How long does it take you to get back into shape after taking some time off from playing?

Actually I get back into it pretty quick. I don’t play everyday anyway and I don’t even play every week. I think I’ve mentioned that. I play a little bit more now because for the past nine years I’ve been doing my online guitar school. I have to get the guitar out once a week and film video responses. Sometimes a lot of that is talking and I don’t play that much. You can’t beat just being on stage and playing. That’s the truth of it. Nothing compares with that. It doesn’t matter how much you play at home you just have to get out there and do it. Normally by the second gig I’m back into it. My fingers do get a bit sore if I’ve not played in awhile. Also the coordination and articulation isn’t one hundred percent there but it doesn’t take long to get it back. I’m getting older now so maybe it will get harder.

You may be getting older and the coordination may not be what it was at twenty-five but you’re also a wiser musician.

Well, I can play some fast lines but I tend not to do that much of it. It’s more the fact that what I do is more than one line. It’s coordinating that all together. It’s not a thinking process; it’s something underneath, something a bit deeper than that. It becomes instinctual. When you first pick the guitar up you have to use the thinking process to give yourself a kick-start but then you have to abandon the thinking and go for the instinct.

I have one of your early LP’s that is of a live recording with Buddy DeFranco. I recently did a search to find a CD of it and was surprised to find that you also did a studio album with him titled Buddy DeFranco Meets Martin Taylor.

The live one wasn’t very good because it wasn’t a good night. There were all kinds of problems that night. I can’t bear listening to it (laughter). I was over-playing like mad because the bass player and drummer had a falling out. It was just an awful night! (laughter). Let’s move swiftly on.

I’m impressed that you recorded and toured with Buddy DeFranco. He’s such a legend.

He was an amazing guy. One of the things that I learned about him was his sheer dedication to playing. Some of the older greats that I was fortunate enough to work with like Stéphane Grappelli didn’t really work at it. Stéphane kind of had it under his fingers and had what he did down. He would warm up and that was it. Buddy however was absolutely dedicated to practicing. You’d hear him in the next hotel room practicing for hours. It made me feel a bit guilty (laughter).

Remember that the next time you don’t pick the guitar up.

I do think of him sometimes when it comes to practicing.

But I never really practice like that. I just play repertoire. I’ve never seen the point in practicing something that I’m not going to play. That’s what works for me but everyone is different.