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g u i t a r p l a ye r. c o m

vol. 48, no. 2, fEbruarY 2014

Editor in chiEf



Managing Editor sEnior Editor associatE Editors los angElEs Editor













Michael Molenda [email protected] Kevin Owens [email protected] Art Thompson [email protected] Matt Blackett [email protected] Barry Cleveland [email protected] Jude Gold [email protected]

consulting Editors

Jim Campilongo, Joe Gore, Jesse Gress, Henry Kaiser, Michael Ross, Leni Stern, David Torn, Tom Wheeler

art dirEctor

Paul Haggard Elizabeth Ledgerwood Production ManagEr Beatrice Kim Music coPYist

PublishEr: Joe Perry [email protected], 212.378.0464 advErtising dirEctor, EastErn rEgion, MidwEst & EuroPE: Jeff Donnenwerth [email protected], 770.643.1425 advErtising dirEctor, wEstErn rEgion & asia Mari Deetz [email protected], 650.238.0344 advErtising salEs, EastErn accounts: Anna Blumenthal [email protected], 646.723.5404 sPEcialtY salEs advErtising, wEst: Michelle Eigen [email protected], 650.238.0325 sPEcialtY salEs advErtising, East: Jon Brudner [email protected], 917.281.4721

thE nEwbaY Music grouP vicE PrEsidEnt, Publishing dirEctor: Bill Amstutz grouP PublishEr: Bob Ziltz Editorial dirEctor: Brad Tolinski sEnior financial analYst: Bob Jenkins Production dEPartMEnt ManagEr: Beatrice Kim MarkEting & EvEnts: Christopher Campana Motion graPhics dEsignEr: Tim Tsuruda it tEch: Bill Brooks consuMEr MarkEting dirEctor: Crystal Hudson consuMEr MarkEting coordinator: Dominique Rennell fulfillMEnt coordinator: Ulises Cabrera officEs sErvicEs coordinator: Mara Hampson



nEwbaY MEdia corPoratE PrEsidEnt & cEo Steve Palm chiEf financial officEr Paul Mastronardi controllEr Jack Liedke vicE PrEsidEnt, digital stratEgY & oPErations Robert Ames vicE PrEsidEnt, audiEncE dEvEloPMEnt Denise Robbins vicE PrEsidEnt, contEnt & MarkEting Anthony Savona it dirEctor Anthony Verbanic vicE PrEsidEnt, huMan rEsourcEs Ray Vollmer



for custoM rEPrints & E-Prints PlEasE contact our rEPrints Coordinator at Wright’s Media 877-652-5295 or [email protected] list rEntal: 914-925-2449 or [email protected] PlEasE dirEct advErtising and Editorial inQuiriEs to: GUITAR PLAYER, 1111 BAYHILL DR., SUITE 125, SAN BRUNO, CA 94066; (650) 238-0300; FAX (650) 238-0261; [email protected]. PlEasE dirEct subscriPtion ordErs, inQuiriEs, and addrEss changes to GUITAR PLAYER, BOX 469073, Escondido, CA 92046-9073, or phone (800) 289-9839, or send an email to [email protected], or click to subscriber services at guitarplayer.com. back issuEs: Back Issues are available for $10 each by calling (800) 2899839 or by contacting [email protected]. Guitar Player is a registered trademark of Newbay Media. All material published in Guitar Player is copyrighted © 2014 by Newbay Media. All rights reserved. Reproduction of material appearing in Guitar Player is prohibited without written permission. Publisher assumes no responsibility for return of unsolicited manuscripts, photos, or artwork. All product information is subject to change; publisher assumes no responsibility for such changes. All listed model numbers and product names are manufacturers’ registered trademarks. follow Guitar Player online at:

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G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

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Contents

february 2014 | Volume 48, Number 2

GP COMMUNITY 16

We all want a sense of community? Share your photos, gear and CD/DVD reviews, likes/dislikes, favorite amps and guitars, tone and technique tips, gig stories, and more with the Guitar Player reader community. Come on! Join in!

OPENING SHOTS 18

We get up close and personal with the gigs, the gear, and the glory that make playing guitar the coolest thing in the world.

RIFFS 22

Soren Hansen’s must-have touring gear; Craig Locicero’s top Spiral Arms guitar moments; Steve Vai, Joe Perry, and Eric Johnson at the Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp; Jim Hall remembered; and more!

NOW HEAR THIS 32 33

Jerry Stucker Adrian Galysh

COVER STORY 66

50 Badass Blues Solos You Must Hear! The GP staff runs down our list of 50 classic—and soonto-be classic—blues breaks. Bonus! The all-time greats are also represented, with their no-brainer famous tunes as well as some lesser-known hidden gems.

ARTISTS 36

Dean DeLeo

44

Jim Campilongo

50

Henry Kaiser

60

Pete Anderson

SPOTLIGHT THEN AND NOW BARON WOL MAN /ATLAS ICONS

162

Lenny Breau Fingerstyle Jazz (from the September 1983 issue of GP)

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Guitar Player, Box 469073, Escondido, CA 92046. Guitar Player (ISSN 0017-5463) is published monthly with an extra issue in December by Newbay Media, LLC, 1111 Bayhill Drive, Suite 125, San Bruno, CA 94066. Periodicals postage paid at San Bruno, CA, and at additional mailing offices. Canada Post: Publications Mail Agreement #40612608. Canada Returns to be sent to Bleuchip International, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2.

14

G u I Ta r P l a y e r . C o m / f e b r u a r y 2 0 1 4

GEAR 34

New Gear

98

Special Report! Winter NAMM sneak peak

LESSONS

105 Roundup! Three new Eastwood electrics

82

Under Investigation

114

Ernie Ball M-Steel Strings

A thorough examination

118

Andrew White Freja 1022 and Eos 110 acoustics

of a particular style or Crimson’s “Elephant Talk.”

124 Musicvox MI-5 and Spaceranger MVX-30 Studio Custom

Guthrie Govan

130 ENGL Ironball

An introduction to blindingly

132 Stompbox Fever Spontaneous Audio Devices Son of Kong

player. This month: King

90

fast strumming.

92

You’re Playing It Wrong You might think you know how to play classic riffs

136 Stompbox Fever TWA Great Divide 140 Whack Job 1967 Goya Rangemaster 116-SB 142 Fable Fighters What’s the Big Deal About Jumbo Frets?

like “Satch Boogie.” Here’s the absolute real deal.

94

Fretboard Recipes Major Scales Pt. 2

96

Rhythm Workshop Bending in Rhythm Pt. 2

MORE ONLINE! Expand your experience far beyond the pages of Guitar Player at guitarplayer.com/february2014

COOL STUFF 24/7! • Watch Del Castillo burn at guitarplayer.com/video

New SectioN!

• Learn about the Cort Z44 at guitarplayer.com/gear

GET SMART

• Learn how to play like Tommy Bolin at guitarplayer.com/lessons

144 Carl Verheyen on Performing

JOIN THE GP COMMUNITY!

145 Craig Anderton on Technology

• Check in with Ray Russell at guitarplayer.com/artists

Facebook Get news and post comments at facebook.com/guitarplayermag GP Forum Debate, shock, educate, and share with fellow readers at guitarplayer.com/community Twitter Follow daily tweets at twitter.com/guitarplayernow

Albert King Cover photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

f e b r u a r y 2 0 1 4 / G u I Ta r P L a y e r . C O M

15

GP Community n oI z e fro m the ed Ito r and/or treated unfairly in ways both

of a world that was so wrong and

the sounds that come from our fin-

subtle and harsh. Many of these

evil that it had to change.

gers and mouths. Progress doesn’t

players were quite gracious about it when talking to journalists, musi-

Do you feel that in the blues

matter. Technology doesn’t matter. It also doesn’t matter whether you

songs of today?

cians, and fans, but, whoa, those

There’s no disrespect meant

play blues or jazz or rock or coun-

souls had to experience a whole

here to the fabulously talented

try or punk—unvarnished emotion

lot of hellholes before the blues

blues musicians of this moment

should explode from your every

could set itself up consistently—

in time, who certainly can’t be

musical gesture.

and proudly—in arenas.

faulted for not being born in 1905,

The old guard may have had

What can you learn from

Society is obviously different

or for not living a certain type of

truth and passion on their side

the blues today? When Guitar

today. Music is absorbed differently

life. And even if today’s players

because they struggled in ways

Player first started in 1967, many

from past eras, as well. You might

were 100-year-old vampires, the

many of us can only imagine. Life

of the great bluesmen and blues-

argue music has become more like

audience would have changed

may not be as desperate for us

women were still alive, and their

a background soundtrack for one’s

around them, anyway. It’s hard to

now, and, if so, how do you keep

stories filled the pages of this mag-

daily life than a vessel of protest

make arguments against progress.

your music honest and deep and

azine. Now, they say everyone can

and cultural enlightenment. Sure,

But that’s where I always thought

instructive when, well, things are

feel the blues—and I mostly believe

there has always been easy-listen-

musicians were so lucky. We bow

basically good? A conundrum?

that to be true—but some people

ing, day-dreamy music, but styles

to things like feel and vibe and cre-

Please share your thoughts at

feel it more intensely and honestly

such as electric blues and rock

ation. Technique can get stronger,

[email protected].

than others. Most of the old guard

seemed to strike out against the

fingers faster, amps and guitars and

received their blues from the fields,

malaise and struggle and sweat for

other gizmos improved and so on.

or in the cities, and practically all of

a deeper relevance that could lift a

But our hearts seek truth, and only

it from being outcast, segregated,

person up, or show them a mirror

we can water down or “deepen up”

If I We r e ed Ito r o f Gu itar Player… I Wou l d qu I t I g n orI n g the expan dIn g ma rket of the d IgI ta l modeling crowd. for example, message boards constantly ask, “What is the best speaker set up for working in the digital realm?” I would do a shootout between several powered, 12” full frequency flat response (frfr) monitors, run them with axefx, kemper, line 6, zoom, and other digital preamps, and tell which works best and why. I’d see if conventional power amp and speaker cabinet configurations beat out frfrs, as well, and also compare power amps for accuracy and realism. then, there’s applying specific techniques to specific pieces of software, or running a guitar signal though software oscillators or filters. I’d explore the best way to re-amp a guitar track, or warm one up—all using amp sims and plug-ins. these kinds of questions are everywhere on the forums, but they never get discussed to any useful degree in any of the guitar mags. —Alex FilAcchione

For 2014, “Rant of the Month” has become “If I Were Editor.” Now, you get to share your wisdom in a more focused and productive way about a specific element you’d like to change about GP. Take my job! Make the magazine better! Send your ideas to mmolenda@musicplayer. com with the subject line, “If I Were Editor.” Due to space constraints, we can only handle around 75 to 100 words. — M i c h A e l M o l e n d A

OOPS! 16

We left the photo credit off the groovy photo of Groovy Judy in the January 2014 “Now Hear This” feature. The photographer is David Durkee, daviddurkee.com. Our apologies.

G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / f E b R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

GP POLL

Cast your vote! New poll every week at guitarplayer.Com

Favorite Tuning/ inTonaTion CorreCTion SySTem?

39% evertune Bridge 16% earvana Nut 16% tronical/Gibson robot Guitar 14% true temperament Neck 8% Peavey w/antares auto-tune for Guitar 7% Buzz Feiten tuning System

Interact!

GOT A QUESTION FOR YOUR COMMUNITY? [email protected]

Join tHe GP Community! sOUND OFF! GET EXcLUsiVE NEWs. cOMMENT. criTiQUE.

Here are my PrS CuStom

24 and my Warmoth Strat-style in hum-sing-sing configuration with Suhr pickups. My pedalboard is loaded with a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2, a GtrWrks 19 Sixty 3, A GtrWrks b V, a Carl Martin Plexitone, an MXR Carbon Copy, and a black-label Boss CE-2 Chorus. Everything is run through a Tech 21 Trademark 60 solid-state combo. After being a tube snob all my life—and, in fact, I still am—I am shocked at the versatility and tone of the Trademark 60. I get a ton of compliments on it. I also have a 1966 blackface Fender Champ and ten more great guitars, but this is my main rig. — Gary H icks

Dig MY Rig

sHarE TiPs aND TEcHNiQUEs. sUBscriBE TO OUr E-NEWsLETTEr.

FacEBOOk.cOM/GUiTarPLayErMaG TWiTTEr.cOM/GUiTarPLayErNOW GUiTarPLayEr.cOM/cOMMUNiTy

Michael Molenda, Editor In Chief [email protected]

art thoMpson, Senior Editor [email protected]

FaceBook court oF opinion the GP editors picked theirs for this issue, so what are your favorite blues solos? arthur Boyd

“Since I’ve Been Loving Joe lucasti You,” Jimmy Chet Atkins PageClark. and Roy

dane osen

thomas eckert

“Death Letter,” Jack White

“Too Rolling Stoned,” Robin Trower

Matt Blackett, Associate Editor [email protected]

kunal Bhattacharya thomas Bowen

“The Sky is Crying,” SRV

Bryn Jones

“Talk to Your Daughter,” Robben Ford

“Midnight in Harlem,” TedeschiTrucks Band

Barry cleveland, Associate Editor [email protected]

kevin owens, Managing Editor [email protected]

hamish Beefhearturzappa peter

“Feelin’ Bad Blues,” Ry Cooder

lawrence clark

“Just a Loser,” Robert Cray

Joe poturica

“I Wonder Who” (live), Rory Gallagher

doug hamilton

“Still Got the Blues,” Gary Moore

Michael d’wayne ross Jr.

“Blues Power,” Albert King

artemio J arciaga

“Hoochie Coochie Man,” Jeff Healey

paul haggard, Art Director [email protected]

f e b r u a r y 2 0 1 4 / G u I Ta r P L a y e r . C O M

17

Davi D Re Dfe Rn /G etty i maG es

Opening Shots

18

G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

hallowed hall Jim Hall made such extraordinary, beautiful music, like nothing we had heard before. He was absolutely one of a kind, a master—we all know that. But, what I’m thinking about now is the humanity, humility, generosity, and strength. In all his interactions—whether on the bandstand or in everyday conversation—it always seemed as if his energy and attention were directed outward, away from himself. He listened. Listened, in such a big way, and cared. He was so aware of what was going on around him and could transform it, bring it (us) together, and lift it up. It wasn’t about him. It was about all of us. He never looked back, never settled, uncompromising, kept going and going, stayed excited, curious, like a little kid. Wow. Jim Hall! Amazing. — B I l l F r I s e l l

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4 / G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M

19

N EI L ZLOZOWE R/ATLAS I CON S

Opening Shots

20

G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

Career “Criminal” The late Rory Gallagher—who scores a solo on this issue’s “badass blues” list—continues to inspire creative collaborations. Recently, Gallagher’s obsession with detective novels forged the multimedia project Kickback City [Eagle Rock], a collection of the Irish guitarist’s film noir-influenced music mated with a hardcover novella by Ian Rankin. Illustrations are by graphic artist Timothy Truman, and actor Aidan Quinn narrates the audio version of the book. Good reading. Good listening. Watch the man in the shadows! — M I c h A E l M o l E n d A

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4 / G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M

21

Riffs Quick Look: All the Songs, The Story Behind Every Beatles Release

T h i s 6 7 1 - pa g e h a r d c o v e r , w r i T T e n b y pa r i s i a n

music historians Jean-Michel Guesdon and Philippe Margotin, with help from Beatles scholar Scott Freiman, and featuring a one-page preface by Patti Smith, purports to provide background, studio and gear details, and more for every song on every album the Fab Four ever recorded. At $50, it isn’t cheap, but it does collect a lot of information already available in other books, articles, and online sources into a single volume, along with some original content. It is also entertainingly written, lavishly illustrated, and a joy to flip through, making it a wonderful coffee table item. Unfortunately, however, the information about the Beatles’ instruments is not entirely correct. For example, on page 23 there are pictures of three instruments captioned “The Beatles’ first guitars ...,” one of which is Paul’s 1963 Hofner 500/1 bass and not his original 1961 Hofner, which is discussed in the accompanying text. The authors appear to be under the impression that McCartney had only one Hofner bass, and there is similar confusion regarding Lennon’s various Rickenbackers and Gibsons. These sorts of things may not detract from the perusing pleasure of non-players (although they don’t necessarily bode well for the book’s overall veracity), but GP readers are advised to proceed with requisite caution. — B a r r y C l e v e l a n d

22

G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4 / G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M

23

Riffs

Jim Hall Remembered

D EBORAH FEIN GOLD

Jim hall with Pat metheny.

By th e GP Sta ff I n t h e I n t r o t o J I m h a l l’ S m ay

1983 cover story, Jim Ferguson and Arnie Berle wrote, “While most jazz guitarists are bebop-influenced and therefore somewhat alike stylistically, Jim Hall has managed to develop an approach rivaling that of Django Reinhardt, Charlie Christian, and Wes Montgomery in individuality. Inspired by tenor sax men Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, and Ben Webster, Hall’s

24

horn-like solos are either passionately lyrical or abstract and angular, but never predictable. Yet he’s equally know for the notes he doesn’t play—his work is unusually sparse. And Hall’s playing always reflects the gentle warmth and thoughtfulness of his own personality.” Hall had an extraordinary career that saw him work his melodic magic with the greatest jazz musicians on the planet, including Sonny Rollins, Bill Evans, Ella Fitzgerald, Ornette Coleman, Ron Carter,

G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

Chet Baker, Steve Gadd, and many, many others. Along the way he made a profound impact on scores of jazz guitarists such as Pat Metheny, John Scofield, John McLaughlin, Bill Frisell, and just about anyone whoever played a lilting melody. Jim Hall passed away December 10, 2013, less than a week after his 83rd birthday and the world and the world of music are poorer because of it. Here are some of Hall’s thoughts from his ’83 cover story.

On SO lO i ng “I like them to have a quality that Sonny Rollins has—of turning and turning a tune until you show all of its possible sides.”

“Many guys, including some well known artists, play solos that are too long. The reputations of some of the greatest jazzmen were built on eight-bar solos.”

On P rac t i c i ng “I try to make my playing as fresh as possible by not relying on set patterns.

ELLEN FIN D LAY

“Sometimes it’s fun to play a cliché and maybe make something out of it, but I try to keep the solo sounding like it was just invented. I try to find a different way of ending a phrase. Players should force themselves to hear something and then play it, rather than just doing whatever comes under their fingers.”

When I practice, I often tie off some of the strings with rubber bands to force myself to look at the fingerboard differently. For instance, I might practice on the G and D strings only. You can’t help playing some familiar patterns, however.”

O n i m PrOv iSatiO n “It’s the fun part of playing—a way of reflecting the melody of a tune and sharing it with somebody else. I’m sure that most of the terrific classical composers were good improvisers.”

O n rac e r e lati O nS “A lot of times I was the only white musician in a band, but usually I felt privileged to be there. Occasionally there would be the kind of social side effects you might expect. For instance, when checking into a hotel, I was often mistaken for Sonny Rollins’ manager.”

On a dv ice fOr guitari StS “Don’t just listen to guitar players. But if you have to listen to one, study the way Freddie Green plays rhythm with Count Basie’s band. If you pruned the tree of jazz, Freddie Green would be the only person left. In the long run, I think it’s more important to look at paintings than to listen to the way somebody plays bebop lines”

On Jim Hall “I am self-critical, but I do feel good about my playing. The instrument keeps me humble. Sometimes I pick it up and it seems to say, ‘No, you can’t play today.’ I keep at it anyway, though.”

F E B R u a R y 2 0 1 4 / G u I Ta R P L a y E R . C O M

25

Riffs I Was a Former Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camper

rock ‘n’ roll fantasy camp puts you onstage with rock stars. The Guitar Player-powered ultimate Musician’s camp this year features Joe Perry, steve Vai, and eric Johnson.

By Mich a el Molenda yes. The ediTor of a guiTar Magazine

does lead a charmed life. That is, if one digs meeting and hanging out with guitar stars. You do, after all, meet a lot of your heroes through your job. But even with that access, I seldom get a chance to interact with superstars in a musical setting, or actually get to perform with them onstage. That opportunity didn’t come my way until I covered Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp a few years ago. At first, I wasn’t particularly jazzed about it. The camps are expensive, after all, and I feared I would be spending my weekend with a bunch of moneyed dilettantes who didn’t care about guitar playing as much as telling their friends they had coffee with Slash. It turned out I was wrong. Sure, there were captains of industry at the camp, but there were also a lot of the average peeps you see at concerts and sporting events in attendance. And as far as commitment goes, the campers I met were as obsessed about guitar playing and gear as I am, and a few of those people have been my friends ever since. I was put into Bruce Kulick’s band, and it was like I was back in boot camp or something. That guy likes stuff to be right. If I ever thought the “band” rehearsals were

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going to be full of jovial jamming, I didn’t factor in Kulick’s crazed mission to whip everyone into a super-tight, near-professional musical unit. We worked our asses off. Of course, all of the intense rehearsing paid off when my camp band performed “I Can See For Miles” with Roger Daltrey on stage at the Los Angeles House of Blues. And, let me tell you, singing “I Can See For Miles” with Roger Daltrey does not suck in any universe. The experience was so fantastic that

That’s me on the far left singing a little song with roger daltrey. Moments like these are what make rock ‘n’ roll fantasy camp a charmed experience.

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GP has been working with RNRFC in one way or another ever since. Last year, the relationship was evolved into a historic, debut partnership between Guitar Player and Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp to present the Ultimate Musician’s Fantasy Camp, February 13 through February 16, 2014, at the Mandalay Bay resort in Las Vegas. For this event, we’re bringing in Joe Perry, Steve Vai, Eric Johnson, John 5, and Orianthi— which means you get to hang with them, get schooled by them, and perform with them. Camp counselors include our buddies Elliot Easton and Gary Hoey, as well as drummers Danny Seraphine, Joe Vitale, and Frankie Banali, and bassist Tony Franklin. Admittedly, the Ultimate Musician’s Fantasy Camp isn’t an inexpensive outing, but I can attest that you will get treated like a rock star and you will absorb a bunch of memorable and mind-blowing experiences that are absolutely not part of the average Joe or Jane’s leisure-life plan. Remember— I was there. I know. For more information on Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp’s Ultimate Musician’s Fantasy Camp, powered by Guitar Player, go to rockcamp.com, and click the “Upcoming Camps” tab. There’s still time to sign up and spend the President’s Day weekend with Joe, Steve, Eric, Orianthi, and even a few GP editors.

Riffs

Dave Jon es / eM pire W est l ive

Don’t Leave Home Without It! Denmark native Soren HanSen iS tHe guitariSt/vocaliSt for pop-rockerS

New Politics. The band is currently touring in support of their latest, A Bad Girl in Harlem [RCA], buoyed by the success of the single “Harlem.” The band has done several high-profile stints on the road, sharing the stage with Fall Out Boy, Panic! At the Disco, and most recently P!nk, on her Truth About Love tour. Hansen met with GP on the tour’s opening night and revealed what things he can’t survive on the road without. — M at t B l a c k e t t “My first real guitar was a Sunburst Mexico Fender Jazzmaster,” says Hansen. “May it rest in peace, because FedEx unfortunately sent me an empty cardboard box when it was being shipped from L.A. to New York. Now my main guitar is my custom Hot Rod Telecaster, which I built from scratch. It was a super-cool experience to build it, because I got a much better understanding of electronics and how important every little piece is to the sound and feel of a guitar. I am actually having a video done of the process of making it. “I definitely need my Fender SuperSonic 60 top and Super-Sonic 2x12 cabinet.

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This amp sounds great for what we do. It acts well with pedals and it works for big arena shows as well as smaller clubs. We always mic it up with two mics, one on each speaker. Since I am the only guitarist in the band, this gives a great stereo effect for the big choruses. “Another must-have is a great-sounding fuzz pedal. I use a handmade Brazilian fuzz as my main one and a Big Muff for everything else. Either works great for what I do, which is usually making noise! “My Cleartone Light Top/Heavy Bottom strings are key. I love big fat strings and

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New Politics’ Soren HanSen’s MuSt-Have touring gear these are hands-down the best sounding ones I have tried. “I won’t go on the road without extra spare parts like nuts, tuning pegs, screws, jacks, and cables. I play pretty wildly onstage and my guitarist motto is, “If there isn’t any blood on my fingers, it’s not a good show.” So, things tend to need replacing from time to time. “I also need to mention my awesome guitar tech, Tyler Hertzske, and my artist relations guy at Fender, Billy Siegle. My babies would be in really bad shape without those two guys, so here’s a shout-out and a thank-you to them.”

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Riffs

Five for Freedom

Craig LoCiCero’s Top Five GuiTar MoMenTs on SpiraL armS’ LaTesT

Craig LoCiCero and his band spiraL

Arms play “heavy melodic rock” that will remind you of the difference between hard rock and metal, as well as the difference between burning and shredding. Locicero, along with co-guitarists Tim Narducci and Anthony Traslavina, laid down so many cool guitar parts on Spiral Arms’ latest, Freedom [Steamhammer], that it’s not easy to pick just five, but he did his best. “One of the main reasons making this record was so enjoyable is because I didn’t have to write everything,” says Locicero. “I’ve always been in the driver’s seat when it comes to songwriting, but I was on tour with Forbidden when Tim started writing the record. Tim had the structures pretty well laid out and I played off of them, which was a new experience but made things fresher for me.” —Matt Blackett

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The verses of “Drugs & Alcohol” were fun to create. When Tim originally came up with the part, he had harmonics on the one. That was cool, but not very unique. One thing I’ve been doing a lot of since ’97 is bending strings behind the nut. I did that on this song and the notes drone into a slow moan, like an undead drawl. It creates a really cool tension and makes it ever so slightly more unique. The solo I did in “Dropping Like Flies” is a very short break following a beautiful piano passage and the screamed line, “Rock and Roll is dead!” I felt like that meaning was best conveyed with a colorful yet screaming solo. The song is about our idols killing themselves and in turn choking the spirit of rock, and the blue-note bends seemed apropos in that little amount of space. In “Hold Me to the Sky,” Tim and I have a back-and-forth talk box conversation. Tim and I both set up in the studio as we performed the parts. It was as real as it gets and we worked off each other’s

energy—a true rock and roll moment! Obviously the first thing most people think of when they hear a talk box is Peter Frampton or Joe Walsh. I’m good with that, because they are both timeless and iconic. “Exit 63” has a lot of stuff I love, but the solo after the first chorus was special. When we recorded the drums and the band was playing live, I knew I had nailed something very odd. It was improvised, and I had a backwards delay on it. The song is about the Altamont Rolling Stones concert when the hippie movement

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was stopped in its tracks by senseless violence. My solo is not necessarily in any real key, except the key of life and death. Some of my favorite guitar parts on Freedom come from a song I didn’t even play on. “Lovers Leap” was written and played by Tim while I was on tour with Forbidden. Tim laid down some of the most beautiful stuff I’ve heard him play, and my favorite parts are the EBow harmonies he played throughout the song. They’re very haunting and gorgeous and they fit the song perfectly.

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Now Hear This

“all muSic iS made up of melody, So your worK will either have

an interesting melody, or it won’t,” cautions Adrian Galysh. “Music is a language, and your goal should be to expand your vocabulary as much as you can.” The Los Angeles-based Galysh has to call upon his melodic powers time and time again as a session player, a sideman to Uli Jon Roth, and as a solo artist who has just self-released, Tone Poet. Given his job description, Galysh is surprisingly stingy with his main rig, which includes an iGuitar Workshop/Brian Moore Adrian Galysh C90F Signature (strung with SIT Power Steel Stainless strings), a Marshall JMP1 tube preamp, an old Alesis Quadraverb, and a Peavey Classic 50/50 tube power amp running into a Marshall Vintage 1960 4x12 cab. Hanging on the floor are a Morley Bad Horsie Wah, a Seymour Duncan Dirty Deed Distortion, and an MXR Phase 90. “People raise an eyebrow when they see the rig—and again when they hear how good it sounds,” he says. Galysh typically crafts his instrumentals by trying, as he says, to “put my fingers on the fretboard in a way I haven’t before,” and auditioning tones for how they sit in the mix with the other instruments. “You need a healthy amount of midrange for lead tones, and not as much for rhythm guitars so that the sound isn’t fighting vocals and other key parts for sonic space,” he says. “And less is more with distortion. You actually get a fuller, heavier tone if the distortion is at 60 or 75 percent.” When conceptualizing guitar instrumentals, Galysh sees that some players may be limiting their audience by willfully going obscure. “I like to challenge myself when I write, but I never do it at the expense of the composition,” he says. “Some artists may write instrumental music that is complicated for the sake of sounding complicated. Don’t make the mistake of not writing a guitar instrumental as if it were a vocal song.” — M i c h a e l M o l e n d a

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G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

Jerry Stucker T h e h e a d h u n T e r s h av e b e e n

anywhere and not step on any of the other rhythms that are going on. For the tones, I have this old ESP Navigator with EMG pickups that has a lot punch, but doesn’t produce overly strong mids that can interfere with the other instruments. I like a solidstate sound for rhythm, so I plug into a modified Roland Cube 60 loaded with an Altec speaker. For heavier parts, I’ll use a Tech 21 SansAmp, because I can get distortion that isn’t too fat and takes over. I use a heavy pick to get more snap and dynamic range, as well as to keep a strong, even strum going—which is crucial to the Headhunters sound.” — M i c h a e l M o l e n d a

Now Hear This

strutting their cool, percolating jazz-funk rituals on and off since 1973—most famously with keyboardist Herbie Hancock—which rather proves the theorem that you can’t trip up an insistent groove. But stepping into an iconic band known for shaking butts out of seats still requires some surehanded moves. “I’m playing with guys who are so locked down and tight that if I breathe wrong, they’re looking my way,” laughs Jerry Stucker, who joins ’70s-era Headhunters Paul Jackson (bass), Mike Clark (drums), and Bill Summers (percussion)— along with keyboardist Brian Jackson—on the band’s latest single, “High Fly” [Basin Street Records]. Stucker started out in Chicago, soaking up the city’s blues and R&B styles, and developed a smooth, crystal-clear tone characterized by cagey dynamic shifts and slap-like pops and pick attacks. But while these techniques let Stucker chug along in the belly of the groove, he can also soar, as shown by his long, slinky solo on “High Fly.” “Whether playing lead or rhythm, I strive to get control of my attack, so I can put the dynamics where I want them,” says Stucker. “Then, it’s getting my listening so sharp that I can drop a part almost

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G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

Pilot’s License

Dean DeLeo Takes Off Once again wiTh sTP By M att B l ack e tt

“ I l I k e pa I n t I n g n e w pa I n t I n g s ,”

says Stone Temple Pilots guitar slinger Dean DeLeo. “I like creating different things with different colors. If there’s a guitar, a tone, or a style that I use on something, I try to not repeat it.” That ethos has served DeLeo well over the course of his career. He has been more than willing to mix up his tones and techniques so as not to duplicate himself,

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but has carved out an identifiable sound and style just the same. From the massive, dirty-yet-clean chords of “Plush” to the angular, lo-fi solo squawks in “Trippin’ on a Hole in a Paper Heart” to the delicate, clean strums of “Sour Girl” and beyond, DeLeo has been tough to pigeonhole as a guitarist, aside from labeling him

a guy who “plays for the song.” You could also call him a guy whose playing racked him up a ton of hits, awards, and platinum albums, although—understatement alert— it wasn’t always smooth sailing. It’s easy to point to the lead-singer ups and downs the band has been through— courtesy of charismatic original frontman

Scott Weiland—as its defining characteristic, but the fact is, the DeLeo bros (Robert plays bass and is a primary songwriter) have always defined the STP sound and vibe. With their uncanny knack for infectious, hooky riffs and complex, intriguing tones, they deliver melodic, powerful rock that is firmly in the tradition of great bands like Aerosmith, with whom they’ve toured and jammed many times. The endless episodes of bad behavior from Weiland—which resulted in cancelled tours, sloppy gigs, and high drama—led many observers to pronounce STP dead and bloated several times over, but the DeLeos apparently didn’t get that memo. They teamed up with longtime fan Chester Bennington from Linkin Park and set about creating High Rise [Play Pen/ADA], a five-song EP that will no doubt please their core fans while silencing their doubters. And now, more than 20 years after STP’s debut album, when confronted with his well-deserved rep as a rock and roll survivor, DeLeo took it in stride with the quiet confidence that has gotten him this far. “There’s a lot more to come.” Let’s break down this new eP. How did “out of Time” come about in the studio?

That came about differently than any other song we’ve ever recorded, because the entire song was written on bass by Robert. For that main riff I used an old Ampeg distortion pedal into a block logo 50-watt Marshall bass head and a 4x12. My guitars were just a Les Paul and a Tele. You can hear the Tele tone come in on the pre-choruses. I wanted to make each section breathe, so I came down a bit in the verse. That’s how I try to approach things. I let the song dictate what I should play, and sometimes that means playing a little less, sometimes a little more. What about the solo on that tune? Was that planned out or improvised?

I’m not a heck of an improviser, so most of my solos are kind of worked out beforehand. A lot of times, before I even pick up a guitar, I’ll hum a few things. When I start on guitar, I’ll want to play the same licks that I play sitting around jamming on the couch. It allows me to get out of myself a little bit if I hum along first. When in the tracking process do you typically cut your solos?

For the most part, solos go down at the very end. I don’t even like getting into the

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world of solos until I hear the vocals. Sometimes you want to pick up where a vocal leaves off, but sometimes not. For instance, the solo in “Tomorrow” went down very fast. I had an idea and I said, “I’ve got a great solo for this,” and just threw that down early in the session, whereas every other one happened at the end.

What gear did you use to create all the tones in “Black Heart”?

Oh my goodness. These are trick questions! [Laughs]. I think it’s a Paul on both tracks, but we used different amps. I used a little Silvertone 1x12 on one of the tones, and the other one might have been a little Marshall combo or something for the verse.

For the pre-choruses we wanted that little stringy line that ascends on the B string. You get the power of the chord but you also hear the definition of every string. So we brought that section down to a single chord and used a Tele for those pre-choruses. Then it was back to humbuckers on the chorus. We loved the sound of one of those chorus guitar tones. I don’t know if it’s coming out left or right, but it’s a Les Paul turned up really, really loud through an AC30. That song also has one of your signature little sweetening parts, the slide lines you add. What’s your thought process for putting those lines in tunes?

You’re talking about in the verse where the vocal goes, “Stay down and lay down.” That was a neat little ear candy thing. A lot of guys might use a part like that to introduce the second verse or something. In this instance we used it as a cool thing behind the vocal line. As for how those little parts work within the process, it’s almost about removing yourself and not ruining the track, per se. It’s funny. On the song “Between the Lines” on our selftitled record, we wanted to do something to introduce the second verse. We tried a couple of things and the song was just saying, “You don’t need anything here.” So not every song will allow you to do those kinds of parts. “Black Heart” has another great solo in it. Do you remember how you got the tone and what the composition process was for that guitar solo?

I remember exactly what I used on that. My dear friend Bruce Nelson, who takes care of my guitars when I’m in a live situation, built me a couple of Telecasters and a Stratocaster that are three of the most beautiful, well-playing guitars I own. I played his Nelson Tele into this little amp by Cactus. They make an amplifier in a 16-ounce aluminum can with a two- or three-inch speaker that runs on a 9-volt battery. I split that with

MORE OnLInE

guitarplayer.com/february2014 > Check out Stone Temple Pilots with Chester Bennington. .

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an AC30. I got a nice, cool blend between the two, but we kind of favored the Cactus because it has this great character. We have to remember that a microphone does not racially profile [laughs]. By that I mean that a microphone knows no size. And I find that with little amps, the microphone sometimes seems to absorb that sound a lot better than

with big amps. How did you get the dry, in-your-face tone on the intro to “Cry Cry”?

We close-miked it and then we put a room mike in one of the bathrooms. It’s kind of cool—you’re getting the close mike on the left, and the room mike on the right. You know what that amp is? The

Cactus. No one believes me. People say, “That tone! What amp is that? That’s the coolest tone I’ve ever heard.” I tell them, “It’s a can with a 9-volt battery and a twoinch speaker.” What makes that part cool is that bent note you throw in there. You don’t do it every time but in my mind, it makes the riff.

Honestly, probably a little bit of my ego got in the way because Chester wrote that riff. It’s not something I would really write and it felt a little rudimentary. I just felt like I needed to put my stamp on it, so instead of bending up to a note, I wanted to bend from the note down—almost like a whammy bar kind of thing. I fingered it a half-step down, did a pre-bend, and then just kind of let it drop. I think I just wanted to kind of show that I knew what I was doing. at the very end of the “Cry Cry” lead break you do this huge, major-third bend that really ties the solo together. Bends like that one seem to be a big part of your style.

There’s no better feeling than when you bend a note and it’s actually in tune. I love all kinds of string bends, whether it’s grabbing a few strings down low and making a massive swell, or on one string up high to give you that beautiful representation of a woman’s voice. Aerosmith’s Brad Whitford is a guitar player that not many people talk about, but I really dig his way of bending and reaching for some beautiful note and really letting that note vibrate. A lot of people probably can’t differentiate between Brad’s solos and Joe Perry’s, but a perfect example of great bending is the solo in “Last Child,” and that’s Brad. When you spin your early records, like Core and Purple, how is that guitarist different from the guy you are today on High Rise?

Drastically different in every sense of the word. Back then, I was a single man with no kids, 30 years old going on 15. Now I’m married with two kids, and 52 going on 19. If you look back at Core, there wasn’t much soloing happening. I really wasn’t very proficient with the instrument. I’m not saying I am now by any means, because I’m learning so much every time I play the thing. There’s so much left to learn and there’s so much that I don’t know, but I’m somewhat comfortable with my playing right now. I think you can hear my playing progress with each record. I hope so, at least. g

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Twang Jazzman Jim Campilongo Frees His Mind on Dream Dictionary By J I MM y l es l I e “I was lIstenIng to a lot of John MclaughlIn-era MIles DavIs when I MaDe My latest

album, Dream Dictionary,” says Jim Campilongo. “I was largely going for that style of spontaneous, in-studio creation. I wanted to hear the sound of discovery.” Campilongo pushes the envelope on a Fender Telecaster like Jeff Beck manhandles a Strat. His beyondthe-nut string bends, pedal-steel-like pitch manipulations, and rich harmonic textures come across like Cirque du Soleil playing the Grand Ole Opry, with some heady downtown jazz soundscapes tossed into the mix. The Brooklyn resident—who moonlights with Norah Jones playing country music in the Little Willies—actually sounds like he’s feeling very NYC on his tenth album as a leader. Campilongo started dreaming up Dictionary [Blue Hen] when he met upright bassist Chris Morrissey (Mason Jennings) and drummer Josh Dion (Pat Martino, Chuck Loeb) last March. He hustled his new trio into Bedford Studio with producer Andy Tommasi (Iggy Pop, Leni Stern) where he quickly captured supernatural stuff. The ethereal title track, a brazen new rendition of his tune “Heaven Is Creepy,” the alternately straight and shuffling “Tony Mason,” and an abstract interpretation of Hendrix’s “Manic Depression” exemplify the aforementioned Davis influence—but there is still more to Dictionary. Melancholy feelings drip from Campilongo’s fingers via haunting

melodies on the beautiful ballad, “The Past Is Looking Brighter and Brighter;” he careens off of Jones’ breathy vocal with a singing blues solo on “Here I Am;” he and Steve Cardenas get gypsy on the acoustic guitar duet, “One Mean Eye;” and his first-ever solo acoustic recording, “Suppose,” echoes Mason Williams’ “Classical Gas” and Duane Allman’s “Little Martha.” the timing on the vibey opening track, “cock and Bull story,” is wild. Playing any further behind the beat could cause serious injury.

I do that a lot because stretching time feels remarkable to me, although it sometimes feels excruciating to elongate the rhythm of a melody that much. It’s the opposite of how Willie Nelson might rush the phrasing, and then leave a long pause. I like to stretch

the phrasing, and then leave a short pause. What happens is funny though: it feels like time comes to a halt, and I’m thinking of all these different directions I might go in next. The listener hardly notices I’ve paused for half a second, but I feel like it lasted 20 seconds. how did Mclaughlin’s influence manifest on Dream Dictionary?

His vibe and spirit manifest on the more impressionistic tracks. I play some A7/9 cluster chords on “Manic Depression” that might bring McLaughlin’s playing on Miles’ A Tribute to Jack Johnson to mind. McLaughlin utilized some Townshend-style power chords on that album, and I do the same thing on “Cock and Bull Story” when the “A Love Supreme”style raga vibe crashes into the power chord riff in the B section, although mine really sounds more like McLaughlin meets the Velvet Underground. Speaking of which, I was honored when Lou Reed actually came to see us play last year, and that I got to meet him before he passed away. “heaven Is creepy” is such a great title. how do you conjure the whooshing sounds during the height of that track?

Those are tone knob swells. Most players go for

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Features Jim Cam pi lo ngo

the volume knob, but tone knob swells have more balls and you hear the whole swell. The beginning isn’t cut off and wimpy sounding. Dickey Betts plays a series of wonderfully operatic volume swells at the beginning of “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed.” You hear every nuance. That’s amazing, but if you’re rocking out, the tone knob is better because

it’s like, Whaaaam! You hear it from the get go. First it’s bass-y and louder than hell, and then it gets trebly and louder than hell. There’s a bit of a trick to it because the tone knob is harder to reach—at least it is on my Tele. You have to roll your hand. When you run out of little finger start using the top of your ring finger, and then use your

middle finger to finish it off. What it’s like playing with norah Jones in the little Willies?

You can’t get too comfortable because she’s fearless about changing the feel and key signature of a song on the spur of the moment. Norah really likes the key of Bb, which I’ve learned to love because it’s underrated as an open-string key. You’ve got the open-G string itself, plus you can get a classic twang riff going by alternating between the open-A string and bending behind the nut to raise its pitch to the tonic. The same move works on the E string because you’re bending from the b5 to the 5. And on the D string that same bend is the 3 to the 4. You can do all of those easily on any guitar. How did you develop your bluesy rendition of Ray Charles’ “Here i am” with Jones?

First, she encouraged me to make it sound more “Jim.” I completely changed it on the spot at rehearsal. That’s how I arrived at the stark, menacing vibe. In the studio, she nailed her vocal on the first take. We could have approached the guitar solo in heavy blues fashion à la Frank Zappa and Don “Sugarcane” Harris on “Directly From My Heart to You,” but I like how the solo complements her vocal in a more subtle way. It’s a bit Hendrix-y, too—something like “Belly Button Window.” Did you cut it live?

The live take was a bit like Kenny Burrell on “Midnight Blue,” but I wanted something more feminine sounding, so I overdubbed a new solo. How did you capture the tones on Dream Dictionary?

I mostly used a ’70-ish silverface Fender Princeton Reverb with a Celestion G10 Vintage speaker. We miked the front, the back, and the room during tracking. Then I did what I always do and re-amped it—meaning we sent the signal back out into another amp. In this case it was an old tweed Fender Twin that Andy Tomassi bought from Buddy Guy. We placed front and room mics, and added plate reverb and compression. The final mix was mostly the Princeton with the Twin filling out the bottom end. It was a nice yin to the Princeton’s yang. You’re famous for coaxing a huge, pristine sound out of just a Tele and a sole vintage princeton. When you buy one, how do you make that old thing sing?

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Features Jim Cam pi lo ngo

I spray money out of a fire hose onto it! I replace the speaker, pots, caps, and power tubes, which I have biased to run really hot. It all adds up to sounding louder onstage and quieter in the studio. Most vintage amps you find are completely wrecked. You have to spend an extra $300 in replacement parts to get one up to speed. I’m like a professional

racecar driver when it comes to gear. “Hmm, if we take the bumper off, maybe I can shave a second off my time!” What are your thoughts on the Fender Vintage Reissue ’65 princeton Reverb?

Fender did a nice job with the reissue, and I use it on tour. When I show up to a gig overseas to find a reissue Princeton in the

backline, I fall to my knees and cry because I’m so grateful. Actually, Fender just released a ’68 reissue loaded with a Celestion speaker that I can’t wait to try. What guitars did you use to record Dream Dictionary, and how did the tracks go down?

I used my Martin 00-15 on the acoustic guitar duet with Steven Cardenas, “One Mean Eye.” I was trying to write a tune in the style of Érik Satie. And I was actually just auditioning the studio when I cut “Suppose” on Andy’s great big Gibson acoustic. The workhorse was my ’59 Telecaster. We cut most everything live to analog tape as a trio. Other than on “Pie Party,” most of the solos were cut with the band, and then I added some rhythm overdubs. I overdubbed a rhythm track and the descending parts at the end of “The Past Is Looking Brighter and Brighter” through a Leslie speaker cabinet. On “Nang Nang,” I overdubbed a weird ska rhythm with my orange signature Telecaster, and the engineer conjured up the trippy, effected sound. a student gave you the ’59 Tele in exchange for some lessons many years back. Do you have any thoughts on guitar instruction in the digital age?

In-person students nowadays want to record everything on their smartphones, which is both good and bad. If trying to frame video of my hands on the fretboard during a demonstration distracts the student, it’s difficult to achieve the intangible parallel of a successful personal connection, so I don’t allow video recording. I do, however, encourage audio recording because it gives the student a document of the lesson to go home and study. And it’s just so cool how easy it is to teach globally these days. I offer lessons on my website, and it’s pretty mindblowing that guitarists all over world can download a lesson, hear my voice, follow my fingerings, and, hopefully, laugh at my jokes. g

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guitarplayer.com/february2014 > Watch Campilongo make sweet Fender-on-Fender love playing a Tele through a Vintage Reissue ’65 Princeton Reverb.

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2014 Berklee Summer Programs Learn, play, and take your musicianship to the next level. berklee.edu/summer

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The Ice Man strummeth— Kaiser in antarctica.

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Encounters With the Deep Unreal HEnry KaisEr’s Magic Land by ba r ry C l e v e l a n d Ca l i f o r n i a- b as e d g u i ta r i st H e n ry K a i s e r H as p l ay e d o n H u n d r e d s o f r e Co r d s ,

ranging from relatively accessible collaborations with Richard Thompson and David Lindley to avantgarde outings with Fred Frith and Derek Bailey to Miles Davis-inspired improvisational excursions with Wadada Leo Smith to a variety of idiosyncratic solo offerings. And that’s not to mention his many sideman credits and film scores, including several for celebrated German filmmaker Werner Herzog. Needless to say, Kaiser is something of a stylistic Cheshire Cat, though his musical raison d’être is to avoid sounding like anyone else—even himself (his chronic Jerry Garcia and Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band fixations notwithstanding). To facilitate his desire for sonic diversity, Kaiser has amassed an immense collection of guitars, amplifiers, and effects pedals, some of which are collectors’ pieces, but many of which are simply unique instruments and devices of little value other than for their ability to provide particular tonal possibilities. Observing the guitarist in his studio, surrounded by this sonic armada, one gets the impression of watching a mad scientist at work in his laboratory—an impression reinforced while watching him create soundscapes via sophisticated effects processors and his singular live-looping techniques. Kaiser is also something of an ethnomusicologist. He traveled to Madagascar with David Lindley in 1991, where the two “made lots of roots music records with people there,” resulting in the magnificent A World Out of Time and two follow-up albums. “The music we discovered there changed

us radically and permanently,” says Kaiser. That was followed by a similar excursion with Lindley to Norway, and the release of Sweet Sunny North in 1994 and Sweet Sunny North Vol. 2 in 1996. In 2001, Kaiser spent ten weeks in Antarctica on a National Science Foundation Antarctic Artists and Writers Program grant, and has subsequently returned nine times as a research diver and cameraman. His underwater video footage has been featured in two Herzog films, one of which resulted in an Academy Award nomination. Kaiser’s most recent releases include he and Lindley’s intriguing soundtrack for Herzog’s Encounters at the End of the World [Fractal], the lovely “80minute live trance guitar solo” Everything Forever [self-released], and the delightfully eclectic Requia and Other Improvisations for Guitar Solo [Tzadic], featuring heartfelt remembrances of several of his musical heroes.

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different intonation system. It works very well because when I set the depth of the square-wave modulation to be a perfect mathematical fifth, the more-or-less justintoned notes of many of the scales on that neck fit really nicely with that and produce a very pretty and more natural world music sound. It results in some kind of just temperament as compared to the equal temperament of Western classical music.

you’ve been looping for decades. Describe the various technologies and techniques you’ve used over the years.

The first looping I did was with an old MXR Digital Delay that had less than a second of delay time, and after that I switched to the Lexicon Super Prime Time, which had longer delay times. I very quickly became dissatisfied with locked-in loops, however, and developed a technique that I still use today, which involves long delays that only repeat once, modulated with square waves, which creates new pitches or harmonies in real time as I’m playing. You could do that with the old Lexicon PCM 42 and Super Prime Time delays, and now with the PSP Audio PSP 42 software plug-in, which I run on my laptop because it is easier to carry around. I developed a whole style around that technique.

you also use reverse delays frequently when playing live solos. What’s going on there?

That’s something I’ve worked with a lot to make it sound like a real backwards solo on a record, and I also use it to change my groove and rhythmic relationship to a track or a band. I’ve been doing it for 25 years, first with an Eventide Harmonizer and now with a little TC Electronic pedal. I’ve seen so many great performers do something superhuman, and I wanted to do something kind of superhuman, too, but rather than having a lot of technique and practicing in the conventional sense, I developed a way to do it with delays.

you always use just a single repeat?

Yes. There’s none of that Terry Riley, Robert Fripp thing. There’s just one repeat. But the rhythm and the pitch of the delay are changing all the time due to the squarewave modulation. Do you prefer a particular delay time?

It doesn’t matter. Three to 17 seconds is a good range.

Having spent all that time working with those devices, do you find similar sounds and approaches creeping into your playing even when you aren’t using them?

How about modulation rate?

I usually set it to either heart or breathing rate, because those are natural healing rhythm rates. But although the delays and modulation are repeating with a consistent periodicity, I’ve learned to play in ways that disguise what’s going on, because I don’t want anybody to ever hear a repeating pattern. I want to make it sound like I’m playing more than any person possibly could, but in a way that doesn’t sound like looping in the usual sense. you accomplish that by phrasing in particular ways?

Yes, phrasing is a big part of it, but also the timing. Many people that play with delay, especially with it set for multiple repeats, tend to play in time with the repeats. I can play out of time in some irrational ratio that doesn’t evenly divide, so you can’t tell what I’m playing and what the delay is doing. There are lots of examples on your recordings.

Yes, starting on an old LP called It’s a Wonderful Life [1984], and more recently on Everything Forever, which I think is the

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a trio of custom pedalboards designed and built by Mason Marangella of Vertex effects.

best thing I’ve ever done. Describe how you made that recording.

It’s just a guitar going into an Old World Audio 1960 compressor and then into two Lexicon delays, a PCM 42 and a Super Prime Time, along with a little reverb. I just thought I’d see if I could do an 80-minute guitar solo and I was lucky that day. Why did you use two delays, and how did you have them set?

They give me three different voices or parts. One delay is mono and the other is stereo, but the stereo delays are modulated by two different clock rates, so the sound gets very dense. I’m actually only playing about a third of the notes that it sounds like I’m playing. What guitar did you play on that piece?

That was a parts Strat with a True Temperament neck from Sweden, which uses a

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Yes, I find a lot of the rhythms and things that have happened playing with those kinds of delays got into my body and I’ll play things on, say, an acoustic guitar that sound just like what I was doing with the delay, in imitation of myself. your approach to looping and signal processing is extremely idiosyncratic. What advice would you give to budding young loopists and others trying to find their own voice using today’s technologies?

Instead of doing what you’ve heard your heroes do, or the obvious things that anyone who uses a particular piece of gear does with it on the first day they have it, find a way to do something different. There are always an infinite number of possibilities, but you have to conceive of them— it’s conceptual. Much like playing the guitar or playing music in general.

Right. All the time I find that with the same amount of technique I already have, my concept will change. For example, when I was starting out and I learned how

Features H e nry Ka i ser

to play the minor pentatonic scale, at some point someone said, “Hey, you move that three frets down and it’s the major pentatonic scale.” It was like, “Oh my God!” And all the sudden I could play twice as much stuff without having to acquire more technique or practicing.

my old Klein custom electric that I can carry on an airplane without any problems. It’s a great guitar with a very nice old Steinberger tremolo, and I put Alembic pickups in it, which are my favorite pickups.

you’ve got a lot of guitars. What are the guitars that you tend to come back to over and over again, and how do you decide which one would be best in a given situation?

I met Howard Dumble when I first started to play. He visited some friends of mine who were jamming in a garage, and brought one of his amps for us to try. That was in the late ’70s, and it sounded fantastic. Then, years later, I got one from him, so I grew up as a professional player with this really versatile, amazing amp. I’ve always preferred those Fender descendent Dumble amps, and the amps that evolved from them, especially the amps made by Two-Rock and Glaswerks. I also use JBL 12" speakers, because my idea of rock guitar tone comes from ’60s and ’70s Captain Beefheart and 1972 Grateful Dead—kind of a clean powerful sound with a very complex dissonant harmonic content that makes the beauty of the

I’m really concerned with timbre and sound color more than I am with melody, harmony, or rhythm, so I know the personality of every guitar—how it sounds on every fret, how its pickups sound, how it sounds into different amps, etc. Just like a painter who looks out at the ocean thinks, “Okay, I want to paint it just like the ocean but I want it this color instead,” I hear the color of the guitar that I want. If I’m in the studio I’m happy to have ten guitars there, whereas when traveling I’m pretty much stuck with

your amp collection is also impressive. What are a few of your favorites?

dissonance clear without sounding too ugly. Do you get your overdriven and distorted tones out of the amp or from pedals?

I used to use the overdrive in the Dumble, but now I get it from pedals, and if I could only have one it would be the Tech 21 CompTortion. But if you look at whatever pedalboard I’m using, it’s going to have four, five, or six distortions or fuzzes on it with different colors. you’re addicted to fuzzes.

Yeah, I’m addicted to fuzzes. you have hundreds of pedals. Besides the CompTortion, what are a few of your current favorites?

I like many of the other Tech 21 pedals, too, including the British overdrive. I also really like Paul Trombetta’s pedals, such as the Tornita, a really psychedelic-sounding fuzz that he made for David Torn. Red Panda also make a couple of very interesting pedals. I got a Colorsound wah a long time ago and I like that sound, so I got a Wilson clone of the Colorsound, which is my current favorite.

Features H e nry Ka i ser

I’m also fond the Buzzaround family of British distortion pedals, one of which was the legendary fuzz that Robert Fripp used in the ’70s. There are about two-dozen clones of them being made and they all sound really, really different. Ghost Effects in England makes the best one I’ve heard, but the most interesting-sounding one is a clone of the Buzzaround circuit called the Elka Dizzy Tone, made by an Irish guy named Jimmy Behan. Do you have any favorite sounds that result from combining particular pedals?

I have lots of pedals that sound great together, but I don’t keep track of the different combinations, or try to repeat anything—because I don’t want anything to be predictable. I play my best when I am discovering new things, whether it’s on the fretboard or with the gear or with the other players. you do, however, almost always play in standard tuning.

That’s true, unless I’m playing some blues thing that’s in a non-standard tuning. And on

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“Basho’s Journey,” from my new solo album, I’m playing a 12-string acoustic that’s in an odd tuning that was inspired by Michael Gulezian. It was some kind of dropped-D tuning where the fourth and sixth strings and octaves were the same, but everything else was tuned to different harmony intervals, like minor thirds. Do you mostly play with a pick?

I always play with a combination of a pick and my fingers. I use very heavy picks, including Dunlop Graphite and Gripick nylon picks. Why a heavy pick?

I don’t remember why I started using them. It could have been because I wanted to sound like the guitarists on Captain Beefheart’s Trout Mask Replica, who used metal fingerpicks and a flat pick, but I didn’t want to wear metal fingerpicks, so having a really heavy pick was the easiest way to get that sound. And then I later discovered that Jerry Garcia and a lot of other people I like use heavy picks. Do you also use heavy strings?

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Not particularly heavy, though I rarely use anything lighter than a standard .010 set. And my favorite electric strings are GHS Progressives, which sound great, never break, and last forever. are you still doing “prepared guitar” music?

I only really did that when I was playing with Fred Frith, like on our album With Friends Like These, back in 1979. Keith Rowe really started all that, and I love his playing, but it was never my thing. Derek Bailey was my number one guitar hero when I was growing up, and while he played the most extreme avant-garde guitar of anybody, it was always in standard tuning and with no tricks. So, I kind of felt like that was the kosher path. Describe the way in which you and David Lindley scored Encounters at the End of the World.

I had worked with Warner Herzog on several films previously, and I was hired by Discovery to be the producer for that film, so I got to do the soundtrack. David and I had worked

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together a lot, and we work really fast as a team. That’s important, because the way I do soundtracks is very, very quick. We recorded everything in a day or two and then mixed it in a day. For a 90-minute film with about 40 minutes of music, we actually record about five hours of music. In that case, we used a lot of rhythms from Madagascar, and we knew that Werner wanted to use some Georgian and Eastern European choir music, so we took the harmonies in that music and kind of superimposed them onto other things. Briefly describe the circumstances surrounding the recording of Requia.

It began with the death of my dear friend Fredric Lieberman, a great professor of ethnomusicology, which had a big impact on me. About a week after he passed, I was sitting at a friend’s kitchen table, with my guitar plugged into a laptop, and I just hit record and played a 22-minute guitar solo while thinking about him. I sent it to John Zorn, who said, “That’s really nice requiem. Do you

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want to make a whole album of requiems?” John Fahey had done that back in 1968, and I loved the idea, so I said yes. I just sat down and thought of people I knew who died that I cared about and played guitar requiems for them. One of those people was Pete Cosey, who played with Miles Davis. In the middle of recording, Sonny Sharrock, showed up in my playing, and said, “I’m going to be here too.” So I thought, “Okay, I guess I’m playing a requiem for both of you.” That piece MORE OnLInE

guitarplayer.com/february2014 > Kaiser details his squarewave modulation livelooping technique. > Kaiser demos 12 of his favorite guitars. > Kaiser details the inner workings of his Yo Miles! project.

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is called “Tandem Ghost Bike.” What is creativity in the broader philosophical sense?

I didn’t even think about personal expression in music until about ten years ago. It was all just a science fair project—doing an experiment and seeing what happens. I never thought that I had anything to say. I was just getting out of the way and discovering something. And now I think that maybe my job is to be some kind of intermediary between the audience and the big unknown that they cannot quite connect with themselves. Like, I can go diving in Antarctica under the ice and shoot a video and show it to you. You likely could not have done that or seen that. I like to be able to point at some musical structure hanging in the air that they may never have seen. Where is it though? What is the air that it’s hanging in?

I don’t know. I like Robert Hunter’s term “the deep unreal.” It’s just something out there and things show up. g

Emily Robison of Court Yard Hounds and Collings Guitars

Emily Robison on stage with her Collings CJ SB Serious Guitars | www.CollingsGuitars.com | (512) 288-7770

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Blues and Beyond

Pete Anderson’s soulFul sound by a Rt t hOmPsON O N h i s s i x t h s O l O a l b U m , B i r d s A B ov e G u i tA r l A n d , P e t e a N D e R s O N ’ s

hip, jazz-informed playing and soulful voice combine with a fat rhythm section and cool horn parts to lend a ’50s vibe to his forays into blues, soul, funk, and jazz. Though obviously a songwriter with myriad influences, Anderson always manages to sound like himself—a characteristic he picked up early on, and one that keeps him from falling into the trap of being pigeonholed as particular kind of blues artist. “I came from Detroit, and there was kind of a different attitude about playing the blues there,” says Anderson. “The early blues players came up from the South and went to Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Indianapolis, and Milwaukee. And there were so many different ways they played blues. If you look at Luther Tucker, Jimmy Rogers, Robert Lockwood, and Hubert Sumlin, you’ve got four cats who were completely different players. None of them tried to play like the other, and that was sort of how we played blues when I was a kid. We were more interpretive. When I came to California, people were trying to play note-for-note like Little Walter or T-Bone Walker. There was more imitation going on, and that was a big difference for me.” Anderson’s high-profile work with hillbilly country star Dwight Yoakam notwithstanding, his early efforts at becoming a performing guitarist didn’t initially have much to do at all with country music. As Anderson explains it, “I was drawn to it mostly by hearing the Byrds’ Sweetheart of the Rodeo, Taj Mahal’s “Six Days on the Road” [from the 1969 album Giant Step], and all the other guys who were ahead of me and starting to experiment with country. When I got to California, I started out playing blues, but some of my friends had gigs in country bars, where, under the guise of being a “country” band, you would play a little Chuck Berry, some blues, a lot of country, and then you’d do some Western swing, which was jazz. So you could get four genres under your fingers pretty

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well playing that stuff all night. I really grew up as a musician in California, where I learned to play country music on the bandstand with a Telecaster exactly the same way Don Rich and Roy Nichols did— i.e., lots of club gigs and four-set nights.” What made you to return to blues as a solo artist?

After Dwight and I parted ways, I decided to start concentrating on myself as an artist, and I realized that as a singer and songwriter I definitely fall on the blues side of the page. I put a record out in ’95 called Working Class in the cracks of working with Dwight, and then in ’97 I did Dogs in Heaven. Then I did an instrumental record called Daredevil. So I was always dabbling in my solo career, but without having both feet in the pond because Dwight’s career was on fire and we were making records and touring the world. It was a great job and the music was great, but it all ended in 2002. How did you move on?

I started working with an artist on my Little Dog label who had kind of a late-’50s, honky-tonk Web Pierce thing going—basically a revved-up rockabilly thing. That fell apart in ’06, and that’s when we decided as a family that I was going to change my career from being a producer who plays guitar to a guitar player who produces records. My wife is a recording engineer and producer, and we had a studio that we downsized to our house. It’s a four-car garage, but it’s a $100,000 studio. We floated the floors, tilted the walls, doubled the ceiling, and it’s the best studio I’ve had. It’s very flat sounding, so we can do mastering in there too. I’ve made a bunch of records there over the last three years. Your style became jazzier and bluesier in the post-dwight era. What was the reason?

Well, Dwight’s career was triads. I don’t means this in a negative way, but the music we played was based on triads, and by moving from that to doing more of a rockabilly thing, then the sixths and the ninths and the diminished chords started to enter into it. So I went from triads to four-note chords, and that extra note sets things up for me to play it. So now, all

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of a sudden, playing a diminished scale isn’t so bizarre, whereas doing that in a Bakersfield tune would be bizarre. So it really opened the door for me, because although I had been educated as a guitar player, I was limiting my palette sonically to fit Dwight’s music. I played totally and uniquely for him, and that was completely different than what I did for anyone else. Whether it was Jim Lauderdale, Lucinda Williams, Rosie Flores, or anyone else, I’ve never played the same way as I did for Dwight. Was there a certain way you wanted this album to sound?

I wanted more air in this record than I’d gotten on Even Things Up, so my engineer Tony Rambo and I started experimenting with room mics to make it breathe a little more and sound more authentic. The guitar approach, however, is pretty much always the same: I have an old first-edition POD, and I was fortunate to have a friend at Line 6 named Tim Godwin, who got them to model one of my blackface Fender Deluxes that I used with Dwight— which were beefed up to be very clean sounding—into the POD. They also modeled my Silvertone 1489 with the knobs that go down the side. It was either a ’59 or a ’61. You play through that amp and it’s like instant Maxwell Street Chicago, Johnny Shines or Robert Nighthawk. so you tracked all your guitar parts through a Pod?

Yes. After we’ve got the rhythm section recorded, I sit down with my Reverend PA-1 and Eastsider guitars plugged into the POD, and I get really close to the tone I want by dialing up the Deluxe for the cleaner stuff, or the Silvertone if I need a dirtier sound. Once it’s all done, then we decide if we want to blend or re-amp the guitar. That way I can even be more finite in how I cast the record. Things like how big the bass is, where the kick drum sits, and the tone of the snare drum, all affect the sound of the guitar. So if we’re blending with real amps, I’ve got a killer blackface Fender Twin I can use for the clean bluesy stuff, and I’ve got my original blackface Deluxe. I also have a Bruce Zinky-designed Fender Tone-Master that I re-amped through for some of the huskier stuff. I can really split some hairs by doing it this way.

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Have you used other modeling systems?

At the end of my run with Dwight I was using a Line 6 Vetta. I figured out I could play almost the whole show thorough a modeled Twin, but instead of showing the crowd my ass every time I had to adjust the tone controls when I changed keys, I just programmed it. But it was just the Twin being tweaked in the same way I’d do it in the studio. What do you play through live?

I’m using two PODs through a Fryette 50/50 stereo tube power amp that is driving two open-back 1x12 cabinets—one wet and one dry—with Eminence Cannibis Rex speakers in them. Can you talk about your work with reverend on your new signature PA-1 revtron rt?

Basically it’s a PA-1 semi-hollow with a block down the middle and a bridge that is screwed into a piece of wood near the block on the bass side. But other than that, there’s no bracing anywhere. When it came out it had P-90s and a Bigsby, and everyone was going, “Oh, it’s like a Gretsch.” But no, it’s not like a Gretsch. It’s much more of a Silvertone with a playable neck and an angled headstock, so the string tension is right and the frets are right. It’s a player’s guitar, and if you walked into a store and tried it, you’d go, “If I put my strings on it I could play it tonight.” A couple of years later we put Revtron pickups on it and turned it into a Gretsch-style rockabilly guitar. How did the reverend eastsider come about?

When I decided that I was going to start playing a Tele-style guitar again, I wanted Reverend to make it. So I talked with them about it, and we went around in a circle about body style and this and that. Finally I said, “Look, if I’m going to play a Tele it’s going to look like a Tele— it’s not going to look like a spaceship.” So they agreed to do it, and it’s called the Eastsider because Reverend and I are both from the east side of Detroit. Their old shop was on the corner of the street that I grew up on, four blocks from my house. But that guitar has a compound radius fingerboard, my frets—which are the 6105 Dunlops—and locking tuners. It’s also got a korina body, which sounds

BUYONCE

AL GORI THMS

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Features

Pe t e A nd erso n

a little huskier, and there are cavities in the front instead of the back. It’s a little bit throatier than a Tele, but you can really pop it up to make it a great Bakersfield country guitar. I’m using it more like a Cornell Dupree kind of bluesy thing, so it’s pretty easy for me to get it to be sort of dark and stringy sounding. How is your right-hand technique influenced by your country playing?

I was always a hybrid picker. I’d use a flatpick and two fingers and accomplish everything I needed to do, including palming the pick to do harmonics. When I started playing more blues, however, I realized that outside of maybe B.B. King, Muddy Waters, and Freddie King, most of the blues guys used their fingers. So I was getting more of a modern sound using the pick and/or the hybrid technique, and that was just a little too exact and clicky. So I started holding the pick but never using it, because it felt funny to

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not have it in my hand. But I had to stop using it because it became a crutch. So then I just played totally with my hand, and a whole other avenue of stuff started happening because my thumb was hitting the strings. I was doing fingerpicking too, so it became more pianistic in that I would pluck a chord instead of strum it—and that got me into more complex chords and chordal playing. do you mainly use your thumb for melodic playing?

On the album Even Things Up I did a song called “West Side Blues,” and I played all of it with my thumb. But mainly I’m fingerpicking and arpeggiating with my thumb and my first and second fingers. I’ll also use my first finger by itself a lot too—using the back of the nail for a bright sound and the finger for a meatier tone. on “red sunset Blues” what kind of baritone guitar did you play?

G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / F E b R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

That’s a Jerry Jones tuned down to A. How about the solo on “empty everything?”

For that I used an old beat-up Epiphone with Harmony gold-foil pickups. Everything else is either of my two Reverends. do you do anything special to your guitars for slide playing?

I use flatwound strings on my slide guitars. The heaviest ones I can get. They sound incredible—real pure. If you want to sound like Santo and Johnny, put a flatwound on the D and use a wound G. It’s badass! g MORE OnLInE

guitarplayer.com/february2014 > Pete Anderson plays “Even Things Up” live.

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50 Badass Blues Solos Let’s face it, thousands upon thousands of great

blues solos have been played on the electric guitar, so you can imagine how daunting it was for us to narrow our selection down to just 50. For starters, we siphoned off more than a dozen artists and solos that have already been so widely celebrated that they hardly need additional mention. After all, who isn’t already hip to Clapton’s extraordinary solo on “Crossroads” or Jimi’s on “Red House”? But rather than ignore those artists entirely, we gave them their own sidebar—The Fab 14—and pointed to a lesser-known great solo or two along with the obvious one, just in case you may have missed them. We also excluded a few legendary players who were renowned for their acoustic solos, but did little of note once they switched to electric, such as Tampa Red, along with several well-known guitarists that played fantastic electric blues, but didn’t really take solos,

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like John Lee Hooker. And early on we decided not to include seminal acoustic blues players like Robert Johnson, Son House, and Blind Willie Johnson, both because their numbers are too great, and because in most cases they played unaccompanied, and therefore didn’t “solo” in the same sense as the artists on our list. After fighting over which guitarists should be included—a juke joint-grade brawl that sometimes involved busted barstools, broken black cat bones, and brandished bottlenecks—GP editors Matt Blackett, Art Thompson, and I enlisted additional aid from four blues-savvy contributors—Teja Gerken, Jimmy Leslie, Adam Levy, and Michael Ross—and each member of the team was tasked with choosing the particular solo they wanted to spotlight. Whether you hail us as brilliant or bash us as bums, we at least hope that you’ll dig reading this as much as we did writing it. — B A R R y C L E v E L A N d

NE I L ZLOZOWER / ATLAS ICON S

You Must Hear!

Freddie King F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4 / G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M

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Dan Auerbach

PAU L H AGGA RD

“Ohio” Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach is never flashy, but he’s naturally poignant, and the fuzz freak is largely responsible for the past decade’s dirty blues resurgence. Auerbach eschews prominent guitar breaks, and almost never strays past the pentatonic box. “I’m not much of a solo guy,” he told GP in his February 2012 feature. But I do love ‘rips.’” Auerbach really rips near the end of the single “Ohio,” which was released independently from

The Fab 14 Duane Allman

Buddy Guy

All solos played by Duane on ABB records

You’ve heard him throw down on “Someone Else

are exemplary, but he got his big break after

Is Steppin’ In,” but dig his inspired lead work on

playing the killer licks behind Wilson Pick-

“First Time I Met the Blues” from the 1970 live

ett on his cover of “Hey Jude”—a song Allman

album 18 Tracks from the Film Chicago Blues. — AT

persuaded the soul man to record on the spot during an impromptu session at FAME studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama (and it’s Clapton’s favorite solo, too).

—BC

Jimi Hendrix

Jeff Beck

“Red House” is rightly considered to be Hen-

If you love “Brush with the Blues” (and who the hell

Gear performance of “Catfish Blues” (The Jimi

doesn’t?), go back and take a listen to “You Shook

Hendrix Experience BBC Sessions), on which

Me” off his 1968 debut. According to Beck, “Last note of song is my guitar being sick.” Oh yeah! — M B

Eric Clapton

drix’s blues opus, but dig his October 1967 Top

he pays homage to Muddy, previews licks from “If 6 Was 9,” and generally runs the voodoo down. — B C

Albert King King definitely raised the bar on “Born Under a

While Clapton’s solo on “Crossroads” is

Bad Sign,” but what a treat to hear him go toe-to-

often heralded as his finest moment, check

toe with SRV on “Blues at Sunrise,” from Albert

out the burning solo he plays on “Have You

King with Stevie Ray Vaughan, In Session.

— AT

Heard” from John Mayall’s 1966 album, Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton. — AT

Albert Collins

King’s undisputed classic is “The Thrill Is Gone,”

“Iceman” is a classic but don’t overlook the

though a similar tune called “Blue Shadows” from

stuttering, spacious licks of “If Trouble Was

his 1967 album The Jungle sounds even blue-

Money,” because they’re money. — M B

sier sans the strings and slick production.

Peter Green

— AT

Freddie King We all know how awesome “Hide Away” is,

“Black Magic Woman” and “The Super-Natu-

but when was the last time you listened to

ral” are obviously tough to beat, but a lot of play-

“Lonesome Whistle Blues”? What blues gui-

ers don’t know about the great “Bottoms Up”

tarist didn’t Freddie influence?

off his The End of the Game album. — M B

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B.B. King

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—MB

2010’s Brothers. The Akron native’s vibrato quivers like the shivers of a cold Midwestern winter. Auerbach eventually engages a wah, induces feedback, and then climbs up the fretboard with flurries of tremolo picking until he reaches a dramatic climax. — J L

Chuck Berry

“Deep Feeling” Even though he recorded for Chess records, home of Muddy Waters

n ei L Z LoZow eR / AT LAs iCon s

Jimmy Page Page’s most enduring contribution to the blues is, of course, “Since I’ve Been Loving You,” and the studio recording on Led Zeppelin III is definitive—but Page also plays a very stunning and in some ways more

Chuck Berry

adventurous version on How the West Was Won. — B C

Stevie Ray Vaughan Every song in SRV’s catalog is an instant nominee for greatest blues solo or tone of all time, but have you ever heard “Miami Strut” by A.C. Reed? That’s Stevie on the kickass Fender Vibratone-soaked solo. — M B

Muddy Waters Sure, McKinley Morganfield recorded lots of iconic tunes like “I Can’t Be Satisfied” and “Rollin’ and Tumblin’,” but check out his manically buzzing slide licks on other early Chess Records tracks such as “Streamline Woman” and “Little Geneva” for a slightly different take on the Mississippi bluesman’s mojo. — B C

Johnny Winter “It’s My Own Fault” from Johnny Winter And-Live is is a slow blues shred fest, but check out Winter’s awesomeness as the sole guitarist on the same tune from a 1970 performance at Royal Albert Hall (available on Second Winter, Legacy Edition). — AT

and Howling Wolf, Charles Berry is not known as a blues guitarist but rather as one of the inventors of Rock and Roll. Nevertheless, this instrumental, released as the B-side to “School Day (Ring! Ring! Goes the Bell),” is a straight 12-bar blues. Well, maybe not completely straight, as Chuck throws in a V chord where you don’t expect it, and, oh yeah, he performed it on an unusual pedal- steel guitar— thought to be a Gibson Electraharp (Google it). The country-style string bends might have been played by anyone, but the wolf-whistle slides are pure Berry. — M R

Dickey Betts

“Stormy Monday” Half of one of the greatest guitar teams of all time, Richard Betts’ job description involved going toe-to-toe with the genius of Duane Allman night after night. At the Fillmore East, on an evening recorded for posterity, he had the unenviable task of following Duane’s incendiary solo on the blues chestnut “Stormy Monday.” After Duane comes Greg Allman’s jazz waltz organ solo. As the band breaks it down from there, Betts begins his sliding, squeezing, and screaming licks that build into a masterpiece of soul, lyricism, intonation, and tone that give away nothing to his legendary partner. — M R

PhoTos: ALLMAn: neiL ZLoZoweR /ATLAs iCons, BeCk: ChRis hAAkens, CLAPTon: FRAnk whiTe, GReen w.w.ThALeR - h. weBeR, hiLdesheiM, Guy: ToM BeeTZ, hendRix: LAuRens VAn houTen / FRAnk whiTe AGenCy, A. kinG: John T. CoMeRFoRd iii / FRAnk whiTe AGenCy, B.B. kinG: heinRiCh kLAFFs, F. kinG: LAuRens VAn houTen / FRAnk whiTe AGenCy, PAGe: neiLZLoZoweR / ATLAs iCons, VAuGhAn: John T. CoMeRFoRd iii / FRAnk whiTe AGenCy, wATeRs: GP ARChiVes, winTeR: John kAdVAny

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retaining the desperate energy that set him apart from the traditionalists, and gave him his distinctive voice in the first place. — M R

Joe Bonamassa

“Blues Deluxe” Bonamassa began his professional career when many lads are being Bar Mitzvahed. His early blues work was that of an impressionist: his solo on “Long Distance Blues” from 2003’s Blues Deluxe is Joe doing Eric Clapton, much like Fred Armisen doing Obama. In the decade since, Bonamassa has melded his influences and made them his own, honing a style of diamond precision playing and to-die-for tone. This slow blues from Jeff Beck’s first solo record (itself a cover of B.B. King’s “Gambler Blues”) starts off with three minutes and fifty seconds of soloing that take you from B.B., through Clapton and Eric Johnson, all inflected with a heavy dose of Bonamassa. — M R

Doyle Bramhall II

Elvin Bishop

Mike Bloomfield

“Albert’s Shuffle” When Michael Bloomfield appeared on the scene with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in 1964 no one had ever heard guitar playing quite like that, nor did any previous blues album have a printed exhortation to “play this record loud.” Indeed, Bloomfield’s excitable, ahead-of-the-beat soloing had more to do with rock energy than blues mystery. It wasn’t until 1968’s Super Session, featuring Bloomfield with Al Kooper and Steven Stills, that Bloomfield settled into this pocket of more traditional blues playing, while

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TRACY HART

“Red Dog Speaks” How about some greasy slide playing over a slow blues in E? That’s exactly what Elvin Bishop dishes up on “Red Dog Speaks” (from the album of the same title) and as a bonus, he describes his ax (Red Dog) in the song’s lyrics. Want to hear a 1959 Gibson ES-345 Stereo really wail? Wait for Bishop to say, “Speak, Red Dog,” and hang tight, as he unleashes a soulful solo that combines fretted notes and fluid slide playing in a relaxed, in-the-pocket manner that puts style and class ahead of showboating. – T G

JIM M Y LES LIE

Elvin Bishop

“Cry” Welcome If ever there was a guy to get a handle on the SRV attitude and fire without copping Stevie’s licks, it’s Doyle Bramhall II. On this slow 12/8 number, Bramhall gets all kinds of righteous Strat tones, including spooky tremolo, clanging semi cleans, and a positively massive, exploding-amp lead tone. He does a killer, thematic break mid-tune but saves his best stuff for the end of the song. For the outro solo he coaxes awesome, howling feedback before leaning into his powerful bends that are jam-packed with emotion. His note choices and phrasing as fresh as always—due in part to playing lefty-strungrighty—but Bramhall’s super-deep pocket might Doyle Bramhall II be his greatest asset. — M B

Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown

“Okie Dokie Stomp” You can hear echoes of the big-band era in Brown’s recordings from the 1940s and early ’50s. It’s in the instrumentation— with an ensemble of horns, upright bass, and a drummer driving spang-a-lang on his ride cymbal. Rock-and-roll was about to happen, but hadn’t quite. Music from this in-between period is sometimes called “jump blues,” and Brown’s instrumental “Okie Dokie Stomp” is a first-rate example. T-Bone Walker’s influence is apparent here, particularly in a lick that Brown repeats: an upbent 4 on the third string followed immediately by a 5 on the second string. Still, Gate had his own thing, and it’s a whole lot of fun to listen to. — A L

juicy details about his hot-rodded guitars and unusual rigs. It’s tempting to tag a particular pickup, compressor, or amp when trying to pinpoint the source of his mystical sound, but let’s face it—it’s a touch thing. That’s most apparent in his nakedest recordings, like this laid-back guitar-and-dolceola duet from the Crossroads soundtrack. Cooder has always shunned picks, and this cut shows just how adept he is with his bare hand. Working in open-D tuning, Cooder blurs the line between rhythm and lead. You may be inspired to take up a bottleneck and start practicing—or quit altogether. — A L

Robert Cray

Roy Buchanan

“John’s Blues” In 1971 PBS aired a documentary: Introducing Roy Buchanan A/K/A The World’s Greatest Unknown Guitarist, and the world’s perception of what a Fender Telecaster could do was forever changed. Buchannan wrenched human cries and animal squeals out of this deadsimple guitar design. His style of blues melded James Burton’s chicken pickin’ with Albert King’s expressive bends, definitively illustrating the deep connection between country and blues. It is all here in “John’s Blues” from his first record. This is the guitar tone and technique that inspired Danny Gatton, Gary Moore, and Jim Campilongo, as well as causing Jeff Beck to dedicate “’Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers” to Buchanan. — M R

Gary Clark Jr.

J øRu n d F Ped eRs en

Gary Clark Jr.

“Chicken in the Kitchen” Though he owes much of his success to a fairly slick, mainstream crossover sound, Robert Cray can play no-holds-barred blues with the best of them. Recorded live, “Chicken in the Kitchen” (on Cookin’ in Mobile) not only features some of the most beautiful, sparkly, out-of-phase Strat tone you’ll ever hear, it also has not one but two great solos. Number two, especially, is full of incredibly cohesive lines with blindsiding surprises, occasionally getting close enough to the edge that you start worrying whether Cray will make it out alive. – T G

Luther Dickinson

“Shake ’Em on Down” The North Mississippi Allstars lived up to their name when they brought tribal elders R.L. Burnside, Jim Dickinson, and the whole neighborhood to Bonnaroo in 2004, where they documented history in progress. Luther Dickinson pays homage to the past while dragging classic Hill Country blues kicking and screaming into the

Luther Dickinson

“When My Train Pulls In” The second flight on the second track from buzz bluesman Gary Clark Jr.’s diverse major label debut Blak and Blu is a gnarly fuzz/ wah solo that kicks off hissing. “We recorded that track first and cut it live in one take,” revealed the Epiphone Casino enthusiast in his January 2013 GP cover feature. “I had my Fender VibroKing, and stomped on all of my pedals for that solo.” It peaks when Clark launches into a Chuck Berry-like lick at the 12th fret, and then starts incorporating the G at the 15th fret and the F# at the 14th fret on the high E string. “I’d been experimenting in that range,” revealed Clark. “I played that lick over and over to build momentum. We were eager to prove ourselves, and there was an overwhelming sense of ‘Let’s go for it!’” — J L

K eRR I Ke LTIn G

Ry Cooder

“Feelin’ Bad Blues” In interviews over the years, slide guru Cooder has shared some F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4 / G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M

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Robben Ford

Eric Gales

“Prison of Love” The word “uptown” is sometimes used to describe blues with more jazz-inspired harmonies—chords beyond the common I, IV, and V. Ford can take the blues farther uptown than just about anybody, as this minor-key shuffle from his 1992 record Robben Ford & the Blue Line illustrates so colorfully. He stays in familiar pentatonic territory for the first four bars, and then shades his phrases with canny chromaticism in the next four. He plays even more eartweaking lines in the next few measures before taking the express train back downtown for a gritty finish. — A L

Eric Gales

JIM M Y LES LIE

“The Change in Me.” Based on a riff that borrows heavily from ZZ Top’s “La Grange,” Eric Gales’ “The Change in Me” is a hard-driving rocker of a tune, and Gales plays highly melodic fills to provide a dynamic counterpoint to the crunchy theme. Demonstrated by several YouTube clips of the song, Gales varies the actual solo considerably from one night to the next, often employing a modern-sounding, delay-drenched high-gain tone and a great ability to allow the solo to alternately breathe and burn. – T G

present via groovy Gibsons, mighty Marshalls, and occasional echo and other effects. He does it to death with a Les Paul in open D on Fred McDowell’s “Shake ’Em on Down,” which kicks off Hill Country Revue as wickedly as it did the Allstars’ debut CD, and, in turn, their career. When Dickinson lays a slide to the treble strings while thumbpicking the bass strings and incorporating optimal open ones, he brings the honeysuckle sweet and the dirty primitive together in glorious harmony. — J L

Rory Gallagher

“Bullfrog Blues” It’s no easy task to choose a favorite Rory Gallagher blues solo, but his slide work on “Bullfrog Blues” is a serious contender. Leaving his trademark Strat behind (several YouTube videos show him playing a Gretsch Corvette), Gallagher gets to work in open-A tuning, with a capo on the second fret. The solo itself uses licks in the I, IV, and V chord positions at the fifth, seventh, and 12th frets, and it isn’t unlike Gallagher’s acoustic bottleneck work—though a ferocious amount of gain yields one of the meanest electric slide tones that you’ll ever encounter. – T G

Hollywood Fats

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Amos Garrett Rory Gallagher

G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

HARRY POTTS

“Blues After Hours” Fats is one of the more obscure players on our list, but if you’ve got an appetite for the blues then you really need to put some Fats in your diet. His style was somehow brash and classy all at once. Most frequently seen wielding an ES-335, he was an itinerant sideman who did stints with the Blasters, Muddy Waters, and Canned Heat. For raw blues power, though, it’s hard to beat his playing with his own Hollywood Fats Band. On the sultry “Blues After Hours” (from Deep In America / Larger Than Life, Vol. 2), he delivers a textbook example of how to build a solo from a humble beginning to a searing climax—and then how to wind it back down for the subsequent vocal verse. — A L

“Please Send Me Someone to Love” In 1974, Amos Garrett’s solo on Maria Muldaur’s “Midnight at the Oasis” was all over the AM airwaves. It gobsmacked guitarists worldwide with its triple-string

David Gilmour

“The Blue” You could say David Gilmour has never played anything that wasn’t the blues—after all, Pink Floyd was named for blues musicians Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. Gilmour’s tone and vibrato have always been touchstones of the modern electric blues sound. Though he played a number of awesome solos with Pink Floyd, “The Blue,” from his own 2006 record, Islands, deserves mention for several reasons. Reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac’s “Albatross,” the solo quickly pushes the envelope with evocative whammypedal work, which continues throughout, seamlessly woven into classic Gilmour licks delivered with the gorgeous tone and pocket that make him a guitar legend. — M R

bends and unusual phrasing—but, the previous year Garrett had already blown minds with his spectacular solo on this Percy Mayfield classic. The Canadian guitarist navigates the changes more like Benny Carter than Albert King. His trademark double-stop bends and large-interval, two-string pull-offs, facilitated by his huge hands, are nothing short of astonishing. The two choruses here are perfectly constructed, and were, in fact, composed—to improvise something this flawless would be superhuman. — M R

Danny Gatton

“Blues Newburg” Danny Gatton had such a great grasp of country, jazz, rockabilly, and blues that it’s tough to pin down when he was at his “bluesiest,” but this tour de force is as good a place as any to start. It’s got only about one percent of what the guy was capable of, and that means excellent bends on the high and low strings, amazing single-note and chord melody, wicked vibrato, faux pedal-steel licks, blazing runs, breakneck chromatic passages, volume swells, and lots, lots more—all played with impeccable time. Boy do we miss this guy! — M B

DAVID S PIWAK

Amos Garrett

David Grissom

“Lonesome Dave” Already astounding when he made the classic Live at Liberty Lunch with Joe Ely in 1990, Grissom has refined his style through the years in stints with Storyville (featuring the SRV rhythm section) and the Dixie Chicks. It is all there in “Lonesome Dave,” from his first solo record: the Danny Gatton organ pedal point, the pedalsteel licks (Grissom taught himself to do B-Bender licks without a B-Bender), and the ZZ Top grind. Imagine Bluesbreakers Clapton and Billy Gibbons meet Brent Mason and Albert Lee and you get the idea. Throughout, Grissom’s innate taste and musicality let him be jaw dropping without being flashy. — M R

Danny Gatton

Billy Gibbons

C LAYTON CALL

“Sure Got Cold After the Rain Fell” Billy G. is one of the finest blues players around, but ZZ Top’s boogie-oriented repertoire tends to overshadow a tune like this slowburn gem from the 1972 album, Rio Grande Mud. The song isn’t in the classic 12-bar mold, but Gibbons decorates the 12/8 groove as if it were. Deploying a moderately distorted tone for the licks he plays over a clean arpeggiated rhythm figure, Gibbons shows his usual mastery of note choice and placement, building his solo to create maximum emotion during the song’s extended outro. — AT

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of Tampa Red’s “It Hurts Me Too”—if only for his sound. (You can bet your best bottleneck that Ry Cooder has listened to this recording more than a few times.) James takes full advantage of this throaty tone, letting his notes speak in vocal-like phrases. Whatever there is to say in open-D tuning, James says it here— with astounding character and confidence. Blues doesn’t get much bluer than this. — A L

Elmore James

Eric Johnson

GP ARC HIVES

Jeff Healey

“How Blue Can You Get” Healey’s blindness and unconventional playing style never hindered his ability to turn in amazing guitar performances, one of many being “How Blue Can You Get” from his posthumous 2008 release, Mess of Blues. Healey burns white hot here, pulling off wickedly fast lines and dramatic bends that defy the physical realities of holding a guitar flat on his lap. And if that’s not enough, visit YouTube to also see what a gifted jazz trumpeter Healey was. What an incredible musician! — AT

“Texas” This session for Johnson’s 2010 sonically superior release Up Close features guests Jimmie Vaughan and Steve Miller (vocals), who dropped by his studio and inspired him to rise to the occasion. The famously fickle and laborious Strat cat played a ’59 Les Paul Standard dubbed “Buddy” through a Fuzz Face and a 100-watt Marshall on the solo—a first-take monster in the moment. Brandishing a sizzling tone and feeding off of Miller’s vocal set up, Johnson’s searing first solo soars to the heavens. Perfectly timed major thirds sound surprisingly blue, and EJ incorporates just enough diminished and chromatic runs to add spice without pushing too far beyond the boundaries of the blues. — J L

Lonnie Johnson

“Playing Around” Alonzo “Lonnie” Johnson is best known to guitarists for his groundbreaking acoustic 6- and 12-string work in the late ’20s, including his celebrated duets with jazz guitarist Eddie Lang in 1929, and his 1927 recording “6/88 Glide,” featuring what is now widely considered to be the first flatpicked single-note guitar solo. But Johnson’s career continued for decades after that, and in 1947 he began playing electric. You’ll find great electric solos scattered

Earl Hooker

“Blue Guitar” Earl Zebedee Hooker, first cousin to John Lee, recorded this instrumental on May 3, 1961, and it was released the following year. A short time later, Muddy Waters overdubbed vocals onto the track, renamed it “You Shook Me,” and released it under his own name. Now a blues staple—covered famously by Page and Beck among many others—Hooker played his immortal slide licks in standard tuning, which was novel for a Chicago blues guitarist at the time. He went on to experiment with echo, wah, and other effects, attracting the attention of Jimi Hendrix for one, but this early recording, sans Muddy, showcases one of the most original stylists of all time. — B C

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Earl Hooker

GP ARCHI VES

“It Hurts Me Too” No doubt, “Dust My Broom” is slide guitarist James’ signature song, but there’s so much more mojo to be found in his cover

and bombast, with damn near every lick being of the “must steal” variety. Yes sir! — M B

Sonny Landreth

Sonny Landreth

K ERRI K ELT IN G

throughout his subsequent tunes, but the brief but rocking romp on 1949’s “Playing Around” notably foreshadows moves that early rockers such as Eddie Cochran, Cliff Gallup, and Scotty Moore will explore a few years later. — B C

Wilson T King

“Born Into This” “I was listening to Eddie Hazel on ‘Super Stupid’ and Jimi’s Band of Gypsys when I recorded this,” says Wilson T. King, “and I wanted a Future Blues style of real whiplash out of the bends and tones.” Well, he got it, while wielding a ’69 Strat with DiMarzio Fast Track pickups played through an early-’80s Marshall 2104 2x12 combo cranked way up, and using only his fingers. King is known for pushing the blues envelope in new directions, and this particularly passionate example of that predilection would, no doubt, elicit a big grin from Jimi. — B C

“Wind In Denver” Louisiana’s singular slideman delivers a pinnacle performance on this track that only appears officially on his landmark live recording released in 2005, Grant Street. He tells GP that he achieved the gargantuan stereo tone playing a ’66 Strat in open D minor tuning [D, A, D, F, A, D, low to high] through a Matchless HD30 with a 2x12 onstage and a 100-watt Dumble Overdrive Special pushing a 2x12 located offstage in a former freezer storeroom for maximum ambiance. “I was going for that wonderful ‘Voodoo Child’ vibe that still gets me every time I hear it,” says Landreth. Sonny probably has the most evolved technique in slide blues history, and on “Wind in Denver” he delivers a host of hallmarks such fretting notes behind the slide and coaxing heavenly harmonics with a level of unbridled moxy that makes the solo truly monumental. — J L

Jonny Lang

“A Quitter Never Wins” The baddest blues showcase on then teen sensation Jonny Lang’s 1997 major label debut Lie to Me is still his showstopper on 2010’s Live at the Ryman. In his July 2010 feature he told GP that Albert Collins inspired him to become a Tele player, and Tab Benoit inspired him further. “When I heard his tone I freaked out—the Thinline Tele with humbuckers became the staple for me after that,” he said. GP relayed that Lang eventually placed a P-90 pickup between the two humbuckers, and he features the classic single-coil during the fiery intro and first solo on Tinsley Ellis’ tune at the Ryman. He cuts into the second solo with sheer reckless abandon. — J L

Alvin Lee

Greg Koch

Jonny Lang

KEN S ETTLE

“Chief’s Blues” Although he’s known for his monstrous chops, Greg Koch displays tasty restraint for most of this slow blues, and the results are simply delicious. Much as the native people did with the mighty buffalo, Koch uses every part of the scale on these amazing seven minutes, blending major, minor, and chromatic lines brilliantly over the changes and milking several notes out of every bend. It’s hard to pick the coolest part, but a strong contender would have to be his jarring, pre-bent, triple-stop descending groans. This solo has it all: space, dynamics, humor, sensitivity,

“I’m Going Home” It’s hard to think of Alvin Lee without taking note of his solo in Ten Years After’s “I’m Going Home.” The band first recorded the song on its 1968 release Undead, and it upped the fast shuffle’s octane level during its performance at the Woodstock festival. Playing his iconic “Big Red” 1959 Gibson ES-335, Lee takes the unusual step to start his solo accompanied only by drums for a full 24 bars, playing without the comfort of harmonic guidance from the band. He then proceeds to play one of the most blistering and fluid, Chuck Berry-influenced solos you’ll ever come across. – T G

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50 BA DASS BLUES SO LOS

the final solo, before tearing the roof of the sucker, is what the blues is all about. — M R

John Mayer

Oz Noy

“Steroids” Oz Noy can get so far outside so quickly that it’s easy to think that what he plays is not blues. Despite the funk and fusion elements that he throws in here, the fact is he’s playing wild, vibey, blues-on-acid on this tune. We could all add a heaping helping of freshness to our 12-bar playing if we adopted one iota of Noy’s phrasing, note choices, or fearlessness that are so abundant on this song. — M B

Bonnie Raitt

C HRIS SC HW EGLER / AT LAS ICON S

“Three Time Loser” While blues and contemporary pop are not always an easy coupling, Raitt has been interlacing the two for decades now with consistently cool results. This track from her 1977 album Sweet Forgiveness is a high water mark. The chord progression here has nothing to do with the customary 12-bar form, but Raitt’s supernatural slide work infuses the song with deep blues feeling. Nobody else can make a quarter-tone glissando sound so expansive, and her overdriven Strat tone burns—the way whiskey does going down your gullet. Listen close to hear her widen her vibrato and pluck harmonics in the final rideout. Pure swagger. — A L

Bonnie Raitt

John Mayer

“Out of My Mind” Regardless of whether or not you’re into John Mayer’s songwriting or vocal style, it’s hard to argue with the fact that the guy has chops. Sure, he may not be the most original player to come along, but whether on acoustic, electric, lead, or rhythm guitar, he is clearly in command. Eschewing the slick production found on much of his work, Mayer takes a decidedly more raw approach on the live recording of “Out of My Mind” (on Try!), giving his ES-335 a pentatonic workout with great vibrato, slightly overdriven, fat tone, and an excellent climax before resuming his vocal duties. – T G

Gary Moore

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G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

ROB ERT ZUC KE RM AN

“Still Got the Blues” Moore emerged from early British fusion and then spent his career alternating between turning out hard rock and blues records. It would be easy to go with any of his incendiary solos on a straight blues tune, or one of his letter-perfect recreations of Peter Green on Blues for Greeny, but “Still Got The Blues” is pure Moore. Okay, this cycle of fifths progression is not “the blues” per se, but its sharp five to five resolution is blues approved. More importantly, the yearning in the gorgeous melody that Moore milks on

Cover Story

50 BA DASS BLUES SO LOS

sound because he’s pushing the strings where most guitarists would pull, and vice versa. — A L

Carlos Santana

“Blues for Salvador” Santana may not be though of as a blues player per se, and “Blues for Salvador,” the title track of his 1987 solo album isn’t a standard blues form. But by playing nearly six continuous minutes of intensely bluesy melodic work Santana laid down a masterpiece that helped him win a Grammy in 1989 for “Best Rock Instrumental Performance.” Robben Ford later covered the song, and Santana has played it in concert with Buddy Guy, the Wayne Shorter Group, and Mexican guitar star Javier Batiz. — AT

Kenny Wayne Shepherd

Kid Ramos

“Greasy Kid Stuff” Known for his explosive lead work on a Tele or Strat, and the ballsy sound he gets from a Vox AC30 with a stand-alone reverb, Kid Ramos has played with the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Roomful of Blues, James Harman, and the Mannish Boys. He has also recorded several solo albums, including 2001’s Greasy Kid Stuff [Evidence], where he makes the instrumental title track jump with his fierce attack and fat tone. Check out YouTube to see Ramos tearing it up in a variety of situations, including on a baritone Tele with Los Fabulocos on “Burnin’ the Chicken.” — AT

CHRIS SCHWEGLER / ATLAS ICONS

Kenny Wayne Shepherd

“Blue on Black” When Louisiana native Kenny Wayne Shepherd broke big while still a teenager in the mid ’90s, he was heralded as the next Stevie Ray Vaughan. Of course, nobody is ever the next SRV, but Shepherd’s highly rhythmic Southern Strat histrionics clearly owe a debt to Austin’s patron guitar player. And like SRV, KWS has a knack for turning stock blues licks into memorable, melodic moments via clever phrasing. You know a player—especially a bluesman—believes he’s made a statement when he sticks close to the recorded version of a solo onstage night after night, year after year. “Blue on Black” is case in point. It’s hook-laden licks get under your skin and stick in your brain whether it’s the original version on 1997’s Trouble Is…, or 2010’s Live! In Chicago. — J L

Hubert Sumlin

“Three Hundred Pounds of Joy” Released as a single on the Chicago-based Chess label in 1963— with Howlin’ Wolf leading the session—this is Sumlin’s nonpareil. He plays teasing fills at the top of each verse, with an assured attack and shuddering vibrato, finally launching into his solo midway through the song. He begins with an unusual high-E string bend from the minor 3 up to the 4, falls a few steps back down the minor-pentatonic scale, then repeats the phrase twice more with slight variations. It’s a spunky start, and he never relents.

Otis Rush

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G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

Hubert Sumlin with Howlin’ Wolf

DAVI D GA H R

“It’s My Own Fault” Rush takes three solos on this track from the 1967 album Chicago/ The Blues/Today!, Vol. 2. His first, in the song’s intro, is amazing from the get-go—not because it’s a display of guitar fireworks, but precisely because it’s not. Phrase by phrase, Rush uses his Epiphone Riviera to masterfully tell a story here. After a couple of vocal verses, he ventures higher up the neck, ramping the thrill factor. His final break is just four stop-time measures to set up the saxophonist’s solo, with a staggering impact-to-bar ratio. Rush, now retired, is a southpaw who played his righty-strung guitar upsidedown—with the high E on top. This gives his bends an unusual

In a genre where clichés are an easy pitfall, this is one of the most unique solos ever rendered on a popular recording. — A L

Hound Dog Taylor

“Wild About You Baby” Famously called “The Ramones of the blues” by the Village Voice, Hound Dog Taylor and his band the House Rockers played a ferociously raw kind of boogie blues. Based on the familiar “Dust My Broom” slide riff, “Wild About You Baby” (from Hound Dog Taylor and the House Rockers) is all about a game of call-andresponse between the vocals and the guitar. When the time comes for Taylor to solo, he doesn’t stray far from the main riff, and his note choices are perfect examples of a solo taking the place of a vocal line. – T G

Mick Taylor

“Slow Blues” Released on Mick Taylor’s first post-Rolling Stones solo album, Mick Taylor, “Slow

GP ARC HIVES

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Blues” is a study in how to avoid mere noodling while essentially blowing for the entire duration of an instrumental track. The fact that “Slow Blues” uses a very cool, modified, 12-bar progression with a distinctive bass line and chorused-sounding 13th chords taking the place of an actual melody certainly helps in keeping the tune engaging, but Taylor’s throaty, reverb-drenched tone and dynamic playing keep the tune moving forward in a way that is not to be taken for granted in such an extended solo exploration. – T G

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

“Jesus Is Everywhere” Tharpe may not have considered herself a blues artist—favoring gospel songs as she did throughout her career. But when you listen to her live 1964 recording of “Jesus Is Everywhere”—from The Authorized Sister Rosetta Tharpe Collection—the gap between sacred and secular doesn’t seem so wide. Armed with a thumbpick, and backed by a bassist and drummer who sound like two thirds of F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4 / G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M

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Cover Story 5 0 BA DASS BLUES SOLOS

Derek Trucks

Derek Trucks

John Gu LLo

the best rockabilly trio you’ve ever heard, Tharpe digs in hard on her early-’60s SGstyle Les Paul Custom. The first half of her solo is relatively straightforward, but when she starts swerving and swooping you’ll wonder which way is up. Glory, glory! — A L

“I Know” “Nearly everything I do on guitar has a foundation in blues music,” says freak of nature Derek Trucks who primarily plays a Gibson SG tuned to open E with a large Dunlop Pyrex slide through a cranked Fender Super Reverb to conjure his signature, liquid fire tone. The way Trucks furthers Duane Allman’s electric bottleneck style via Easterninfluenced microtones is mesmerizing. The Derek Trucks Band’s 2010 release Roadsongs is a supreme document. His “Key to the Highway” solo reaches the highest zenith, but “I Know” is extraordinarily interesting as it progresses from droning raga into a swinging R&B feelgood number with one of the most musical, uplifting major blues solos ever recorded. — J L

Eddie Turner

“Miracles & Demons (Part 2)” A master at creating spooky atmospherics—such

Robin Trower

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TRACY hART

“Whisky Train” Like Hendrix, to whom he is overly, if not unfairly, compared, Robin Trower’s blues roots run deep. Forty years into his solo career he still makes records worth listening to, these days filled with more classic blues tunes than ever. Still, the best example of his rooted playing might be “Whisky Train,” a tune he wrote for Procol Harum’s fourth album. The song could be considered one long cowbell-driven guitar solo, with Trower riding one of the great guitar riffs over and over, occasionally answering brief Gary Booker vocal sections with short modern blues excursions that preview his style as a solo artist. — M R

as those infusing several Otis Taylor records— Turner is also a funky and hard-rocking psychedelic bluesman in the Hendrix tradition, as evidenced on this track. Rooted in a repeating 6/8 figure played on dual resonators, with Turner’s haunting vocals and wicked, wah-inflected, heavily echoed solo intertwining throughout, the tune showcases his ability to simultaneously wail and conjure uncanny sonics via Custom Shop Strats, a ’59 tweed Deluxe, a Budda Twinmaster, a Roland RE-301 tape echo, and other magical implements. — B C

Jimmie Vaughan

“Tuff Enuff” The other Vaughan is as cool as the other side of the pillow, especially compared to his fire-spitting brother. They both favor Strats, but the similarities pretty much end there. Jimmie rarely plays fast or dirty, and is never flash. He mostly sticks to stabbing single notes within a traditional framework giving them plenty of space to breathe. Jimmie Vaughan reminds us that less notes can certainly mean more, and solo on the title track from the Fabulous Thunderbirds’ 1986 album Tuff Enuff is a shining example. Vaughan doesn’t usually do effects, but in this instance shimmering reverb and delay add remarkable depth to his sparse phrasing. It’s hard to find better evidence of a pure blues solo building a perfect bridge to a crossover hit. — J L

H einri CH K LAf fS

T-Bone Walker

years off.) So you may listen now and find yourself thinking, “What’s the big whoop? I’ve heard other guitarists play that stuff.” The big whoop is: Walker invented that stuff. Without his influence, there might’ve been no B.B. King, no Chuck Berry, and no Gatemouth Brown. Go back to the source and listen, taking note of Walker’s rhythmic sophistication. Sure, there are eighth-notes and sixteenths, and some triplets. But such subdivisions were never more elastic than in Walker’s hands. — A L

Model #MD17CH

Jack White

“Ball and Biscuit” Jack White kicked the blues straight in the nuts on “Ball and Biscuit” utilizing a bizarre, ferocious sound the likes of which had never before been heard in the history of America’s senior guitar genre. No “real” bluesman would have imagined such blasphemy as a Detroit garage punk playing a plastic guitar (’64 Montgomery Ward Airline) with a fuzz-drenched, Whammy-infected tone on a blues romp. White made it his signature tone, and his signature guitar album, Elephant, landed him his first Guitar Player cover story (June 2003). The bombastic trio of solos throughout White’s sideways statement “Ball and Biscuit” play like a blues from hell trilogy. — J L g

Jack White

T-Bone Walker

SCott Pe nn er

“Call It Stormy Monday” Chances are, you’re not old enough to remember the impact this song made when it was originally released in 1947. (By way of perspective—Clapton was only two years old then, and the first Stratocaster was still seven

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4 / G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M

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Lessons Under Investigation

King Crimson’s

“Elephant Talk”

By Jesse G ress

Of a l l t h e K i nG C r i msO n i nCar n ati O ns tO a ppea r Between 1969 a nd

the present, the compact unit that emerged in 1981, after founder Robert Fripp had disbanded the former version of the band six years earlier, was arguably the most revolutionary. Now a string-centric quartet comprised of Crimson alumni Fripp and drummer Bill Bruford, plus newcomers Adrian Belew (ex-Zappa, Bowie, and Talking Heads) and bassist/Stickman Tony Levin (session legend and ex-Peter Gabriel), this “Mark IV” lineup created a wave of shock and awe that still resonates. Their first album, Discipline (also the initial name for the new band), was a complete departure from the styles exhibited on earlier K.C. records. Not since the Mahavishnu Orchestra’s The Inner Mounting Flame had a debut record left listeners so bewitched, bothered, and bewildered—even the most

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The elephant in the room: Adrian Belew, and Robert Fripp trade 6-string phrases while a barely visible Tony Levin works his Stick magic.

Davi D corio/G E TTY

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4 / G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M

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King C r i m so n

Ex. 1a Freely

 = ca. 106-264

i T

i T

i T

 

 = ca. 115

i T

Play four times

i T

 = ca. 115

Play three times i i T T

      44                       2

2

3

1

1 3

 

1

*p grad. accel. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - T T T T

 11 10

T A B

13 11 13 11 13 11 13 12 10 12 10 12 10 12



11 10

3

1

 11 7 11 7 10 7 10 7 T

13 11 12 10

*Play first tritone with thumb, first time only.

T



Ex. 1b A tempo

 = ca. 115

3 1





              44                  3 1

Rhy. Fig. 1

3 1

3 1

1 3

T A B



p

0

p

0

m i

11 10

m i p

11 10

m i

m i

11 10

13 12

m i



11 10

10 12

hardcore Crimson fans were staring sideways at their speakers! From Fripp’s visionary soundscapes and interlocking Indonesianinfluenced Gamelan guitars to Belew’s menagerie of animal noises and regeneration- and oscillation-feedback excursions, this was not your father’s King Crimson. It was a beautiful thing. Fripp played a Roland GR-300 Guitar synth treated with mysterious “Frippertronics” (his self-designed tape delay system), while Belew’s rig paired his beat-to-crap Fender Stratocaster with Electro-Harmonix and MXR effects, including a Poly-Chorus, Electric Mistress, and Dyna Comp, plus a Roland Space Echo. Both guitarists ran Roland JC-120 amps, and Levin played a 10-string Chapman Stick and Music Man basses. Bruford’s kit mixed Simmons electronic drums with non-traditional acoustic percussion, most notably a rack of small, tuned toms (called “boo-bams”) used throughout the album to replace ride and hi-hat cymbals. This completely unmasked

84

i m p

0

0

11 10

11 10

11 10

10 12

13 12



11 10 0



the high frequency spectrum and gave the sound of those 22 interlocking strings a shimmering sibilance and transparent clarity rarely heard on rock records. Discipline and its two follow-ups—Beat (1982) and Three of a Perfect Pair (1984)— form a trilogy filled with amazing musical explorations and revelations that still sound futuristic 33 years later. But Crimson music has always been about the sum of its parts, and the best way to see what makes it tick is to pick apart a single song. So don your safari gear and join the expedition as we deconstruct Discipline’s opening track, “Elephant Talk.”

A STIC KY SITUATION Tony Levin kicks off the proceedings on Chapman Stick, coming out of nowhere with an other-worldly flurry of bi-dextral trills between two tritones played a whole-tone apart that imply D7-to-E7 and still sound like an alien call-to-arms. Ex. 1a documents his moves arranged for

G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / F E b R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

Elephant Talk by Adrian Belew, Bill Bruford, Robert Fripp, and Tony Levin Published by E.G. Music, Inc., Editions E.G. All Rights Reserved.

guitar. Begin slowly and get the first tritone moving with a thumb-stroke, and then follow the notated taps, hammer-ons, and pull-offs as the figure quickly accelerates to a rapid trill at more than double its starting tempo. Settle into the target 115 b.p.m. tempo for approximately one bar, and then drop your left hand index-finger to a partial 7th-fret barre while your right hand simultaneously shifts to tap the top note of the D7-based tritone (F#). Note that the lower note of this tritone (C#) is hammered and pulled by the left-hand ring finger. Alternating third- and fourth-string taps with hammer-ons and pull-offs transforms the fluctuating double-stops into a rapid-fire single-note trill. Once you reach warp speed, launch the syncopated Venusian funk of Ex. 1b at will. Levin creates the illusion of playing in two keys at the same time—his A bass line against those D7-to-E7 tritones creates an ambiguous Am6 tonality—and he tapped the entire figure (labeled “Rhy. Fig.

Ex. 2a

 = ca. 115

Rhy. Fig. 2 (Play eight times) w/Rhy. Fig. 1 (four times)

4    4                 3

1

1

*semi-P.M. throughout

 4

T A B

2

2

0

2

0

2

4 0

2

2

2

0

2



0

*P.M. = palm mute

Ex. 2b

Ex. 2c

 = ca. 115

 = ca. 115

 ( )  ( )  ( )   44      44                  X (X) X X (X) X  075  X (X) X

w/Rhy. Fig. 1 (four times) w/Rhy. Fig. 2 (eight times) Play four times

Am6

-1/2

*

4

1 3

** B

T A B

R

-1/2

w/chorus

T A B

7 0

* “Ping” strings behind nut. ** Bend neck or use trem. bar.

Ex. 3a

 = ca. 115 Asus4 Gsus4/D

 44               1 1 4 3

T A B



1 1 4

5 5 7 7



3 3 5 0

Ex. 3b

 = ca. 115

-1/2

Am6

        ( )  4         4     let ring - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - w/bar B R -1/2 *a.h. - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

w/chorus

T A B

0 7 5 7 0

5

17

7

19

0

19

( 18 ) 19

*a.h. = artificial harmonics

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Ex. 4 = ca. 115 Play eight times 4

4 4

3

2

3

1

1

2

4

1

3

1

1

1

2

semi-P.M. throughout

5

T A B

4

4

2

1 1

1

3

2

3

5

2

4

2

2

2

3

Ex. 5a

= ca. 115 Play eight times Rhy. Fig. 3

4 4

3

1

3

1

2

3

6

T A B

4

4

4

2

4

4

1

3

1

6 X 4 X 2

4

4

Ex. 5b

                        44        

 = ca. 115

w/Rhy. Fig. 3 (two times)

fuzz on

*w/Flanger

T A B

X X X X X X X X X X X X *Set flanger modulation rate to

X X X X X X 5 X X X X X X X X X X X X

13

15

13

15

   w/half-step pitch change. 3

1”), but here we’re thumb-picking the bass notes and using the index and middle fingers to up-stroke the tritones. (Tip: Tony varies this riff during the verses by replacing the single quarter-note on beat four of bar 2 with a pair of sixteenth-note upbeats that utilize the figure’s D7 tritone interval, plus another one a half-step lower [C#7].) The foundation is set, let’s build the house.

P ERCO LAT I ON Four bars into T-Lev’s Rhy. Fig. 1 groove, the rest of the band enters for an eight-bar,

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14

pre-verse-1 instrumental figure. Leading the pack is Fripp’s percolating sixteenthnote figure (labeled “Rhy. Fig. 2” in Ex. 2a), which outlines an A7/9 tonality as he places descending 9’s (B), roots (A), and b7’s (G) between E and open A pedal tones. Belew’s entrance on the fourth sixteenth-note of beat one with a harmonically ambiguous Am6 (or D7/A) hit is punctuated in tandem with Bruford (Ex. 2b), and marks the only point throughout the song where you’ll hear the drummer hit a crash cymbal. Belew injects organically-generated

G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / F E b R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

WTF? guitar noises into bar 2 throughout the entire eight-bar section, including the behind-the-nut string “ping” and physical neck-bend (!) depicted in Ex. 2c. (Tip: Use a whammy bar. It’s much safer.)

EXTRAPOLATION As we progress to the first verse, Levin continues playing Rhy. Fig. 1, while Fripp foments washes of Asus4 and Gsus4 power chords (Ex. 3a), and Belew adds special effects similar to those in the pre-verse in between barking out idiomatic equivalents

Ex. 6

C m(9)

= ca. 115

G m/C

*Gtr. 1 (R.F.)

4 4

1

-----

21

T A B

21

3

23

21

21 21

21

21

21

19

21

21

20

21

19

21

21

21

Gtr. 2 (A.B.)

44

( )

3

w/bar

clean, w/chorus

11 9 9

T A B

9 9 9

let ring - - - - - - - - - -

(9) (9) (9)

11 9 9

9

9

( )

( )

3

3

w/bar B R B R -1 -1 9 11 (9)11 (9)11

9

w/bar B R -1/2

9119

11

(8) 9

*Gtr. synth w/heavy pitch vibrato arr. for gtr.

C m(9)

E6

5

20

T A B

21

19

16

16

16

(16)

13

12

11

9

T A B

11 9 9

9 9 9

9

(

( )

w/bar

9

11

14 14

)

3

3

A.H.

B R -1

11(9)11

12

9

11

(9) 9

11

23

let ring - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - w/bar 9 21

9

21

9

21

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Lessons

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for the word “talk,” all beginning with the letter “A.” The song’s subsequent verses proceed alphabetically, with similar lexical items starting with “B,” “C,” “D” and “E” before the last chorus concludes with three consecutive cries of “Elephant talk!” Besides more behind-the-nut pings, Belew’s interjections here include the pre-verse Am6 chord hit, but this time he follows it with a sparkly arpeggio using the artificial harmonics shown in Ex. 3b. Ex. 4, which follows the first verse, shows how Fripp

MORE OnLInE

adapts the same rhythm motif from his pre-verse-1 figure (Rhy. Fig. 2) and adjusts its notes—from B, A, G, and E, to C, B, A, F#, and E—to imply D9 during the song’s remaining pre-verse sections.

guitarplayer.com/february2014 > Talk the talk, walk the walk.

ELEPHANTOSITY …is what Fripp called it in the album credits. Belew’s “elephant” tones, which initially appear during the first instrumental chorus and are played over Ex. 5a (Fripp’s third adaptation of Rhy. Fig. 1, now adjusted

Ex. 7a

Ex. 7b

 = ca. 115

 = ca. 115

 4  4    4        4        Rhy. Fig. 4

Fill 1

4

3

1

semi-P.M. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

T A B

2

3

1

4

4

4

2

4

4

4

3

4

1

3

semi-P.M. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

T A B

0

2

4

6

4

4

4

2

4

0

Ex. 7c

 = ca. 115

w/Rhy. Fig. 4 (six times)

*T

            4   ( )     ()         ()  () ( ) 4    T

1

1

3

3

3

3

1

w/fuzz

T

9

T A B

T

9 6

9

11

3

w/bar B -1/2

10 9 10 9 7

1

2

R

(10) 11

11

3

w/bar B R -1

(9) 11

9

8

B

R

B

(9)

8

(9)

*Tap w/edge of pick throughout.



w/Fill 1

w/Rhy. Fig. 4

                                            3 3

5

3

T

T

T

T

1

2

1

1

T

3

T

T

T

3

1

2

T

T

T

T

T

T

1

1

T

12 T A B

88

14

T

16 14 16 14 12

T

16 11

T

12 11

1614

T

16 11

12

G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / F E b R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

T

T

12 11

1614

12

19

T

16 19 16 14 12 14

17 17 16 17 16 14

12

and/or hammered-and-pulled partial chord shapes in grand Jimi tradition. His arpeggiated C#m artificial harmonics in bar 8 also function as E6.

to fit F#m7 and labeled “Rhy. Fig. 3”), were the result of his Electro-Harmonix Big Muff fuzz and Electric Mistress flanger (or Poly-Chorus) set to an eighth-note modulation rate with a half-step of pitch change, along with some sleight-of-hand fretwork on the first string. To simulate a single example (Belew plays each pass differently), turn on the flanger and play the metallic, muted-sixteenths depicted in Ex. 5b for a bar-and-a-half before kicking in the fuzz and sliding in and out of the indicated first-string pitches (F# and G) shown in bar 2. (Tip: Watch a few old Tarzan movies for inspiration!)

“THAT’S A GUITAR?” Those familiar with his pre-Crimson work with Zappa, Bowie, and Talking Heads had already experienced a healthy dose of Adrian Belew’s innovative soloing before Discipline was released, but anyone still in the dark must have been knocked for a loop the first time they heard “Elephant Talk”! Of course, Belew never played the same solo twice, but for me, this special take, which is played over the F#-based ensemble figures shown in Examples 7a and 7b, and the first half of which is transcribed in Ex. 7c, is written in stone. Belew admittedly gleaned the “Bavarian Bagpipe” technique found in bars 2, 5, 6, 7, and 8 from former boss Frank Zappa. The trick is to use the edge of your pick to rapidly trill between notes as written. And check out how Belew’s lazy, dragged-triplet bends in bars 3 and 4 morph from bar-bends to finger-bends. Too cool! In concert, Belew’s solo would typically segue to an extended Stick-and-percussion break. Following his re-entrance with the riff from Ex. 4, Fripp at some point would cue the final verse with something akin to the angular, chromatically ascending root#4(b5)-root intervals illustrated in Ex. 8. Slow it down, suss the shapes and moves (including the rhythmic hiccup on beat four), and then make it roar! That wraps up our “E.T.” tour, so it’s up to you to investigate the rest of the trilogy. Trust me: It’ll blow your mind. g

FRIPPERY Fripp’s solo, which follows the third verse and second chorus, features a distorted and heavily vibrated brassy guitar-synth patch electronically transposed up one octave and supported with clean-toned, Hendrixinspired rhythm guitar by Belew. Refreshingly easy to play compared to most Fripp solo excursions, this one is more thematic than improvisational. Rooted in the key of C# minor, Ex. 6 covers the first eight bars, and shows how Fripp (Gtr. 1) arpeggiates C#m9 and C#m (bars 1, 2, and 4), and Abm (bar 3), before descending through three different ascending Abm arpeggios (bars 5 and 6) to target a C#m voicing (a sub for E6 in bar 7). You’ll need a hefty amount of fuzz, a pitch transposer set one octave up and 100% wet, plus a constant pitch modulation effect to approximate Fripp’s tone. (Or you can just wing it with your fingers!) Belew (Gtr. 2) bubbles below the surface throughout, mirroring and echoing Fripp’s arpeggios with whammy-barred

Ex. 8

                               4            4

 = ca. 115

w/Rhy. Fig. 1 4

T A B

10

3

3

3

10 8

7

9

11

10

3

1

12 8

4

4

4

4

11

13 9

3

3

1

12

14

13

1

3

15 11

4

4

14

16 12

15

17 13

16

18 14

17

19 15

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4 / G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M

89

Lessons

Stupefying Strumming

Guthrie Govan’s Fabulous Funk Flare-ups By Jud E go ld “ W h En i t com Es to f u n k p l ay i n g

and that sort of thing,” says Guthrie Govan, “the thing I get asked about most often is the frantic right-hand stuff I do.” Specifically, Govan is talking about the spastic strumming-hand flurries he so effortlessly injects into conventional sixteenthnote-based grooves. It’s no wonder many players are captivated by his use of this technique, because he executes it with so much speed and precision it’s almost comical. He’ll be cruising along, perhaps playing a fast James Brown- or Nile Rodgers-style pattern, and then suddenly—often just before a big, satisfying downbeat strike— his pick hand will shift into a gear that revs so high, the ensuing spray of notes seems almost superhuman. Luckily, there’s a simple science behind Govan’s signature funk spasms. The other good news, as you’ll discover when you go to guitarplayer.com and watch the exclusive video Govan shot for this lesson, is that the British guitar virtuoso teaches as well as he plays. And he plays pretty damn well. “Some people think I’m doing triplets,” says the Aristocrats/Steven Wilson

guitarist. The assumption is no surprise, because the technique in question does kind of sound like a light-speed version of the famous triplet move Leo Nocentelli employs on the intro to the Meters’ “Tippi-Toes.” “It’s not triplets,” says Govan. “It’s thirty-second notes. [Mimics Spinal Tap’s Nigel Tufnel:] ‘It’s one more, isn’t it?’” A great exercise for learning this approach, suggests Govan, is to simply strum a sixteenths-based groove and occasionally double things up to thirty-second-notes. And while he’s absolutely correct, before we do that, let’s do a quick refresher on how to subdivide a measure into 32 pulses. First, set your metronome tempo slow enough that when you’ve finally revved your wrist up to thirty-second gear, it doesn’t burst into flames. 75bpm might be a good start. Ex. 1—Tap your foot on each click, counting each group of four out loud (“one, two, three, four”), at the same time strumming the muted strings using downstrokes. Loop it. You’re now strumming quarter-notes. Ex. 2 —Shift up to eighth-notes by

Ex. 1

 = ca. 75

44   

“one

Ex. 2

two

three

four”







= pick downstroke



 = ca. 75

44 

“one

and two and three and four and”

       

Ex. 3

Ex. 4

 = ca. 75

 = ca. 75

4  4

“one- e -and -a two- e -and-a three-e -and-a four-e - and-a”



90

doubling up your downstrokes. (Count aloud: “One and, two and,” etc., one word per downstroke.) In this and every other example in this lesson, keep the foot tapping on and only on the quarter-notes (“one, two,” etc.). That’s the internal heartbeat that keeps the groove solid. Ex. 3—Achieve sixteenth-notes by doubling up the percussion once again. Do this by adding an upstroke between each downstroke. (You actually were already doing this in Ex. 2; your pick just wasn’t yet making contact with the strings during its upward flights.) Count aloud using the music school convention, “one-e-and-a, two-e-and-a,” etc. Ex. 4—Just before landing on beat three and (when it returns) beat one, double up your strumming attack yet again, for just half a beat. (There’s no real verbal convention for counting this subdivision, so choose a four-syllable phrase you can easily say fast, like “gotta getta.”) You’re now playing short bursts of thirty-second notes on the second half of beats two and four, as in “one-e-and-a, 2-e-gotta-getta, three-e-and-a, 4-e-gotta-getta.”)



= pick upstroke

etc.



44 

G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / f E b R U A R Y 2 0 1 4



“one- e -and -a two- e -got -ta-get- ta three-e -and-a four-e -got -ta-get- ta”

                 



KRIS CLa E RH OU T

fretting hand just enough to mute the strings. You’re just hearing X’s, waiting to squeeze the chord until the big downstroke at the end.” Expanding toward our target tempo of (yikes!) 120bpm—and also expanding to a more interesting funk loop that evokes the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “If You Have to Ask” in bar 1 and hints at the James Gang’s “Funk #49” in bar 2—Ex. 7 offers thirty-second-note flurries that illustrate an important point. “You need to know that you’re not trying to hit all the strings when you do this,” says Govan. “You don’t need to. Two strings—three strings, tops—is enough to create the effect you’re going for. Think like a snare drum—a military snare. [Strums the iconic snare drum rhythm that opens 20th Century Fox’s famous fanfare.] Rudiments!” g

movement—a gentle wobble of the wrist. When I do this stuff, my wrist comes out and angles a bit, which makes it much easier. Sometimes you’ll find you can do a burst once or twice, but not a number of times in a row, so maybe look into that. Stay at one tempo and increase the number of repetitions you can do before you lose concentration.” Govan likes to apply these thirty-secondnote spasms within chordal funk grooves such as Ex. 6. “Generally, it sounds a lot less messy if you do this while lifting the

A bar of pure thirty-second-notes looks like Ex. 5. An easy way to think of this subdivision is eight pulses per downbeat—or eight per each tap of the foot. (“I think it’s important to see how long you can do this before fatigue kicks in,” says Govan. If you’re doing it right, you should feel nice and relaxed.”) Most players will find they can do short bursts of thirty-seconds faster than they can a nonstop stream. “In either case, it’s a lot easier if you tell your wrist to be very, very loose and relaxed,” says Govan. “It should be a small Ex.5

guitarplayer.com/february2014 > Exclusive video of Guthrie Govan demonstrating every concept in this lesson.

Ex.6

 = ca. 75

“one

two

three

four”

4  4    etc.

 0

T A B

MORE OnLInE



0 0 0 0 0 0 0

 = ca. 75 Am11

            44                                       788 XXX XXX XXX 788 XXX XX XX XX XX 788 XXX XXX XXX 887 XXX XX XX XX XX  4 4 3 3

T A B

7

X X X 7

X

7

X X X 7 X

Ex.7

                         44                                              = 95-120 Am11

D

T A B

 887 7

3 3

X X X X

A7

3

4 4 3 3

X X X X

8 8 7 7

X X X X

X X X X

8 8 7 7

X X X X

X X X X

8 8 7 7

X X X X

X X X X

8 8 7 7

X X X X X X X X

8 8 7 7

8 8 7 7

X X X X 7 X X X X 7 7

2

1 1 1

5 X X 5 XX XX 5 6 X X 5 6 XX XX 5 X X 5



F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4 / G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M

91

Lessons You’re PlaYing it Wrong

tapped, pulled-off, and hammered-on arpeggios, which fluctuates between A-based major, minor, and dominant tonalities, and is played entirely on the fifth string. Given the song’s breakneck tempo, it’s understandable that microscopic, half-speed inspection will reveal some rhythmic inconsistencies, but these are barely noticeable during Satch’s real-time performance. To understand his true intention, start by establishing the basic rock-and-roll rhythm figure depicted in ex. 1a and working it up to tempo. Next, adapt the same rhythmic motif to the tapped, 12th-fret A’s in ex. 1b. When this feels comfortable, apply staccato phrasing as shown in ex. 1c. (Tip: Mute the strings behind tapped notes.) Get this one down pat because each tap represents the starting point for the upcoming string of arpeggios.

“Satch Boogie” by Jesse gress

the madcap figure is often misunderstood as a haphazard series of hammer-ons and pulloffs, rather than a consistently repetitive rhythmic motif. It’s an awesome display of muscular chops and musical ingenuity that also happens to be a textbook example of a neo-classically based compositional principle called “Pitch Axis.” In this case, the term applies to Satch’s dizzying harmonic progression of cascading

T h e l i g h T n i n g - fasT, b i - d e x T r a l

arpeggios in the bridge section of Joe Satriani’s signature “Satch Boogie” have been subjected to some pretty odd rhythmic interpretations since the release of his groundbreaking Surfing with the Alien album in 1987, when the song became a rite of passage for shredders worldwide. Interestingly, the discrepancies in this tapped tour-de-force tend to be rhythmic rather than melodic ones, and ex. 1a

ex. 1b

ca. 224  == ca. 224

ca. 224  == ca. 224

ex. 1c

i i T T

i i T T

i i T T

T T

T T

ca. 224  == ca. 224

i i T T

i i T T

i i T T

44   44     4                  4            1 1

3 3

 0

T T A A B B



22

44

0



ex. 2

Asus 4 4 ca. 224 Asus  == ca. 224 i Ti T 22 1 1

i Ti T

i Ti T

 12 T T

T T A A B B

12 12

12

12 12

Adim7 Adim7 i Ti T





T T

T T A A B B

12 12

12

Dm/A Dm/A

i Ti T

i Ti T

 12

i Ti T 33

i Ti T

12 12

i Ti T

33

4444                    ()                                                               ( )                           w/Flanger w/Flanger

T T A A B B

33

33

  12 7 6 0 6 7 12 7 6 0 6 7 12 7 6 0 6 7 T T

T T

T T

12 7 6 0 6 7 12 7 6 0 6 7 12 7 6 0 6 7 Asus4 Asus4 i Ti T



B sus4/A sus4/A B i Ti T

3 3

4 4 11

3 3

33

1 1

33

  1512 9 0 9 121512 9 0 9 121512 9 0 9 12 T T

T T

T T

1512 9 0 9 121512 9 0 9 121512 9 0 9 12

Bsus4/A Bsus4/A i Ti T

33

Csus4/A Csus4/A i Ti T

3 3

Bsus4/A Bsus4/A i Ti T

1 1

 1710

 8 0 8 101710 8 0 8 101710 8 0 8 10

T T

T T

T T

T T A A B B

92

1 1

T T

1 1

33

T T

12 77 55 00 55 77 13 13 88 66 00 66 88 14 14 99 77 00 77 99 12 G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / f E b R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

T T

1 1

T T

3 3

1 1

T T

1710 8 0 8 101710 8 0 8 101710 8 0 8 10



B sus4/A sus4/A B i Ti T

3 3

33

1 1

                                                              3 3

33

33

T T

15 10 10 88 00 88 10 10 14 14 99 77 00 77 99 13 13 88 66 00 66 88 15

“Satch Boogie” Written by Joe Satriani (c) Strange Beautiful Music All Rights Reserved. Used with permission.

Ex. 3a

Amaj7/6

Ex. 3b

Ex. 3c

Ex. 3d

Ex. 3e

Ex. 3f

Dm6/A

E( 9)/A

A7sus4

Amaj7

A7



                ()             ()                i T

3

i T

1

T

T A B

16 11 9

4

i T

1

T

0 9 11

14 8 5 0

2

i T

1

T

5

Bar 1 of Ex. 2 utilizes the same tap points and establishes the one-bar rhythmic pattern that Satch employs throughout the entire bridge—two sets of six sixteenthnotes followed by two sixteenth-note triplets crammed into beat four. Play this Asus#4 arpeggio twice by tapping the first note (A) and pulling off to the second, third, and fourth notes (E, D#, and open A), and then condense all six notes into an identically

8

11 8

3

1

T

7

0

7 8

17 12 10 0 10 12

phrased sixteenth-note triplet starting on beat four. Repeat bar 1, and then move on to play repeats of bar 2’s Adim7 and bar 3’s Dm/A arpeggios, followed by a single pass through bar 4 and 5’s chromatic sus4 moves, all using the same rhythmic pattern. Examples 3a through 3f reveal the remaining half-dozen six-note arpeggios necessary to complete the bridge, though you’ll have to adapt them to the one-bar rhythmic

i T

2

1

T

16 12 11 0 11 12

i T

3

1

T

16 12 10 0 10 12

motif on your own. To assemble the entire bridge, play Ex. 2 as written, repeat the first three bars, and then add two bars each of Amaj7/6 (Ex. 3a), Dm6/A (Ex. 3b), E(b9)/A (Ex. 3c), A7sus4 (Ex. 3d), Amaj7 (Ex. 3e), and A7 (Ex. 3f). Repeat Examples 3e and 3f as notated three times in succession, wrap it up with the first two notes of Ex. 3f, and you’ll be surfing with the alien in no time! g

Lessons

Fretboard Recipes: Major Scales Pt.2 Major ScaleS applied to the Fretboard By Jesse G ress There are many ways To approach

playing major scales on the guitar. The repetition of notes on the fretboard allows numerous fingering options. Except for the Segovia fingerings in classical guitar study, there is no set standard for major scale fingerings, which means most guitarists are left to devise their own fingering systems, and without a model, this can take years. Let’s look at our options. Fig. 1 illustrates how the major scale manifests on any single string. As the major scale consists of two major tetrachords separated by a whole step (See Fretboard Recipes 10/13), any whole-step, whole-step, half-step major tetrachord configuration may be repeated a whole-step higher on an adjacent string or string set to form an entire major scale. Fig. 2 shows how four different major tetrachord fingerings can be extended to form one-octave major scales. As with intervals, these tetrachords retain their shape anywhere on the fingerboard, except for the necessary B-string adjustments.

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

These tetrachord shapes may be strung together to form memorable, repetitive patterns that span several octaves. The three-octave G major scale in Fig. 3 combines two different major tetrachord fingerings that overlap every eight notes, and serves as a blueprint for creating threeoctave major-scale patterns in all 12 keys. Get to know them! Jesse Gress is the author of The Guitar Cookbook: The Complete Guide to Rhythm, Melody, Harmony, Technique & Improvisation [Backbeat]. g

94

G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / F E b R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

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1

3

2

4

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The MultiSelector AMP is a state of the art unidirectional 1-to-4 instrument amp switcher that silently switches one instrument to multiple amps, with complete isolation between amplifiers. The input is electronically buffered with a 1MegOhm input imped-

3

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Lessons

Rhythm Workshop: Bending in Rhythm Pt. 2 Release YouRself By J EssE g rEss

release in Ex. 1e. (Tip: Try starting Examples 1b through 1e with a pre-bend.) Ex. 2a condenses these first four rhythmic releases into a single measure, while Ex. 2b follows suit using only pre-bends. Ex. 2c shows how to adapt the same releases to oblique bends, where two notes are played but only one is bent and/or released. In practice, these seemingly minute rhythmic variations can have a marked effect on any melodic line. Apply them to a singular lick, such as the one notated in Examples 3a through 3d, and their differences quickly become apparent, especially at medium and slower tempos. Each release can also be extended beyond beat one, and Examples 4a through 4d reveal what happens when each of our four rhythmic releases is displaced to beat two. You may also extend the same releases to beats three and four, or even into the next measure. (Bonus: For

W h at g o E s u p m u st c o m E d o W n .

Thus far, all of the rhythmic pitch bends we’ve examined have had inaudible releases. A release is simply a bend in reverse, and audible releases vastly increase the melodic potential of pitch-bending, but it is up to you to determine whether the release of any bend is heard or not. To release a bend, simply return the string to its point of origin—either gradually or in strict rhythm—while maintaining enough pressure to sustain the note. This technique opens up worlds of melodic phrasing options. Examples 1a through 1e reprise the same one-beat rhythmic bends we began with last month, only in reverse. Here, we’ve got a grace-note release from a pre-bent A in Ex. 1a, a sixteenth-note release from a grace-note bend in Ex. 1b, an eighth-note release in Ex. 1c, a dotted-eighth-to-sixteenth release in Ex. 1d, and a quarter-note Ex. 1a

   

or or or or

Ex. 1b

3 3

Ex. 1c

Ex. 1d

a more blues-y vibe, try substituting halfstep Eb bends for all E’s in the previous eight examples.) Examples 5a through 5c illustrate how to apply various rhythmic releases to both full and fragmented C-major/A-minor scale sequences, played on a single string or in fifth position. Try recasting them over any chord diatonic to the key of C— C(maj7), Dm(7), Em(7), F(maj7), G(7), Am(7), or Bdim/Bm7b5—to produce different modalities. Strive to recognize real-world applications of these techniques wherever you can. For instance, you’d be hard pressed to find a better example of melodic bends and releases than Jeff Beck’s cover of Stevie Wonder’s “’Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers” from Blow by Blow. Ex. 6 paraphrases Beck’s moves— which include a bent bend (!)—over the song’s introductory Cm7(9)-Abmaj7-Fm7-

Ex. 1e

   3 3

 

    (())          (( ))     (( ))     (( ))   44     T T A A B B

3 23 2 or1 or1

( ) ( )

*pre*preB R B R

B R B R

88

8 (10) 8 8 (10) 8

(10) (10)

B R B R

8 (10) 8 (10)

B B

88

R R

8 (10) 8 (10)

B B

88

R R

8 (10) 8 (10)

88

*Pre-bend from 8th fret. *Pre-bend from 8th fret.

Ex. 2a

Ex. 2b

Ex. 2c

      4   ()    ()   ( )    ()   ()  ( )     ()    ()   ( )   4  3

( )

T A B

96

( )

preB R

B R

8

8 (10) 8

(10)

B

8 (10)

R

8

B

8 (10)

R

8

( )

preB R

preB R

preB R

8

(10) 8

(10) 8 (10) 8

(10)

4

G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / f E b R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

preB

R

preB R

8 (10) 8

B R

8 8 (10) 8

B

R

8 8 (10) 8

B

R

8 8 (10) 8

Ex. 3a

Ex. 3b

Ex. 3c

Ex. 3d

B

B

R

(9)

7 5

44       ()      ()     (  )          3 ( )

3

1

3

preB R (10)

T A B

B R

8

5

7

7

7

Ex. 4a

(9) 7

5

7

7

7

Ex. 4b

R

(9) 7

5

7

7

7

Ex. 4c

7

7

Ex. 4d

4  ()      () ()      () ()     () (  )         4 3

B

T A B

7

3

3

1

R

(9)

B

7

5

7

7

7

R

(9)

7

B

5

7

7

7

R

(9)

7

5

7

7

R

13(15)

T A B

B

R

B

R

B

R

13 12(13) 12 10(12) 10 8 (10) 8

Ex. 5b

6

B

R

(8)

6

5

B

R

B

R

(6)

5

3 (5)

3

1

Ex. 5c

  44  ( )    ()    ()    ()    ( )   ()   ()   ()      3

B R

3

B R

8 (10) 8

T A B

1

2

6

(8) 6

B R

5

  (  )

(6) 5

1

B R

7

(9) 7

5

R

B

R

B

R

8 (10)

8

6 (8)

6

5 (6)

5

Fm7

Cm7(1st x) A maj7(2nd x)

Ex.6

B



B

R

7 (9)

7 5

F/A



R

(9)

7 5

7

7

F/A-C/Bb progression. (Tip: Add the notated volume control swells for total authenticity.) Partially released bends present another avenue for exploration, so for extra credit, try repeating bar 1 with only a half-step release (from D to C#) over A-F#m7-D-E, and observe the melodic and harmonic transformation. Continuity Alert: Check out Adrian Belew’s rhythmic bends and releases with King Crimson—performed with and without whammy bar—in bars 3 and 4 of Ex. 7c in this month’s Under Investigation (page 90). You can also adapt most of the above examples to any of the single-string major scale patterns or combined tetrachords in this month’s Fretboard Recipes (page 94). Next: Combined rhythmic bends and releases. g

 ()   ()   ()   ( )   ()   ()   ()  44     Ex. 5a

B

7

B

C/B



 ()      (  )   ( )    4  4    3

T A B



B

13(15)

R



13 (13)



B

13(15)

B R

1or2



(16)13 (13)

B

9 (10)



R

9

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4 / G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M

97

Gear Special RepoRt

The Big Scoop!

A SneAk Peek At new 2014 ProductS debuting At nAMM We’re in an on-demand society—well, at least as far as entertainment is concerned—where everyone gets to watch what they want when they want it. For gear-obsessed guitarists, however, we still can’t log onto Netflix or Hulu and get a binge dump of all the new products being released each year until after the annual Winter NAMM show in Anaheim, California. That’s where the action is, that’s where the secrets are kept, and that’s what you have to wait for. Sob. But, this year, a smattering of manufacturers have relaxed their news embargoes a bit so that we can bring you a taste of their new goodies before the big NAMM celebration. Anyone who constantly hits the “On Demand” button on their cable or satellite boxes will find this a most thrilling turn of events. So, fret no more, those with impatient hearts. Here is an exclusive first look at some of the 2014 products to be unveiled just days after this issue hits the newsstands and your mailboxes. All prices are retail unless otherwise noted.

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G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

A mpt weAk e r

Ar istiD es instrume nts

BigRock Pro

070 7-String

$tB D

$2,9 9 8

Unlike most distortion pedals with a single boost, the true-bypass BigRock

The 070 is a one-piece constructed, 26.5" scale electric guitar available with

Pro includes two Boost knobs, one before and one after the distortion. Patch

passive or active electronics. The passive models come equipped with a Sey-

your favorite delay into the Boost Effects Loop, and you’ve got one-stomp

mour Duncan Pegasus pickup in the bridge and a Seymour Duncan Sentient

control of your rock rhythm and lead. Added switches on this pedal allow it to

in the neck. The active models are available with Seymour Duncan Black-

get tones from the TightRock and FatRock distortion pedals. These include

outs or an EMG81/60 combo. Hardware is available in chrome, black, or gold

the Smooth Edge switch which cuts the high-end sizzle for a warmer edge,

finishes and includes a Hipshot Hardtail or Floyd Rose Original tremolo, Hip-

and two Fat switches that allow either the normal or boosted tones to have

shot Griplock tuners, and Schaller strap locks. aristidesinstruments.com

a thicker attack with a bit more compression. amptweaker.com

B .C. r i Ch

B r e eD love

Mockingbird Plus FR

Pursuit 12-String

$6 40

$49 9

Growing demand for a Mockingbird with a Floyd Rose bridge fuels the release

The Pursuit 12-String features the Breedlove Bridge Truss, which relieves

of this model. The Mockingbird Plus FR features a mahogany body with a

stress on the instrument’s top while providing additional sustain, balance,

black-vapor finish to highlight the figured-maple top. Complementing the

and clarity. The Concert body shape is favored by players because it is well-

25 5/8” maple set-neck is a 24-fret ebony fretboard with a 12” radius and

balanced, compact, and generates an articulate range of tones with ample

diamond inlays. bcrich.com

low end that is never boomy. The Fishman ISYS+ USB onboard preamp system features a micro-USB interface for easy recording; low-profile rotary controls for tuner, volume, bass, treble, and phase; and a Fishman Sonicore pickup. breedlovemusic.com

Co l l i n gs

Cór DoBA

Eastside LC Deluxe

22 Series Ukuleles

$tB D

$179-$229

The Eastside LC archtop features fully-hollow laminate construction, a 24

The 22 Series ukuleles are available in soprano, concert, tenor, tenor cutaway-

7/8"-scale mahogany neck, 22 frets, a single Lollar Charlie Christian pickup,

electric, and baritone sizes. Each features a solid spruce top paired with rose-

and an archtop-style floating tailipiece and bridge. Now available with upscale

wood back and sides, rosewood bridge, fingerboard, and headstock veneer,

appointments, the Eastside LC Deluxe also features a bound neck and peg-

and a mahogany neck. cordobaguitars.com

head along with custom ebony top-hat knobs. collingsguitars.com F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4 / G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M

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Gear Cort

Dean Mar k Le y

Luce Series L300V/VF

30th Anniversary Amps

$53 5 ( L3 00V ), $ 645 (L 3 0 0 V F )

$9 9 8 (CD30), $1,19 8 (CD6 0)

The L300V features a solid Adirondack spruce top with Adirondack brac-

For the past three decades, the Dean Markley CD30 and CD60 tube amplifiers

ing, a solid mahogany back, mahogany sides, tortoise-body binding, a tear-

have had limited production runs over the years—even though they’ve been used

drop wildcat pickguard, and a natural finish. The mahogany neck is topped

by Eric Clapton, Alex Lifeson, Andy Summers, and others. On the 30th anni-

with a rosewood fretboard and Grover vintage tuners. The L300VF also fea-

versary of these amps, the CD30 and CD60 are now available as 1x12 combos

tures a Fishman Sonitone EQ and Sonicore Pickup system. cortguitars.com

only (all loaded with a custom Celestion speaker) that feature two switchable inputs with a Volume control, separate Drive and Gain controls, a Master Volume, Reverb, Presence, and Treble, Mid, and Bass controls. The tube configuration includes two 6L6 power tubes and three 12AX7s. deanmarkley.com

ea rt hqUa k e r DeVi C es

e L ix ir str ings

Terminal Fuzz

HD Light Acoustic Strings

$16 5 The Terminal fuzz is a blown out, busted, and all-around destructive fuzz device modeled after an old JAX fuzz (which is a rebranded Shin Ei Com-

$14.9 9 - $15 .9 9

panion fuzz). The Terminal takes this design three steps further by allowing

The HD Light set is the result of a collaboration with Taylor Guitars’ master

control over the gain, fine tuning of the EQ, and adjusting the volume boost.

luthier Andy Powers, who wanted to create a custom string set that would

Voice controls the upper and lower midrange—and determines the overall fre-

bring bolder, stronger highs and fuller, warmer lows to Taylor’s newly-rede-

quency response—while Treble adjusts the biting top end. The Terminal fuzz

signed Grand Concert and Grand Auditorium instruments. HD Light strings

has all analog circuitry and true-bypass switching. earthquakerdevices.com

are offered in both Phosphor Bronze and 80/20 versions. elixirstrings.com

FishMan

F LoyD Upg raD es

Fluence Electric Pickups

PMS

$ tB D

$49

Fishman Fluence utilizes Fluence Core “coils” and true multi-voice electron-

The PMS (Pickup Mounting System) mounts directly into your pickup cavity,

ics to create classic guitar sounds without noise, hum, cable-capacitance

giving your pickup a direct mounting platform of Floyd’s famous FU Bell

problems, and loss in tonal response and clarity due to volume changes.

Brass. The increased resonance from the body to the brass to your pickup

Players can transform their pickups from Vintage to Hot to Clean to Death

adds more warmth and sustain. Properly installed, the system amplifies the

Defying (depending on the model), with the right level and gain for each

wood’s natural resonant frequencies, energizes the tone of your guitar, and

voice. Fluence will be introduced in Single Coil, Classic, and Modern Hum-

optimizes the sonic range of your pickup. fu-tone.com

bucker designs in a variety of finishes, with more models to follow in the coming year. fishman.com

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G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

G i bso n

i banez

Warren Haynes 1961 ES-335

AEW23MVNT

$T b D

$T b D

Warren Haynes’ signature model represents the last year of the dot-neck

The AEW23MVNT—also known as the “Movingui Metro”—builds on a sculpted

335. The period-accurate construction includes a ’60s cherry VOS finish,

body of Movingui (a West African wood with the warm tonal qualities of

cream binding, a mahogany neck, a rosewood fretboard, and Burst Bucker 1

Mahogany) and a light spruce top for clarity and articulation. The Metro fea-

and 2 pickups. gibson.com

tures rich, multi-rosewood binding on the body and headstock, an Art Decoinspired Movingui rosette, and an Ibanez AEQ-SP2 preamp matched with a Fishman Sonicore pickup. ibanez.com

Mi cha el Kelly

MTD

1950s Series

Kingston Rubicon

$449 (19 52 ) , $ 5 8 0 (1 953 /1 95 4 ), $72 0 (19 5 5 ) , $875 (1 957 )

sTarTinG aT $9 9 9

All five models in the 1950s Series feature an exotic wood top and contoured

Kingston Rubicon. The 22-fret version is available in a translucent cherry-gloss

arm cut, master Volume and master Tone controls, a 3-way pickup selector,

finish and a Dr. Brown’s Burst satin finish. The 24-fret model has a Trem King

and coil taps. michaelkellyguitars.com

tremolo bar, and is available in matte black or the Dr. Brown’s Burst satin finish.

Michael Tobias Design (MTD) enters the electric guitar market with the new

Both are available with maple or rosewood fretboards. mtdkingston.com

Mus i cvox

PlaneT Wav es

Custom Limited Space Cadet 12-String

Guitar Dock $42 Featuring an adjustable clamp, Planet Waves’ Guitar Dock is a portable,

$9 9 9

leg-free, lock-on guitar stand that turns any flat surface with an edge into a

Featuring a 1 7/8” nut for 6-string-like playability, this custom 12-string

safe place to set your prized guitar. By utilizing a 360-degree rotatable neck

features a triple-bound body and headstock, bound neck, block pearloid

cradle, it allows mounting at any angle, while the durable overmold protects

inlays, and special-design vintage-style Musicvox humbuckers or single-coil

the instrument and mounting surface. planetwaves.com

pickups. musicvox.com

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4 / G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M

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Gear S P EC I A L R EPO RT

P r eso nus

Prs

AudioBox

S2 Singlecut

$T B D

$TB D

This all-Presonus recording kit combines a USB interface with Studio One

The S2 Singlecut features a figured maple top with a mahogany back, and

Artist music-production software, HD7 monitoring headphones, a pair of

a mahogany neck with rosewood fretboard. Pickups are PRS-designed S2

small-diaphragm condenser microphones, and all necessary cables. It’s

#7 treble and bass pickups paired with a 3-way blade switch and push-pull

great for capturing live performances, rehearsals, songwriting, song produc-

Tone control for coil-tapping versatility. prsguitars.com

tion, podcasting, and a variety of educational applications. presonus.com

s i T sT r i ngs

u lTrasounD

Paul “TFO” Allen Signature Universals

AG30 $39 9 The compact and lightweight AG30 is designed to amplify fiddles, mando-

$12

lins, guitars, and any other acoustic instruments. It comes equipped with a

Designed for the four most common tunings (E Standard, Eb Standard, Drop

single custom-made 8” coaxial speaker and 30 watts of power. The master

D, and Half Down Drop D), and the four most common scale lengths (25.5",

section includes a master Volume control, a DSP effects controller to select

25", 24.75", 24.6"). Gauges are 10.5, 14, 18, 28, 38, 48, and the set is formu-

from 16 different effects, and a 3-way toggle switch to allow users to assign

lated for a balanced tension across all strings. sitstrings.com

the effect to either channel or both. Channel one includes a dual XLR and 1/4" input with phantom power, and channel two offers a notch filter to help control feedback during performances. ultrasoundamps.com

Vi B ra maT e

V5-TEV Stage II Mounting Kit $119 Now you can install a Bigsby Vibrato on your Telecaster without drilling any holes. The Vibramate V5-TEV Stage II Mounting Kit is designed for installing a Bigsby B5 Original Vibrato on most Telecaster guitars that have a Vintagestyle bridge plate. The V5-TEV Stage II kit includes mounting hardware for the Bigsby B5 Vibrato, and utilizes your existing Tele pickup and bridge saddles. It automatically positions the Bigsby Vibrato in the proper orientation without any special tools or layout. vibramate.com

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G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

Many styles One voice Robben Ford is the master of many musical styles. But when it comes to his speakers, there’s only ever been one choice.

Find out more

www.celestion.com

Gear

rou n du P

3 Retro Beauties from Eastwood t est ed by M i c h a e l M o l e n da F o r g u i ta r i s t s i n c l i n e d t o w a r d s t h e u n i q u e a n d F u n k y, M i c h a e l Robinson’s Eastwood Guitars is like a stocking stuffed full of joy. (Sorry, I’m writing this during the holidays.) In fact, if you click the “All Eastwood Guitars” or “All Airline Guitars” buttons on the company’s website, a multi-colored page of foxy little jewels pops up that might just send your desire for new guitars into hyper-lust overdrive. But looks can be a tad deceiving here, as these puckish beasts are far from art pieces to decorate a post-modern home, or to sling across one’s shoulder as a display of hipster élan. With perhaps a quirky exception here and there, the Eastwood line is chock full of vintagethemed workhorses that play well and offer up unique, yet ballsy tones. In other words, they do look cool for sure, but they also rock hard, give good value, and, unlike some of the original instruments to which they pay homage, are built to withstand the rigors of strenuous performance and gigging. The three Eastwoods in this roundup represent different price points and sonic personalities— although each model is versatile enough to float between several musical styles. Small surprise that it was a ton of fun exploring the subtle and not-so-subtle tones each of these retro bad boys can conjure up. We were particularly happy to get one of the first cracks at the brand new (as of press time) Airline ’59 Newport, which threw a bunch of knobs and a piezo bridge into the evaluative fray. Test amps included a Vox AC30, an Orange Tiny Terror head plugged into a Mesa/Boogie 1x12, a Marshall JCM 900 combo, and a Fender Hot Rod DeVille, and critical listening and performances occurred at rehearsal spaces and recording studios during actual sessions.

f e b r u a r y 2 0 1 4 / G u I Ta r P L a y e r . C O M

105

Gear ROU N DUP

Airline ’59 newport

The ’59 NewPORT was hOT Off The PResses wheN iT was DeliveReD TO Us aT the end of 2013, and it was a thrill to be one of the first magazines to review it. Modeled after an Eisenhowerera National Newport Val-Pro 88, the futuristic (well, let’s call it what it is—a ’50s dream of the future)— guitar almost has more knobs and switches than a Buck Rogers spacecraft. The onslaught of Volume and Tone controls might be a bit unsettling when trying to change sounds on the fly during a gig, but the upside is that, well, you have a lot of options available for tonal explorations. When played through an overdriven amp, the mini humbuckers provide the Newport with a bold and snarky punch that reminded me of Jimmy Page’s revved-up yowl. There’s an articulate and aggressive impact to the high mids and treble frequencies mixed with a stout warmth on the low mids. Very classic rock. While the Bighorn is kind of the versatile athlete you may have envied in high school, and the Jupiter PRO is the smart, sensitive type that everyone loved or begrudgingly respected, the Newport is definitely the snotty, kind of dangerous punk that you avoided out of self-preservation. These are basic characteristics, as the Newport definitely has enough firepower to refine its tonal colors—as do the other two guitars auditioned in this roundup—but it tends to keep its rockin’ edge no matter where you go with amp settings or other sonic manipulations. But this punk has a sensitive side, as well. The Newport’s piezo bridge lets you add bell-like acoustic textures to the mix. As with most piezo pickups, there is a bit of a “quack” to the mids, but the acoustic vibe is pretty convincing—the chambered body probably helps out here. For creating surprising, “stutter edit” mood

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G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / f E b R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

MODeL

Airline ’59 newport CONTACT

eastwoodguitars.com

PRICE

$1,099 direct

S P e C I f I C aT I O n S shifts, you can’t beat having the piezo at hand. For example, you can start a solo by roar-

NUT WIDTH

1 5/8"

ing loudly with the mini humbuckers, switch to the piezo bridge for a sparkling, sensitive

NECK

Maple, bolt-on

interlude, and then—bam!—blast off again with the aggro stuff. Or, you can perform an

FRETBOARD

Rosewood, 24 3/4" scale

acoustic-like, fingerpicked intro, and then swiftly charge into rude chordal slashes. No lack

FRETS

23 (includes zero fret)

of creative inspiration here!

TUNERS

Grover style

BODY

Mahogany, chambered

of closely set control knobs and the Master Volume knob sitting in a rather hard-to-reach

BRIDGE

Tune-o-matic style

position near the input jack. Of course, if you don’t make tonal and/or volume adjustments

PICKUPS

Dual NY Mini Humbuckers, piezo bridge

on the fly during performances, the knob arrangement won’t be a factor in playability. Con-

CONTROLS

Three Volume, three Tone, Master Volume,

The Newport feels great to play, and the only ergonomic challenges are the long row

5-way selector

struction is very good. All hardware is locked down and tight. There are no rattles, loosefeeling knobs, or a wonky selector switch. The eye-catching “fanned” fretboard inlays are

FACTORY STRINGS D’Addario

well seated with no evidence of filler. The finish is excellent, and the bolt-on neck is tightly

WEIGHT

7.79 lbs

fit into its neck pocket.

BUILT

Korea

KUDOS

Versatile tones. Piezo pickup. Good construc-

The brand-new Newport is a fabulous and versatile instrument. It looks retro-bitchin’ cool and delivers aggro rock and blues tones for days. But, thanks to its comprehensive “control panel” and piezo bridge, it can also craft convincing jazz, country, and acoustic

tion. CONCERNS

None.

colors. Yep—this punk doesn’t back down from any challenge.

f e b r u a r y 2 0 1 4 / G u I Ta r P L a y e r . C O M

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Gear ROU N DUP

Airline Bighorn The BighORN lOOks like sOmeThiNg FReD FliNTsTONe wOUlD BRiNg TO Play a gig at his Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes Lodge. But there’s nothing boorishly “Yabba dabba doo” about this instrument. It’s a dynamic and articulate machine that tracks performance gestures very well. It’s almost like having a fine vocalist’s throat at your command, because adjusting your attack can produce the equivalent of meticulously phrased crooning à la Sinatra, a Bono-like Irish tenor with some edge, or a snotty yowl on the order of a pissed-off Elvis Costello, circa 1977. This characteristic is retained whether you play pristine or bring on the overdrive or distortion, but it’s a truly spine-tingling effect when you manipulate the Bighorn’s attack and tonal colors using an AC30-inspired clean sound with a dollop of grit. The Bighorn may evoke ’60s Eurotrash garage bands—and, to be fair to its versatility, it can deliver skanky piss-and-vinegar mids— but it’s supple tonalities can handle just about any musical style if your fingers can coax out the appropriate sounds. The sonic potpourri is kind of a minor miracle given the guitar’s $469 price tag. At just over 6.5 lbs, the Bighorn is a very light guitar, which aids one’s comfort over long gigs and/or sessions. I barely noticed the thing was slung around my shoulder half the time. The thick, vintage ’60s neck feels comfy, access to the high frets is unfettered, and I didn’t feel the guitar was fighting me in any way. Tuning integrity and intonation is average. I play hard, but it usually took a couple of songs for me to knock the Bighorn noticeably out of tune—which is about the same for the rest of my guitars. The three-bolt neck can haunt ya if you travel rough, though. A vicious wrench of the neck or brutal

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G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / f E b R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

MODeL

Airline Bighorn PRICE

$469 direct

S P e C I f I C aT I O n S handling during shipping may cause the neck to move slightly askew. Robinson acknowledges that adherence to vintage construction is the culprit here, but the fix is simple: Just bend the neck back into the proper position. I did this myself, as the Bighorn was received at the GP offices with the neck slightly out of whack, and everything was fine thereafter. In fact, the entire evaluation of the instrument occurred after the neck was put back in place. The build quality of the rest of the Bighorn is very good. The frets are smooth, all hardware is sturdy (no rattles or loose-fitting knobs), the pickguard is well seated, and the finish has no pits or other cosmetic anomalies. Only a couple of slight dips in the plastic binding betray the “student model” bearing of the original Airline Bighorn. Eastwood definitely ups the ante on the construction of its vintage tributes. While the Bighorn reminds me of my pre-teen days of dreaming over the guitars displayed in Sears and Montgomery-Ward catalogs, it would have been a shame to put this model in my hands when I was ten years old and struggling to pluck “Auld Lang Syne” (as taught to me by a stern, 80-year-old, Swedish guitar teacher hired by my mom). Call it a basher if you like, but this budget wonder is, in reality, a serious player that delivers lots of extremely cool tones.

NUT WIDTH

1 5/8"

NECK

Maple, bolt-on

FRETBOARD

Rosewood, 25 1/2" scale

FRETS

19

TUNERS

Kluson style

BODY

Basswood

BRIDGE

Tele-style, 3-way adjustable

PICKUPS

Two Airline Vintage Argyle Diamonds

CONTROLS

Two Volume, two Tone, 3-way selector

FACTORY STRINGS D’Addario WEIGHT

6.66 lbs

BUILT

China

KUDOS

Articulate, versatile tones. Great value.

CONCERNS

Keep that three-bolt neck well-seated and happy.

f e b r u a r y 2 0 1 4 / G u I Ta r P L a y e r . C O M

109

Gear ROU N DUP

Airline Jupiter prO DAllAs Green siGnAture C i t y a N D C O l O U R g U i ta R i st D a l l a s g R e e N C O l l a b O R at e D w i t h e a st w O O D to modernize this tribute to a ’50s Silvertone Jupiter H49, and the result is a good match for Green’s dreamy song textures. On the Canadian singer-songwriter’s latest release, The Hurry and the Harm [Dine Alone], electric and acoustic progressions are typically expanded with swelling melodic lines, so it’s no surprise that the hollowbody Jupiter PRO had to cut it as a vibey jangle machine, as well as an instrument capable of getting buzzy and subtly strange. There’s no f-hole or any other obvious soundhole, but the Jupiter PRO is darn loud when strummed unplugged, and you can feel a good, solid resonance against your belly. Add an amp to the equation, and the clean tones can get near cinematic. As with the Bighorn, the Airline Argyle pickups are crystal clear and dynamic, but here, as the hollow body imparts both zing and warmth, it’s no chore crafting acoustic-like clean tones that sound beautiful whether strummed or fingerpicked. I found lovely and articulate timbres no matter which pickup I selected. If I wanted something a little more interesting or compelling, I set the pickup switch to its center position (both pickups active), and used the brilliant Blend control to eek in some interesting “pans” between the two pickup sounds. It’s easy to see how the Jupiter PRO’s airy shimmer and tonal options can assist Green with his stark and refined textural arrangements. In fact, the guitar seems designed for creating moody soundscapes—especially if you have a killer chord progression to throw at it.

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G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / f E b R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

MODeL

Airline Jupiter prO DAllAs Green siGnAture PRICE

But the Jupiter PRO isn’t just about mellow moods—it can start a bar fight, too. The guitar’s articulate dynamics work great with fuzz, overdrive, distortion, and all manner of sonic mayhem. I was able to consider tracking some pretty complex and saturated effects chains—such as three different fuzzes, a tremolo, a flanger, and a reverse delay—and not completely lose the note clarity essential for voicing a particular melody. And even with three fuzz boxes spewing searing venom, I could still discern sneaky and unexpected shifts in dynamics and tone. Freedom of expression rules! As mentioned earlier, a big part of the job for this reimaging of the Silvertone Jupiter was devising savvy upgrades, and two of the main hardware evolutions included replacing the original bolt-on neck with a set neck, and swapping out the old wooden bridge for a TonePros model. But Eastwood and Green didn’t stop with just the “big” ideas. Every piece of hardware on this guitar is well done, and the fret ends are rounded and smooth. Even the trapeze tailpiece—as a rock guy, not one of my favorite accouterments—feels solid. I couldn’t find any cosmetic glitches with the binding, headstock, inlays, or finish. Although a tad heavy at just over eight pounds, the Jupiter PRO feels good on your shoulder, all of the controls are within easy reach, and the comfy neck invites chording, riffing, and shredding with no impediments. It’s simply a fun guitar to play, and one that

$999 direct

S P e C I f I C aT I O n S NUT WIDTH

1 11/16”

NECK

Maple, set

FRETBOARD

Rosewood, 25 1/2" scale

FRETS

22

TUNERS

Grover style

BODY

Maple top, Mahogany sides

BRIDGE

Tune-o-matic style, trapeze tail

PICKUPS

Two Airline Argyler

CONTROLS

Two Volume, two Tone, Blend, 3-way selector

FACTORY STRINGS D’Addario WEIGHT

8.12 lbs

BUILT

Korea

KUDOS

Lots of sensual sonic vibe. Versatile. Good construction.

CONCERNS

None.

strives to do everything well. g

f e b r u a r y 2 0 1 4 / G u I Ta r P L a y e r . C O M

111

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Gear

T esT d R I v e

Ernie Ball M-Steel TesT e d by A RT T HOMPsON $13 street IN A quesT TO develOP A New sTRINg THAT cOuld OuTlAsT

a set of M-Steels (.010-.046) on an Music Man Armada guitar and did

anything currently on the market, and perhaps even deliver more clarity

some comparisons with same-gauge sets of Regular and Cobalt Slinkys

and output, the engineers at Ernie Ball turned their attention to a mate-

on another identical Armada. What we noticed immediately was that

rial called maraging steel, which is known for being superior in strength

the M-Steels sounded a little louder and girthier than the Cobalts, and

and toughness to regular carbon steel. In fact, maraging steel doesn’t use

even more so when compared to Regular Slinkys. The M-Steels also were

carbon in its formula, but rather, is an alloy that derives its durability from

a touch less bright than the other strings, though this could simply be

the precipitation of inter-metallic compounds—the most prominent being

due to their enhancement of the lows and mids. In terms of playing feel,

nickel, and including cobalt, molybdenum, and titanium.

the M-Steels are on par with Regular and Cobalt Slinkys, which is great.

Ernie Ball engineers had to figure out how to process maraging steel

With their higher output and beefier sound, the M-Steels would be a

into fine gauges for the core wire, and in the process they developed a

great choice for rock and metal, but they also sound cool for blues and

newly formulated wrap wire for the D, A, and low E strings that had 60 per-

country, and could especially benefit players who want more punch from

cent more cobalt alloy than their Cobalt Slinky strings. These factors give

single-coil pickups. The M-Steels reflect a serious effort by Ernie Ball to

the wound strings enhanced corrosion resistance and should make them

enhance tone, and are definitely worth trying out if you want non-coated

even more interactive with guitar pickups. EB also specially tempers the

strings that can really stand up to sweat, oil, and grime.

high-carbon steel wire for the plain strings to maximize fatigue strength,

Kudos Enhanced output and girth. Superior corrosion resistance.

and better match up with the tonal response of M-Steel.

ConCerns None.

To find out how the M-Steels stack up to standard strings, we put

114

G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

ContaCt ernieball.com g

Gear S n e ak Pr eview

Rocktron Versa Tune Th e ne w v e rSa T u n e ( $ 199 STr e eT) i S a rackmounT

The Versa Tune’s LED readout is very stable, which makes tuning

design that, with its easy–to-read LED display accompanied by a large note

a breeze, and unit includes a library of 100 different tunings, which

readout, offers excellent visability under any lighting condition. The Versa

you select with the up/down keys on the front panel. Tunings are

Tune features such amenities as dual inputs and outputs (with both on

displayed in the backlit display on the right, along with indications

the rear panel as well), and the ability to switch between inputs via front

for how to tune each string to achieve that particular tuning—be it

panel switch. This means you can plug two different instruments into

dropped, open, or any of the tunings available for dobro, banjo, dul-

the Versa Tune and even feed two separate amplifiers if desired. There’s

cimer, mandolin, 7-string guitar, 6-string bass, and myriad others,

also a mute mode for silent tuning that is activated by front-panel switch

including ethnic instruments.

or optional footswitch. Other features include a Precision button for fine

The Versa Tune features a tough metal housing and an internal

tuning, a Note button that allows you to select a specific note to tune, and

power supply, so you can connect it directly to a wall socket without

a Strobe button that changes the display so that the LEDs move right-to-

the need for an adapter. All in all, an excellent tuner for rack gear afi-

left or left-to-right depending on whether the note is flat or sharp. A Cali-

cionados. — A r t

bration button is also provided in case you need to tune slightly higher or

Kudos Stable tuning. Easy to read displays.

lower than A 440 (436Hz to 445Hz) to match the tuning of other instru-

ConCerns None.

ments or audio sources.

ContaCt rocktron.com

116

G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

thompson

Gear

T EST D R I V E

118

G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

Andrew White Freja 1022 and Eos 110 T esT e d by ba rry Clevela nd a ndr e w w h i T e ’s h an d- bu i lT bou Ti qu e gu iTa rs Ca n

Fr e ja 1022

easily top $10,000 in price, depending on which options you choose. To

At nearly the size of a jumbo guitar, the Freja is the largest of the three

meet the needs of players of more modest means, however, White also

models. Its slightly atypical shape and semi-Florentine cutaway endow it

proffers his Production Series of Korean-made instruments that street for

with a tastefully arty appearance, which is accentuated by its unadorned

between $600 and $1,200. The Production Series comprises three base

fretboard (no position markers on the face), curly maple binding with

models named after deities—Freja, Eos, and Cybele—with variations on

detailed mahogany and maple purfling, beautiful mixed-wood rosette

each base model available. The guitars come with an AGB100 Standard

with a zebrawood ring that radiates out from the soundhole, and lack of a

padded soft case, though the AGB200 Deluxe soft case with additional

wood-obscuring pickguard. The 1022 is distinguished from the other Freja

padding and features may be had for about $50 more. (A molded hard

models by its solid blackwood back and sides, which pair nicely with its

case is also available as an option.)

sold Sitka spruce top.

Hear It Now!

www.guitarplayer.com/february2014

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4 / G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M

119

Gear A nd r e w w hite

MODEL

Freja 1022 CONTACT

andrewwhiteguitars.com

PRICE

$1,455 retail/$1,175 street with soft case

S P E C I F I C AT I O n S

.

NUT WIDTH

1 11/16"

NECK

Spanish cedar

FRETBOARD

Pau ferro, 25.5" scale

FRETS

21, 14 to body

TUNERS

Andrew White 18:1 ratio

BODY

Solid Sitka spruce top, solid blackwood back and sides

BRIDGE

Pau ferro with Graphtech Nubone saddle

ELECTRONICS

Artec SHP 5

FACTORY STRINGS D’Addario EXP, .012-.053 WEIGHT

5.2 lbs

BUILT

Korea

KUDOS

Beautiful sound and appearance. Excellent workmanship. Versatile. Plays nicely.

CONCERNS

Electronics are a tad quirky.

MODEL

eos 110 PRICE

$829 retail/$729 street with soft case

S P E C I F I C AT I O n S

.

NUT WIDTH

1 11/16"

NECK

Spanish cedar

FRETBOARD

Indian rosewood, 25.5" scale

FRETS

20, 14 to body

TUNERS

Andrew White 18:1 ratio

BODY

Solid Sitka spruce top, rosewood back and sides

The Freja was designed to perform well

and smallish frets provide an exceptionally

whether you’re strumming big chords or

comfortable feel, though the slightly sharp

BRIDGE

Indian rosewood

playing fingerstyle, and it succeeds admi-

top edges along both sides of the frets could

ELECTRONICS

N/A

rably in both scenarios, likely due in part to

have used a bit more polishing. Otherwise,

FACTORY STRINGS D’Addario EXP, .012-.053

White’s signature Scalloped X bracing. The

the fretwork is excellent, as is the workman-

WEIGHT

4.6 lbs

guitar’s large body results in considerable

ship generally.

BUILT

Korea

KUDOS

Beautiful sound and appearance.

volume and projection, while its medium-low

The proprietary tuners are well made, and

action and dynamic touch response facili-

their smooth action and 18:1 ratio allow you

tate more subtle and nuanced playing. The

to execute even the slightest adjustments

satin-finished Spanish cedar C-shaped neck

with accuracy and speed. The guitar tunes up

120

G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

Excellent workmanship. Plays nicely. Exceptional value. CONCERNS

None.

Jam wi t hyourFavor i t eBand

I fRus h’ sCl ockwor kAngel sTouri ns pi r esy out omak es omenoi s e,t hen getJ ammi t( i OS,Mac ,PC)andpl ayal ongwi t ht heor i gi nal s t udi ov er s i ons ofy ourf av or i t eRus hs ongsus i ngs c r ol l i ngnot at i on&i ns t r umenti s ol at i on.

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Gear An dre w w hi t e

easily, and stays in tune, even when played aggressively. In fact, the overall intonation of the instrument is superb, including when playing chords above the 12th fret. The onboard Artec SHP 5 Soundhole Preamp System comprises an under-saddle piezo coupled with a small microphone attached to the control unit, which is positioned just inside the soundhole for easy access. Controls include sliders for Blend and output Volume, along with buttons for Bass Boost (6dB at100Hz), anti-feedback Phase flip, Acoustic Amp simulator, and Battery potency check. There are quite a few nice guitars available in this highly competitive price range, though few offer such fabulous woods, fine craftsmanship, and sophisticated electronics. Should you find yourself in that market, the Freja 1022 should definitely be a contender.

Eos 110 Occupying the mid-sized position between the jumbo-esque Freja and the comparatively diminutive Cybele, the Eos will likely be of particular interest to fingerstyle players. Its lower bout has the same dimensions as a standard dreadnought, endowing it with more oomph than a typical 000or OM-sized guitar, but its slightly smaller upper body and petite waist impart some of the tonal attributes of those instruments. Like the Freja, the Eos has a solid Sitka spruce top, and boasts White’s Scalloped X bracing—but its sides and back are constructed from rosewood, and the fretboard and bridge are made from Indian rosewood. The fretboard is adorned with circular wooden fret markers, which blend nicely with the lovely wood rosette and understated pin-stripped binding. The Eos’ C-shaped Spanish cedar neck is identical to the neck on the Freja, and the fretboard is fitted with the same medium-small frets, though there are 20 of them rather than 21. Everything that I said about the Freja’s neck and fretwork applies equally to the Eos. Ditto for the tuners—which are also identical—and the fabulous intonation. In short, the Eos feels great and plays wonderfully. There’s not really a whole lot more to say about this guitar, other than that it has a simultaneously warm and crisp sound, with excellent note definition within chords, good balance between strings, no buzzes when played in a reasonable manner, and no sloppy workmanship either externally or internally, which is often the case with “offshore” guitars. At $729 street it is one hell of a guitar and represents and exceptional value, which is why it receives an Editors’ Pick Award. g

122

G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

The Freja’s Artec SHP5 electronics (above) sit just inside the soundhole for easy access. The Eos 110’s gorgeous rosette (below) is composed of small bits of inlayed wood.

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4 / G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M

123

Gear

T esT d r I v e

Musicvox MI-5 and Spaceranger MVX-30 Studio Custom TesT e d by T eja G er ken In a world where “vInTaGe-InspIred” TypIcally means

MI- 5

that something is a copy of a classic instrument, Musicvox’s guitars and basses are a breath of fresh air. While pretty adventurous stylistically, the company successfully blends myriad influences into something totally coherent and functional. More recently, the company has ventured into amplifiers with the MVX-15 and MVX-30 combos. These stylish, tube-powered amps are a welcome addition to the Musicvox line, so I was intrigued to check out this new guitar/amp set.

What happens when you take a few parts Rickenbacker and Mosrite, add a good dose of Eko, and then sprinkle a little Les Paul Junior on top? One outcome might be something like the Musicvox MI-5, which appears to have elements of all the aforementioned classics. Let’s take a look: The MI-5’s asymmetrical body is made out of mahogany, and our review model was finished in a color that’s not unlike Gibson’s “TV Yellow,” with painted-on black binding, a couple of racing stripes, and a triangular pickguard adding to the

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G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

MODEL

MI-5 CONTACT

musicvox.com

PRICE

$799 direct

MODEL

Spaceranger MVX-30 StudIo cuStoM

S P E C I F I C AT I O n S

guitar’s unique appearance. The bolt-on neck features a relatively shallow D-profile, a rosewood fretboard with rectangular pearl position markers, and white binding. Looked at individually, it would be hard to imagine the two-point headstock being a match for the MI-5’s body, but lo and behold, they coexist in harmony. Our MI-5 came with a pair of P-90-style pickups, but a humbucker option is also available. The guitar’s chrome bridge is similar to a non-tremolo Strat-style design, with six individually adjustable saddles, and the strings loading through the body. Sitting down to play the MI-5, I was surprised that what had seemed like a somewhat randomly weird design actually turned out to be one of the most ergonomic

.

NUT

Plastic, 1 11/16” wide

NECK

Maple, shallow D profile

FRETBOARD

Rosewood, 25.5” scale, 16” radius

FRETS

22 medium

TUNERS

Kluson-style, enclosed

BODY

Mahogany

BRIDGE

Chrome, non-tremolo Strat-style

PICKUPS

Two vintage style P-90s (hum-

CONTROLS

PRICE

$699 direct

S P E C I F I C AT I O n S

.

CHANNELS

1

CONTROLS

Gain, Treble, Bass, Middle, Volume, Reverb, Presence. Fat switch. Standby and Power switches.

buckers optional)

POWER

30 watts.

Volume and Tone controls, 3-way

TUBES

Two 6L6 power tubes, three 12AX7 preamp tubes

switch FACTORY STRINGS D’Addario, .010-.046

EXTRAS

Spring reverb. Effects loop

WEIGHT

7.04 lbs

SPEAKERS

12" Eminence with alnico magnet

BUILT

Vietnam

WEIGHT

40.7 lbs

KUDOS

Awesome looks. Ergonomic play-

BUILT

China

ing feel. Classic sounds.

KUDOS

Killer looks and crunchy rock sounds.

None.

CONCERNS

Not much clean headroom.

CONCERNS

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4 / G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M

125

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electric guitar shapes I’ve ever encountered. Between the asymmetrical waist and the fact that the bridge is mounted deeper into the lower bout than on most guitars, the guitar’s neck feels much shorter than on other guitars with a 25.5" scale. This was especially noticeable when playing in first position, which didn’t require stretching my arm out nearly as much as I’m used to. Strung with D’Addario .009s (Musicvox is now shipping the guitar with .010s), the guitar also played like butter all across its fingerboard. I began by playing the guitar through the Musicvox MVX-30 amp (more on that in a moment), where I was greeted with ballsy P-90 tone that had higher output and was much fatter than a typical Fender-style single-coil tone, but also had great definition and vibrant, sparkly high end. Played in a slightly overdriven setting, the MI-5 would make a really solid rock rhythm guitar, and once I added a DigiTech iStomp loaded with a “Screamer” model to the signal, the guitar handled crunchier tones with aplomb. Encouraged by these results, I also plugged it into a Mesa/Boogie DC-5, where I found it easily tackled super high-gain settings, lending excellent sustain to the resulting single-note tone.

MVX-30

M i C R o

A M p

3 Channels • 50w • All-Tube • Reverb Best Overall Product 6 months No interest

126

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With its blue covering (black is also available), chrome faceplate, and white chicken head knobs, the amp looks positively seductive. Again, there is a bit of a melting pot of styles going on, with a liberal blend of vintage American and British amps dominating the appearance. The amp’s open-back cabinet is made out of poplar plywood, and removing the chassis from it revealed very clean-looking circuitry, with the tube sockets mounted to the circuit board, and the pots solidly mounted to the metal chassis, with their contacts soldered directly to the board. A short reverb tank is mounted to the bottom of the cab. Besides testing with the Musicvox MI-5, I also auditioned the amp with a Gibson ES-335 and a Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster Custom. As you’d expect from an amp that’s powered by a pair of 6L6 power tubes, the MVX-30 delivers quite a punch. And even though there is a master volume, it really wants to be opened up a bit to deliver its best sound. Played at low volumes, I found the amp to be a bit more austere sounding than a typical Fender tube amp, but it immediately offered

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FACEBOOK.COM/SWISSPICKS • SWISSPICKS.COM • WHILESHEWAITSMUSIC.COM 128

G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

a great, slightly dirty edge. It seemed to be happiest with both the gain and the master volume at about 12 o’clock, where all three guitars yielded a cool blend between classic British- and American-style rhythm tones. I found the amp’s tonal range to be somewhat restrained, however, as I couldn’t get a really clean sound at anything above living room volumes. I don’t think it would work as a clean jazz amp at gig volumes, and yet the amount of saturation didn’t really go beyond a healthy crunch when I cranked the Gain control. You’d probably want to add an overdrive or distortion pedal if you’re into a heavier sound. The reverb sounds nice and rich, though I felt the control was a bit on the sensitive side, as the effect becomes saturated beyond the wildest surf guitar hallucination when the Reverb knob is only at 4 or 5. On the contrary, the tone controls are on the subtle side of the spectrum and don’t change the sound too drastically no matter how you set them. Overall, the MVX-30 could be a cool choice for someone looking for a vintagestyle combo with a comprehensible feature set and a classic rock ’n’ roll voice. It’s fairly priced, and if looks could kill I’d be in serious trouble! g

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4 / G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M

129

Gear

T esT d r I V e

ENGL Ironball TesT e d by A rT T hompson smAll Tube heAds Are All The rAge

that enhance its flexibility. Both channels share

these days, with the format typically being two

a common set of tone controls (Bass, Middle,

A standout feature of this amp is its 4-position

channels driving a pair of EL84 output tubes

Treble, Presence), and there are Clean Gain and

Power Soak, which lets you set the wattage at 20

for about 20 watts of punch. The Ironball meets

Lead Gain knobs for each channel, as well as a

watts, 5 watts, 1 watt, or “off” for silent recording

these criteria while offering a bevy of features

Lead Volume and a global Master that adjusts

when using the balanced line out. The Ironball is

the overall output level for both channels. A

quite loud when running at full clip, so being able

Boost switch ups the gain on both channels,

to knock the wattage down in increments makes

while an adjacent switch selects the channels.

it possible to run the amp at high output settings

guitarplayer.com/february2014

These functions are also footswitchable, as is the

to take full advantage of power tube harmonics

reverb and another function called M.V.B., which

without it being too loud for the room. Between

> Art Thompson demos the

is a preset volume boost that’s only accessible

this function and the well-implemented Master,

Engl Ironball.

by footswitch. With all these useful functions

you can easily get this amp dialed in volume-wise

ready to be put to use, it’s too bad that a foot-

for whatever the situation calls for.

MORE OnLInE

switch isn’t included with the Ironball, even if it

130

G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

made the package a little more costly.

The Ironball is a rugged affair with a sturdy

steel enclosure, a stainless-steel handle, recessed

distortion machine with lots of sustain available

knobs, and a perforated grille that provides excel-

as the Gain is rolled up. The tones are tight and

lent protection for the tubes while allowing plenty

aggressive, and this channel’s touch respon-

of airflow around them for cooling.

siveness allows you to transition from searing

Firing up the Ironball in Clean mode though

solo tones to lighter crunch simply by adjust-

a Bad Cat 4x12, the amp delivered a warm, clear

ing your picking or backing off on the guitar’s

tone that sounded tight and well-focused in the

volume. The Lead Master provides good con-

20-watt mode with the Gain knob at a lower

trol of the volume level, and here’s also where

setting and the Master cranked. You can get

a 5-watt or 1-watt Power Soak setting helps to

grindier rhythm tones by turning up the Gain,

maintain much of that girthy output-tube char-

with heavier crunch awaiting as the knob gets

acter while keeping the volume in check. Con-

CONTACT

engl-amps.com

close to the maximum setting. The nicely voiced

nected to the Eminence-loaded 1x12 cabinet,

PRICE

$1,199 street

EQ made it easy to get great clean-to-crunchy

the Ironball obviously didn’t sound as big as it

rhythm sounds a with a PRS 22 and Buzz Feiten

did through the 4x12, but it was loud enough for

T-Pro, and there was plenty of gain on tap for

a smaller stage and had headroom to spare.

MODEL

Ironball

S p E c i f i c at i O n S

.

CHANNELS

2

CONTROLS

Clean Gain, Lead Gain, Bass,

tough-sounding distortion with the Feiten’s

The Ironball makes a lot of sense for play-

single-coils—especially with the Boost switch

ers who need a small head that can deliver a

engaged, which slathers on more gain and makes

wide range of clean and overdriven tones on

Volume, Master. Gain Boost

it possible to go from a dynamically grinding

the bandstand and/or in a home studio envi-

and Lead/Clean switches,

rhythm sound to a stout lead tone by toggling

ronment. It scores well in the features depart-

Standby and Power switches.

the Boost switch on and off. The dynamic sensi-

ment and lands at a fair price considering its

Rear panel: Reverb Level,

tivity is such that you can also control the distor-

German origin. Pack it along with a compact

tion level using only the guitar’s volume control.

speaker cabinet, and you’ve got a rig that can

The digital reverb has an open, airy sound and

make for a one-trip carry from the car to the club.

trails off in a smooth, organic manner. You can’t

That alone might be reason enough to give the

preset a different reverb level on each channel,

Ironball a shot, but spend a little time explor-

but that’s a realistic concession due to the lim-

ing its tones and you may find this little amp to

ited space for knobs.

be a great choice even if you enjoy the luxury of

Headphone out. Balanced

having a crew to lug your gear. g

line out (1/4” TRS). 8Ω and

In Lead mode the Ironball turns into a

Middle, Treble, Presence, Lead

4-position Power Soak switch POWER

20 watts. Switchable to 5 watts, 1 watt, or speaker off

TUBES

Two EL84 power tubes, four 12AX7 preamp tubes

EXTRAS

Digital reverb. Effects loop.

2x16Ω speaker outs. Reverb/ Master Volume Boost footswitch jack, Clean/Lead/ Gain-Boost footswitch jack. SPEAKERS

Tested with a Bad Cat 4x12 and a 1x12 cab loaded with an Eminence EJ1250 speaker.

WEIGHT

Head 15.2 lbs

BUILT

Germany

KUDOS

Excellent clean and overdriven tones. Handy Power Soak function. Compact design.

CONCERNS

Footswitch not included.

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Gear

sTo m pbox Feve r

Spontaneous Audio Devices Son of Kong TesT e d by A rT T hompson AnyThing relATed To FrAnk ZAppA is bound To cApTure

attention, so it’s no surprise that the Son of Kong pedal ($495 street) has created a stir among tone hounds. Fundamentally a parametric EQ and powerful clean booster, the SoK can be deployed after (or ahead of) a chain of pedals to perform tone shaping and level functions. The unit can also generate distortion via the EQ, and it’s well equipped for radical forms of clipping that most fuzz and distortion boxes lack the EQ range to deliver. Designed and built by FZ’s tech, Arthur “Midget” Sloatman, who installed the same EQ circuit in all of Zappa’s guitars from 1979 on, the SoK also features an XLR direct out (which uses a high-grade Lundahl transformer) for direct feed (with or without EQ) to a mic pre, recording or FOH console, or other balanced input. There are also ¼" normal and Thru outs, which can

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be used to toggle between two amplifiers—one dry, and the other with optional EQ and boost. The unit is powered by an internal 9-volt battery or with an external supply of up to 40 volts for maximum clean headroom. The control panel may look a little daunting with its five knobs, three mini toggles, and dual footswitches, but in reality it’s pretty easy to get around on once you understand what everything does. There are two gain circuits, and with V1 selected (indicated by an LED) and the upper toggle in the “DI” setting, the SoK is in low-gain mode, which is optimized for using the XLR out or driving pedals—with the ability of adding up to 6db of boost when the V1 knob is all the way up. With the EQ knobs pointed at noon, the response is essentially flat, and the pedal is in primed for subtle boosting and clarifying of guitar

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Gear Stom pbox Fev er

tones, which it does extremely well. You can really hear the difference when toggling the Bypass footswitch between straight and effected settings. The EQ is always active in “DI” mode, with the “G” knob controlling gain boost or cut, and the “F” knob adjusting frequency. Here, the mini toggle with Bass and Treble settings sets the range of the “F” knob to adjust frequencies from 180Hz to 5kHz, or 35Hz to 1kHz. The “Q” knob controls bandwidth: Turned all the way to the right, the EQ affects 1/10th of an octave, the middle setting one octave, and turned all the way to the left, it affects two octaves. This control lets you nail down exactly what you want from an EQ—everything from narrow, wah-like timbres to big shifts in frequency response, as might be needed to radically increase bottom end, suck the mids into oblivion, or create teeth rattling highs—perhaps all three at once. You can also get 15dB of gain boost by setting the upper switch

to the +20 position, a setting that could be useful when the SoK is at the end of a chain of pedals and you need a hot signal to hit your amplifier’s front end. (Note that the DI out is not active whenever the +20 boost is engaged.) When you use the right-hand footswitch to select V2 (indicated by a corresponding LED), the “V2” volume control provides the same 6db of boost and the EQ can be activated by moving the lower right-hand toggle to the V2+DI position. Put the Gain switch to the +20 setting, however, and now you’ve got 26dB of gain to play with— almost twice that of what is available in V1 mode—which can be used for boosting the signal level into an amp or generating distortion within the SoK. As shipped, the SoK is not true-bypass. This allows the DI out to remain active when the pedal is in bypass mode. Changing the internal jumper (which is moved between pins) to the “Yes” position removes all circuitry

from the signal path when in bypass mode (i.e. true bypass), but also mutes the DI out. There’s also an internal Thru Mute jumper that allows signal to be present at both ¼" outs when either V1 or V2 is selected. By changing this jumper to the “On” position, the Thru out is muted when V2 is selected. This is the mode you want to use for switching between amplifiers. As a clean EQ and potent booster, Son of Kong definitely succeeds, and you can use it to simply toggle between two levels of boost (with or without EQ in V2 mode), switch between channels on the same amp, or as a DI box for basses, keyboards, mandolins, etc. All considered, it’s a beast worth investigating if you’re looking for ways to enhance your rig. g Kudos Excellent clean EQ. Tons of boost potential. XLR out. ConCerns Expensive. ContaCt spontaneousaudio.com

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Gear

sTo Mp box fe ver

TWA GD-02 Great Divide Multi-Voice Octaver TesT e d by ba rry Clevela nd a lT h oug h Th i s i s The “Mk i i ” v e rsi on o f The greaT

Divide, don’t be too concerned if you missed the original 2011 model—as only six were ever made. The GD-02 Great Divide ($399 street) costs half that of the original, delivers the same performance, and actually adds several new features that expand its sound-crafting capabilities. The pedal is powered by any 9-volt power supply, and features TWA’s proprietary relay-based S3 truebypass switching, which automatically defaults to bypass mode should the pedal lose power (a nice touch for gigging musicians). The entirely analog Great Divide features three independent octave effects—octave up, octave down, and a variable Sub voice—along with an analog synthesizer of sorts. There are individual faders for the three octave voices and the synth, as well as a Dry signal

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fader, allowing the five sounds to be blended together mixer-style. Connecting an optional expression pedal creates a master volume control, and the expression pedal jack also serves as an effects loop for patching in additional pedals or devices. The surprisingly robust Synth section provides a choice of five intervals (unison, octave down, two octaves down, octave plus a fifth down, and two octaves plus a sixth down) and four waveforms (saw+pulse, chopped saw+pulse, square, and modulated square). The diverse sounds it produces range from singing and fuzz-like to fat and funky to downright flatulent—and, because there are no oscillators, on some settings it even handles chords. The Sub voice is similarly flexible, allowing you to choose from the same four intervals offered on the Synth. It has the capability

www.guitarplayer.com/february2014

Gear Stom pbox Fev er

to sound truly immense, particularly combined with some of the Great Divide’s other voices, or when driven by a fuzz pedal. The two octaves plus a sixth down setting can be especially dramatic. The octave-up and octave-down functions are relatively straightforward, though you can change the response of the former by engaging the Envelope switch, which alters its characteristics in various ways, depending on how several internal trimpots are adjusted. That’s right, I said internal trim-pots, of which there are ten, along with two switches. Two of the pots are global: Input Gain may be used to compensate for different pickups but will also produce overdriven sounds, and Sum is a master output level control with gobs of gain. Others let you tweak individual effects. For example, the -1 Oct LPF, +1 Oct LPF, and Syn LPF pots all dial in more or less highs, while the X-Mod switch lets you modulate the

octave-down voice using the Sub Clock, for increased resonance and edginess. Sound geeky? It is, but inveterate knob twiddlers will likely be delighted. The Great Divide has a big and very vibey sound with lots of personality and enough quirkiness to keep things interesting. The tracking is quite good and the pitches relatively stable, though I obtained the most consistent results when playing above the 10th fret. This was particularly true of the lower-frequency sounds, which tended to get a little wobbly and even shift pitch randomly when notes were sustained for very long. Remember, this is an analog pedal— the low octaves and intervals are created by subdividing the input frequencies and the octave-up voice is the product of harmonic distortion, so you aren’t always going to get the sort of pitch stability you get with digital multi-octave devices. My favorite thing about the Great Divide is its flexibility. Besides handling standard

octave-fuzz, octave-down, and synth-like sounds with ease, it allows you to create complex clusters of sounds, such as combining the Synth and Sub voices with their clocks set to two octaves plus a sixth down, and then adding in bits of the dry and octaveup voices; or using that same combination with a fuzz; or adjusting the attack envelopes of various voices to yield cello- and flute-like sounds; or pushing the pedal into wacky self-oscillation freakouts. Of course, not everyone will be enamored with those possibilities—but if, like me, you are a musician who can’t resist the siren call of unexplored sonic horizons, and are happily willing to pay the fare to get there, the Great Divide beckons. g Kudos Chockablock with cool sounds. Super tweakable. ConCerns Internal controls inconveniently located. ContaCt godlyke.com

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Gear

Wh aCk J oB

1967 Goya Rangemaster 116-SB By t e rry Ca rleton W e s u r e l i k e d o u r g u i ta r s t o have buttons back in the ’60s. Before our love affairs with pedalboards and rack systems, the more buttons, knobs, and switches a model had, the more potential it had to help one find his or her voice on the guitar. The Goya Rangemaster, with its nine pushbuttons, offered more choices than just about any guitar out there, aside from Vox models that actually had built-in electronics. This specimen was manufactured in Italy— perhaps by EKO—but the bridge was made in Sweden by Hagstrom.

Wei r do Fac to r Other than all of the buttons and the special

well as six pickup-selector buttons, three Tone

quad pickup design, one of the weirder features

buttons (Lo, Med, Hi), and a master Volume

of this instrument is the elongated headstock

knob. In addition to conventional bridge or

that looks like a large fish scaler.

neck pickup selections, the Rangemaster also lets you do things like push the

P laya b i li ty & Sou n d

2+3 button to get the bridge’s bass-side

Weighing in at about eight pounds, the Range-

pickup and the neck’s treble-side pickup.

master 116-SB is a double-cutaway model with

The result is a very funk-friendly, out-of-

a very subtle contour. The 25”-scale maple neck

phase sound. Finally, there’s the rockin’ ALL

plays great, and there are 21 perfectly dressed

button for when you need that “extra push

frets on the rosewood fretboard. A slotted string

over the cliff” (thank you, Nigel Tufnell), and

spacer on the headstock levels out tension

a master OFF (or kill switch).

while feeding the strings into the 1 5/8” plastic nut. There are six chrome machine heads that

Va lue

feel great to the touch and are nicely accessi-

I bought mine about ten years ago from Guitar

ble, due to the crescent-moon shaped head-

Showcase in San Jose, California, for $400.

stock cutaway. The Rangemaster also includes

Today, this 9-button Euro freak is known as

a faux wood-grain pickguard, an adjustable

one of the Goya “holy grailers,” and it can

neck, a chrome vibrato with a detachable bar,

go for well over a thousand dollars.

and a three-way adjustable bridge. The lowmass, surface-mounted Hagstrom bridge feels

Wh y i t ruleS

remarkably smooth and holds its tune fairly well.

Like so many of the Italian, Swedish,

Living up to its name, the Rangemaster has

English, and German guitars of the

quite a variety of tonal possibilities. For one

’60s, the Rangemaster not only has

thing, there’s almost six inches between the

a great and freaky look, but it plays

bridge and neck pickups. That’s a big gap, and

and sounds like a dream. For whatever

it makes for a very unique sound. Then, unlike

reason, these time-tested guitars are

other push-button guitars—of which there

still relatively affordable, and that rules!

were many—the electronics on the Rangemas-

As Goya said in their beat-era Rangemas-

ter 116-SB include two pairs of split pickups, as

ter ads, “Plug it in and turn everybody on!” g

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Gear

Fa b l e F I g hters

What’s the Big Deal aBout

Jumbo Frets? by dave hunt er It should be obvIous, rIght?

“under the microscope.” Unless it is very precisely

set-neck construction, scale length, pickups—

Bigger frets mean bigger tone, and that sounds

shaped, and frequently dressed, the broad crown

and the impact of narrow-gauge frets doesn’t

like something we’d all want from our guitars.

of that jumbo fret can “blur” your note ever so

outweigh any of them. It does, however, influ-

As with so many things about the guitar, how-

slightly, which might even be part of the sonic

ence the overall sonic stew of guitars of that

ever, the truth isn’t necessarily that straight-

appeal for some players—the way, for exam-

era, which is always the product of many dif-

forward. Fret size and shape can affect a great

ple, a tweed Deluxe is a little blurrier or hairier at

ferent ingredients.

many aspects of your guitar’s sound and feel,

most volume settings than a blackface Deluxe.

Fret gauge might have a bigger impact on

so it’s worth looking at the bigger picture before

Be aware, however, that the phenomenon can

playing feel than on tone for many guitarists.

jumping to any quick conclusions.

work against some sonic goals too.

Wider frets are often attributed a smoother,

The “fatter wire = fatter tone” equation is

Since they present a finer break point at the

more buttery playing feel, which also makes

nothing new. Ever since jumbo frets have been

neck end of the strings’ speaking length, narrower

it easier to bend strings. Ease of bending is

available, many great players—Rory Gallagher,

vintage-gauge frets are generally more precise

also enhanced by taller frets, whether wide or

Stevie Ray Vaughan, Kenny Wayne Shepherd—

in their noting accuracy. From this, you tend to

narrow. Narrow frets shouldn’t be too hard to

have been known to re-fret their Fender Strato-

get a sharper tone, possibly with increased into-

bend on, unless they are badly worn down, and

casters in particular with jumbo wire (vintage-spec

nation accuracy, plus enhanced overtone clarity

they also leave a little more finger room on the

Strats arguably provide a more dramatic before-

in some cases, which could be heard as a little

fretboard—particularly in the higher positions—

and-after picture than some other guitars, since

more “shimmer.” If you’re thinking these are all

which might suit some players better. Ultimately,

they were born with narrow frets). More metal

characteristics of the classic Fender sound,

if you’re mostly playing rock, heavier blues, or any

in any fixed component usually means a greater

you’d be right—or they are, at least, until you

shred or metal styles, you might prefer jumbo

vibrational coupling between string and wood,

change those vintage frets to jumbo. But nar-

or medium-jumbo frets. However, for country,

so there is presumably something to this theory.

rower frets were also used on Gibson Les Pauls

rockabilly, surf, or old-school ’50s rock and roll,

But what else changes with fret size?

prior to 1959, so their characteristics apply to

narrow frets could be the way to go. In any case,

While larger frets do seem to result in a

these guitars as well. Does a ’57 goldtop with

though, if your frets are in good condition and

rounder tone, perhaps with increased sustain

PAFs sound thin or whimpy thanks to its narrow

your guitar is set up right, the size of that wire

too, they also yield a somewhat less precise

fret wire? Not likely, largely because so many

in and of itself shouldn’t stop you from sound-

note than narrower frets—at least, as examined

other factors also affect its tone—body woods,

ing great on whatever you play. g

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GetSmart Craig Anderton on Technology How to turbocharge tremolo effects Sure, tremolo iS great

for vintage effects. But with today’s plug-ins and recording software, tremolo opens up numerous rhythmic possibilities for rock and dance music. It’s crucial that the tremolo be able to sync to the host tempo, as this locks the tremolo rate to the rhythm. Usually you’ll see a sync button (Fig. 1). Enable this, and you can set a rhythmic note value for the

tremolo’s period. The simplest option is to insert two tremolo plug-ins in series. I usually set the first tremolo in the chain to a fast “chop,” like 16th notes. The second tremolo gates this at a slower rate—such as quarter notes—to produce quarternote “pulses” of 16th notes. A selectable LFO waveform offers even more options. For example, a square wave gives

tighter volume transitions, while a sine or triangle wave produces softer volume transitions. Experiment! Tremolo depth allows making the effect more subtle, or more dramatic. Mixing in more dry signal results in a subtler tremolo effect. Taking out the dry signal gives a choppy, highly rhythmic effect that’s right at home with dance music. A parallel tremolo effect also lends itself to stereo.

Fig. 1—the tremolo in Native instruments’ guitar rig 5 has a sync button. When enabled, the rate control chooses among various rhythmic values.

Fig. 2—a guitar track has been copied to create two parallel tracks. one has two Bias tremolos (from line 6 PoD Farm elements) inserted in series, with a 16th-note tremolo gated by a quarter-note tremolo. this track is panned left. the other track—which is panned right—has a dotted-quarter-note tremolo gated by a half-note tremolo.

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Split your guitar to two tracks (or record the guitar and copy it to a second track). Because the tremolos in the two tracks can have different timings, panning the tracks opposite each other creates rhythmic effects that bounce back and forth in the stereo field (Fig. 2). Applying tremolo effects to bass (include a fair amount of dry signal to retain a solid low end) adds a rhythmic quality that locks the bass to the drums, thus propelling the song even more. This same kind of technique is also useful for background, rhythm-guitar parts. Other tremolo options! Try using a time-based send effect, like echo or reverb, with guitar. Use series tremolo to chop the signal going into the time-based effect—only those sounds that pass through the tremolo will be processed. Chopping after reverb can also provide cool results. As pop music continues to get more rhythmically oriented, being able to overlay rhythmic effects with guitar gives the best of both worlds: the guitar’s organic, expressive quality combined with rhythmic effects that provide a modern flair. Give this technique a try, and you’ll likely find plenty of places where your guitar will benefit from a rhythmic turbocharge.g Craig Anderton has played on or produced more than 20 major label releases, mastered hundreds of tracks, and written dozens of books. Check out some of his latest music at youtube.com/ thecraiganderton.

GetSmart Carl Verheyen on Performance tonal Options are Not always Bliss Over the years, I’ve had

many live rigs. In my early club days, it was a guitar through a single one-channel amp. But in the ’80s and early ’90s, my rig had expanded to one of those elaborate, multi-amp switching systems. Huge “refrigerators” containing multiple amp heads linked with a wall of rack gear are rare at present, but these systems are emulated somewhat in today’s digital multi-effects, and some players may still embrace the era of overly abundant tonal options. Well, here’s a cautionary tale... In the early ’90s, my monster rig was the victim of a disaster moments before a concert at the Key Club in Los Angeles. I used a massive switching system with two 16-space racks controlled by a state-of-the-art, custom-built switching board. I used MIDI to change the effects—not only for each song, but for each section of a song! My reverbs, delays, and modulation effects would change from verse to chorus to solo. Amps would be switched in and out of the various loops, and all 16 songs in the set were programmed into the rig’s 99 presets. Well, after soundcheck, one of the stagehands accidentally tripped over the main power cable that supplied AC to the rack system. In an instant, the entire rig shut off and turned back on. At first, everything seemed to work, but I soon realized that every one of my 99 presets were gone. Hours of programming timed stereo delays, pre-delayed reverbs, rapid-fire tremolo effects, bizarre backwards sounds, and

One guy who hasn’t abandoned the rack concept is alex Lifeson, whose live rig is pictured here.

more were down the drain. But my biggest problem was that I had a show to do in 90 minutes. Luckily, I kept an emergency backup kit with extra cables, a tuner, some tubes and fuses for amps, a Tube Screamer TS-9 and a Cry Baby wah in my car. I was able to MacGyver together a rig using a 2-channel, 60-watt Jim Kelley head, the tuner, and the TS-9. I used the amp’s dirty channel for my crunch tones, and the Tube Screamer to saturate the solo tone a bit more. Far from a tragedy, this was an important day in my life. I realized I didn’t need all that gear

to sound good. The sound was in my hands, and I was much better off if I actually understood my own signal path and could trace down potential show-stopping problems myself. In addition, people came up after that show and said, “You’ve never sounded better.” That was a big clue the days of listening to always-present-and-ever-changing chorus, reverb, and delay effects were over. I decided then that it was better to have two amazing sounds than 99 decent sounds. It’s also a lesson that you can learn. The astounding number of available sounds at a

guitarist’s fingertips these days is almost frightening, and the options can prevent you from, well, playing. But if you keep in mind what I learned at the Key Club—trust your fingers, follow your ears, and, in a sense, avoid distractions—you should always be able to step on stage and unleash some good sounds and great playing. g Carl Verheyen is a critically acclaimed, Grammy-nominated guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, arranger, producer, clinician, educator, and tone master with 12 CDs, two live DVDs, and two books released worldwide.

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ALL THINGS KENDRICK “For Over Two Decades I have taught more than 30,000 people about tube guitar amplifiers…”

…through my advice columns in major magazines, my five books, my three instructional DVDs, my online Tube Guitar Amp Electronics Correspondence Course, and my weekly Tuesday night Webinars, both for experienced and one for the newbies. I get excited when I think about taking a few electronic components (resistors, capacitors, potentiometers, and tubes) and configuring them just right, and having the miracle of great guitar tone. It is science and art all in the same mindset with the inspiration of analog tube guitar tone at its finest. Please take the next logical step and go to my website or call me for personalized attention.” For your convenience, scan this QR Code with your smart device to be transported directly to the menu of my site http://www.kendrick-amplifiers.com/mm5/merchant.mvc

KENDRICK AMPLIFIERS 152

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the Straight Truth About Pickups by Jason Lollar The “magic” found in some (but not all) classic vintage pickups was created by accident. Don’t let anyone tell you different. And over time, some pretty stellar accidents happened. The only way to recreate that magic is to study more than a few exceptional examples of all the classic pickup types, while acquiring a thorough understanding of exactly what materials were used and precisely how each pickup was constructed and wound. Only then is the “magic” repeatable, if you are willing to spend the time and money required to chase the dragon. I am. I personally design and wind over 30 different pickup models, including all the vintage classics, many obscure works of art known only to lap and pedal steel players like Robert Randolph, and even a few of my own designs that never existed in the past. I invite you to visit our website for sound clips, videos and current product information, or call us for a free product highlight brochure.

Lollar Guitars PO Box 2450 Vashon Island, WA 98070 (206) 463-9838 www.lollarguitars.com

Celebrating our

Don Latarski donlatarski.com

Fanned-Fret Innovators since 1989 The Leaders in Multiscale Technology

novaxguitars.com 154

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Guitar Showcase

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Guitar Showcase

the world’s most epic guitars The Most Famous, Rare, and Valuable Guitars in the World Jimmy Page’s 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard. Carlos Santana’s PRS Santana II “Supernatural.” Eddie Van Halen’s “Frankenstein.” Discover the world’s most incredible guitars, the stories behind them, and the musicians and collectors who own them. The Collections presents spectacular photography and unprecedented access to the artists who created America’s rock music culture.

Available wherever books are sold.

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Guitar Bazaar

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Product Spotlight MightyMic S iPhone® Video Microphone Ampridge

Your video is only good if you can hear the sound you want. The MightyMic shotgun design picks up the sound in front and rejects the unwanted sounds from the back and sides. Download the Video app to monitor live sound from the rear headphone jack. MSRP: $99.99 SRP: $69.99 www.ampridge.com (973) 910-6479

The Super-Vee BladeRunner Super-Vee Tremolo Systems Available Now

The BladeRunner with patented technology gives your Stratocaster superior tuning stability, improved clarity, and a marked boost in sustain. Unlike any other tremolo, the BladeRunner delivers. Crafted in multiple finishes - six screw, two-post and lefty. MAP Price - $149.95 - $179.95 www.super-vee.com 887-TREMOLO

CLASSIC CREEP PureSalem Guitars Now Available

PureSalem Guitars adopts an inspired approach and attitude while honoring the electric guitar’s glorious past. The Classic Creep combines exceptional value, quality construction and components along with off-kilter stylings and offers guitarists a much needed break from the norm. All models available in left handed versions. “The idea is to put a pick in one hand and a guitar in the other and with a tiny movement rule the world!” David Fair / Half Japanese BOW DOWN UPON OUR CHURCH OF ACID ROCK Direct $825.00 www.puresalemguitars.com

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Mag-Lok Tremolo Anti-Deflection Device The Super-Vee

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Available Now

The revolutionary Mag-Lok design uses Rare Earth super magnets to securely hold your tremolo’s zero position during hard finger string bends, but transparently releases when using the whammy bar. It is truly the holy grail for the ultimate in tuning stability on all tone block style tremolo systems - including Floyd Rose. Installs in minutes with just a screw driver. Patent pending. Price: $49.95 www.super-vee.com

To Advertise in Guitar Player’s Product Spotlight, please contact: Specialty Sales Advertising, West: Michelle Eigen [email protected] 650.238.0325 Specialty Sales Advertising, East: Jon Brudner [email protected] 917.281.4721

Product Spotlight Alex Lifeson Signature Lerxst Omega Amplifier Lerxst Amps Now Available

The LERXST is a limited edition series amplifier from iconic Rush Guitarist Alex Lifeson and Mojotone. The custom designed, hand-wired LERXST is a one of a kind amplifier that creates the distinct tonal quality of one of Rolling Stone Magazine’s 100 greatest guitarists of all time. www.mojotone.com/pickups MSRP: $2,995.00/ea www.lerxstamps.com Lerxst Amps 513 South Dudley St. Burgaw NC 28425 910-300-2088

Guitar Players: How To Eliminate Stage Fright. Book and CD by Chris Cady Imagine how much better you’d play if you had NO FEAR! Is stage fright keeping you from reaching your dreams? With this breakthrough, easy-to-use program, you will mentally “flip a switch” & “flip off” nervousness, fear, doubt, & “switch on” confidence, focus & power, so that you command the stage & play guitar WITH CONFIDENCE the way that you do in your dreams. $49.95 We ship worldwide. www.nostagefright.com (775) 425-5263

Hot-Rod Plexi Tech 21

Now Available

Painlessly transform your amp without pulling a muscle or cranking to ear-bleed levels. Stock mode achieves the signal path of a stock ‘68 Plexi (without speaker emulation). Hot engages an extra “12AX7” pre-amp gain, up to 28dB of pre-amp boost --pretty insane gain. 100% analog. Made in U.S.A. SRP: $215 www.tech21nyc.com 973-777-6996

Exquisite, Fine Art - Guitars http://www.johnhoytart.com/ Now Available

A long overdue fine art form is being staged by new on the scene artist John Hoyt. Hoyt is forging a new path of originality with his showcase of “mad scientist vs. aliens from another world” guitar artworks ! Your prized guitar can also be “immortalized” by John ! MSRP: pricing ranges - $50 - $5000 www.johnhoytart.com (714)510-0911 [email protected]

12-Tone Ultra Plus Guitars and Necks FreeNote Guitars Available Now!

The 12-Tone Ultra Plus fretting system keeps the 12 standard frets you know and love in place, while adding 12 new frets that give pure, in-tune pitches straight from the Harmonic Series. From truly consonant new intervals, to shimmering and throbbing dissonances, hear for yourself why this has become the most popular alternative fretting system ever! MSRP: Necks from $449 www.microtones.com (212) 580-0602

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Product Spotlight

Contemporary Guitar Improvisation (Utilizing the Entire Fingerboard) Book & CD

Virtual Guitar Amp II Studio Devil Available Now

Studio Devil Virtual Guitar Amp II combines breakthrough tube amp realism with cabinet models from the world-renown Red Wires impulse library into the most straightforward amp modeling plug-in available. 18 amplifier models, 20 cabinets, tone-shaping EQ, studio effects, and a built-in tuner let you dial in the professional guitar tone you expect into your next recording project for VST, Audio Units, ProTools RTAS, and now standalone live applications too! Download a demo from studiodevil.com today! SRP: $79 www.studiodevil.com

by Marc Silver Now Available

Since 1978, Contemporary Guitar Improvisation is THE classic book for learning guitar improvisation. This innovative system is based on five basic fingering patterns that form the foundation for improvising over virtually any chords, in any key, across the entire fingerboard. All patterns are diagrammed, so note-reading ability is not necessary. Recommended by guitar legend George Benson. MarcSilverGuitarImprov.com $42.00 USD (includes delivery in the U.S.)

FAIR USE IS FAIR PLAY

Whether he is recording Mark Knopfler or learning a new plug-in, award-winning recording engineer Chuck Ainlay always acquires the music software he uses from legitimate sources. Chuck believes in fair play and works exclusively with legal software. Respect yourself, your craft, and the work of others. Buy the software you use, and buy the music you love.

www.imsta.org International Music Software Trade Association New York • Toronto • Hamburg • Tokyo Tel: 416 789-6849 • Fax: 416 789-1667

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Classic Column

O f a l l O f G P ’s c e l e b rat e d c O l u m n i sts , n O n e w e r e m O r e m u s i ca l ly g i f t e d t h a n t h e g r e at Lenny Breau. This beautiful little lesson originally appeared in the September 1983 issue. — Matt Blackett

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