After a couple of failed attempts, I came up with a weird tuning where I was dropping the G string down a step so that it became a seventh, and it got me to a place where I could play all these figures fairly easily. It was not an easy thing to work out.
All of my style came from listening to records.
Another thing that was unique about working on this stuff was that I was engineering it. I used many of the things I had learned while I was away from the band. It sort of vindicated my decision to leave in '87.
But by taking the time away, getting myself off the treadmill, and just slowing down and learning, I felt I had so much more to give back. And maybe that was something that needed to happen for all of us.
But I don't use a pick onstage at all.
Confounding people's expectations was a way to maintain integrity.
Even though I had pushed through the Tango album, it was just not a very good environment to be in on a daily basis. In many ways, this is the best time of my life.
Everyone was probably at their worst in terms of their own personal struggles and substance abuse - anything that could detract from creativity.
I also learned to be more confident, to trust my instincts more.
I can only play well in a few keys.
I didn't take lessons, and I don't know my scales.
I had to seal off my feelings about Stevie while seeing her every day and having to help her, too. But you get on with it. What was happening to the band was much bigger than any of that.
I just find things that work and embellish them.
I think now we're doing the best work we've ever done. Whether or not that's recognized yet is irrelevant to me. I know how I feel about it.
I use dropped D quite often and open G and open E sometimes. And sometimes I make up things, like dropping the G string down a step.
I was playing a Fender Telecaster when I first joined.
I'm also married for the first time, and I have two kids. So there's some kind of good karma right now.
Ironically, that was quite a bit of the appeal of Rumours. It's equally interesting on a musical level and as a soap opera.
It's really touching that we can come back after so long and care about making an album that says as much as this one does. And after all this time, we really do care about each other.
Leaving was a survival move for me.
Our chemistry is what made us a great band to begin with. That it's still potent after 16 years apart is pretty amazing.
Our most recent group album at the time, Tango in the Night (1987), was so difficult for all the wrong reasons, and I couldn't contemplate going on tour.
Some days I would be there at ten in the morning and wouldn't leave till ten at night, and the others would waltz in for a couple of hours and then leave, because I was doing that painting thing. And they were happy to see that being done.
Sometimes I use a flatpick in the studio on acoustic. If I need to get a nice clear strumming sound, it's a good idea.
That's basically what's going on now: Everything is propaganda.
That's one strength that Stevie has. She's really not a strong instrumentalist in any way. Her instrument is her voice and her words. And it keeps her focused on the very center of that.
That's the only way to do it. Just like an actor. You can get a great performance if you do a bunch of takes and edit it. You find the moments and string them together.
The 12 years I was in Fleetwood Mac before were not particularly happy years. I was not in a very good place, psychologically, when I left. I didn't have a lot of confidence in what I was doing.
The Tusk thing was musically satisfying. But because it wasn't selling 60 million albums, there was this dictum that said we're not going to do that anymore.
The writing is all done, so it's all about verbalizing everything from point A to point B, and certainly there's a bit of politics involved, so it's a different thing.
They tried to get me to use a pick when I first joined the band. They had certain things they thought were appropriate. I tried to adapt as much as I could.
This time, there were no drugs involved. The hours were completely normal daytime hours. I think we were able to appreciate the interplay, where before we had taken it for granted.
Those 12 years, they were ambiguous at best.
When I work alone, it can be like dabbling with a canvas. Maybe you paint over bits, and it starts to form its own life and lead you off in a direction. It becomes an intuitive, subconscious process.
When I work alone, my process is like painting. With Fleetwood Mac, it's more like movie making.
When Stevie and I joined the band, we were in the midst of breaking up, as were John and Christine. By the time Rumours was being recorded, things got worse in terms of psychology and drug use. It was a large exercise in denial - in order for me to get work done.
When you become successful on the level that Fleetwood Mac did, it gives you financial freedom, which should allow you to follow your impulses. But oddly enough, they become much harder to follow.
Working with the band, you're in a room with three other people and you're more verbal. It requires the other side of the brain.
Years on, Christine and John still have a deep love for each other, as do Stevie and I - we've been working together since I was 17.
You know, I was never totally thrilled with being a Fleetwood Mac member, but surprisingly, I was having such a good time reuniting with John, Mick, and Stevie.
Brother of Gregg Buckingham, a silver medalist in swimming in the 1968 Olympics.
Grandfather founded Keystone Coffee, his father founded Alta Coffee as well.
Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 (as a member of Fleetwood Mac).
Before joining Fleetwood Mac, he was in a band with Stevie Nicks called Buckingham Nicks.
Has three children: William (b. 1998), Leelee (b. 2000), and Stella (b. 2004).
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