Ponco Satrio

Ponco Satrio is one of Indonesia's great guitar player. He plays the guitar with feel and groove and sometimes even shreds when he feels like it. This guy is really a versatile guitar player and can play to alot of different genre. Even Shred Academy has asked him to do some video lessons for them. You can check out more details of him at his official website at www.poncosatrio.com

So now lets get to my interview with him:-

Hi bro Ponch, hows it going? I would like to thank you for answering
a few questions for our Bruguitar blog. I am sure that the Brunei
guitar players would be interested to know more about you.

Ponco Satrio - Hi bro Hazmin, I'm doing pretty good brother !

Lets get started. So bro, when did you first started to play the
guitar? What was your first guitar?

Ponco Satrio - Ok, It all started out when I was about 9 years old, I had no guitar at that time so I always borrowed my brother's acoustic guitar..secretly LOL.Then after a few years I got a Yamaha classical guitar and Ibanez electric guitar.

During those early years, which guitar players heavily influenced
you?

Ponco Satrio - I must say during the early years I heavily listened to group band like the Beatles, Depp Purple,Led Zeppelin, Judast Priest and Rush, so I was not really pay attention to the guitar dudes yet, I want to be a drummer instead 'coz my dad was a drummer in his band. However, I remember that Michael J fox in a movie called Back To The Future who really inspired me to pick up guitar, cause that dude so rockin' all over the place with his old Gibson, yes.. that man really could play guitar! And later on I started listening to Chuck Berry,Wes Montgomerry,Jimi Hendrix,John Lee Hooker, Jeff Beck, Steve Lukather,Paul Gilbert,Ron Thal (Bumblefoot), Mattias IA Eklundh, Joe Satriani and Steve Vai and some other great guitar players...the list will never end lol.

What was your practice regime like back then?

Ponco Satrio - Man I am worst at practise lol.. I mean at first time I had no specific schedule to pick up my guitar and practise. Mostly, I just jammed along with my tape which played my favourite songs and learned some few chops from them. But eventually I managed to practise seriously to learn some technical aspect of playing guitar both in classical and electric guitar perspective.

Have you ever had any formal guitar lessons?

Ponco Satrio - Yes I have, because for some years I only learned autodidactic then I thought that I needed more knowledge and the basic fundamental of guitar playing,that's why I took a classical lesson and then took the electric guitar lesson. And when I was through with my high school I attended the Jakarta Insitute of Art majoring classical guitar and later studied in University of Central Oklahoma, USA which where I got a chance to learn some of jazz stuff.

Oh yeah, btw bro, where do you originate from? Where are you living
now?

Ponco Satrio - I was born in the thickest jungle of Sumatera island part of Indonesia, where animals such as tigers live freely there haha..seriously, one of 'em ate my dog can't you believe it? Right now I live in a small city called Edmond, in Oklahoma, USA since 2004.

Do you have any other favourite Indonesian guitar players?

Ponco Satrio - My first influence came from listening a bunch of Slank album, Pay Siburian, who is the killer guitarist from that band, I learn some cool stuff from his playing, then there's Eet Syahranie from Edane and ex-God Bless he's very cool rock guitar player, Then Dony Suhendra he plays in many famous band in Indonesia, he's really great in fusion jazz rock guitar playing, and DD Crow from Roxx and Power Slave,he's my old good pal, he's super genius, I learn a lot from him. and the others amazing guitarist such as Edy Kemput from Iwan Fals band and Grass Rock, and I Wayan Balawan , he plays double neck guitar with touch technique, his music so adventurous range from music world genre to fusion jazz . Cheers to those great musicians!

I have heard your demos and there are really awesome bro. And i know
that you are currently busy with your recordings and your solo album.
Is it gonna be available on the internet?

Ponco Satrio - Thanks a lot for listening then! Yes, currently I'm doing my upcoming solo album, much more into guitar oriented stuff. I hope it will be available on the internet soon after it's done and I will let you know.

The clips on your official site sounded really cool. Some even have that Steve Vai-ish sound and technique on it. Any comments on that?

Ponco Satrio - Thanks again my friend! Well, probably because Vai influenced me as I said before and I learn some of his music compositions and techniques point of view. So I hope when the CD is launched, people can listen much more specifically and clearly with what's happening on my songs and style. I'm sure they will recognize my signature licks or whaterever lol.

What are your recording equipment you use for your home recording? Can you give us the details?

Ponco Satrio - I use Logic for the recording software, Mac Apple Computer, Toneport from line 6, and some pedals such us AMT Tube Platinum, Zoom 606,Ebow, Cry baby Wah, and George Dennis GD-60 for Vol/Wah. For my guitar part I use my main guitar Musicman Luke ,Dean bass guitar and Talman Acoustic guitar, and I might be use some other equipment and stuff as long it makes the music sounds cooler.

I also know that you are also giving video lessons for Shred Academy and saw your videos on youtube. It must be really exciting to do videos for Shred Academy. What was it like? Did you get under pressure for making the video?

Ponco Satrio -Yeah, I love teaching and sharing my humble musical ideas to those who are interested in. Making the video lessons for Shred Academy is really fun, no pressure at all since what I did it's all what I do and I enjoy playing guitar on shredding style for sometimes..'coz it feels good and healthy for my fingers though lol. Oh yeah in the future I'm planning to make a DVD with Tab guitar lesson that covers basic up to intermediate, I think it will be fun to do since some NICE people out there has sent me some emails feedbacks and requested a serious guitar lesson..oh well.. I'll try my best !

You are also collaborating with other musicians and have some sort of side project right? Can you tell us more about that?

Ponco Satrio -Yes I have some projects going on and also teaching and making music for a party. Currently, I was in recording progress with my friend AubDelane under the name Karma Suit. I think our music more into 60's retro alternative music, it's very fun and fresh! It's such a cool experience to work and create music with him. I hope we will finish our recording soon.

Have you sessioned for any artiste?

Ponco Satrio -Yeah I did some session with artiste when I was in Jakarta, mostly as a recording session player and doing live band. The one that I still remember is when I played music with Ikang Fawzi, he's a legend of rock and pop music in Indonesia. We played for a televison music live show called Blues Night.

What is your current guitar setup?

Ponco Satrio -I mostly use Musicman Luke ,X blender,BB Preamp,Amt Tube Platinum, George Dennis GD-60 and Boss DD 20 delay pedal. It can change at anytime, though it depends on the music style that I play at that time.

Ok bro, we would like you to give a brief comment on some of the guitar players mentioned below :

Joe Satriani

Ponco Satrio - He's the one that what I call as the Maestro.

Wes Montgomery

Ponco Satrio - The man with some nice smooth jazzy vamping riff..very inspiring.

Allan Holdsworth

Ponco Satrio - Amazing Amazing Amazing ..aah OK, I give him another one... AMAZING!

Guthrie Govan

Ponco Satrio - One of the versatile guitarists I've ever heard, he's definitely a virtuoso.

Al De Meola

Ponco Satrio -Genius Composer, cool rhytmical groove and sacred picking technique.

Lastly bro, any advice for our Brunei guitar players who just started out playing the guitar?

Ponco Satrio - Keep playing and do whatever you want with your music and guitar playing!

We would like to thank you for answering these questions for Brunei Guitar Blog. Let's jam together some other time, bro. See ya!

Ponco Satrio -You're very welcome my friend, and yes, let's jam together some time at any convenience...

Here are some video clips of Ponco Satrio

Check out more of his stuffs at youtube.

Guitar Rules!!