craft through YouTube videos. Their brand of playing felt exciting — and oddly accessible. Where Williams initially associated acoustic guitars with singer-songwriters, she found the instrument possessed the potential for a deep, wide palate of natural effects.
“I just thought it was super-cool, how you could do so much with basically a piece of wood,” she said. “... I just really wanted to challenge myself and figure out more and more ways to make this piece of wood interesting, for myself and for other people too.”
Her lap-tapping facility came about as an exercise in creative problem-solving. Only years later did Williams realize other people played this way, too, and that the technique had a name. Lap-tapping allows Williams to unite her entire musical history to date, playing richly melodic lines while incorporating the beats of her childhood soundtrack.
The style continues to gain traction, though Williams encounters a wide variety of responses. Some more “traditional” guitarists fret over what she’s physically doing to the instrument; like-minded adventurers ask for informal lessons. Playing live, Williams seizes the opportunity to illuminate her process and practices. When concertgoers file in and see a stage strewn with a couple guitars, bows, tap shoes and other percussion instruments such as the kalimba, they draw certain conclusions. Williams shatters those expectations.
“There’s clearly other people that are supposed to be there. No one else shows up,” she said with the hint of a laugh. “... I have a lot to talk about.”
Given her way of navigating the guitar, Williams looks for certain qualities when selecting a new instrument. She seeks balance in the strings, nothing too bright or bassy, and is interested in how the wood sounds when she hits it. Anything too weak or thin just won’t work, she said.
Continuing down a path of her own making, risk and reward are constant companions. Williams is immersed in innovation, but she thinks in more humble terms.
“I don’t really think of it that way, though,” she said. “Whatever pops up into my head — I have to find a way to get it out.”