Jumi Luzón is a gifted guitar player from Spain who plays many stringed instruments in addition to the electric and acoustic guitar. A one-man band and with much love for fingerstyle guitar, Jumi is a musical treasure. In his Drooble interview, the man opens up about motivation, developing an appreciation for variety, and his quest for making awesome tunes. Read on…

Hello! Tell the world about yourself. How did you grow up to become the musician you are today?

Hi! My name is Jumi Luzón. I am a guitarist from Spain and I´ve been playing the guitar for the last 12 years. Since I was a child I loved music, but I didn’t start to play until I was 17. My first guitar was electric, but some years later I started to play the acoustic and other string instruments such as the mandolin, lap steel guitar, dobro and ukulele.

Introduce your current musical projects and tell us what makes each one special for you!

Now I am playing in my one man band whose name is “Jumi Luzón”. There are instrumental songs played with a very well known technique called “fingerpicking” or “fingerstyle”, that is, the use of your right hand fingers instead of a pick. There are folk, country, ragtime and blues tunes around it. Great guitarists such as Tommy Emmanuel, Chet Atkins, Joe Robinson, Tony McManus use it and I´d like to say that I´ve learned a lot listening to them. I normally use acoustic guitars, but also electric, dobro and percussions.

You have been playing music for a long while! How do you find the drive and inspiration to keep going all this time?

Well, I must admit that it is not always as easy as it seems. My current project takes too much time of practice every day and you need to feel motivated, full of energy, and it is not always possible. But I feel I have lots of things to tell and fortunately, music drives my words and makes them come true through songs. When I get it I have no words to describe what I feel.

What draws you to playing the guitar?

I think the guitar, because of its shape, is perfect for me. I can imagine I sing and play the piano, drums or another instrument through it. It gives me freedom and if there is a reason why I play music is because I just feel free.

How is your local music scene in your perspective? Do you feel like you belong there?

I am perfectly conscious that my music isn’t what it is understood as “mainstream”, I mean, it isn’t as popular as pop music for example. People wants to hear singers, so when I say I just play the guitar, in my local music scene, it is not very well understood. But I know that sooner rather than later the scene will change and there will be a better supply and demand and many underground musicians will have our own audience. Anyway, I´d like to bring my music to countries such as UK, EEUU, Ireland, France, among others.

What is your all-time favorite record and how did it change you as an artist?

This is a very difficult question, because I´ve played in rock bands, styles such as funky, folk, blues… and I´ve thought of different artists or records depending on the moment. There is a Spanish band called M Clan whose album “Para no ver el final” changed my mind, it is a classic rock-soul album, but they also have acoustic songs and I learnt a lot with it. If I had to choose a very inspiring musician that would be Tommy Emmanuel, he feels music as no one!

What are your favorite software and hardware tools for music production?

To record acoustic guitars I just use a condenser microphone and Garage Band or Logic Pro. I don´t like to plug in the acoustic guitar because I think it doesn’t project its pure sound.

Out of all the live shows you played, which one was the most memorable, and why?

There are some, but maybe the one when I played alone for the first time. I was very excited and nervous at the same time, but it was wonderful.

What is your biggest musical goal?

Being able to make my music get the people move them by making great songs.

How has being on Drooble helped you as a musician?

It is being an awesome experience, cause I know everyday people from all over the world, I can listen to great underground artists who make fantastic songs and they can also give me their opinion about mine. It is just a great site that I recommend musicians and non-musicians.