Federico Casagrande

Paris based jazz guitarist Federico Casagrande is considered one of the most influential European guitar player of the last years. He started in early age the study of classical music in Italy. In 2003 he moved on a scholarship to Boston, USA, where he attended the Berklee College of Music and graduated summa cum laude in 2006.

In 2007 he won the first prize at the Gibson Montreux Jazz Festival Guitar Competition with George Benson president of the jury. He released 18 records as leader or co-leader. His production goes from acoustic solo to electric trios and quartets. Among others, notable collaborations on record are a duo with piano master Enrico Pieranunzi, a trio with Fulvio Sigurta and Steve Swallow and a duo with Francesco Bearzatti with whom he has been touring regularly for the past ten years.

Since 2018 he’s been a member of accordion virtuoso Vincent Peirani’s Jokers, a trio who has been touring extensively in Europe and the U.S. He has been recently nominated 3 times as finalist for European Musician of the Year by Academie du Jazz in France and among the best international guitar players by the press.

What have been the surprising discoveries in the time that you've been using it? 

I love the switch you have for every string. It really enhances the way of looking at a guitar as six different instruments and all the interesting combinations you can have with that.

Do you plan on using it in any other projects and if so what ideas to you have for its future use?

I am mainly a live musician and I have been playing solo concerts for many years. Lately I tried to apply more of it in my set but the challenge is to have a real time expanded control on the different voices. This will take time. 

How would you use it in a live setting? 

I never use it constantly. For me it’s one of the sound possibilities I have in my palette. As for the regular guitar output, the Submarine is connected to a volume pedal so I can blend live the amount of the sound I want at a specific moment. 

What is your favourite guitar gear? Hardware, software, pedals, anything...

I have being using on stage and in studio the Quad Cortex since it came out 4 years ago. That goes very well with the use of the Submarine because it allows me to treat the sound differently and give either just L/R to the FOH or have dedicated outputs.

What in your current arsenal has been the most inspiring/interesting to use with the Submarine?

As I mentioned in the previous question pretty much all the sounds I use come from my Quad Cortex. I do however also sometimes use the Eventide H9 for extra colours and it works well when treating melody lines with the Submarine.

How has having multiple channel outputs changed how you use these? 

This makes me even more self-conscious on the control of the different lines in my playing. At the end of the day the touch is what really matters and the Submarine enhances the control a player has on his polyphonic approach. 

What equipment would you most like to see developed as a companion to Submarine? 

Maybe a dedicated interface and software.

Have you got any tips for other Submarine users? 

I like always to start small, one thing at a time. Especially for such a wide number of possibilities I try to explore mathematically the options and slowly increase the amount of variables I play with.

What are you listening to at the moment? 

It has been a few months where I was focusing on my new record so when not working on the music I would enjoy some quiet time without sounds. 

What are you currently working on? 

I’m finishing the last details of the mastering of my new trio record that will be released probably in the second part of the year. It’s a classic jazz trio setting with drums and double bass but with quite a lot of country and rock influences.

Bonus question. Guitar playing in the mountains? Discuss...

I have a passion for mountains and trekking since very young age. A few years ago I asked myself how I could combine that with guitar. I wanted to record and film live music autonomously in remote places while hiking. I started planning that seriously once I found foldable guitars that could fit in a backpack (Snapdragon from UK first and I’m using MOOV from Athens now). I did 4 series of videos since 2023; 2 in the Alps , one in Nepal and one in the Écrins. I released a record in June that was entirely recorded on the ten days trek of Tour du Mont Blanc. I recorded the guitar directly on a ZOOM F2 (and using a loop) and then I did re-amp back home. The whole thing has been filmed and videos are on YouTube. It’s a completely solo project where I do everything; I have a system that combines gopros, Insta360, iPhone and drone (depending on the setting) that allows to film myself while I playing. It is a lot of work but so much fun....