Name: Beto Martinez
Place of Origin: Laredo, TX
Instrument: Guitar

Describe your style of guitar playing.

I'm mostly self-taught, and as a result I think my guitar playing is not as efficient or as melodic as it could be or as I'd sometimes like it to be. However, I feel I represent my influences well in my playing, in particular funk and latin funk. I try to keep it tight and not play too much rhythmically. Prince told me to always lay back, it's funkier, and I try to keep that in mind and not be too overbearing. I think that approach is essential in a big band like Fantasma and it also helps to create a particular sound when you lay back and funk out a montuno on guitar; it gives the salsas and cumbias a funk feel. When I solo I draw a lot of inspiration from Hendrix, Eddie Hazel and John Mclaughlin. Although I'm not and probably won't ever be as technically skilled as Mclaughlin, I try to take some of those licks and the phrasing and adapt it to my own playing. And of course recently Prince has showed me not to be afraid to just crank the distortion and rock it out.

If you could sit in with any band, past or present, who would it be and why?

It's hard to choose just one. I've already played with Prince, so it would have to be either the Fania All-Stars at one of their legendary concerts or James Brown with the JB's or maybe Funkadelic. The more I think about it the more that come to mind, like Santana and even Bob Marley. All these guys mentioned, even though I've seen mostly through video, put on amazing live performances that I know would've been a blast to be a part of.

What are your goals for the band and as a musician?

I would like Fantasma to become a true worldwide touring band. By that I mean I’d like to be able to do a few tours a year, globally, and not have to play constantly to survive. Don't get me wrong, I love playing live and don't plan to stop anytime in the near future, but if we could get to a level where we could go out for a few months, have a successful tour and then come back home for a while and either just spend time in the studio or spend time on other projects, then go back out with Fantasma, that would be ideal. I'd like Fantasma to be like a mothership where it's the mainstay and all sorts of other projects come in and out of Fantasma and mutually benefit from the bigger presence that Fantasma has and can hopefully maintain. I think we're already headed in that direction. Obviously, I would also like GF to have longevity and continue to put on great shows and make albums people like far into the future. Personally, I would like to become a better musician, a better guitar player, get better at recording and eventually be able to put my own stuff out under the Fantasma umbrella or otherwise. I would also like to collaborate more with other musicians, and basically continue making the music I want to make and get it out there, and I hope GF can be the vehicle for that.

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