If you tuned into the Stephen Colbert show a few nights ago, you likely saw Yasmin Williams perform her solo piece "Nectar." Played by tapping on a double-necked guitar, the song mixes tranquil beauty with jaw-dropping technique. And yes, it was as tough as it looks.
"It just came out of my being crazy," she said this week. "I got the double neck guitar and just thought that was how it was supposed to be played. It didn't make sense to just play on one neck at once -- which is what most people do, but I didn't know that. I know Jimmy Page played one, but I'd never seen it. So it was just adding onto everything I do, and to be honest, it's pretty difficult. Syncopation becomes a huge thing, and coordination is important. It honestly took many hours of practice."
She has two upcoming area shows, at the Iron Horse in Northampton on Feb.11, and TCAN in Natick on Feb. 15.
Williams' unique finger-tapping technique is fast becoming a trademark, but she was doing it on a plastic guitar before she started on a real one. She was a teenage fan of the interactive game Guitar Hero and learned what it took to beat it. "It was a pretty direct pathway, I'd say -- Everything I do now was based on that technique. I just had to beat the expert levels somehow and I realized you didn't need to use the strum bar, so that started the lap tapping -- I even made it to the unlockable expert level songs."
"I was raised with a lot of hip-hop, jazz and gospel, but thanks to that game I had a rock and metal awakening. But I realized early on that the whole metal shredding thing wasn't what I wanted to do, and once I heard (folk legend) Elizabeth Cotten I knew where I was going." She also learned to create soundscapes by layering different instruments together. "It makes sense to me to think of the guitar as not a single instrument, but a world unto itself where you can create any sound you want. So as I became proficient at guitar it led me to other instruments I like to play, like the banjo and the kora. I found they're not as far apart as you might think."
The tranquil beauty in her music also came naturally. "When people listen to my music I hope they feel some kind of hopefulness or playfulness; I don't want to bring them doom and gloom. I like a lot of the old Windham Hill albums, which is probably as New Age as I get. But I guess I have an inner kind of something that makes me stop before it gets too sweet."
Her latest album "Acadia" marks her first use of vocals, some of which are provided by the Boston group Darlingside, who she met on tour. "That was first through management, but I went to some of their shows and we became mutual fans. What I love about Darlingside is how the voices blend, how they do those ethereal chord progressions without going too far into the stratosphere. And if I was going to have vocals, why not the best ones I could get?"
Another surprise on her album is the closing track "Malamu," which features some ripping electric guitar. "I can't say if you'll be hearing me do anymore of that. But my inner child was pleased with that one."