Timothée Chalamet's portrayal of Bob Dylan has earned him various accolades (including a hotly tipped Oscar nomination) – and, acting aside, one of the most talked-about aspects is his commitment to Dylan's musicianship and, by extension, the unequivocally Dylanesque guitar-playing he recently showcased on Saturday Night Live.
The tutor behind the star? Larry Saltzman, the session pro with a hefty resume, which includes touring with Simon and Garfunkel, and who also moonlights as a guitar tutor to the stars. In an interview with Rolling Stone, he looks back on those initial sessions and what it took for Chalamet to transform into The Bard.
“When he got to my place and we had our guitars in our hands, I asked if he’d played, and he said just a little. He kind of knew one or two chords and formed a couple of chords, and that’s what he did. I could tell he was just very musical right away.”
Teaching Chalamet the Bob Dylan guitar lingo also included tackling Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right, from his sophomore album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan – complete with its distinct, albeit tricky, fingerpicking.
“It blew my mind to revisit it,” Saltzman admits. “And it’s a really fast tempo. I was intimidated by teaching it to him. I was intimidated from playing it myself. He wasn’t intimidated by it. He just did it. It has a little funny hammer in it that comes around every once in a while.
“Sometimes Bob would maybe vary the pattern. But in the middle of me explaining it to him, he’s already playing. I mean, it wasn’t playing like at tempo and perfectly, but he’s already like going.”
Just last Saturday, Chalamet put all his and Saltzman's work on full display on Saturday Night Live by playing a couple of Dylan deep cuts – namely, the Gibson acoustic-driven Tomorrow Is a Long Time, released in 1971 as a live recording from Dylan’s 1963 concert at New York's Town Hall and covered by a host of other artists, including Elvis; Outlaw Blues, from Dylan’s 1965 electric breakthrough Bringing It All Back Home; and Three Angels, from 1970's New Morning.
In early December, Gibson revealed a collection of A Complete Unknown-themed acoustic guitars, following the legacy brand’s involvement in crafting a number of guitars specifically for the film.
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