ADVICE | OZ NOY

From tuning to scales and f retboard visualization — these are Oz Noy’s best practices for every guitarist.

BY JOE BOSSO

BY HIS EARLY 20s, Oz Noy was already an in-demand session and live guitarist. Upon his arrival in New York City in the mid ’90s, he won acclaim on the scene and before long was sitting in on jams and maintaining a busy recording and performing schedule. His success was at least partly due to his impeccable chops and versatility: Rock, jazz, blues, funk and R&B — he does it all. As a result, Noy has worked with an impressive range of artists, including Cyndi Lauper, Harry Belafonte, Sting, Nile Rodgers, Gov’t Mule, Natasha Bedingfield, Don Henley and Mike Stern. And that’s when he’s not releasing his own music, which has filled more than a dozen solo albums to date.

Oz isn’t sure why he’s so popular, but he knows what he brings to every session and gig. “Nobody’s ever told me what they like about my playing or why they hire me,” he says. “I think they know that I can play a lot of different styles of music, and they figure that I’ll do what’s right for them. I try to go to each job with the same attitude: Know what to play and what not to play.”

Elaborating on that point, he says, “I’m not going to bring my jazz stuff into the pop world, and vice versa. You have to be able to draw the line somewhere and give the artist what they want, unless they specifically ask for something a little different, and then you change gears. But I enjoy it all. If somebody wants me, I’m there.”