Su mi Lee: Great Korean talent and Alex Hutchings fan talks to Shreddelicious

Dame Guitars Endorser Su mi Lee

We caught up with another super young guitar player Su mi Lee for a quick Shreddelicious interview. The amazing Su mi Lee is based in Daegu, in South Korea. Su mi Lee is a big fan of the modern fusion players like Guthrie Govan and Alex Hutchings... this is what she had to say...
[Shreddelicious] 1 When did you start playing guitar?

[Su mi Lee] I started to learn to play guitar when I was just 15 years of age. Before then, I'd not played any other musical instrument, so the guitar was my first musical instrument.

ITG wonderful slippery thing jess govan korea 이수미 lee su mi (no edited)

[Shreddelicious] 2 What made you decide to take guitar seriously?

[Su mi Lee] I think what made me take guitar seriously was after I had been playing for a few years. It was during my high school years when I was preparing to go to music university in Korea, this was when I was 18 years of age. At the age 18 I got entered for a music scholarship at a University in Korea. I studied in the scholarship, but later I decide to quit the course and stopped studying in University and instead I decided practice at home. Even though I did not finish music school, I think I can develop outside of the music college environment. I want to be able to play the guitar freely.. so I think the moment that I quit college was probably the pivotal point for me and guitar playing.

Su mi Lee

[Shreddelicious] 3 What are your favourite albums?

[Su mi Lee] I don't name specific guitar albums but rather the guitar players who have influenced me. I take my influences from Nuno Bettencourt, Steve Vai, Blues Saraceno, Paul Gilbert, Guthrie Govan, Alex Hutchings... just to name a few and I can name many other artists... I think my favorite album at the moment is Alex Hutchings and his Custom Fusion series.

[Shreddelicious] 4 What do you think of the use of social media for promoting your work?

[Su mi Lee] Well If I understand this question correctly... I think that social media has been really useful to me. I have been able to get my playing out to the world using YouTube videos. But also there are ways that Social Media can be bad, in the way that people can share copyrighted material, infringing the rights of the performing artist. Even link to illegal downloads. So I think it's difficult to say... it's really a balance.

[Shreddelicious] 5 If you had a chance to play with anyone who would you pick?

[Su mi Lee] Well... just one name and that is Alex Hutchings! He is the player that I model my playing on.

ITG Alex Hutchings - Happy as Larry cover Su-mi Lee (no edited)

[Shreddelicious] 6 Have you ever had any live show disasters?

[Su mi Lee] Yes, but it is normal... I have noticed that I have had really bad trembling before a show because of nerves... but it is also because I have not done a lot of live shows.

[Shreddelicious] 7 How do record your guitar videos?

[Su mi Lee] I record my guitar playing with a standard digital camera and whilst I play guitar and record the video I also record the sound from the guitar with the guitar mixer. At the same time, I want a perfect video performance, I don't want to record a video with mistakes. After I have recorded the video, I can then mix in the video images with the guitar sound recorded on the guitar mixer. This is all done at the same time because I don't really have good video editing skills at the moment.

Su mi Lee

[Shreddelicious] 8 What do you think of illegal music downloading?

[Su mi Lee] In some ways music being available to everyone is a good thing, because it can be difficult to access music. However, in the long term it's not good, because it inhibits the whole music industry, limiting the opportunities of musicians. I think nowadays the amount of illegal downloading is decreasing, expect perhaps the very popular songs... this is not like it was in the past. Overall, I think illegal downloading should be stopped.

[Shreddelicious] 9 Can you tell us a bit about your Guitars and Amps?

[Su mi Lee] My current guitar is a GNL ASAT special. I also use for effects a Sansamp GT2. The Amp is actually a handmade amplifier and speaker.

[Shreddelicious] 10 Can you tell us about your latest recording?

[Su mi Lee] Well I've been practicing and have just recorded Alex Hutching's track "Summer OF Love"... It's really difficult to play! I hope you like it.