Tags: magazine   magazine guitar world  

ISBN: 1045-6295

Year: 2014

Text
                    5 SONGS

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THE
RETURN
OFBUILD
JUDAS
PRIEST!
ESSENTIAL
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GUIDE: HOW TO
YOUR PEDAL
BOARD!

G U I TAR & BASS TABS!

JUDAS PRIEST
"Electric Eye"
CREAM
"Sunshine of Your Love"
ANIMALS AS
LEADERS
"CAFO"
ED SHEERAN
“Sing”
BLACK KEYS
“Lonely Boy”

BLACK
KEYS
ST

DAN
AUERBACH’S
21 BLUES
CENTURY

ERIC
CLAPTON
SALUTES
J.J. CALE

P LU S

V I N TAG E OD D I T I E S!

10 HIPPEST GUITARS
P RACT I C E

AMP
ROUNDUP!

DAVE
MUSTAINE
LINKIN
PARK
MESHUGGAH
ERIC
JOHNSON
BOB
MOULD
RIVAL SONS


worldmags.net worldmags.net We've expanded our Our SE line of affordable, quality instruments has expanded to include electrics, acoustics and now two basses: the SE Kestrel and the SE Kingfisher. line © 2014 PRS Guitars / Photos by Marc Quigley
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worldmags.net worldmags.net ©2014 TAYLOR GUITARS B r e a k u p s o n g s f o r me n and t heir inner demons.
There is no endorsement of Taylor Guitars by the Dept. of Defense, Dept. of the Navy or the U.S. Marine Corps. worldmags.net worldmags.netORIGINAL PHOTO BY LANCE CPL. AARON P. MANKIN MIKE, A COMBAT-SEASONED MARINE, HAD ALWAYS BEEN BRAVE. BUT IT WASN’T UNTIL HE RETURNED HOME FROM HIS TOUR IN IRAQ, THAT HE REVEALED JUST HOW FEARLESS HE REALLY WAS. BECAUSE AS SOON AS MIKE STEPPED BACK ONTO U.S. SOIL, HE STEPPED OUT ONTO A HUGE LIMB BY WRITING AND PERFORMING SONGS THAT UNEARTHED THE KIND OF SUBJECT MATTER MOST RETURNING SERVICE MEN AND WOMEN NEVER WANT TO TALK ABOUT — REOPENING WOUNDS IN ORDER TO HEAL THEM. AND THOUGH MIKE REALIZED HE WOULD STIR UP A LOT OF ANGER, DARKNESS AND PAIN, HE ALSO KNEW HE COULD HELP HIS FELLOW SERVICE MEMBERS COPE WITH THEIR DEMONS IN A WAY THAT WAS A LITTLE LESS DAUNTING. THROUGH MUSIC MIKE INSPIRES US, AND REMINDS US THAT THE WORLD NEEDS MORE PEOPLE LIKE HIM. FOR MORE ABOUT MIKE AND OTHER STORIES OF PEOPLE WITH THE COURAGE TO STEP FORWARD, visit taylorguitars.com TM
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worldmags.net worldmags.net Beat the Learning Curve. We all get to that point in our playing where we need to learn something new. Why struggle with books, charts or YouTube™? See exactly where the notes are for chords, scales, songs, riffs and even tablature. You can slow down and loop any part to really nail it. No matter what you want to play, Fretlight will get you there faster. www.fretlight.com Orianthi is an official endorser of the Fretlight Learning System. YouTube™ is a registered trademark of Google, Inc.
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worldmags.net worldmags.net WHAT DO ALL OF THESE INCREDIBLE PLAYERS HAVE IN COMMON? NE FIRMWWARE 15 ALEX LIFESON Rush STEVE VAI Solo Artist JOHN PETRUCCI Dream Theater DWEEZIL ZAPPA Zappa Plays Zappa quali of all the The quality FX is superb... Great depth and transparency. Take it for a test drive, you won’t be disappointed. Das Awesome. The introduction of the Ultra was akin to the invention of the wheel... The Axe-Fx II is like having four wheels and racing into the abyss. The Axe-Fx II has A become irreplaceable on stage and in the studio for me and is truly a gift of inspiration for the modern guitar player. The Axe-Fx II is all I use for amp and cab tones, both live and in the studio. It is a quantum leap— a major milestone in guitar technology. STEVE STEVENS Billy Idol Atomic Playboys GUTHRIE GOVAN The Aristocrats, etc. NEAL SCHON Journey, Solo Artist BRIAN NUTTER Keith Urban The sound and feel of this magic box are so “real” that witchcraft would appear to be the only logical explanation… Most pleasing! I've tried every modeller on this planet and Fractal is miles ahead in every area. It's also flawlessly dependable on stage + in the studio. A The Axe-Fx II is simply the most useful and flexible tone tool you could ever have. It’s like the thing is custom made for every guitar player. STEF CARPENTER Deftones HERSHEL YATOVITZ Chris Isaak FREDRIK THORENDAL Meshuggah The Axe-Fx A II is a transcendental experience for those who love developing tones... We have found a life partner in this system. Matches and even beats old school. They captured all the nuance, mojo and fideli fidelity... It is soulful, rich and alive. This is the new real thing. PETE THORN Chris Cornell Melissa Etheridge MISHA MANSOOR Periphery A The Axe-Fx II is way beyond just amp modeling or effects processing! This is is the new standard for guitarists… The new “must have.” Awesome! Really impressed with the dynamics of the new update. Great work! I’d be lost without it in my studio. A FX is a mainThe Axe stay of my rig. No matter how I use it live or in the studio, it always delivers stunning results. belie I simply can’t believe the Axe-Fx II sounds as good as it does. I can’t stop playing once I start. (Check out the new THORENDAL amp models!) TOSIN ABASI Animals As Leaders DEVIN TOWNSEND Devin Townsend Project CHRIS BRODERICK Megadeth A Fx II inspires The Axe me to create sounds that transcend the conventional guitar amp. I consider it another instrument, and indispensable. You've heard rumors about this alien black box? Believe them! My recent records and live sound are direct Axe-Fx. Future now. Unbelie Unbelievable on every level! The flexibility is so great that every player on earth could have one and I’d still be able to have my own unique tone. REAL TUBE AMP SOUND AND FEEL ▪ 180+ BUILT-IN AMP MODELS ▪ NEW “ULTRA-RES”™ CABS ONBOARD “TONE MATCHING” & “IR CAPTURE” TOOLS LET YOU CLONE/CREATE ANY TONE 260+ OF THE INDUSTRY’S BEST STOMP & STUDIO EFFECTS INCLUDING 28+ DRIVE PEDALS QUICK & EASY TO DIAL IN ▪ PRO I/O & RELIABILITY ▪ MAC/PC EDITOR ▪ AND MORE! www.fractalaudio.com
worldmags.net worldmags.net GUTHRIE GOVAN – THE ARISTOCRATS IN STORES NOW! GUTHRIE GOVAN After two years in meticulous development, Charvel is pleased to introduce the ultimate ultra–pro guitar—the Guthrie Govan Signature model. Hear Guthrie on The Aristocrats’ latest release Culture Clash. Photo: Tara Stewart ARTIST SIGNATURE Series Guitars charvel.com © 2014 JCMI. Charvel® and the distinctive headstock designs commonly found on Charvel® guitars are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation and used herein under license to JCMI. All rights reserved.
worldmags.net worldmags.net CON T EN TS vol. 35 | no. 9 | september 2014 FEATURES 40 judas priest A few years ago, it looked as though Judas Priest were finished. But with the ferocious new album Redeemer of Souls, the Metal Gods have regained their mojo. 48 The black keys Dan Auerbach tells how the group made its latest hit album, Turn Blue, in the midst of personal hardship, using a handful of guitars, amps and effects and a whole lotta spontaneous inspiration. 53 dan auerbach’s gear The guitarist reveals the guitars, amps and effects behind his strange musical brew. 58 Weird guitars They were mutant oddities from an alternate universe. But in the hands of Muddy Waters, Dan Auerbach and other visionary players, these pawnshop rejects became six-string superheroes. 66 eric clapton The legend pays tribute to his friend and inspiration J.J. Cale and talks about The Breeze, his new star-studded tribute to the late Oklahoma guitarist and songwriter. 74 neal schon The long-running Journey guitarist returns with So U, his new album of hard rock and fusion. 80 17 best practice amps Guitar World presents a selection of the best new and current combos that can make woodshedding a pure pleasure. COVER photo BY Jason goodrich 14 gu i ta r wor l d • se p t e m be r 2014
worldmags.net worldmags.net io from S Patrick C m S av her fro hristop a n n a h, ux Fall s, S D GA John Petrucci Majesty Blackjack SLS Avenger FR-S SG Futura JPM7SS BJSLSAFRAQ SGFAU5RC-14 GUITAR GALLERY 55-POINT EVALUATION Sweetwater’s online Guitar Gallery lets you check out our world-class inventory of guitars in beautiful multiple-photo detail. Then, you can pick the exact guitar you want by serial number! Visit Sweetwater.com/guitargallery. Nearly every bass and guitar that we stock receives a detailed 55-point Evaluation by our experts before it’s shipped. We make sure it looks, sounds, and plays great right out of the box! Visit Sweetwater.com/55-point. SHOWS YOUR ACTUAL GUITAR 2-YEAR WARRANTY** Total Confidence Coverage™ Warranty PROVIDES EXCEPTIONAL PLAYABILITY FREE PRO ADVICE We’re here to help! Call today! (800) 222-4700 Sweetwater.com FAST, FREE SHIPPING On most orders, with no minimum purchase! 24 MONTHS SPECIAL FINANCING AVAILABLE ON SELECT BRANDS, USING YOUR SWEETWATER MUSICIAN’S ALL ACCESS PLATINUM CARD, THROUGH AUGUST 31, 2014* *Subject to credit approval. Minimum monthly payments required. Call your Sweetwater Sales Engineer for details or visit Sweetwater.com/financing. **Please note: Apple products are excluded from this warranty, and other restrictions may apply. Please visit Sweetwater.com/warranty for complete details.
worldmags.net worldmags.net CON T EN TS vol. 35 | no. 9 | september 2014 36 Meshuggah DEPARTM ENT S 18 Woodshed 20 Sounding Board Letters, reader art and Defenders of the Faith 23 Tune-Ups Linkin Park, Bob Mould, My Playlist with Goatwhore’s Sammy Duet, Dear Guitar Hero with Bruce Kulick, Inquirer with Dave Mustaine, Meshuggah’s Set List and much more. 89 Soundcheck 89. Epiphone Casino Coupe & Riviera Custom P93 91. ESP E-11 ST-2 92. Visual Sound V3 Series H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo pedal 94. Blackstar ID:Core Stereo 10 combo 96. G&L Tribute Series Fallout 98. Ibanez Tube Screamer TS808DX 98. Celestion A-Type 12-inch speaker 100 Columns 100. Full Shred by Marty Friedman 102. Thrash Course by Dave Davidson 104. String Theory by Jimmy Brown 106. Metal for Life by “Metal” Mike Chlasciak 108. Talkin’ Blues by Keith Wyatt 110. Hole Notes by Dale Turner 112. In Deep by Andy Aledort 116. Making Tracks by Tom Beaujour 162 It Might Get Weird Shawn Bowen’s OmCaster guitar TRANSCRIBED “Electric Eye” by Judas Priest “Sunshine of Your Love” “CAFO” “Lonely Boy” “Sing” by Animals as Leaders by the Black Keys by Ed Sheeran page 118 16 page 128 gu i ta r wor l d • se p t e m be r 2014 page 134 page 144 page 148 t r av i s s h i n by Cream
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worldmags.net worldmags.net WOODSHED vol. 35 | no. 9 | september 2014 Old, Weird and Awesome I love my iPhone, Twitter, Facebook and all the modern ways we exchange news and communicate, but they can also be annoying as all hell. Not only do I feel like I’m never really alone (my cellphone is blowing up as I write this), but it also seems like information is exchanged a little too fast. Nothing stays unique for long, and even the most novel ideas seem to get used and discarded before you can find the proper emoticon to express your approval or disgust. Maybe that’s why more and more musicians are digging into the past for ideas, music and instruments so deep and strange that they defy trendy analysis or ironic one-sentence captions. Music critic Greil Marcus called this stuff “old, weird America,” a term coined to describe the often eerie country, blues and folk music featured on the famed and influential 1952 compilation Anthology of American Folk Music (Smithsonian Folkways). While Greil used the term to reference a very specific moment in music history, I’m beginning to think almost anything that was released before the development of the World Wide Web qualifies. Guitarist Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys is certainly no stranger to the allure of this fascinating “old weird” aesthetic, and he has done a brilliant job of recasting it for our current times. Dan’s respect for and mastery of the swampy folk and blues of late bluesmen like Junior Kimbrough and Howlin’ Wolf is evident in every guitar lick he plays, but his music might be just another corny museum piece if he didn’t infuse it with just the right amount of modernity. In this month’s cover story, Dan discusses his tasteful fusion of the mysterious old and the exhilarating new, and explains how that fusion makes his band sound both timeless and timely. In that same spirit, we decided to celebrate some of our favorite “old weird” guitars in writer Chris Gill’s wonderful roundup of mutant six-string oddities, which begins on page 58. During the early evolution of the electric guitar, a number of companies produced instruments so quirky and strange that, through modern eyes, they appear contemporary if not downright futuristic. And like the Black Keys’ music, they remain so cool and interesting that not even the most intense social networking will diminish their appeal. Old and weird is now cool? Maybe there’s hope for the Guitar World staff yet! —BRAD TOLINSKI Editor-in-chief EDITORIAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Brad Tolinski MANAGING EDITOR Jeff Kitts EXECUTIVE EDITOR Christopher Scapelliti Senior EDITOR Brad Angle TECH EDITOR Paul Riario associate EDITORS Andy Aledort, Richard Bienstock, Alan di Perna, Chris Gill CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Tom Beaujour, Sammi Chichester, Mike Chlasciak, Dave Davidson, Ted Drozdowski, Dan Epstein, Marty Friedman, Paul Hanson, Randy Har ward, Eric Kirkland, Joe Matera, Dale Turner, Jon Wiederhorn, Keith Wyatt Senior Video Producer Mark Nuñez MUSIC senior MUSIC EDITOR Jimmy Brown MUSIC transcriptionist Jeff Perrin MUSIC ENGRAVER Patricia Corcoran ART design director Stephen Goggi Art director Patrick Crowley GRAPHIC DESIGN Camille Bugden Photography Director Jimmy Hubbard digital imaging specialist Evan Trusewicz DESIGN INTERN Natalie Skopelja ONLINE managing EDITOR Damian Fanelli EDITORS Brad Angle, Jeff Kitts PRODUCTION PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Nicole Schilling BUSINESS Vice President, General Manager Bill Amstutz bamstutz@nbmedia.com Group Publisher Bob Ziltz bziltz@nbmedia.com ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Jason Perl 646-723-5419, jason@guitar world.com ADVERTISING SALES Scott Sciacca 646-723-5478, scott@guitar world.com advertising sales Anna Blumenthal 646-723-5404, anna@guitar world.com Group Marketing Director Christopher Campana 646-723-5423, ccampana@nbmedia.com Sr. Marketing Manager Stacy Thomas 646-723-5416, sthomas@nbmedia.com CONSUMER MARKETING Consumer Marketing Director Cr ystal Hudson Audience Development Coordinator Kara Tzinivis Fulfillment Coordinator Ulises Cabrera Marketing Coordinator Dominique Rennell NEWBAY MEDIA CORPORATE PRESIDENT & CEO Steve Palm CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Paul Mastronardi CONTROLLER Jack Liedke VICE PRESIDENT OF PRODUCTION & MANUFACTURING Bill Amstutz VICE PRESIDENT OF DIGITAL STRATEGY & OPERATIONS Robert Ames VICE PRESIDENT OF AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT Denise Robbins VICE PRESIDENT OF CONTENT & MARKETING Anthony Savona VICE PRESIDENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES Ray Vollmer SUBSCRIBER CUSTOMER SERVICE: Guitar World Magazine Customer Care, P.O. Box 469039, Escondido, CA 92046-9039 Online: w w w.guitar world.com/customerser vice Phone: 1-800-456-6441 Email: guitar world@pcspublink.com BACK ISSUES: Please visit our store, www.guitarworld.com/store, or email onlinestore@nbmedia.com LIST RENTAL: 914-925-2449, danny.grubert@lakegroupmedia.com Reprints and permissions: For article reprints and or e-prints, please contact our Reprint Coordinator at Wright’s Reprints, 877652-5295, or NewBay@wrightsmedia.com GUITAR WORLD (ISSN 1045-6295) is published 13 times a year, monthly plus Holiday issue following December issue, by NewBay Media, LLC, 28 East 28th Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10016. Phone: 212.378.0400. Fax: 917.281.4704. Web Site: www.nbmedia.com. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Newsstand distribution is handled by Time Warner Retail. Subscriptions: One-year basic rate (12 issues) US: $14.95. Canada: US$29.95. Foreign: US$49.95. Canadian and foreign orders must be prepaid. Canadian price includes postage and GST #R128220688. PMA #40612608. Subscriptions do not include newstand specials. POSTMASTER: Send change of address to Guitar World, P.O. Box 469039, Escondido, CA 92046-9039. Ride-along enclosure in the following edition(s): None. Standard enclosure: None. Returns: Pitney Bowes, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2, Canada. Entire contents copyright 2012, NewBay Media L.L.C. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited. NewBay Media L.L.C. is not affiliated with the companies or products covered in Guitar World. Reproduction on the Internet of the articles and pictures in this magazine is illegal without the prior written consent of Guitar World. Products named in the pages of Guitar World are trademarks of their respective companies. PRODUCED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. SUBSCRIBER CUSTOMER SERVICE: Guitar World Magazine Customer Care, P.O. Box 469039, Escondido, CA 92046-9039. Online: www.guitarworld.com/customerservice. Phone: 1-800-456-6441. Email guitarworld@ pcspublink.com. BACK ISSUES: www.guitarworld.com/store REPRINTS: NewBay Media, LLC, 28 East 28th Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10016. Phone: 212.378.0414 18 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 EDITORIAL AND ADVERTISING OFFICES 28 East 28th Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10016 (212) 768-2966; FA X: (212) 944-9279 NEWBAY MEDIA, LLC 28 East 28th Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10016 www.nbmedia.com ©2014 NewBay Media, LLC. All rights reser ved. No par t of this magazine may be used or reproduced without the written permission of NewBay Media, LLC.
worldmags.net worldmags.net HEAR MARK MORTON ON LAMB OF GOD’S LATE ST RELE ASE, RESOLUTION jacksonguitars.com Photo: Scott Uchida ©2014 JCMI. Jackson ® and Dominion™ are trademarks of Jackson/Charvel Manufacturing, Inc. All rights reserved. GRAB THE NEW MARK MORTON SIGN ATURE MODELS AT AN AUTHORIZED JACKSON RETAILE R OR CHE CK ’EM OUT ONL INE AT JACKSON GUITARS.COM PRO DOMINION, BLACK BEAUTY PRO DOMINION, IVORY DX2, TRANSPARENT BLACK DX2, SATIN BLACK Mark Morton, Lamb of God
worldmags.net worldmags.net SOUNDI NG BOARD Got something you want to say? EMAIL US AT: Soundingboard@GuitarWorld.com Aced Out Flying High Again Thanks for the great July issue, especially the interview with Jimmy Page. He was the inspiration for me picking up the guitar and has given me a lifetime of enjoyment. —Mark Leander Loved the details in the Jimmy Page interview, especially as an acoustic fingerstyle player of many years. On page 158, there is a perceptive question about whether an unwound G string was used on the acoustic guitars played by Page. Page is a bit foggy on the reply, but Led Zeppelin III and Houses of the Holy use extra-light unwound strings on the G. “Over the Hills and Far Away” is near-impossible to “replicate” as smoothly with a wound G—Page’s acoustic sound on Roy Harper’s “Stormcock” is similar. It is slinky and super fast, allowing for swift, near-electric hammering on phrasing and, to coin a (bad) phrase, creates a kind of “English folk rock” tone that, in large measure, demonstrates why Led Zeppelin is so much more than merely a blues or metal behemoth in musical history. —David Podgurski Congrats to Ace Frehley for being “clean, sober, engaged to a pretty blonde and enjoying life” [July 2014]. I do have to take issue with his statement that Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons were afraid of “history repeating itself” (referring to the 1996 reunion tour) by refusing to perform with Frehley and Criss at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. While Frehley and Criss deserve the credit for Kiss’ early success, they can no longer claim credit for the success that the current lineup maintains. Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer add a cohesive element to Kiss that was sadly lacking in the Seventies and Eighties. Kiss continually sells out concert arenas and their annual Kiss Kruise. It’s common to see multigenerational fans at their concerts, and in my opinion, the group is as popular, if not more popular, than they were in past decades—and that is due to the current line-up. —Frances Stevens then scantly a week later (and not that Pagey can’t be tasteful) hearing Jeff Beck’s Truth album and being blown away again by his melodic approach and his use of space. “Playing fast is only cool when you can’t do it” is something every aspiring musician should hear. —Leo Muzzy Ink Spot Not Happy I’ve been purchasing Guitar World magazine for years and love the stories, tabs, columns, etc. I have to say, though, that a drug test should be given to the person who made the decision to transcribe “Happy” by Pharrell Williams in the issue to find out what they’re on. Either that or a psych test. You, sir, are an idiot! —Sean Fontenot Sixx Offender Full Agreement Hats off to Marty Friedman on the August edition of his Full Shred column. I have no familiarity with Mr. Friedman’s work, but his advice to young players is a message that bears repeating. It has been said before in many different ways and attributed to various stellar artists (“technique is cheap,” “learn all you can, then forget it and just play”), but I think Marty presented the idea in a very humble and honest way. I too can recall being blown away by Jimmy Page’s blazing velocity, and readers the finger [Nikki Sixx]. The only thing I liked about this issue was Ben Bauer’s “Death of Decency” guitar on the last page. How fitting! —D. Swadley I’m usually not a letter writer, but I was very disappointed in the June issue. When I got it, I hoped in vain that there would be something of interest for those who like blues and classic rock, but instead we got a photo on the Contents page of a foul-mouthed, tattooed moron giving all your I had the idea to do a Jolly Roger with a skull and guitars crossed instead of bones. Eddie Van Halen has always been one of my favorite players, so his blackand-yellow Charvel was the first choice. And there is something about Jimi Hendrix’s white Strat that’s always lured me. If you look close, the Fender logo and printing is backward, just like the Tribute Strat, but since I used a mirror to take the photo, it looks correct. Also, the Eagles are my alltime favorite band, and I always wanted the Hell Freezes Over devil somewhere—he just seemed to fit under the guitars. Ben Reiter at Broken Clover Tattoo in Tucson does all my work. —Tad Porter Got a tattoo of your favorite band or guitarist you want to share with us? Send a photo of your ink to soundingboard@guitarworld.com and maybe we’ll print it or post it on our Facebook page! Send letters to: The Sounding Board, Guitar World, 28 East 28th Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10016, or email us at Soundingboard@guitarworld.com. All subscription queries must be emailed to guitarworld@pcspublink.com. Please do not email the Sounding Board with subscription matters. 20 gu i ta r wor l d • se p t e m be r 2014
worldmags.net worldmags.net Stay connected with Guitar World on & and get the latest guitar news, insider updates, staff reports and more! Reader ART of the Month If you created a drawing, painting or sketch of your favorite guitarist and would like to see it in an upcoming issue of Guitar World, email soundingboard@ guitarworld.com with a scan of the image! m i cha el schenk er by brian bailey DEFENDERS ritc hie blac kmore by jeremy w ilson of the Faith Bob Lohr David Philip Andrew Caballero AGE 33 HOMETOWN Largo, FL GUITARS 2013 Gibson Les Paul Studio Deluxe II, Fender Stratocaster HSS SONGS I’VE BEEN PLAYING Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child,” Van Halen’s “Runnin’ with the Devil,” Jeff Beck’s “Going Down” GEAR I MOST WANT Gibson Joe Bonamassa gold top, Music Man JP6, Marshall stack AGE 24 HOMETOWN Brooklyn, NY GUITARS Ibanez S520EX and RG2EX2, Davison seven-string, Sterling by Music Man JP60 SONGS I’VE BEEN PLAYING Sikth’s “Peep Show,” the Dillinger Escape Plan’s “Gold Teeth on a Bum,” Periphery’s “Insomnia” GEAR I MOST WANT Bare Knuckle Juggernaut pickups, Ibanez RG8 eight-string, Boss ME-70 AGE 15 HOMETOWN Las Vegas, NV GUITARS ESP LTD Viper, Schecter Omen, B.C. Rich Virgin VG1 SONGS I’VE BEEN PLAYING Metallica’s “The Four Horsemen,” Boston “Foreplay/Long Time” and anything by the Fall of Troy GEAR I MOST WANT Line 6 FM4, carved top Autumn Burst Gibson SG Are you a Defender of the Faith? Send a photo, along with your answers to the questions above, to defendersofthefaith@guitarworld.com. And pray! guitarworld.com 21
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TUNE-UPS worldmags.net worldmags.net N e ws 26 “I want to pump new blood into riff-based rock and roll.” p lay list N ews DGH inquirer setlist 28 30 32 36 38 Delson Linkin Park Go for the Kill The alt-rockers get aggro with The Hunting Party. r i va l s o n s : j i m m y h u b b a r d ; B r u c e k u l l i c k : a n g e l a b o at w r i g h t By Dan Epstein Shultz (left) and Parish PHOTOs BY jermey danger The phrase “our heaviest album yet” has been uttered so many times by so many bands that it’s become a cliché. But in the case of The Hunting Party, Linkin Park’s sixth and latest full-length, there’s some truth to the trope. Recorded over an intense eight months at Los Angeles’ Larrabee Sound and EastWest Studios, The Hunting Party is the band’s first selfproduced album and its most speaker shredding. Linkin Park have jettisoned the experimental, electronicoriented approach of 2010’s Living Things and 2012’s A Thousand Suns and created 12 bracing tracks of guitar-driven rock. The band’s trademark melodicism is still apparent on tracks like “Wasteland,” “Mark the Graves” and “A Line in the Sand,” but this time it’s anchored to a six-string aesthetic that’s genuinely fierce. “Heavy is such a meaningless term,” says Linkin Park guitarist Brad Delson. “It’s too ambiguous, and it also has too much baggage associated with it. What I can say is that this is an aggressive record, and it has a definite take-no-prisoners attitude about it.” The Hunting Party also has more guitar solos on it than all of Linkin guitarworld.com 23
NEWS + NOTES Park’s albums put together, a fact that took even Delson by surprise. “My rule as a guitar player is always to do what’s best for the song, whether it’s being more laidback or, in the case of this record, more wild and in the foreground,” he says. “I kind of realized toward the end of the album that there’s a solo on every song, and that wasn’t even intentional. But there were so many times where I would hear the track and say, ‘Let me solo on it!’ Like the song ‘War’—it’s so fast and aggressive, it just made me want to tear on that at, like, 100 miles an hour. One thing that I’m proud of, though, is that each solo is really different from the next.” Though Delson has remained a Paul Reed Smith devotee throughout his career, the bulk of his guitar tracks on the album were recorded using a 1962 Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster straight into an Orange TH100 head. “I’m really specific about guitar tones, because I’ve been playing guitar and worldmags.net worldmags.net “Heavy is such a meaningless term.” listening to guitar-driven music for most of my life,” Delson explains. “For me, every guitar tone has a connotation—you associate a certain guitar tone with a certain genre or certain album. It was not a conventional choice to use the Strat and the Orange for the heavier parts, but we liked it because it had a more punk, brash, defiant kind of tone. If I played some of these songs through a more obvious setup, it would have totally changed the feeling of the songs.” The Hunting Party is also the first Linkin Park album to feature outside guests. Rapper Rakim makes an appearance, as do guitarists that include Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello, System of a Down’s Daron Malakian and Helmet’s Paige Hamilton. “It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, let’s get our friends,’” Delson explains. “It was more like, ‘This is an artist that we deeply admire.’ We just reached out and said, ‘Hey, we’re working on something and we’d love your help with it. We’d love to learn more about your process and collaborate.’ Not only are we really proud of the results but it was fun hearing those people describe their process. A lot of times it’s radically different from the way we go about constructing a song. We want to learn and grow, and the only way to do that is to surround yourself with smart people.” Ana Popovic Finds Her Groove The blues-blazer brings the funk to her recent projects. The blues is suffering from groove anemia, says Stratocaster-slinger Ana Popovic, fresh from the spring 2014 Experience Hendrix tour. “When you hear blues today, what’s missing is the funk,” she explains. “A good blues song should have a rhythm section like James Brown’s.” For proof, she points to Albert Collins and Albert King, the two supremely funky deities of the genre who helped inspire Can You Stand the Heat, her ninth, and latest, album. The disc features her own Memphisbased nine-piece ensemble, anchored by co-producer and veteran drummer Tony Coleman, who played with both Alberts and has spent the past 20 years bringing the booty shake to B.B. King’s big band. Fellow producer Tommy Sims is the smooth yin to Coleman’s greasy Stax-stoked yang. The cowriter of Eric Clapton’s Grammy-winning 24 gu i ta r wor l d • Se p t e m be r 2014 “Change the World,” Sims provides a hooksmart modern-pop framework for numbers like “Mo’ Better Love.” What Popovic brings is the heat in the set’s title, whether she’s interpolating chicken-scratch rhythms with bent-note melodies in “Boys Night Out” or tearing out the keening, wah-wah-attenuated lines that scream through the Collins tribute, “Ana’s Shuffle,” like a bottle rocket. For Popovic, blending the old and new— as well as mixing jazz-inspired melodies—is a mission she began as a child in her native Serbia when she got her first Strat at age 12 and fell under the spell of bluesman Ronnie Earl. In her late teens, her passion for the groove-propelled sounds of John Scofield and Kevin Eubanks led her to study jazz guitar in the Netherlands, where she launched the Ana Popovic Band. Since then, she’s pursued her love of the blues across the world’s stages. Two years ago, it led her to Memphis, where Popovic relocated with her family and, more recently, to the Hendrix tribute tour, on which she conjured Jimi’s spirit alongside Buddy Guy, Dweezil Zappa, Jonny Lang and other six-string heavies. Popovic says, “Playing Hendrix’s music helps me focus on what’s really important in my own music: exploring jazz and fusion to expand the sound of the blues and to grow as a songwriter and soloist.” mark goodman By Ted Drozdowski
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NEWS + NOTES worldmags.net worldmags.net Rival Sons Fight to Save Rock and Roll The California group keeps garage rock alive on Great Western Valkyrie. By Ted Drozdowski Guitarist Scott Holiday of California’s Rival Sons has a mission. “I want to pump new blood into riff-based rock and roll,” he declares. And within the sonic hemoglobin he sheds all over his band’s new album, which bears the aptly dramatic title Great Western Valkyrie, are roiling thunderclouds of fuzztone, screaming and soaring slide guitars, and enough passages of effectswoven psychedelic transcendence to dial the Wayback Machine to 1967. Holiday’s musical foundation includes Page-Beck–era Yardbirds and bands like the Seeds, the Blues Magoos, the Knickerbockers and other Sixties-era garage-rock acts. But he brings a sleek modernity to the game that balances textural command with pop-smart tune craft. “I like to create songs that get played on the radio,” Holiday says. “Not because I want Rival Sons to be the biggest band in the world but because you can play to more people. And playing to a lot of people is fun.” Onstage is also where the quartet’s Mr. Hyde emerges. They bring anarchic intensity to Great Western Valkyrie numbers, like “Secret,” where Holiday’s gritty hook buoys singer Jay Buchanan’s dustdappled Robert Plant howl. They also stretch the atmospheric “Destination on Course” into an improvisational odyssey that blends bawling slide with shimmering single-note melodies, sandpaper blues licks and grenade-blasts of distortion. The stage is also where Holiday opens his sonic trick bag wide, using two sizeable pedal boards to recreate the cyclone of guitar sounds that gusts across the Rival Sons’ five releases. “I approach effects the same way I play guitar,” he says. “I don’t wank. I’d rather play two notes that make people feel happy or angry or sad, and I’ll use only the effects on each song that I need to take it to a place where it comes alive.” 26 gu i ta r wor l d • Se p t e m be r 2014 AXOLOGY • GUITARS Kauer Banshees • AMPS Two Orange OR50s • EFFECTS (partial list) Dunlop MC404 CAE wah, Z.Vex Fuzz Probe, Basic Audio Gnarly Fuzz, KR Megavibe, Way Huge Ring Modulator, Keeley Electronics Time Machine Boost, Analogman King of Tone, Strymon Flint tremolo and reverb pedal, Demeter Tremulator, Option 5 estination Rotation • STRINGS, PICKS, SLIDES Dunlop .11­–.56 gauge, Dunlop heavy Tortex, brass and stainless steel JetSlides PHOTO BY JIMMY HUBBARD
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NEWS + NOTES What's on My iPod? Playlist worldmags.net worldmags.net Sammy Duet of Goatwhore 1 “Snowblind” Black Sabbath “This is the first song I learned to play. I couldn’t nail the solo, but I had 87 percent of the riffs down. My childhood friend and I had a contest to see who could learn it better. He won.” 2 “Cause of Death” Obituary “When I heard this in 1990, it changed everything. It was like Celtic Frost taken to the next level. Plus, the solo at the opening of the song sounds like a funeral procession. And that, kiddies, is death metal.” 3 “The Usurper” Celtic Frost “This song freaked me out. This was the first time I had heard a death grunt, Oooh! This song changed the way I defined the word heavy.” 4 “Tight Black Pants” Plasmatics “Been on a Wendy O. Williams kick lately. This is badass punk rock that makes you want to break TVs and saw someone in half. Plus, she’s singing about having a threesome in an alley.” 5 “Die Anarchische Befreiung der Augenzeugenreligion” Bethlehem “The original and most underrated ‘suicidal black metal’ band of all time. The riffs on the whole Dictius Te Necare album still amaze me: bleak, schizophrenic and evil. This song is one of my favorites, and the vocalist sounds like he is literally being burned alive.” Goatwhore’s latest album, Constricting Rage of the Merciless, is out now on Metal Blade Records. 28 gu i ta r wor l d • Se p t e m be r 2014 PHOTO BY PETER BESTE
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NEWS + NOTES worldmags.net worldmags.net Eric Johnson Releases Europe Live The Austin guitarist road tests his new carefree approach. By Brad Tolinski “but I got too hung up on examining everything under a microscope. Now I’m in recovery,” he says with a laugh. “I’m changing my whole deal. I started listening to solos I spent an entire week crafting and recording, and comparing them to versions I had done in one take. To my surprise, I started liking the first takes better. Then it dawned on me: they had the joy of making music in them.” Johnson then decided to set aside the studio album he had been laboring over and record a live album that would put his freewheeling philosophy to the test. While not a complete departure, Europe Live is undeniably the most exhilarating album of Johnson’s career. On songs like “Sun Reprise” and the 11-minute “Last House on the Block,” he soars like never before, recalling the tight-but-loose improvisations of Jimi Hendrix, John McLaughlin or Cream-era Eric Clapton. But will this new attitude last? To make sure he doesn’t backslide, the Texas guitarist explains he’s currently working with jazz guitar genius Mike Stern on a new album filled with fresh, improvisational fury. “Mike and I recorded a whole studio album in three days, which was a totally new experience for me,” he says. “But if you want to build a new muscle, you gotta work it.” Bob Mould Gets Back to His Old Ways The pop-punk pioneer returns to form with Beauty & Ruin. By Richard Bienstock Beauty & Ruin, the new album from legendary singer and guitarist Bob Mould, has been described as a “compact epic,” and indeed, its 12 succinct tracks run a gamut of moods and emotions. The record, which Mould began writing in October 2012, shortly after his father passed away, “touches on a handful of ideas,” he says. “The first one is loss—death or illness or any kind of upheaval. The next phase is reflection, which leads to the notion of acceptance. And the last three songs deal with the future—turning the corner and getting back to your previously scheduled life.” Of course, he adds, “You don’t have to listen to it that 30 gu i ta r wor l d • Se p t e m be r 2014 way. You can unpack the concept, or you can just enjoy the energy and the emotion and the crazy-ass guitar tones.” It is Mould’s “crazy-ass guitar tones” that have always been his particular calling card. “It’s a unique sound,” he says of the droney, distorted attack. “A lot of grit and a lot of uncontrollable harmonics. I like that sound. That’s me.” That sound, which Mould shelved some years back in favor of electronica and dance music, is in full force again on Beauty & Ruin. The songs— including the brooding “Low Season,” the jangly “I Don’t Know You Anymore” and the self-deprecating “Hey Mr. Grey”—are mostly set to the type of glinty, noisy melodic pop-punk that he pioneered with Hüsker Dü in the Eighties and refined in the Nineties with Sugar. Of the last song, Mould says, “Obviously, I am Mr. Grey. I’m quite aware of who I am. And I’m able to laugh at it, that whole ‘get off my yard’ kind of thing. But there’s also a credo at the end: ‘Find the life that’s right for you now.’ ” It’s a credo that also sums up Beauty & Ruin. “The album,” Mould says, “is like this cold, slow, grey piece of work that, through loss, reflection, acceptance and, finally, the future, we end up with this sort of fast, warm, sunny kind of outlook.” E r i c j o h n s o n : M a x C r a c e ; b o b m o u l d : s a l ly g r ay m a h o n c o u r t e s y o f K E X P When Eric Johnson returned to the studio after the release of 2010’s Up Close, he found himself in a hauntingly familiar situation. As his own worse critic, he found himself, once again, unhappy with his sound and his progress as a composer and improviser. He had been down that road many times before. After the success of his 1990 Grammy-winning Ah Via Musicom album, featuring the classic guitar instrumental “Cliffs of Dover,” it took him six years to deliver the follow up, Venus Isle, and then another nine years to release 2005’s Bloom. His discontent would be easier to understand if Johnson was a mediocre player, but for the past three decades he has been hailed by no less than Steve Vai, Brad Paisley and Prince as one of the greats. Ironically, the perfectionism that made him a guitarist’s guitarist routinely crippled his progress as an artist. “My career has been about refining a style and an approach,” Johnson explains,
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worldmags.net worldmags.net bruce kulick He’s a former Kiss guitarist from their makeup-free era in the late Eighties and early Nineties. But what Guitar World readers really want to know is… Interview by Brad Angle What do you consider your proudest guitar moment on record? —Chris With Kiss, I think the solo in “Tears Are Falling” [from Asylum, 1985], which is melodic and tricky, and the acoustic solo on “Forever” [from Hot in the Shade, 1989], which shows another side of my style. And then something like “Unholy” [from Revenge, 1992], where I’m really balls to the wall in your face, using a wah-wah and distortion. I really got a chance to show the range of my playing during my Kiss years. What is the story behind your new Rock N’ Roll Relics guitar? —Michael Steadman I was first introduced to Billy Rowe, the owner of Rock N’ Roll Relics, at the NAMM show, and I saw that he was very talented at taking vintage Gibson-style guitars and reliquing them. And it made me think immediately of my Les Paul Junior from the [1992] Revenge/Alive III tour. It was one of the most beat-up Les Paul Juniors ever. I got it at Guitars R Us on Sunset Boulevard, and we recorded with it a lot. Gene [Simmons] loved it. Kiss even rented it for [1998’s] Psycho Circus, because they wanted that sound. It had a humbucker in it—a Seymour Duncan JB—but there was just something about the mahogany body. It had “that sound.” So Billy from Rock N’ Roll Relics was the perfect person to make a copy of it. The new model has all the elements: a mahogany flat body and rosewood neck and a humbucker—an Antiquity JB, because obviously a new JB wouldn’t look really good in a reliqued guitar. Because this is a small company, we’re just doing this limited run of 25, and it’s available online [rocknrollrelics.net]. We’ve sold half of them already. present that argument to them, which according to Paul was a non-starter. I’m still extremely flattered that I’m related to a band that’s been inducted, and I certainly don’t have any issue with the fact that without the original four there would be no Kiss. But Kiss survived successfully for 40 years, and I know at least seven million records were sold with my name on them. Do you think you, Vinnie [Vincent], Tommy [Thayer], Mark [St. John], Eric [Carr] and Eric [Singer] were cheated by not being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? —SFC Damion Thompson, U.S. Army We deserved to be inducted, and I know Gene [Simmons] and Paul [Stanley]’s intention was to I saw you were recently married. Congratulations! I also saw that Gene and Paul were at your wedding. What do Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley give as wedding presents? —Henry McGee I didn’t get an envelope or any gift from them that night, but technically, you have up to a year to give a gift. I kind of feel like there is something coming up that’s going to be a gift to me. Lisa and I, we’ve talked about it a few times, and them being there was a huge gift to me, and she felt the same way. Our history is very unusual: We fell in love four and a half years ago, but I did actually meet her backstage in 1986. She was there for a meet and greet, to see Paul Stanley, you know? I wasn’t involved with anybody, but I wasn’t necessarily looking to hit on any girl in a meet and greet that day. I find it kind of ironic that things have always centered around this Kiss connection, even with Lisa. So I’m just looking at the big picture of things. Gene and Paul’s gift is related to the respect that they show me. You can’t put a price tag on that. I read that your brother Bob tried out for Kiss before Ace [Frehley] got the gig. Did he help advise you on your audition process? —Chip Douglas My brother’s acquaintance with the guys was a good thing, but I think it also took other people to mention my name to Gene and Paul. I actually wound up doing a little ghost guitar work for Kiss on Animalize, but I’m not credited. At the time, Mark St. John was playing lead. Paul asked me to play a solo, and he happened to say, “Don’t cut your hair.” I wasn’t aware that Mark was not going to be able to tour. [St. John was guitarworld.com 33
worldmags.net worldmags.net DEAR GUITAR HERO What was it like getting shot? —Billy Sing diagnosed with the arthritic condition Reiter’s Syndrome.] Then they asked me to kind of fill in on the tour, and that wound up becoming a 12-year stint in the band. Those people who go back and think, “Well, the first time I saw Kiss was in 1985”—if they’re not sure who it was, now it’s a matter of record: they saw me. Yay! When did you become aware that Ace and Peter would be rejoining the band? Were you nervous when they guested on Unplugged? —Lazlo Kovacs I was happily ignorant to any talk of a reunion. I certainly didn’t think that Kiss Unplugged [1996] would be the catalyst to make it happen. We had recorded probably 75 to 80 percent of Carnival of Souls [released in 1997], and that’s when Gene and Paul had a meeting with Eric and me explaining that it was time for them to try this reunion and that it would only be for a year, but that they were going to take care of us—which they did. Kiss had to lose the makeup in the Eighties, because it just didn’t seem cool anymore. When they brought it back in 1996, it was the right time for it. But I didn’t really think anything like that was brewing behind the scenes. 34 “Billy Rowe from Rock N’ Roll Relics was the perfect person to make a copy of my Les Paul Junior.” Was the period after you left Kiss difficult for you, or were you ready to move on? —Ian Taylor It was difficult. To see the hoopla surrounding them putting the makeup on, and then hearing, “First concert, sold out, stadium in Detroit…” I was like, That’s it, no more Kiss for me! That reality was hard, and then it got even worse. Because by the time Carnival of Souls came out, it had already been bootlegged, and the copies were terrible. I was doing a clinic tour in Europe, and some friends of mine from the Kiss world were like, “Check it out, I got a bootleg of Carnival of Souls”—which obviously hurt. I had nine co-writes on it, so I didn’t want to hear about bootlegs. I think having Carnival of Souls kind of raped was more painful even than not being in Kiss. But from tough things in life, you hopefully really strap up your boots tightly and get going. And that’s what I did. I had my own gu i ta r wor l d • Se p t e m be r 2014 band with John Corabi called Union, and I just forged on and never looked back really. How did you get the gig in Grand Funk? You’ve been in the band for, like, 14 years now. —Dennis Maloney I met [Grand Funk drummer] Don Brewer back in the days when I worked with Michael Bolton. Michael had just put out his first solo record [1983’s self-titled release], and we opened for Bob Seger. [At the time, Brewer was drumming for Seger’s Silver Bullet Band.] We got to party with the Seger guys and hang out with everybody. And I was always a Grand Funk fan, so it was like, Oh, my god, Don Brewer! So when Grand Funk went through its changes again after 1998, after the last time [guitarist] Mark Farner was involved, I was on the short list. You never know who you’re working with that even 20 years down the line could be relevant to your career. It was surreal. I was leaving the Key Club on Sunset Boulevard after seeing my buddy Brent Fitz, the drummer with Slash, who is playing with Vince Neil. It was about 1:20 in the morning. The shots came from a block and a half away, in front of the Rainbow Club. I couldn’t tell if it was a car backfiring or a gun shot. And then I got hit in the leg. My knee buckled, and I went down. What was weirder was that a ricochet bullet whizzed right by my ear and actually grazed my head. I heard the whistle from it as it went past. That was even more bizarre than having a bullet pass through my leg. But I was lucky. The bullet could have shattered my kneecap; instead, it went completely through muscle. The paramedics showed up über fast, and the guy asked me to move my toes, which I did. And he says to me, “You’re going to be fine.”
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NEWS + NOTES worldmags.net worldmags.net the fire. Yeah, Panic had a very painful beginning; our other guitar player also died in a car crash. It was kind of a very painful, dark period when I started playing. Ever had an embarrassing onstage moment or disaster show? I have a recurring nightmare where I go onstage and pick up my guitar and it’s strung upside-down; I have to play left-handed. Or—and this is the big kahuna of bad dreams—I dream that I’m playing and the end of the world happens right there. As for anything that has actually happened, some people were crushed to death at a show at Castle Donington, and some people died at a show we did in Brazil. Obviously, those are much more disastrous and sacred. INQUIRER Dave Mustaine of Megadeth What inspired you to pick up a guitar? My sister sucked at piano, so I just did it to drown her out. It’s the truth. My ex-brotherin-law had a guitar and loaned it to me one day, and I knew that’s what I wanted to do. What was your first guitar? It was a very cheap SG copy that I got for 80 dollars. The next guitar I got through lessthan-desirable means. It was a Gibson copy, so I bought a Gibson sticker for five bucks and stuck it on the guitar. 36 And I paid off my less-thandesirable debt with it. What was the first song you learned? One of the first songs I learned on electric guitar was David Bowie’s “Panic in Detroit.” Another was “All the Young Dudes” by Mott the Hoople. And of course “Stairway to Heaven.” After that, it was the obligatory Kiss songs, because they were so huge at the time. What do you recall about your first gig? gu i ta r wor l d • Se p t e m be r 2014 Well, there was a talent show where they told us we were too loud and kicked us out, but my first gig was with Panic at Huntington Beach. Although the sex, the girls and the drugs were rampant, it was marred by the death of two friends: the guy who did our sound and our drummer at the time. We were all partying, and I decided to spend the night. I stayed behind and these two guys went home. They were driving down the Pacific Coast Highway, south of the pier, by the Jack in the Box, and crashed. The driver was able to get out of the car, but he died because he’d broken his neck. The drummer was asleep in the back, and he, unfortunately, died in What’s your favorite guitar or piece of gear? I love my guitar-and-amp configuration and everything, but probably one of the most underrated products is the guitar pick. I use Dunlop .73mm Tortex picks. I used to use hard-plastic jazz picks and Fender picks and all kinds of others, but Tortex really opened my playing to a new dimension. The material, the rigidity, the really unique texture. They’re almost absorbent. They just don’t slip. Got any advice for younger players? Pick your influences well. If you like bands like Avenged Sevenfold or Trivium or bands like that, instead of getting influenced by them, go to their influences. They listened to Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax—the Big Four influenced a lot of these bands. If you go farther back, you can beat your influences at their own game. There’s nothing better than when the student beats the master. —Randy Harward P H OTO s BY t r av i s s h i n n
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NEWS + NOTES worldmags.net worldmags.net Mårten Hagström of Meshuggah Venue: The Wiltern Date: June 6, 2014 Location: Los Angeles, CA Interview by Sammi Chichester “Future Breed Machine” “This song is from Destroy Erase Improve, from 1995, which was around the time we started getting into touring. So we really hit the road with that album on our backs. We used to open with this all the time, so it makes sense to do it as a retro move on this tour.” “obZen” “When we released obZen [2008], we didn’t actually play this song at all on tour. When we started to tour on Koloss [2012], we realized that we really wanted to play ‘obZen,’ so we started doing it. It’s the second song on the set list because it really keeps up the tempo.” “Bleed” “ ‘Bleed’ is just mayhem going on for seven and a half minutes. That’s hard to play for sheer stamina.” Catch Thirtythree mash-up “Closing with a 14-minute segment from Catch [2005] represents what we’ve been doing and what we’re doing now. It’s smack in the middle of our career, and it’s a pretty fun and quirky way to go out, as well.” Meshuggah 25th Anniversary “A lot of effort went into choosing the songs, because when we looked at the old stuff, whatever we chose to bring back changed the set list’s dynamic. I think we managed to pick songs that meant something to us back in the day and contributed to making a great show.” 38 gu i ta r wor l d • Se p t e m be r 2014 After “Do Not Look Down” “Most of the time when we play live, we only use eight-string guitars, but since we’re bringing in these old tracks, we need to go back to seven-strings for some of them. So after we play ‘Do Not Look Down,’ we stay on the sevenstrings for five songs.” “Greed” “Sometimes people think that just because we haven’t played a song for 12 years, it’s never going to be in the set list. But just look at ‘Greed’— we haven’t played that since ’93! It’s nice to have a vault to go back to.” “Demiurge” “It’s gratifying to play ‘Demiurge,’ because it’s a straightforward song with not so much technical detail and people get off on it—which is nice when you play in a band where people tend to focus on technical detail.” Numbers on the left and right “Those are presets in case some of our shit craps out. It’s just a sequence of program changes so we can keep track of when to change to the next part. It’s kind of a code language.” P H OTO s BY t r av i s s h i n n
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worldmags.net worldmags.net Act of Redemption t s ago, i r a e y A few though s a d e look t were s e i r P Judas ith the w t u B d. finishe album w e n s u ferocio Souls, f o r e m Redee have s d o G tal the Me mojo r i e h t ed regain oking o l e r a and ture. u f e h t d to forwar by Jeff Kitts photos by jimmy hubbard
worldmags.net worldmags.net into d e v l o as ev h d n ’ve a e b e W . h g t n inki h t “I think f o ’re y e a w w d t n n e ent, a t n a differ o c e mor n e e b r n ure.” t u neve f Tipto e n n h t e l t —G abou d e t i c ex W hen Guitar World sat down with Judas Priest guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner and frontman Rob Halford in New York City earlier this summer, there was a palpable sense of excitement and confidence in the air as we talked about Priest’s new return-to-form album, Redeemer of Souls. It felt like a fresh beginning for a group that, just a few years earlier, had seemed on the verge of imploding. In December 2010, more than 40 years after the group’s formation in Birmingham, England, Judas Priest had announced that their Epitaph World Tour would be a farewell jaunt. When, a few weeks later, Rob Halford said in an interview, “I think it’s time,” and asked fans to “not be sad” and “celebrate and rejoice over all the great things we’ve done,” the heavy-metal community took it as a sign that the mighty Judas Priest were finally hanging up their studded leather belts. With the internet abuzz over the uncertainty of their future, Judas Priest went into damage control mode and quickly issued a statement that read, in part, “This is by no means the end of the band. In fact, we are presently writing new material, but we do intend this to be the last major world tour.” For much of their career, the band members’ comments about Judas Priest’s future probably wouldn’t have caused much of a stir. But in today’s 24/7 feeding 42 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 frenzy known as the internet, it’s a very different story. “It does make you choose your words carefully,” Halford says. “With today’s speed of communication, you’ve only got to get one word wrong and the whole place blows up. In retrospect, there probably should have been a different way to project the whole Epitaph experience.” Some additional turbulence shook the Judas Priest camp in April 2011 when longtime guitarist K.K. Downing announced that he was leaving the group just two months ahead of the Epitaph tour. The band wasted no time announcing 31-yearold British guitarist Richie Faulkner as Downing’s replacement. Faulkner’s debut with the band took place on national television on May 25, 2011, when Judas Priest performed live during the season finale of American Idol. After the completion of the 120-date Epitaph tour in May 2012, Judas Priest took some much needed time off to regroup and begin work on a new album. They made a few public appearances, and a couple of best-of packages found their way into the marketplace, but otherwise things were fairly quiet on the Priest front. Then, this past April, the band announced a July 15 release date for Redeemer of Souls, its first album of new material since 2008’s poorly received conceptual double album, Nostradamus. Wisely, the group issued a free stream of the title track alongside the announcement. From its opening chugging riff to Halford’s distinct voice intoning, “It’s time to settle the score,” to Tipton and Faulkner’s searing solo trade-offs, “Redeemer of Souls” makes it clear that Priest has not only survived the past few years’ unrest but also regained the fire in their belly that had been missing for quite some time. Although they nearly called it a day and lost a key band member along the way, Judas Priest are once again in a very good place. “It’s just a very solid, no-stress time for us,” Halford says. “We’re doing great shows, writing great music and generally having a great time.”
worldmags.net worldmags.net Tipton Back in 2010–2011, there was a lot of speculation that Judas Priest were on the verge of disbanding. But with Redeemer of Souls and new tour dates on the horizon, it seems as though the band has a renewed sense of energy. ROB HALFORD I think it’s very natural for a band that’s had a long career in rock and roll to become a little bit philosophical. That’s just human nature, and we weren’t afraid to talk about it. But I don’t think we ever said specifically “This is the end.” It was probably the “Farewell Tour” that gave people that impression. We probably should have called that something different. We called it that because it was our way of saying that this is the end of the big, massive world tours. We’re still going to go out and play, but it’s not going to be these big two-year schleps, which are grueling for any band. But there’s definitely a change in tone around the band these days, and a lot of that is because of this guy right here [points to Faulkner]. Richie has brought something to this band that is very infectious and vibrant, and I think you can sense all of that great feeling coming through in these new songs. Glenn, did you feel that there was a negative vibe swirling around the band during the Epitaph tour? GLENN TIPTON I don’t know if it was a negative vibe around us as much as it was a little bit unsure of what the future held for Judas Priest. For me, the Epitaph tour was one of the most satisfying and gratifying tours we had ever done. It was a grueling task to go out and play for two and a half hours every night, but to play a song off every album brought out a lot of sentimental feelings, and I think we all rose to the occasion. But you’re right in the sense that there was a little bit of uncertainty around the band—what we were going to do next, that kind of thing. And it wasn’t until we started writing the album and really getting into the meat and potatoes of it that we realized, Hold on, this is going to be more than just another album—there’s something special going on here. And that starts to breed guitarworld.com 43
worldmags.net worldmags.net It’s the same with touring: you know that at some point you’re going to want to go out and do another tour. Even with this record, we recorded 18 songs. I mean, where did that come from? So there’s plenty left in this band. Richie, what was it like for you around the time of the Epitaph tour? Was it disappointing to join a legendary band and suddenly have people speculating about the group’s demise? FAULKNER When I came onboard and was welcomed into the family, I was very aware of where the band were in their career. Not that I wasn’t already aware of it, since I’m a fan of the band, but it certainly wasn’t something I was going to pass up just because there’s a chance that the band was coming to the end of its career. And if there was any sense within the band of winding down, maybe I’m the one who’s keeping them going. And some people out there might not like me for that, but what was I going to do? Not join the band? Sometimes you just have to take the bull by the horns. And as a result, here we are with 18 new studio tracks and a new Judas Priest album. Were you involved in the songwriting for Redeemer of Souls from the get-go? FAULKNER From day one, it’s always been Faulkner enthusiasm. You look forward to the future. You look forward to playing these songs onstage. So I think the band has evolved since the Epitaph era into a different way of thinking. We’ve never been more content, and we’re excited about the future. HALFORD In light of the Epitaph experience, if and when the final note is played, we certainly won’t be announcing it. I think it’s just going to happen one day, and that’s probably the nicest way to do it. You take very small steps back until you’re done, and I think it’ll be that way for us. But 44 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 the fact that Priest’s music will live forever, the way Beethoven and Bach’s music lives forever, that really is the most incredible accomplishment that you can dwell on and feel proud of. After the Epitaph tour, did you feel as though there was unfinished business within the band? Like there was more to accomplish? TIPTON I think we’ve always felt that way. We’ve never been satisfied with one record—we’ve always wanted to do another. a family of creative people. It’s not one or two people calling the shots and you just show up, play a gig and go home. From the rehearsals to picking the set list to the stage production, it’s a very inclusive process, and that transcends right into the songwriting for the album. Priest have always had the vocalist and the two-guitar-player writing team, and it was the same this time. I was taught to write metal songs by these guys. When you’re 14 or 15 years old, you listen to Screaming for Vengeance and use that as a model for writing songs. So, for me, when you’re now in the studio writing songs with these guys, you don’t have to put on a different hat or write songs you wouldn’t normally write; it comes from your heart, because it’s what you’ve been brought up with. So it was a very organic and intuitive experience for me to write songs with these guys. Rob, did you work on material while home in Arizona and then bring it to the rest of the guys in the U.K., or was it all done in the U.K.? HALFORD Yes, all of it was done in the U.K. The truth is, I generally can’t do anything until I get close to everyone else. And all of my lyrical ideas and vocal melodies come from the guitars and the riffs that Glenn and
worldmags.net worldmags.net f, l e s y m o t e u r “I’m t d n a b e h t o t e u .” r s t n a f e h t o t e u eR aulkn F a nd t r e i H —Ric Richie come up with. We all bring in little nuggets of information—I’ve got an iPhone full of hundreds and hundreds of song titles—but nothing really happens until we’re all together. And I’ve tried working on records where you email parts back and forth to each other, but I just can’t do that. I’m old school, I guess. I just love the purity of being together with my fellow writers. There’s a spark and a magic that only happens in that type of environment. horrible feeling. But I don’t think we ever had that moment this time, did we Glenn? TIPTON I think the key is to have more material than you need. This way, you don’t have to settle for a second-rate riff or something like that. There really wasn’t any moment of doubt with this record. And the momentum kept increasing and accelerating as we worked, especially with Richie’s input. Once you began working on Redeemer of Souls, how long did it take before you realized that the band was on the right track? The last time Judas Priest recorded an album, the result was the sprawling concept album Nostradamus, which wasn’t particularly well received by the group’s fans. How did you want Redeemer of Souls to be different? how we’d be working on a song and putting it together, then we’d get focused on another song and put that together. And once you had seven or eight songs, you’d take a step back and go, Wait a minute, this is really starting to take shape. It’s not the kind of thing you notice when you’re working on one or two songs, but once we had eight or 10 of them ready to go, you could really tell that we were onto something. HALFORD I don’t think there was any moment where we were struggling with this album. When you’re writing a record sometimes you hit the wall, and it’s a while we were working on the material was “heavy metal, heavy metal, heavy metal.” We kept that mantra going, and you really hear that pure heavy metal vibe in the material. We knew we had to make a strong, powerful, energized, take-no-prisoners type of record, and I think we got that done. This is what Judas Priest is trying to say in 2014. From beginning to end, it’s just relentless. You can really feel the love—and I use that word sparingly—in this record and in the musicianship. Everybody in the band is trying their damndest to give you the best FAULKNER What was interesting to me was HALFORD The thing that we kept saying
worldmags.net worldmags.net is al note n i f e h when t n’t be o w y l “If and n i e certa w , d e y pla ing it.” —Rob Halford c n u o ann Glenn, was it different for you this time around, not having K.K. Downing as a writing partner? TIPTON No, because we wrote in the same way that we always did. We just get 46 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 together, pool our ideas and start working, and suddenly there’s a song there. And it was no different this time around. Richie, when you’re the new kid in this situation, is it difficult to know when to assert yourself and when to step back? FAULKNER That’s a good question. I think you judge it as you go along. Right from the very beginning, I felt included. I felt like I had an opinion. And because of that, you put things forward, maybe not as vehemently as you might in other situations, but I still felt like I had a value. Everyone in the band believes in this band, just as much as the fans do, and there’s a duty to yourself and the band and the fans to represent that. And if there’s something that anyone doesn’t feel comfortable with, they can put that forward. And that includes me. Doing the Epitaph tour must have been beneficial in terms of making Judas Priest a family again after K.K.’s departure. HALFORD It’s absolutely crucial to get that marriage right. To us, a band isn’t made up of one person leading the rest. Everyone in the band is as important and as valuable as everyone else. Whether you wrote the song or not is irrelevant. The contribution that {continued on page 158 } you’re making is T r av i s S h i n n of their ability, and that’s because we’re having the time of our lives. FAULKNER There’s a lot of excitement around the record. When you listen to the album from start to finish, it really is a great piece of work. But there’s great songs on there that stand up on their own and tell their own stories too. As an album, it has a start, a middle and an end. It’s relentless, it’s raw, and it’s classic Priest.
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worldmags.net worldmags.net G U I TA R 49 wo r l d Dan Aue rbach Tells how Dan Aue rbach Tells how the Black Keys made their latest the Black Keys made their latest hit album, Turn Blue , in the midst of hit album, Turn Blue , in the midst of personal hardship, using a handful personal hardship, using a handful of guitars, amps and effects and of guitars, amps and effects and a whole lotta spontaneous a whole lotta spontaneous inspiration. inspiration. by Alan di Perna photos by Jason Goodrich 7
worldmags.net worldmags.net lack KEYS guitarist singer Dan Auerbach is obsessed with arcane, el-cheapo mid–20th century guitars: Teiscos, Nationals, Supros, Silvertones. But that fixation is rivaled only by his passion for collecting vintage vinyl and under-the-radar new music. “Yesterday, I was listening to some dub [reggae] that I have on vinyl,” he says. “And this morning, I was listening to some South American Sixties psych music.” When it comes to current music, though, Auerbach’s passion for contemporary hiphop is balanced by a fondness for less mainstream fare, like moody Canadian act Timber Timbre and U.K. retro-pop unit Metronomy. “I love their English Riviera album,” he raves. “There’s some really amazing plectrum bass playing on it. I just love the record’s experimentation and sonic limitlessness.” In one way or another, these variegated influences find their way into the Black Keys’ music. Their new album, Turn Blue, takes them further along the ambitious sonic trajectory they’ve been following ever since Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney teamed up with überproducer Brian Burton, a.k.a. Danger Mouse (Gnarls Barkley, Beck, Gorillaz, Norah Jones) for the Keys’ 2008 album, Attack & Release. Like all the Black Keys’ records, Turn Blue’s sound is firmly based in the garagerock interplay between Auerbach’s bluesy squawk-box aggression and Carney’s flailing frenzy. But over this foundation, the Keys have woven a mesmerizing web of ghostly synths and eerie sonic textures. Auerbach plays bass as well as guitar on the album, and he splits keyboard duties with Danger Mouse. “Anybody can jump on any instrument at any time,” Auerbach says. “There are really no rules when we’re in the studio.” With its stately tempo, lazily strummed acoustic guitar and spectral synth line, the album’s opening track, “Weight of Love,” invites comparison with the classic-rock 50 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 majesty of Pink Floyd. “We love that kind of music,” Auerbach admits, “so it’s in us to be capable of doing that. It’s just something that we’ve never tried to go for before. But we had the time and that little spark of creativity to start us in that direction, and on a couple of songs we saw it through.” “Weight of Love” also is the most guitarsolo-intensive Black Keys track to date. Auerbach’s psychedelicized midsong magic carpet ride is followed up by a soaring outro excursion to the creative dark side that lurks somewhere underneath his regular-guy, flannel-and-denim Midwestern exterior. “That was all spur of the moment,” he says. “We’d just built that song up, and the end has this massive crescendo where everybody’s really going for it. It really called for a guitar solo, and I just improvised something. Then I put a harmony guitar on top of it. Honestly, it was 20 minutes and done, not something I really labored on very long. Everything on this record happened very naturally.” Auerbach seems to have little or no use for premeditation. He appears to be proud of the fact that he and Carney were completely unprepared when they entered the studio to make True Blue, the heavily anticipated follow-up to 2011’s strong-selling, Grammywinning and critically lauded El Camino. “We didn’t have any songs written,” he says. “We had no sense of what we were gonna do. We just went in blind. The blind leading the blind. We didn’t have any real goal other than to make an album. So we wrote songs every day. We just improvised. I guess the goal was to try to have a song done every day, maybe every two days at the most. And we did.” Sessions for Turn Blue began at a studio in Benton Harbor, Michigan, called the Key Club, where Auerbach and Carney worked on their own. Danger Mouse joined them for subsequent sessions at Sunset Sound in L.A. and Auerbach’s own Easy Eye studio in Nashville. Auerbach also seems to take pride in the fact that he came up with the album’s infectious lead single, “Fever,” during the early sessions in Michigan, without assistance from Danger Mouse, who has served as the band’s co-writer as well as producer on the past few albums. “Fever” exemplifies Auerbach’s strength as a tunesmith—he can write catchy pop hooks that go straight to your head like a sugar rush. The song’s main synth line wouldn’t be out of place in an early Eighties hit by OMD or Depeche Mode. “Fever” is also one of many seriously bass-driven songs on Turn Blue. Throughout the album sessions, Auerbach played a Fender Mustang bass guitar through “a good, oldtime transformer D.I.,” he notes, usually employing a pick. “I really like palm-muted pick bass,” he says. “Especially if you’ve got flatwound strings. It’s just classic—a really nice bass sound that kind of sits well in a mix and is really propulsive.” Auerbach is something of a contrarian. His embrace of Valcos, Supros, Kents and other downmarket thrift-shop guitars was
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♦ worldmags.net worldmags.net B L A C K K E Y S ♦ initially, in part, a rebellion against the hegemony of Strats, Teles and Les Pauls. But now that every one expects him to be Mr. Weird Guitar, he seems to be moving in the opposite direction. His sole axes for Turn Blue were a late-Sixties Fender Telecaster with a Bigsby tailpiece and a Fifties Fender Stratocaster, although he did play them through an assortment of odd vintage amps, including a Floto-Tone, Kalamazoo Model 1, a solid-state Heathkit combo and, more conventionally, a blackface Fender Princeton Reverb. He isn’t at all precious about equipment. He didn’t even bring any of his own guitars, amps or effects to the L.A. sessions for Turn Blue. “The more I do this, the more I realize it has very little to do with the guitar and the amp,” he says. “It’s really all about the musician and the performance. I’m sure that Jimi Hendrix would sound amazing on a Supro just like he did on a Strat. So I really try not to obsess too much about that kind of stuff anymore. If I’m messing around with a pedal and I’m not getting a sound I like pretty much immediately, I move on. Don’t want to waste my time. If it’s not intuitive, I have no use for it. Messing too much with any kind of gear really detracts from a session. In the studio, it should be all about bringing in reliable stuff that you’re comfortable with and then just exploring the songs. And that’s why I’ve We had no sense We had we no sense of what were of what we were gonna do. We just gonna We just went do. in blind. went in blind. 52 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 always loved my Telecaster, because it never lets me down. It does everything. I’ve always played a Tele, ever since I started. My uncle had a Telecaster and a Super Reverb amp and it sounded awesome. So from when I first started touring, that’s what I used: a Telecaster and Super Reverb.” Auerbach’s family history has a lot to do with his deep musical grounding. Growing up in Akron, Ohio, he delved into his freespirit, baby-boomer dad’s extensive record collection. “It was all Motown and Beatles, Kinks, Allman Brothers and Stax Records,” Auerbach recalls. “That was my staple diet growing up. I didn’t really have much to rebel against. Nobody I know listens to music louder than my dad does. The only way I could really rebel would be to wear a suit and tie every day and become a lawyer or something.” Even more music came through his mother’s side of the family. “My mom’s whole family played. I have three different uncles—Uncle Jim, Uncle Jack and Uncle Tim—and they all play music. Tim was really into blues and hipped me to some really great shit. When I was 15, he was giving me mix tapes of Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson and T-Bone Walker. He was the first person that played me that kind of stuff. He really loved [mid-Fifties blues label] Excello Records. He really knew that stuff inside and out. So as a 15-yearold, I could immediately identify, like, a Lonesome Sundown song or a Slim Harpo song from the first few bars, even before they started singing. “And my Uncle Jim was way more into bluegrass, and he was an amazing singer. I think I really learned how to sing from
D o n n a Wa r d/ G e t t y I m ag e s worldmags.net worldmags.net him. At our family reunions, we’d play blues, bluegrass and folk songs and sing harmonies. And my Uncle Jack, he plays guitar, mandolin, piano and organ really well. He sings too. When I was 15, he taught me how to play ‘Statesboro Blues’ on guitar—like a real old folk blues version of it that he learned when he was younger.” Auerbach dove even deeper into the blues when he discovered the primal sounds of North Mississippi bluesmen like Junior Kimbrough, R.L. Burnside, J.B. Hutto and T-Model Ford, who recorded for the Fat Possum label in the Nineties. “I think I was, like, 17 years old and I bought a Fat Possum CD sampler,” Auerbach recollects. “And honestly, I didn’t quite understand it. The person I came to really love was Junior Kimbrough, and I remember not really understanding his music when I first heard it. It was just too out there. Even too left-of-center to me. But eventually I got it. I really like raw, stripped-down blues, so much so that I didn’t even really listen to Muddy Waters or Howlin’ Wolf much—not the Chicago recordings on Chess Records, because it was almost too big of a band. I like that Memphis stuff: Joe Hill Lewis and Willie Johnson—really raw, simplified blues.” In an interesting footnote to rock history, Auerbach can be credited with introducing the late, seminal punk-era guitarist Robert Quine (Richard Hell, Lou Reed, Brian Eno, Marianne Faithfull, Tom Waits) to the Fat Possum sound. “He’s my second cousin on my mother’s side,” Auerbach says of Quine. “He was in my life briefly, right before the Black Keys started happening. He grew up one street away from me. My mom basically forced me to hang out with him one day. I was, like, 15 or something. He probably just assumed that I was going to come over listening to god knows what. But I showed up with a couple of Teisco Del Reys and some Fat Possum albums. I turned him on to Junior Kimbrough, and he really flipped his lid. He started playing me some unreleased recordings that he did and showing me guitar stuff. He told me, ‘Man, it’s all just Chuck Berry.’ ” Auerbach’s passion for the Fat Possum blues sound really knows no bounds. While still in his teens, inspired in particular by T-Model Ford’s 1997 album, Pee-Wee Get My Gun, Auerbach journeyed down to Greenville, Mississippi, and located and befriended Ford. “We hung out for a few days,” Auerbach recounts, “and I spent a night on the linoleum floor of his trailer home, in a sleeping bag. And just playing guitar with him. People would hire him to play parties, and we played a juke joint at Magic Potion Dan Auerbach reveals the guitars, amps and effects behind his strange musical brew. W hile Dan Auerbach stuck with a Strat and Tele on the sessions for Turn Blue, he still employs a full range of off-thewall, pawnshop guitars in concert with the Black Keys. “The guitars that go on the road tend to live on the road,” he says. “They’re in their flight cases in storage spaces, or they’re in a trailer truck going someplace while I’m in the studio working.” Auerbach’s latest acquisition for live performance is a Custom Kraft guitar. “It comes from the period in the mid Sixties when the Valco company in Chicago merged with Harmony,” says Dan Johnson, Auerbach’s longtime guitar tech. “So this guitar basically has a Supro/National sort of neck on it and a Harmony body. But it has the Valco single-coil pickups and a Jazzmaster-style tremolo. It’s a really cool guitar: lightningbolt f-holes and a green sunburst finish.” Other stalwart Black Keys touring guitars include a mid-Sixties Harmony H78 hollowbody with three D’Armond pickups and a Bigsby tailpiece, a 1964 Guild Thunderbird, a white Supro, a black National, a Harmony Stratotone retrofitted with Lindy Fralin pickups and assorted Teisco Del Reys. The guitars go through a quartet of amplifiers: a Marshall JTM-45, a Seventies Fender Quad Reverb, a Danelectro Challenger and a Danelectro Commando. A Fulltone Tube Tape Echo is dedicated to the Marshall, and an elaborate MIDI switching system designed by Johnson—and based around an RJM Effect Gizmo loop switcher and Radial JX-2 Switchbone amp selector/combiner—routes a bevy of vintage effects pedals to all three amps. One of Auerbach’s main sources of fuzz is a Shin-ei Companion Fuzz Wah coupled to an MXR 10-band EQ and an Electro-Harmonix Big Muff π. Other pedals in the system include a Boss TR-2 Tremolo, a Boss OC-2 Super Octave and a Boss PH-3 Phase Shifter. All these effects are housed in a rack. The only pedals that Auerbach has on the floor are a Boss PS-5 Super Shifter and a Mission Engineering EP-1 Expression Pedal, which drives a Sound Sculpture Volcano for volume control. —A l a n d i P e rn a Auerbach with his green sunburst Custom Kraft guitarworld.com 53
♦ B L A C K K E Y S ♦ worldmags.net worldmags.net It was a pretty It was a pretty f*ckin’ hellacious f*ckin’ hellacious year, to put it year, to put it lightly. lightly. night. His son was playing drums, and he and I would play guitars. T-Model was such a character, such an inspiration for me to be around. He kept me safe down there. I’m sure it was a pretty dangerous part of town we were in.” By this point, Auerbach had also already embarked on his journey into the land of strange guitars. “Actually,” he says, “my first guitar was a Stratocaster that my mom bought me without asking me what I wanted. And I immediately took it to a guitar shop in Cleveland and traded it for a Silvertone! The guy told me it was a great deal and I said, ‘Okay, sure.’ He really ripped me off. I got this Silvertone…it’s a Teisco Del Rey, really, Japanese made by Teisco, but it’s Silvertone branded. Green sunburst body, four pickups with all the switches and stuff. I was just a kid, 15 years old, obsessed with Hound Dog Taylor. I did not want to play a Strat. All the Fat Possum guys like Hound Dog and J.B. Hutto were using weird guitars. So that’s what I wanted.” Auerbach was already a pretty seasoned musician by his teen years. “My dad and mom were both very supportive of me dropping out of school and playing music,” he says. “But they told me if I was gonna do that, I had to go play places. They were kind of gently nudging me into the clubs. And I got to the point where I was playing four and five nights a week around Akron. I’d even go down and play on Main Street for tips, during lunchtime. I was actually making pretty good money! Basically, I was doing three-hour sets in bars—all old covers, old blues and stuff. Whatever the club needed I would provide. If they just needed a solo act, I would do that. If they wanted a 54 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 two-piece, I would do that. If they wanted a full band, I had a couple of drummers I could call. And honestly, nothing is better practice than playing in front of people.” It was around this time that Auerbach connected with Pat Carney, with the intention of recording demos down in the drummer’s basement. The two had known one another in high school but only distantly, Auerbach being more of a jock and Carney more a bespectacled outsider. But they formed a musical bond fraught with all the right kind of tension, Auerbach’s recontextualized swamp blues guitar meshing beautifully with Carney’s wild but hard-hitting drum style. These raw basement tapes would eventually become the first Black Keys album, The Big Come Up, in 2002. “The early stuff was essentially our demos,” Auerbach says. “We got a record deal from our demos that we recorded when we were 17.” According to Auerbach, the garage-rock component of the Black Keys’ sound came into focus through early gigs. “We played up in Cleveland at a place called the Beachland Ballroom and Tavern,” he recounts, “and they started putting us on bills with garage-rock bands like the Greenhornes.
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♦ worldmags.net worldmags.net B L A C K K E Y S ♦ So, you know, we were getting exposed to different music and listening to the Sonics. But then again, when we were making our first and second records, I can remember listening to Creedence Clearwater’s Bayou Country a bunch. I didn’t really see a whole lot of difference between these things, good or not good. I didn’t really think about what genre it was.” The garage-blues approach, thrift-shop guitars and two-piece guitar/drums lineup led many to compare the Black Keys with the White Stripes, dismissing the Keys as a derivative rip-off of the Stripes. The color-themed similarity between the group’s two names certainly didn’t help matters. But Auerbach and Carney have always claimed that they weren’t even aware of the White Stripes when they started out. And as Auerbach and Jack White’s respective careers have developed, it has become clear that each has his own, very distinct, sensibility. Negative comparisons with the White Stripes didn’t prevent the Black Keys from getting signed to Auerbach’s beloved Fat Possum label and building a solid fan base, along with critical acclaim, during the early years of the 21st century. And as the record business fell apart during that decade, prominent placement of Black Keys songs in ads, films and TV shows also helped the group get by. “We don’t really license that much music these days,” Auerbach says. “But when we were first starting, before they were playing us on radio, we started licensing songs, and it really helped us a lot. I don’t know that we’d be here today if we didn’t license some of our songs and make some money. It really helped us stay on the road and be more comfortable with touring.” Licensing their music for Sony, Nissan and Victoria’s Secret ads may have cost the Black Keys some indie cred, but Auerbach isn’t unduly concerned. “Music is one of the only art forms where that’s really frowned upon,” he says. “Open any magazine and there’s actors selling watches, hair-loss creams or whatever. But with musicians, for some reason, people have a different view. I mean, we’ve never written a song for anything other than ourselves. And I really always get a kick out of going to movies and hearing one of our songs in this big fucking multimillion dollar movie, knowing that we recorded the song in our basement for, like, 20 dollars.” By 2006, the Black Keys had acquired sufficient buzz to get signed to a bigger label, Nonesuch/Warner Bros., and by 2008 they were ready to move on from the selfproduced, lo-fi basement aesthetic of their earlier work. They’d connected with Danger Mouse when the producer asked them to play on a project with R&B legend Ike Turner that wound up never being released. “But we kind of became friends with Brian through working on that project,” Auerbach says. “And when it came time for us to make a new record, we were ready to try some new things. It was our sixth album, in 2010. They began bringing a variety of bassists and keyboard players on the road with them to help beef up the sound, a practice that endures to this day. “Having the ability to have musicians play with us on tour now is nice,” Auerbach says, “because we can play the songs the way we recorded them. We never really thought of ourselves strictly as a two-piece. Even on our first record we had overdubbed guitars. I’m playing bass on a bunch of songs and Moog synthesizer, samples and stuff. We were a two-piece more out of necessity. We couldn’t find anybody else to play with us in the beginning. We auditioned a few people and it never worked.” But touring and studio work are two completely separate entities for Auerbach. He uses completely different gear onstage than he does in the studio [see sidebar, page 53]. And the touring musicians who work with the Black Keys are strictly for gigging; they aren’t involved in studio recordings. While there’s a certain freedom in the way the band interprets songs live, the auxiliary players are mainly there to reproduce parts that Auerbach played on the records. Early on, he tried working out arrangements with the full band, but he wasn’t always happy with the compromises that go with that kind of creative process. “It was nice,” he says, “but it could be frustrating sometimes because you’d have to really oversimplify songs.” Asked whether he’s more at home onstage or in studio, Auerbach answers without hesitation: “Oh, in the studio, for sure.” In recent years he’s emerged as a record producer in his own right, helming projects by everyone from Grace Potter & the Nocturnals to Nigerian guitarist Bombino; from New Orleans great Dr. John to Lana Del Rey, whose latest album, Ultraviolence, he produced. Fittingly, he showed up at the Del Rey sessions with his green sunburst Teisco del Rey, the one he traded his first Strat for all those years ago in Cleveland. He even persuaded Nashville session ace Kenny Vaughan to play it on the album. “He played it most of the session,” Auerbach recounts, “and it was essentially the first guitar I ever bought.” Auerbach’s ability to induce a real musicians’ musician to play a pawnshop guitar on a major album release is one of the reasons you have to love him. But the Black Keys’ ascent {continued on page 160 } “ INobody I Nobody I know listens know listens to music to music louder than louder than my dad does.” my dad does. 56 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 and we’d never recorded in a studio, and we’d never had a producer or an engineer before. So we tried all of those things. And because we’d already worked with Brian and really got along, we asked him if he’d be interested. He said yes. So he flew out to Ohio and worked with us a couple of weeks.” But it wasn’t until the band’s 2010 Brothers album that they broke through in a major way, propelled by their Grammywinning hit “Tighten Up.” Auerbach is nonchalant about the song’s genesis. “It was the first time we ever tried to write a catchy song,” he says. “We’d never written a hit at that point and we don’t listen to the radio, so I don’t even know if we were qualified to know what a hit is, frankly, at that time. Six albums in and we’d never once, ever, tried to write anything catchy. We’d always just written for fun. So that was our first attempt at writing that way. And it actually worked.” With the advent of big hits, Grammys and a more sophisticated studio sound, the Black Keys decided to stop touring as a duo
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by CHRIS GILL GW worldmags.net worldmags.net illustration by danny hellman 58 They were mutant oddities from an alternate universe. But in the hands of Muddy Waters, Dan Auerbach and other visionary players, these pawnshop rejects became six-string superheroes. 58 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014
worldmags.net worldmags.net r o m t h e l a t e F i f t i e s through the early Seventies, broke-ass musicians didn’t have to settle for boring guitars. In fact, many budgetguitar companies in the U.S., Asia and Europe came up with a plethora of outrageously unique and inventive designs guaranteed to help players stand out from the crowd. Most of these guitars were peddled in department stores and five-and-dimes, and what they lacked in quality materials and craftsmanship, they more than compensated for by providing unmistakable character and style. With their weird wiring circuits, abundance of buttons and switches, and under- or overwound pickups that emphasized unusual frequencies, these guitars had sounds—and looks— all their own. ¶ Over the decades, idiosyncratic players like Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters, Hound Dog Taylor, David Lindley, Jon Spencer, Jack White and Dan Auerbach have favored these mutants. Not surprisingly, prices of a few of the examples below have soared as players have discovered their previously hidden charms, but many can still be found at pawn shops and garage sales for less than the cost of a boutique stomp box. american pickers • Coral Hornet Like Silvertone, Coral was a secondary Danelectro brand, but Coral guitars were introduced in 1967, after Danelectro founder Nathan Daniel sold the company to MCA. Vincent Bell, best known for designing the Coral Sitar, also developed the Hornet and several other Coral models. Like previous Danelectro guitars, it featured lipstick-tube single-coil pickups (either two or three of them) and a simple rosewood bridge. However, with its tapered poplar body, chrome-plated control panel boasting four knobs and four switches, dramatically swirled “mother-of-toilet-seat” pearloid pickguard and optional vibrato tailpiece, it was much more upscale than previous Dan-o models. Pete Townshend briefly played a Hornet during the late Sixties. guitarworld.com 59
american pickers worldmags.net worldmags.net • Ovation Breadwinner With its built-in active FET preamp and band-rejection (midrange-cut) filter switch, the Ovation Breadwinner was much more sophisticated than the average bizarre guitar. Intentionally designed to resemble a medieval battle-ax, the guitar had a unique body shape that was ergonomically designed for balance when standing and comfort when sitting, and it provided unrestricted access all the way to the 24th fret. The first version, produced starting in 1972, featured a pair of single-coil pickups, which were replaced by a pair of mini humbuckers from 1975 until Ovation discontinued the Breadwinner and similar Deacon model in 1982. • Guild S-200 Thunderbird Although Guild made many high-quality electric guitars, the company’s solidbodies were not particularly successful. Apparently, Guild introduced the Thunderbird in 1963 to compete with the Gibson Firebird as well as Fender’s popular Jaguar and Jazzmaster models, but players just didn’t take to its unorthodox body shape, which resembled a quadruple amputee attempting to dance the 60 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 Frug. Its anemic, microphonic humbucking pickups didn’t help matters either. The Thunderbird is probably most famous for appearing in the hands of Muddy Waters on the inside cover of his Electric Mud album. Prices shot up when Dan Auerbach started playing one, but the more conservatively shaped Jet Star S-100 (featuring a built-in stand!) and S-50 models remain budget bargains.
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€ euro trash worldmags.net worldmags.net • Hagstrom III Sweden’s Hagstrom company originally made accordions, which may explain why its early electric guitar models had so many pushbuttons and switches. The Hagstrom III, also known as the Futurama, F-300 and Kent III (a Hagstrom export brand), was the Swede’s alternative to the Strat, featuring six confusing tone and pickup selector switches, three impressively hot singlecoil pickups and one master volume control. Despite being a relatively cheap model, the Hagstrom III/Futurama has been seen in the hands of David Bowie, Andy Partridge of XTC and Neil Young. • Eko Rokes VI Whether this guitar resembles a rocket or a shovel is a matter of opinion, but the Eko Rokes VI was certainly one of the most original space-age guitar designs to come along, after the Flying V. The Italian Eko company designed the model for an English band called the Rokes, who found success, oddly enough, as an Italian pop group. A better-than-average instrument, the Rokes guitar featured one DeArmond single-coil bridge pickup and a Bigsby-style vibrato. • Wandré/Davoli BB If Pablo Picasso made guitars, they might have looked a lot like Wandré’s ultra-bizarro BB models, which were also marketed under the Davoli brand name. BB stands for “Brigitte Bardot,” although with its chunky dimensions and droopy curves, this guitar looks more like Bardot after a bender of bonbons, baguettes and bourbon. The deep, hollow plastic body features a single sound hole (some early examples have two), and the floating Davoli pickups produce boxy, midrange-heavy tone that’s perfect for the blues. With its aluminum neck and plastic body, the BB may be the sexiest (or weirdest) “sustainable material” guitar ever made. 62 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014
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n ASIAN EXOTICA worldmags.net worldmags.net • Guyatone LG-160T Telstar With a history reaching back to 1933, Matsuki Seisakujo was one of the first Japanese guitar makers. In the early Fifties, the company started making instruments with the Guyatone brand name. Introduced in 1966, the LG-160T Telstar proudly displayed the Guyatone name, and rightfully so: it’s a striking-looking instrument, with bold, assertive tone. Note the “monkey grip” cutout on the lower bout, which predated a similar feature on Steve Vai’s Ibanez JEM model by a good two decades. • Kawai S-180 Because he was a slide guitarist, Hound Dog Taylor wasn’t bothered by flaws like incorrectly intonated fret placement and warped necks, which likely explains why he played a gaggle of cheapo Japanese guitars during his lifetime. The guitar most often seen in Hound Dog’s hands was a Kawai S-180 with four pickups or similar late-Sixties models bearing the Kawai or Teisco brand name. Kawai purchased Teisco in 1967, so a Teisco produced after then was actually a Kawai. • FujiGen EJ-2-T • Teisco Fire Bird Teisco hollowbody guitar designs were relatively conservative prior to the company’s purchase by Kawai, so it’s likely that the ultra-bizarro Fire Bird model was conceived by one of Kawai’s craftsmen. The Fire Bird may look like a cross between an ES-335, an SG and a Mosrite, conceived by an acid-casualty hippie after viewing a Rodan movie, but its features are no-nonsense, consisting of two single-coil pickups, master volume and tone controls, and a spring-loaded vibrato. 64 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 FujiGen Gakki is a Japanese musical instrument manufacturer that has produced guitars for Epiphone, Fender Japan, Ibanez, Yamaha and other companies. One of FujiGen’s earliest electric solidbody models was the EJ-2-T, which was originally marketed under the St. George brand for the St. George music stores in the United States. This model was later sold under various other brand names, including Teisco and Zim-Gar (like the EJ2-T played by Jon Spencer). Teisco offered several ultra-cool variants, including the WG-4-L, which featured four pickups, a striped brushed-aluminum pickguard and an obscenely long whammy bar.
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worldmags.net worldmags.net exclusive, e to W G is h t In ut n pays tribation o t p a l C c i Er , and inspir his friend lks about The Breeze te nd ta J.J. Cale aw star-studded tribu his ne late Oklahoma to the gwriter. n o s d n a t guitaris i a n F a n e l l i am By D
worldmags.net worldmags.net P.67 Robert Johnson and J.J. Cale represent the yin and yang of Eric Clapton’s musical influences. On one side is Johnson, the famously troubled Thirtiesera Mississippi bluesman who moaned about hellhounds on his trail, spooks around his bed and those lowdown, shakin’ chills. On the other side is Cale, the famously laidback singersongwriter from Tulsa who penned laconic odes to singin’ whippoorwills, “chugalugging” and shakin’ tambourines. Clapton has covered the music of both men on several occasions throughout his career, taking Johnson’s “Crossroads” to the heights of blues-rock jam-outs with Cream in 1968 and earning massive commercial success as a solo artist with his versions of Cale’s insanely catchy “After Midnight” in 1970 and breezy “Cocaine” in 1977. Yet, when looking back at Clapton’s work as a whole, one can’t help but notice that the Cale-influenced side of the equation takes up a much larger chunk of the pie, which was probably the result of the fact that Clapton actually got to meet and hang with Cale. Their bond lasted from the Seventies until Cale’s death in 2013 at age 74. Clapton even had Cale’s phone number, something he’s still tickled about. “Nobody had his phone number. You had to be in the inner circle to have that,” Clapton says with a laugh. “I’d call him, and sometimes I’d get his voice mail. Other times, I’d get him on the line and we’d talk for hours. I felt I had some kind of inside track, and that was a wonderful thing.” That inside track led to The Road to Escondido, the duo’s Grammy-winning 2006 album, appearances on each other’s most recent solo albums (Cale’s Roll On from 2009 and Clapton’s Old Sock from 2013) and a joint performance at the first Crossroads Guitar Festival, in 2004. Over the years, Clapton assimilated and mastered Cale’s approach to songwriting (“Lay
Clapton with Cale; (right) the cover of The Breeze, An Appreciation of J.J. Cale Down Sally,” “I Can’t Stand It”). His midSeventies and early Eighties albums, from 461 Ocean Boulevard (1974) to Money and Cigarettes (1983), come off as loose acknowledgements of Cale’s influence. On July 29, however, Clapton will release a bona-fide tribute to his friend and former collaborator: Eric Clapton & Friends: The Breeze, An Appreciation of J.J. Cale. The album features 16 Cale songs—from “Call Me the Breeze” and “Starbound” to “Magnolia” “Songbird” and “Crying Eyes”—performed by Clapton and a host of guests, including Mark Knopfler, John Mayer, Willie Nelson, Tom Petty and Don White. Other friends include Albert Lee, Derek Trucks, David Lindley, Doyle Bramhall II and Don Preston, all of whom split up the six-string duties. In the interview below, Clapton discusses Cale and the new album—which happens to be his only tribute album besides Me and Mr. Johnson, his 2004 homage to Robert Johnson. It’s 1969. You’ve left behind Cream’s heavy blues-rock, freeform improvisation, high intensity and volume. Then you discover J.J. Cale’s music, courtesy of Delaney Bramlett of Delaney & Bonnie. Before you know it, you immerse yourself in Cale’s “relaxed” Tulsa style, and the Clapton of Cream becomes a thing of the past. Did you see Cale’s music as the embodiment of something you had been seeking? Or were you not even looking for something new? 68 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 I think I was looking for someone to identify with. A lot of my musical growth and education came from players who weren’t around anymore. The Best of Muddy Waters [1958] was one of my primary sources of education, as well as a lot of the country blues guys who had been gone a long time. But even the Muddy album, which was an electric album—that band, by the time I got to hear that album, was long gone. What I’m trying to say is, if I was looking for something current, there it was. He had the root and the understanding—the knowledge about all the music I loved—in the same way Delaney and Leon Russell did. These guys understood the history of this thing I was attracted to, so it was logical to me that I should keep an eye on them and follow what they were doing. Sometimes you immerse yourself in your influences to the point that you ignore your own ego and delve into the artist’s style, even including the way he sings and plays. When that’s the case, do you consider it a learning experience or some type of comfort zone? A bit of both, I think. With J.J., for instance, and trying to learn to play some of the Robert Johnson songs…when you put those two things side by side, my intention is always to try and leave my ego at the door and go in and learn everything I can about how they did it. That’s the starting point. That will be the aspiration. And what happens inevitably is that my ego gets back in and I adapt what I’m learning to suit what I want to do. So my will is always present. Robert Johnson was the hardest thing to tackle because, in order to play any of the songs he put on tape exactly as he did it, that’s a life’s work in itself. Any one of his songs, they’re so strategically different in terms of technique and how to sing and play those things at the same time. It’s like master-class stuff. My approach is to get as far as I can and allow my will to come in and take over and make it so that I can play it now and not in five years’ time, because I’m too impatient to have to follow that through to its logical conclusion. And with J.J., it’s the same thing. So what I end up with, even if I’m trying to imitate and emulate, is a version, because my will has twisted me to make it easier for me. What was it about Cale’s music or approach that appealed to you the most? He had it all, and I mean everything. He was the epitome of a rock writer. He could do the whole thing. When I found out he produced and mixed and made all these records himself, well, that’s as good as it gets. He also employed what can be called a minimalist approach, something that’s long been associated with the blues. Did you see a connection between Cale and the blues in terms of doing a lot with a little? Yes, but I think that might have been an illusion. The more I delve into how he did what he did, the more complex and sophisticated it becomes. The initial impression of J.J.’s music is that it’s simple, laidback and quite plaintive in a way. But in truth, if you put a microscope on it, it’s really quite ornate. Also, J.J. would play solos in the back of the track that were fuzzy and distorted. He was happy to do all of that stuff—wah-wahs, effects. He was Mr. Effect. He was in front of the curve with all that stuff. He and Roger Linn kind of invented the drum machine [Linn was the first to use digital audio samples in a drum machine, the LM-1 Drum Computer]. I don’t think he gets enough credit for being at the front end of all that technological stuff. P R E V I O U S PA G E : M I C H A E L P U T L A N D/ G E T T Y I M A G E S ( C A L E ) ; T erry O ’ N eill / G etty I mages ( C L A P TO N ) ; T H I S PA G E : B rian R ooney worldmags.net worldmags.net
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worldmags.net worldmags.net Cale and Clapton onstage in San Diego, March 15, 2007 How, when and where did The Breeze, An Appreciation of J.J. Cale come together? Right after his funeral service, I flew from California back to Columbus, Ohio, where I have a house, and my wife’s family is there. At some point over the last couple of years, I started putting in a primitive little studio, and we started tracking there. I’d put rhythm tracks together and then I’d overlay guitars, and Walt Richmond came to play keyboards. Then, when we’d built enough with the artificial sounds, we went to L.A. I asked [drummer] Jim Keltner and [bassist] Nathan East to start putting down a proper rhythm section. Then we got some other players, including [drummers] Jamie Oldaker, David Teegarden, Jim Karstein and James Cruce. Then came [guitarists] Don White, Don Preston, David Lindley, Doyle Bramhall II. Jamie Oldaker was in your Seventies band. Is this the first time you’ve worked with him in, I’m guessing, three decades plus? In a long, long time, yeah. He was one of the first people I met who truly understood what J.J. was trying to do. Being another Tulsa boy, he spoke the language. What would you say is the commonality between you, Mark Knopfler, John Mayer and some of the other guest artists ? Well, I don’t know about their taste, but I can make an assumption that J.J. would be high on their list of favorite people. I didn’t want 70 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 to get just famous people or people who are commercially attractive or who were skillful or whatever. They had to be people who had a certain affection for J.J. and vice versa, and that J.J. would’ve approved of doing the songs. There were some criteria there, but the most important thing was that J.J. had had an effect on them. How did you choose which songs to cover on the album? When I got the news of [J.J.’s] passing, I booked a flight to L.A. and they told me the date of the service. I flew from London to L.A., and during that flight everything happened. I listened to everything I had of his on my phone. I had most of his catalog in a playlist and thought this would be a good opportunity to do some of his songs. In terms of individual choices, “Cajun Moon” was very daunting to me. I didn’t think anyone could do that one, but I thought I could give it a try. I made up a short list of about 30 songs. Then I went back to Columbus and we just started putting down tracks. Then I realized, having met Don White at the funeral, that I needed to open this up to other people. He was the first person I asked. Then I asked John Mayer. Then I asked Tom Petty. Then I asked Will [Nelson] and Mark [Knopfler]. And I left a little room for myself. What amps and guitars did you use? I used a Dumble Fender amp, which is Eric Clapton and D’Angelico team up for an archtop worthy of a god: the USA Style B Master Builder Excel. Eric Clapton knows what he likes in a guitar. So when he was given an opportunity to demo one of the exquisitely designed Master Builder Excel electric guitars from D’Angelico Guitars, it didn’t take long before he knew that he wanted to collaborate with the famed New York guitar maker on a new archtop that meets his discerning specifications. Behold the new USA Style B Master Builder Excel in Vintage Sunburst, a finely crafted instrument produced through a joint effort between the two guitar titans. The Style B Master Builder Excel features AAA European maple back and sides, a European spruce top and a single-piece European maple neck with an ebony fingerboard. A floating Lollar Johnny Smith neck pickup with pickguard-mounted volume and tone pots allows the Style B Master Builder Excel to be used in any live situation, from a duo to a full-size band. In keeping with the D’Angelico spirit, the guitar is adorned with all the accoutrements of its iconic predecessors, including the signature stair-step pickguard and tail piece, a distinctive headstock with motherof-pearl Excel inlay and mother-ofpearl square-block fret markers. The two-tone Vintage Sunburst finish and gold hardware give the instrument its unique visual flair, and a deluxe hardshell case is included. For more information, visit dangelicoguitars.com. —Jeff Kitts
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worldmags.net worldmags.net Do you try to tweak your sound so that it’s slightly different from project to project? I don’t think I would do that deliberately. I kind of do the opposite. My experience is, no matter what you do to try and remain consistent, it’ll always change. There’s something in the air. Further on down the road, there will be something different, and my intention would be to pick up where we left off. For that reason, I always try to work with people I trust and love, like my partner [and album co-producer] Simon Climie, and Aaron Douglas will be our engineer. We know one another, and we try to get some consistency from that point of view. But you can’t account for everything. Even the weather might have an effect on what you’re trying to do. [laughs] So I go the other way. I try to follow a thread. Along the lines of learning, say, finger vibrato from B.B. King, what was the main thing you picked up from Cale as a guitarist, or even as a producer? I think it’s a philosophy that becomes much more of an overall way of approaching how to play music, starting with a much lighter touch and a more open ear, being much more attentive to the peripheral sound of everything rather than just jumping onto a moving train, as it were, and playing away. J.J.’s thing was creating a really interesting picture, whatever kind of track he was working on. That was attractive to me, and I tried to learn about and embody that, even in stuff that doesn’t particularly sound like that kind of music. I could be working on something else, but I’ll still apply that philosophy. How would you describe your relationship with Cale? We came into one another’s lives too late to be close friends. We were good friends, but his close friends are the guys who grew up with him and knew him from the school yard. You can’t be different if you’re playing what everyone else is. Visit reverendguitars.com to start your journey to becoming an individual. a Fender Bandmaster that [custom amp builder] Alexander Dumble had done some work on. I also used a vintage Fender Vibrolux and a vintage Fender Champ. Then there was my Martin signature guitar, a Sixties Gibson ES-325 and a Signature Fender Strat. I also have a beautiful Gibson L-5 that J.J. gave me, which I used as a rhythm guitar. When you recorded The Road to Escondido together, why did you want him to write the bulk of the songs? I was too intimidated to come up with any. I couldn’t write. I was kind of nervous going into that project, so I stalled, I froze with the writing, and he sent me his songs that he thought would be okay. I went to Escondido [in southern California] to learn them. We sat in his house and routined everything as much as we could, so that we didn’t go into the studio too raw. And it was great. We watched TV, we hung, we ate together. I got to know him then as well as I ever would. You recently said you’d like people to tap in to what Cale did. If readers are intrigued by the new album and want to check out Cale’s music, what gets your vote for the best Cale album to start with? Whoa, that’s a tough one. It’d be tempting to say the early stuff, like Naturally [1971] or Okie [1974]. But then you can come right up to date and get To Tulsa and Back [2004] too. I don’t think it matters, because it seems, in his middle period, anyway, that the songs on his albums didn’t necessarily come from the same time period. I knew he had boxes of tapes, and when he wanted to put an album out he’d pick them at random, depending on what he wanted to get rid of. [laughs] But I’d say Naturally, and then whatever was close to the last. Guitar Man [1996] is great too.
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worldmags.net worldmags.net 74 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014
worldmags.net worldmags.net P A G E G U I T A R W O R L D 7 5 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 4 Neal Schon is exploring different musical territories, both with Journey and as a prolific solo artist. The guitarist talks with GW about So U, his new album of hard rock and fusion. By Ted Drozdowski
worldmags.net worldmags.net 76 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 he’s been working on recently as part of his lifelong quest for Holy Grail tone. “My tone keeps getting closer and closer to what I want to hear,” he says. “What keeps me fired up about the guitar is that it is such a great form of expression. I love being able to talk through it. I love the way it sounds—how sounds can effect moods and create atmospheres. And the tone—your sound, your touch, how you hit a note or back off from it… that’s the most important thing. “Music,” he adds, “is the language of the world, and your tone is your voice.” We started our conversation by asking Schon how he keeps that voice, one of rock’s most finely chiseled, in shape. What is your practice regimen these days? Some days I’ll play for hours; some days I’ll play for an hour. I don’t practice scales. I never have. I’ve got a couple keyboards that have real drum sounds that I loop. I will find something cool and just jam on it for a half hour to an hour, and I’m recording while I do. But I don’t really practice any techniques in particular. Sometimes I pick chords that are a bit “outside,” like halftones mixed up with whole tone chords, to improve my dexterity in those intervals, so when I come up with a song that’s a little bit “out,” I know where I can go. I only play by ear. I never studied theory. I just come from P r e v i o u s Pa g e : J ay B l a k e s b e r g Melody and ferocity have always been the double-edged sword of Neal Schon’s playing, starting with his first appearances as a 15-year-old prodigy in the band Santana. Over the past 41 years, he’s continued to display those qualities in his ongoing gig with Journey, who have sold close to 50 million albums and helped define the term arena rock. Schon has made many pit stops along the way, including seven solo albums, appearances on discs by Paul Rodgers, Sammy Hagar and his keyboard-playing fusion idol Jan Hammer, and membership in the bands Bad English and Hardline. Through it all, he’s displayed a level of virtuosity that’s drawn praise from such intensive and diverse six-string wranglers as Joe Satriani and Reeves Gabrels. Schon’s new, eighth, solo album, So U, maintains his booster-rocket momentum. It’s evident in the spark-showers of notes that spray from his strings in the swaggering blues rocker “Take a Ride” and the Mahavishnu Orchestra–inspired free-flight “Exotica,” as well as in his productivity. The disc—which features Journey drummer Deen Castronovo and bass monster Marco Mendoza, with lyrics from Jack Blades of Night Ranger—was recorded during a hot streak in 2012 that also yielded Schon’s previous solo album, The Calling, and Journey’s Eclipse—all cut at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California, 20 minutes from Schon’s Marin County home. “That’s where Journey cut our biggest records: Escape, Frontiers…” Schon says. “I use that studio so much they’ve given me my own locker for my equipment.” In fact, in the interim he recorded another solo disc there, now waiting in the wings as he gets ready to return to Fantasy yet again to cut tracks with Journey before their summer tour. That next Schon album, tentatively called The Neal Schon Vortex, a name suggested by his buddy Carlos Santana, also captures Schon’s first recorded finger picking, a technique
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worldmags.net worldmags.net the heart. The only thing I can tell you is I know when I hit a bad note. [laughs] How did the So U album and trio come together? It was very impromptu. I had just finished The Calling. Right before that, we’d recorded Journey’s Eclipse. My gear was still set up and I wanted to keep the music rolling, so I called Deen and Marco. They were both available, which was highly unlikely, so we planned a starting date, about a week later. I decided to get a jumpstart. I went to Jack Blades’ house and showed him some music I had, and we started writing lyrics. Jack and I mapped out, somewhat, what the vocals on the record would sound like, with Jack singing Marco’s parts. Marco has a funky, soulful voice. Deen is great on the soaring, high parts, and my voice is lower, so we have natural harmony when you blend our voices. Ultimately, I walked in with only two songs. The rest of it was improvised with the guys. How do you approach writing instrumentals versus vocal songs? With instrumentals, the guitar becomes the focal point. I like to have a good melody to work off of. I come up with a theme and improvise around it, and come back home in the end. That’s what I learned from the great guitarists, like Carlos and John McLaughlin. The instrumental “Exotica,” for example, started out with me playing keyboards to a click track. I arranged chords in a way I thought I’d like to solo over, and then Deen and I started jamming live to the keyboards and click. All three of us cut some songs live, but the instrumentals were cut to my keyboard parts and a click track. With vocal tunes, I’m usually humming while I’m playing the chord changes I’m AXOLOGY GUITARS Paul Reed Smith NS-13, NS-14 and NS-15 models, Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster AMPS Bogner Shiva head running a 2x12 cabinet with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers EFFECTS Fractal Axe-Fx II in stereo, direct and via the Bogner STRINGS D’Addario EXL 120 Super Light (.009–.042) and EXL 110 Regular Light (.010–.046) PICKS Dunlop medium gauge celluloid 78 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 20 14 You need to let your creative impulses lead you where you need to be. writing. I’ve done that a lot in Journey. I usually come up with chords and melodies. I don’t write that many lyrics. You’re still close friends with Carlos Santana? Oh, yeah! We’re playing and hanging out and working on stuff. When he and I get in a room, sparks start flying. Carlos came from a natural place with his band from the beginning, and I was just an addition. I was lucky enough as a kid to play with them and experience what a great band they were and still are. When Carlos and me play together now, it’s an extension of where we left off. Carlos turned me on to the Mahavishnu Orchestra and John McLaughlin. That band, along with Jan Hammer, who played keys in Mahavishnu, really inspires me. Mahavishnu were playing in San Francisco at Winterland. I went with Carlos and we stood onstage and watched the show from right behind [drummer] Billy Cobham. I was so mesmerized. I couldn’t believe the energy. It was like reaching for the sky. It was like there were gods in the house. Carlos also turned me on to Tony Williams’ Lifetime and so much more great music. He’s still that way. You began as a blues-based player, mimicking the way blues and soul vocalists phrase. What opened you up to other directions? Fusion, especially Jan Hammer and John McLaughlin. A lot of where I was coming from when I started expanding my playing in the early Seventies was also where Jeff Beck was coming from. I think that’s because we were both so into Jan—the dynamic of his playing and the Eastern influences. I still love playing blues. I toured with Paul Rodgers for a couple years after his [1993 album] Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters came out. And after blues and R&B, I listened to some Wes Montgomery and some Joe Pass. Joe used so many chords I couldn’t figure him out. But as soon as I heard fusion, I loved John and Jan, and Chick Corea’s Return to Forever with Billy Connors. That inspired me to pursue new things. What does So U say about you as an artist today? That I’m more free and creative and spontaneous than I’ve ever been. I find that every time I play with somebody different, something fresh comes out of me. Sometimes something different happens to them, too. On this record, Deen really shines as a drummer in a different way than people are used to hearing him in Journey. When there are no reins on anybody, you have to be open to possibilities. With “Big Ocean,” I found a keyboard patch that inspired the song. The feeling I got reminded me of being out in the middle of the ocean off Hawaii, where it’s endless. I was going to put vocals on it. I was singing the melody that I’m playing on slide guitar in standard turning at the beginning, but it sounded so Pink Floyd—so much like David Gilmour, who I love—that I couldn’t bring myself to do it. So that became an instrumental. The point is, you need to let your creative impulses lead you where you need to be. You used some of your Neal Schon PRS signature NS-14 and NS-15 model guitars on So U. What defines those guitars? It’s an ongoing process—changing the guitar little by little. I really love the new 15, which is the one I play the most. It’s an archtop, solid down the center—mahogany all the way—and it’s got a curly-maple neck, curlymaple back and mahogany sides with a single cutaway and two f-holes, and a spruce top. We keep messing around with the weight. There are a couple I’ve been playing that are actually nine-and-a-half-pounders, and they sound like giant frickin’ Les Pauls. I’ve always loved the resonance and the top end of an L-5. That comes from the spruce. A lot of people are having trouble wrapping their heads around the fact that I’ve got a Floyd Rose tailpiece on it. The deal is, I love Floyds because they stay in tune. Also, these guitars have some of the widest fingerboards out there, almost like classical guitars. I use the 14 and 15 models on the album, and a few PRS 13s, including a 24-fret model. I also used a Strat-style custom Fender. It’s got a mahogany neck with a neck joint like the one that was on my original Les Paul. When you slide down, you’ve got a nice chunk of wood to hold onto. I have three of them—mahogany back, no chambering and a black curly-maple top with a Floyd and a ’58 figured headstock. It sounds a little bit brighter than a Paul. That guitar and the PRS’ mix together well.
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worldmags.net worldmags.net Guitar World P.80 Guitar World rounds up 17 amazing practice amps that will help you sound better, woodshed longer and become the guitarist you’ve always wanted to be. Playing live might be the best way to hone your performance skills, but when it comes to technique, you need practice, practice, practice. If you play an electric guitar, your woodshedding sessions demand an amp that not only reveals the details and nuance of your playing but also sounds great—so great that it makes you want to practice more and become the best guitarist you can. Of course, it’s even better if it has built-in effects and connectivity to the world of digital apps, downloads and MP3 players. With that in mind, we set out to find the best-sounding and best-outfitted practice amps on the market. Over the next several pages, you’ll find combos and heads that pull double-duty as studio and rehearsal powerhouses and others that offer computer, USB, Bluetooth, iOS and Android connectivity. Whether you love an all-tube rig, solid-state power, or featureladen digital/modeling amps, you’re sure to find that one of these tone machines makes practice perfect.
worldmags.net worldmags.net 01 01 Hughes & Kettner Tubemeister 5 Combo Featuring one channel with clean and drive options, the Hughes & Kettner Tubemeister 5 combo delivers five watts of warm tube tone and offers up a phenomenally dynamic range, from sparkling cleans to harmonically rich distortion. The amp features an eight-inch Celestion speaker housed in a vented, dovetailed birch-ply enclosure tuned to broadcast its big, bold voice. Other features include an automatic/switchable power soak with silentrecording function and a balanced Red Box DI for speaker emulation. LIST PRICE $629, hughes-and-kettner.com 02 02 Epiphone Limited-Edition 75th Anniversary Inspired by the 1939 Century amp, this 18-watt reissue of an art deco masterpiece from Epiphone’s early days in New York City features redesigned electronics, two 6V6 and two 12AX7 tubes, one 12inch speaker, a Boost mode, a master tone knob, and bright, normal and dark inputs. Other features include an extension speaker output, footswitch jack and internal bias adjustment. LIST PRICE $665, epiphone.com 03 03 MG10CF Marshall’s MG10CF is one of the company’s best-selling compact practice amps, and it can be found backstage at countless concerts. This sturdy 10-watt amp has one 6 1/2–inch speaker, Clean and Overdrive channels, an MP3/line input and a headphone jack for silent practice. STREET PRICE $79.99, marshallamps.com 04 04 Marshall Ibanez TSA5TVR The retro-looking TSA5TVR is an all-tube, Class A five-watt combo with a genuine TS808 Tube Screamer circuit, accessible by a control-panel toggle switch or optional IFS1G footswitch. The Tube Screamer mates perfectly with the amp’s 12AX7 preamp tube and 6V6GT power tube. The TSA5TVR features an eight-inch Jensen C8R speaker, selected for its excellent response to overdrive distortion, and a smooth-sounding Accutronics spring reverb as well as an external speaker out, headphone out and a direct line out. LIST PRICE $533.32, ibanez.com guitarworld.com 81
worldmags.net worldmags.net 05 Vox Valvetronix VT20+ The Vox Valvetronix VT 20+ has 33 amp models and 25 effects that can be quickly edited and adjusted directly from the amplifier panel. Each amp model features three variations, for a total of 99 ready-to-use presets. The amp’s power level can be lowered to get full, rich tone at modest listening volumes and can be raised up to 30 watts. Other features include a stereo MP3/CD line input and a headphone/lineout jack with Vox emulated speaker response. The optional VFS5 footswitch allows on/off control of effects and reverb plus control of tap-tempo timing. LIST PRICE $245.99, voxamps.com 06 VHT i-16 The VHT i-16 combines 16 watts of real tube amp tone with VHT Tone-Link circuitry that provides access to iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch modeling apps. The VHT i-16 features a 12AX7 preamp tube running at 300 volts for tube amp dynamics and texture, and has controls for volume, tone and master. The volume control has a footswitchable pull-boost feature, and the i-16 also has jacks that provide easy access to PC-based software and virtual instruments. STREET PRICES $239.99; 1x8 combo, $269.99, vhtamp.com 82 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 07 Blackstar ID:Core 40 The Blackstar ID:Core 40 is a 2x20-watt wide-stereo guitar amplifier that lets you custom design your own tones using its Voice control, which features six settings—Clean Warm, Clean Bright, Crunch, Super Crunch, OD 1 and OD 2. Blackstar’s patented ISF control lets you dial a combination of American- or British-style tones, and the amp’s effect section delivers studioquality modulation, delay and reverb effects simultaneously that you can also store with your sound. Blackstar Insider software allows deep editing and storing of patches. The amp features an emulated output, an MP3/line input and a USB connector to record from your amp directly to your computer. LIST PRICE $280, blackstaramps.com
worldmags.net worldmags.net 08 Orange Amplification CRUSH PRO 60 The Crush Pro 60 is an analog, solid-state, two-channel, 60-watt amplifier based on the Orange Rockerverb range. The Dirty channel uses a circuit based on four stages of gain and a three-band EQ that provides a wide pallet of overdriven and distorted sounds. The Clean channel is based on a two-stage, two-band EQ design that delivers a clear but warm sound that, when cranked, begins to break up into overdrive. Other features include a transparent effect loop, an Orange “Voice of the World” 12-inch speaker and digital reverb. STREET PRICE $499, orangeamps.com 09 Fender MUSTANG I (V.2) The Fender Mustang I V.2 is a 20-watt amp featuring one eight-inch Fender Special Design speaker and 18 amp models, five of which are new and include ’57 Twin and Sixties Thrift. The amp also includes new modulation, reverb and delay effects and intelligent pitch shifting. USB connectivity and Fender FUSE software allow deep editing of programs as well as preset storage, patch swapping and free artist content. The amp has 24 onboard presets, and the USB connection allows unlimited preset storage via your computer. LIST PRICE $169.99 fender.com
worldmags.net worldmags.net 10 10 Line 6 AMPLIFi 75 The Line 6 AMPLIFi 75 combines a high-performance guitar amplifier, a streaming Bluetooth speaker system and a breakthrough iOS app in one device. The amp’s full-range, five-speaker stereo design delivers powerful, detailed tones, and Bluetooth connectivity lets you stream tracks from any Bluetooth-enabled device directly to AMPLIFi 75, which is perfect for jamming at full volume, playing back songs at rehearsals and more. The AMPLIFi Remote iOS app lets you control your rig wirelessly, choose from more than 200 amps and effects, and create, share, download and rate tones online. STREET PRICE $399, line6.com 11 11 Peavey Vypyr VIP 1 The VYPYR VIP 1 is a 20-watt amplifier that features Peavey’s Variable Instrument Performance technology, which contains bass guitar, acoustic guitar and electric guitar amplifier models created with Peavey’s patented Transtube analog circuitry. The USB port provides an easy way to record, connect to Peavey VYPYR software, store presets, get lessons and practice to backing tracks while connected to your computer. Other features include a custom-voiced eight-inch speaker, 25 onboard effects and 36 amp models. STREET PRICE $129.99, peavey.com 12 12 Randall Amplifiers KH-15 The Randall Kirk Hammett KH-15 is a 15-watt practice combo with 6 1/2–inch Randall speaker. It features two channels—Clean and Hammett Overdrive—and includes a boost, a three-band EQ section, a headphone jack and a CD/tape input. LIST PRICE $179.99, randallamplifiers.com 13 13 84 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 Carr Amplifiers Raleigh The Raleigh is a versatile practice/studio amp that delivers pristine clean and heavily overdriven tones at usable volumes. Its features include three watts of output, an all-tube design (one EL-84, two 12AX7), two voices (Sixties Clean and Heavy Sustain), an OD channel master volume, an extended-range tone control, a Hemp-cone 10-inch Lil Buddy Eminence American-voiced speaker, point-to-point wiring, Solen Aerospace Satellite power-supply capacitors and Custom Carr power/output transformers. STREET PRICE $1,350, carramps.com
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worldmags.net worldmags.net 14 14 Carvin VT16 mini tube amp Available as a VT16 micro head and as a 1x12 combo, Carvin’s Vintage 16 is a low-wattage, boutiquestyle recording/practice tube amp. The soak control lets you create everything from stout clean tones with rich midrange body to an upper-midrange tweed-like snarl, and the amp’s all-tube design incorporates one 12AX7 preamp and two EL84 output tubes, creating a crisp 16 watts in Pentode mode and five watts in Triode mode. Other features include bass, mid and treble controls, a long-tail reverb and a Silent mode for line-out operation. DIRECT PRICES VT16 head, $369; Vintage 16 combo, $399, carvin.com 15 15 16 Mesa/Boogie Transatlantic TA-15 The lunchbox-sized all-tube Mesa/Boogie Transatlantic TA-15 has two footswitchable preamp channels containing five modes and three selectable power choices per channel. The TA-15 also features multiwatt channel-assignable power that offers three classic power choices per channel: 25 watts of dyna-watt power for maximum headroom, 15 watts of Class A power or five watts of single-ended Class A output for the ultimate vintage clip. The TA-15 comes with a padded shoulder bag and footswitch. LIST PRICE $899, mesaboogie.com 16 Roland Cube-10GX Roland’a Cube-10GX is a compact 10-watt guitar amp with custom-designed eight-inch speaker. It features three COSM amp types—Clean, Crunch and Lead—as well as chorus, delay and reverb (including plate and spring reverb types). Custom COSM amps can be downloaded with the free Cube Kit app for iOS and Android devices. STREET PRICE $139, rolandus.com 17 17 Bugera V5 Infinium The Bugera V5 Infinium is a practice and recording amp that serves up five watts of Class A output through a custom-engineered Turbosound eight-inch speaker. The V5 Infinium features single 12AX7 and EL84 tubes, and it includes Bugera’s revolutionary Infinium Tube Life Multiplier Technology, which constantly monitors and tweaks output performance and extends power tube lifespan up to 20 times. LIST PRICE $229.99, bugera-amps.com 86 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014
worldmags.net worldmags.net Passive Cabinet Simulator – Speaker+Mic Alternative – Headphone Driver “Mind blown! The CabClone sounds just like a mic’d up cabinet. If you need your sound to be DI’d but retain all of the tone, warmth and character that made you go Boogie in the first place, the CabClone is the perfect solution for a direct tone that sounds completely real and satisfying. Plus, your tone is recallable, reliable and rockin’ in any situation ... no question it’s 100% Boogie.” Richard Chycki MIXER | ENGINEER (Rush, Dream Theater, Aerosmith) “The CabClone is fantastic...brings more clarity than any open microphone ever could on stage. Absolutely captures the warmth and depth of standing in front of the guitar rig right into your console. No need to combine a mic input at all with it, the CabClone is all you need. Makes mic’ing superfluous.” Tom Abraham FRONT OF HOUSE ENGINEER (Keith Urban) More info at mesaboogie.com The CABCLONE™ is a passive Cabinet Simulator/Speaker+Mic alternative with a built-in Amp Load that allows a direct interface of your guitar amp’s Speaker Output with a mixing console, mic pre, recorder (with or without a speaker cabinet) or even your favorite headphones for private rehearsal.
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worldmags.net worldmags.net SoundCheck For video of this review, go to GuitarWorld.com/Sept2014 * optimized for iPhone, iPad and Android! Riviera Custom P93 cheat sheet FEATURES The Epiphone Casino Coupe is essentially a Casino with the smaller body proportions of the ES-339 model. It retains the same fully hollowbody design as the original Casino and provides a full-size mahogany neck with a 24 3/4–inch scale, 22 medium jumbo frets, a rosewood fingerboard with a 12-inch radius, parallelogram inlays and a Sixties-era Slim-Taper C-shaped profile. Unlike classic Casino models, where the neck meets the body at the 16th fret, the Casino Coupe’s neck joins the body at the 19th fret and provides better access to the uppermost reaches. The body is made from five-layer laminated maple. Also true to the Casino’s classic design, the guitar is equipped with a pair of P-90 singlecoil pickups with chrome-plated dog-ear covers and nickel-plated hardware that includes a LockTone Tune-o-matic bridge, floating trapeze tailpiece and 14:1 tuners with metal buttons. The control configuration consists of separate volume and tone controls for each pickup and a three-position pickup-selector switch. If you need even more tonal versatility, look no further than the Riviera Custom P93. This is a fullsize double-cutaway thinline electric with a semihollow laminated maple body that incorporates a block of mahogany through the center, beneath the pickups, bridge and tailpiece. Like the Casino, it has a 24 3/4–inch-scale mahogany neck with 22 medium jumbo frets, a rosewood fingerboard, a 12-inch radius and parallelogram inlays. The SlimTaper neck has a D-shaped profile. The Riviera Custom P93’s tonal versatility comes courtesy of three P-90 single-coil pickups with dog-ear covers, individual volume controls for each pickup, a master tone control and a three-position pickup-selector switch. The hardware is gold plated and consists of a genuine 90 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 Bigsby B70 vibrato tailpiece, Wilkinson 14:1 tuners with small gold-plated buttons, and a LockTone Tune-o-matic bridge. While the Casino Coupe is available with three finish options (red, natural and sunburst), the Riviera Custom P93 is offered with a Wine Red finish only. PERFORMANCE With its exceptionally light weight and compact body size, the Casino Coupe is very comfortable to play, especially when seated, which is when a full-size thinline body can feel a bit bulky. Thanks to its fully hollow design, the guitar produces outstanding resonance and sustain. The Coupe’s smaller body size provides more focused midrange honk and bite, and it makes the guitar more resistant to feedback than a full-sized Casino. The pickups deliver the classic, aggressive P-90 snarl that perfectly complements the Casino’s midrange and acoustic resonance. The Coupe’s focused and assertive voice makes it a great thinline choice for lead guitarists. With its semihollow design, the Riviera Custom P93 leans closer to the tones and textures of a solidbody guitar, but it still provides plenty of body, resonance and sustain. The Riviera’s P-90 pickups have the same crisp, bold and dynamic character as the Coupe’s P-90s, but having three of them at your disposal provides an even wider range of flavors and nuances to work with. Both of my examples displayed impressive attention to detail. When I looked up the street prices for both, I was shocked to discover how affordable they are—I was expecting each model to sell for more than $1,000, just judging by the workmanship, playability and tonal performance. On appearance alone, the Riviera Custom P93 far outclasses other contenders in its price range, and both models were ready to gig right out the box, without needing any hardware or electronics upgrades. LIST PRICES Casino Coupe, $748; Riviera Custom P93, $832 MANUFACTURER Epiphone Guitar Corp., epiphone.com The Casino Coupe features the same compact body size as Epiphone’s ES-339 model while retaining a fully hollowbody design. The Casino Coupe’s two P-90 single-coil pickups deliver classic, assertive Casino tones but with more focused midrange and less susceptibility to feedback. The Riviera Custom P93 has a semihollow design and three P-90 single-coil pickups that provide a wide range of tones and textures. The Riviera’s gold-plated Bigsby vibrato tailpiece, LockTone Tune-o-matic bridge and Wilkinson tuners are pro quality. THE BOTTOM LINE If you’ve always wanted to add a thinline electric to your collection or you’re looking for a versatile first ax, these Epiphone models deliver outstanding performance for outrageously low prices.
worldmags.net worldmags.net For video of this review, go to GuitarWorld.com/Sept2014 * optimized for iPhone, iPad and Android! Modern Refinement guitar world gold award p er formanc e ESP E-II ST-2 Rosewood RDB By Eric Kirkla n d Any guitar that features a flat top, double cutaways, dual humbuckers and a locking Floyd Rose is typically pigeonholed as a “shredder’s guitar,” suggesting a predetermined limit of expression and application. In fact, the platform was originally conceived to correct performance-limiting design flaws and, consequently, addressed the requirements of technically proficient virtuosos, helping them to develop their talents fully. A handful of modern luthiers have refined the style over the past 30 years, and ESP now joins this small club with the new, Japanese-built E-II Series ST-2. (The E-II guitars replace the company’s Standard Series.) It’s a true player’s machine that rivals the finest contemporary guitars for playability, and at less than half the typical price. FEATURES ESP traditionally builds guitar bodies from alder or ash, largely because these are the tonewoods that look best when stained. However, as a first for the company, the ST-2 offers a basswood foundation topped with flamed maple. (Basswood is preferred by some players for its ability to produce clear, balanced tones through high levels of gain.) The 25 1/2–inch maple neck has a rosewood fingerboard and is bolted into an ideally leveled pocket, maximizing attack characteristics and ensuring that the string action is nearly identical across all 22 extra-jumbo frets. The neck’s U-shaped profile is thin by any standard, but it’s just chunky enough to provide stable cheat sheet LIST PRICE $2,558 MANUFACTURER The ESP Guitar Company, espguitars.com A push/pull tone pot taps the humbuckers for single-coil operation, offering more tonal cut without altering volume. resonance and completely formed tones— you won’t find a weak note anywhere on this neck. An original Floyd Rose doublelocking tremolo floats on the same angle as the neck in a pull-up-friendly route. DiMarzio’s Steve Blucher created the direct-mounted, split-coil humbuckers to specifically match the ST-2’s intended versatility. The single-coil tap is activated by pulling the tone pot, and the controls are closely spaced below the bridge pickup where the picking hand ends its strumming arc, parallel to the freehanging whammy bar. The right-angled output jack is another nice touch and is ideally positioned so that the guitar’s cord can be tucked behind your strap. PERFORMANCE Plugged or unplugged, the ST-2 is acoustically correct, presenting tones that sound rich but are never out of balance or lacking definition. Through a clean amp, the guitar exhibits bass attack that is pleasantly soft, with deep and uncolored overall tonality. Singlecoil mode maintains the humbuckers’ volume and is expectedly more crisp but without squawk or Texas spice. As more gain is introduced to the humbuckers, the bass becomes tighter and the DiMarzios’ complexity is more apparent. Clarity isn’t diminished by higher gain. On the contrary, the ST-2 seems to breathe deeper and respond more dynamically when handling a hot signal. For the most part, the ST-2’s voice, attitude and nuance are created by the player’s touch—it does exactly what it’s told. Low, buzz-free action and consistent note volume are evident across all 22 extrajumbo frets, creating a near-perfect playing experience. THE BOTTOM LINE Whether you want a guitar that can keep up with your fingers or one that delivers sonic balance and uncompromised performance, ESP’s E-II series ST-2 is the valedictorian of 2014’s midpriced class. guitarworld.com 91
worldmags.net worldmags.net SoundCheck guitar world platinum award EX CELLEN CE Double Vision Visual Sound V3 Series H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo By Ch ris G ill Many so-called dual pedals are really just compromised combinations of full-featured pedals. The Visual Sound V3 Series H2O Liquid Chorus & Echo is different. It provides the full functionality of two separate pedals in a single box, and it is one of the few dual pedals that delivers more than the sum of its parts. The H2O has independent hybrid analog/digital echo and analog chorus circuits, each of which sounds fantastic on its own. But the pedal’s true magic is how it organically blends both effects in a way that two separate stomp boxes rarely replicate. FEATURES The V3 Series H2O pedal is approximately the same size as two small MXR Bud Box–style pedals placed side by side, but it takes up less space on a pedal board thanks to front-mounted input, output and power jacks. The echo section has controls for delay, repeats and level, and there’s a short/long switch that lets you choose 92 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 between two delay-time ranges: 10 to 225 milliseconds or 225 to 450 milliseconds. The chorus section has full-size control knobs for speed, width and depth, smaller knobs for tone and chorus/vibrato, a three-position intensity switch and a detune on/off switch. Unlike many dual pedals, the V3 Series H2O can operate as two separate pedals, thanks to independent input and output jacks for each effect. The echo section has mono input and output jacks, while the chorus section has a mono input and two outputs for mono or stereo signals. For simplicity, you can plug into the echo input and run a cable from the chorus output; the echo and chorus signals are combined internally, with the echo first in order. If you prefer to place the chorus before the echo, plug into the chorus input, place an additional cable between the chorus mono output and the echo input, and run a cable from the echo output. A pair of custom-designed clickless Forever Footswitches are provided to switch the chorus and echo effects on and off separately, and a bright blue LED illuminates when the effect is engaged. Internal switches allow users to engage a buffer or true-bypass operation for each footswitch individually. The pedal operates with a nine-volt battery or an optional center-negative adapter.
worldmags.net worldmags.net For video of this review, go to GuitarWorld.com/Sept2014 for iPhone, and Android! *iPadoptimized Cordoba GK Pro Maple PERFORMANCE It’s obvious that no compromises were made when it comes to sound quality and versatility. The H2O’s chorus and echo effects are more versatile than many standalone pedals that sell for about the same street price. The Liquid Chorus section is especially impressive, providing a wide variety of lush chorus and vibrato effects that include classic analog and flanger-like chorus, Uni-Vibe-style chorus and vibrato, Leslie-esque rotating speaker simulations and seasick pitch-bending vibrato wobble. The intensity switch and chorus/vibrato blend control make it easy to dial in almost any conceivable flavor of chorus, vibe and vibrato. With the thick, rich texture that only analog chorus can provide, the H2O’s chorus section is sure to please the most discriminating chorus connoisseur. The echo section provides a good selection of essential controls. Because the circuit is hybrid analog/digital, the echo repeats have exceptional clarity, and noise is non-existent, providing performance similar to a digital delay while retaining fat, analog tone. I preferred the chorus-before-echo signal path, especially when I used chorus output two with a separate amp to create huge, vast textures with excellent individual note clarity. With a compressor in front of the pedal, I was able to dial in classic Andy Summers effects that took me back to 1979. cheat sheet The GK Pro Maple is Cordoba’s first cutaway guitar made with solid flamedmaple back and sides, paired with a solid European spruce top. Like its sister GK Pro models, it has a mahogany neck with ebony fingerboard and a flatter neck angle, allowing for low action and ease of playability. The Fishman Prefix ProBlend pickup makes it the ideal choice for gigging musicians. The GK Pro Maple features the Luthier Series’ signature mother-of-pearl hand-inlaid rosette and comes with a humidified hardshell case. STREET PRICE $1,679.99 cordobaguitars.com STREET PRICE $179 MANUFACTURER Visual Sound, visualsound.net The hybrid echo section provides delay times from 10 to 450 milliseconds and controls for delay time, repeat and level. The analog chorus section’s various controls can dial in a wide range of effects, including classic chorus, vibrato and rotating speaker. THE BOTTOM LINE More than the sum of its parts, the Visual Sound V3 Series H2O provides impressive analog chorus and hybrid delay effects that sound great separately and together. DigiTech Drop Pedal The DigiTech Drop polyphonic droptune pedal lets guitarists and bassists instantly lower their tuning from one semitone to a full octave. The Octave+Dry mode blends the original signal with another note an octave down, and the momentary/latching switch lets players create hammer-on and pull-off effects. The Drop incorporates the same polyphonic pitch-shifting algorithms as the Whammy DT to track notes and chords with no glitching or lag. It has true-bypass operation and runs via the included power supply. LIST PRICE $249.95 digitech.com guitarworld.com 93
worldmags.net worldmags.net SoundCheck For video of this review, go to GuitarWorld.com/Sept2014 * optimized for iPhone, iPad and Android! but an unlimited number of presets can be stored on a computer and accessed via Insider. The amp’s streamlined control panel has six knobs and five switches that make it easy to dial in sounds quickly. Controls consist of the voice selector (Clean Warm, Clean Bright, Crunch, Super Crunch, OD1, OD2), gain, volume, ISF EQ, effect type (1–4) and effect level. Switches are provided for selecting Manual mode, choosing modulation, delay or reverb effects, and setting tap tempo. The amp also features a built-in tuner and a jack for the optional FS-11 footswitch, which can be used for selecting patches or effects. PERFORMANCE Programming sounds guitar world Core Workout gold award p er formanc e Blackstar ID:Core Stereo 10 combo By Ch ris G ill Practice makes perfect, as the say- sound and versatility. ing goes, but having a practice amp that always inspires you to play can be a makeor-break proposition for any guitarist’s path to success. Blackstar’s new ID:Core combos are based on the company’s awesome ID:Series stage amps and provide incredible sonic power in a compact practice amp format. The ID:Core Stereo 10 is the smallest ID:Core combo, but what it lacks in size it more than makes up for in FEATURES The ID:Core Stereo 10 is a 10-watt stereo combo with two three-inch speakers, six specially voiced channels, 12 stereo effects, Blackstar’s patented ISF EQ, an MP3/line input, a speaker-emulated line out, and a USB jack for direct digital recording or for programming sounds with Blackstar’s free Insider software. Internally, the amp has six user-programmable presets, cheat sheet 94 LIST PRICE $143 MANUFACTURER Blackstar Amplification, blackstaramps.com gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 Six voice settings provide instant access to various clean, overdrive and distortion tones, which can be saved along with custom effect settings. on the ID:Core Stereo 10 is easy. Just select the voice setting that most closely resembles the tone you have in mind, adjust the gain and ISF EQ, then add in the desired effect for sonic sweetening. I was able to come pretty damn close to most of the sounds I wanted in less than a minute, but for further and more powerful sonic shaping I found the Insider software indispensable, as it provides even finer detail and access to parameters that can’t be controlled from the front panel. Don’t be fooled by the ID:Core Stereo 10’s small size—it delivers impressive volume output and sounds huge, especially with Blackstar’s Super Wide Stereo technology, which creates amazing threedimensional spatial effects. The wide range of tones and effects it provides is also stunning, particularly for the dynamic feel and expressiveness they provide. Dollar for dollar, guitarists would be hard pressed to find another product that delivers as much value in terms of both sound quality and versatility, making it the perfect tool for practice and recording. Free Insider software allows users to connect the amp to a computer and program custom sounds in greater detail. THE BOTTOM LINE An incredible bargain, the ID:Core Stereo 10 provides an impressively wide variety of awesome guitar tones and effects that are sure to inspire countless practice and recording sessions.
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worldmags.net worldmags.net SoundCheck For video of this review, go to GuitarWorld.com/Sept2014 * optimized for iPhone, iPad and Android! Nuclear Family guitar world gold award p er formanc e G&L Tribute Series Fallout By Ch ris G ill In 2013, G&L debuted the Fallout model, which was based on the company’s original SC-2 guitar introduced 30 years before. While the Fallout retained the SC-2’s slim body shape and 25 1/2–inch-scale length, it featured a different pickup configuration that made it ideal for a wider range of players. This year G&L has expanded the Fallout family with an affordable Tribute Series version that offers nearly identical features but sells for about a third of the price. FEATURES Whereas the original SC-2 had two G&L-designed single-coil pickups, the Fallout model received a full-size humbucker at the bridge and a P-90-style single-coil pickup at the neck, a configuration that is also featured on the Tribute Fallout. The two pickups are exclusive G&L models designed by respected electronics guru Paul Gagon, and the bridge humbucker offers a coil-split function that is activated by pulling up on the master tone control, allowing it to provide tones similar to those of the original SC-2. Other controls include a master volume knob and a threeway pickup-selector switch. The Tribute Fallout has a mahogany body that’s light, comfortable and well balanced, with a slim, contoured shape that resembles a hybrid of a Musicmaster and a Telecaster. The maple bolt-on neck has 22 medium- cheat sheet 96 LIST PRICE $572 MANUFACTURER G&L Guitars, glguitars.com gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 jumbo frets, a medium C-shaped profile and a 12-inch radius, and it’s available with either a maple or rosewood fretboard. The high-quality hardware includes G&L’s own exclusive Saddle Lock bridge design and 18:1 tuners. PERFORMANCE The Tribute Fallout may be an inexpensive import model, but it’s built to high standards. The neck pocket is impressively tight, and every part—including the pickups, tuners, neck plate and even the pickguard—is installed with precision and an attention to detail that gives the guitar a very solid feel and nearly immaculate appearance. My test model arrived with action that was impressively low and comfortable. While many mahogany-bodied guitars can sound dark, the Tribute Fallout’s humbucker actually delivers surprisingly bright, percussive and lively tones that are more like the biggest single-coil pickup you’ve ever heard. The neck P-90 pickup is where this guitar’s warm, singing tones lie, and players can easily dial in smooth “woman” tones à la Clapton and Santana by backing down the tone control. The split single-coil humbucker bridge pickup tones are sparkling and snappy enough for genuine chicken-pickin’ country licks, but at full humbucking mode and high gain it produces snarling lead tones that slice cleanly through a mix. The humbucker bridge and P-90–style neck pickups were designed exclusively for G&L by Paul Gagon and deliver a wide range of distinctive tones. Although the body size is somewhat slim, the neck has a full-size 25 1/2–inch scale, 22 medium jumbo frets and a 12-inch radius. THE BOTTOM LINE With its slim body shape and distinctive voice, the G&L Tribute Fallout is a great choice for guitarists looking for an affordable player’s instrument with tons of personality.
worldmags.net worldmags.net G7593T-BD Billy Duffy Signature White Falcon Serial No. JT13104892, 8.32 lbs. E very guitar is as unique as its owner. A carefully chosen combination of woodgrain, weight, feel and tone, it tells a story unlike any other. With an in-depth report on the guitars that suit you best, our Guitar Advisors will help you find more than the just best of the bestbest. You’ll find the one guitar that truly tells your story. Call a Guitar Advisor: 866-926-1923 Monday–Friday, 8 a.m.–5 p.m. CST www.privatereserveguitars.com
worldmags.net worldmags.net SoundCheck Buzz Bin guitar world gold award p er formanc Celestion A-Type 12-inch speaker Scream Team guitar world gold award p er forma nc Ibanez Tube Screamer TS808DX Overdrive Pro e By Eric Kirkla n d Guitarists often prefer the flexibility of having two overdrive pedals in their signal chain: one dialed to increase distortion/gain and another set up as a volume/signal boost. In celebration of the Tube Screamer’s 35th anniversary, Ibanez engineered both features in one pedal and used the reference-quality TS808 as its platform. The 808 gained almost mythic status when players learned that it was Stevie Ray Vaughan’s go-to overdrive pedal. The new Ibanez TS808DX Tube Screamer Overdrive Pro offers the revered TS808 overdrive circuit, an independent clean boost and a few long-awaited performanceenhancing features, taking the pedal’s legendary organic tones to new heights. FEATURES The TS808DX is really two pedals in one box: the classic TS808 overdrive on one side (using the original’s JRC4558D IC) and a clean booster on the other. Standard controls are provided for the overdrive, including overdrive, tone and level. A single boost knob controls the amount of signal increase, up to 26db, and the post/pre switch places the boost effect after or before the overdrive circuit. Overdrive cheat sheet 98 LIST PRICE $357.14 MANUFACTURER Ibanez, ibanez.com gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 and boost can be used simultaneously or on their own, and thanks to Ibanez’s new relaybased true-bypass switching, there’s no “pop” when turning either effect on or off. Ibanez gives users the option of switching the TS808DX between nine or 18 volts, but it still requires just a single battery or standard nine-volt power adapter to power the unit. PERFORMANCE The TS808DX has all of the original 808’s tube-like warmth gain, sweet overtones and glorious midrange, and it adds a beautiful grind to clean tones and drives high-gain channels into effortless harmonics, singing sustain and buttery highs. Bass frequencies are not rolled off, as some users of the original TS808 pedal claim; rather, the mids are pushed higher in the mix. The 18-volt power setting increases headroom, note separation and low-end definition for a more transparent sound. The boost on its own maintains the tone of your guitar and amp. Combining the boost with overdrive in the “pre” Tube Screamer position adds more compression, while the “post” Tube Screamer boost preserves more of the overdrive section’s natural dynamics. THE BOTTOM LINE Ibanez’s 35th anniversary TS808DX Tube Screamer Overdrive Pro finally gives players all of the legendary 808 tone, a separate boost, silent switching and an 18-volt option in one amazing, amp-kicking box. Whenever guitarists use the term British speaker, it’s fair to assume that they’re referring to Celestion. Even though Celestion makes dozens of different models, like Creambacks, Greenbacks, Vintage 30s, Alnico Blues, and even signature models for George Lynch and Eddie Van Halen, many players feel that there’s an inherent British quality to the sound of the company’s speakers. Celestion’s A-Type 12-inch speakers offer a new option for guitarists who prefer more of an American sound. The A-Type provides even frequency response across its entire range instead of the lower-midrange dip and defined midrange peak that characterize the signature Celestion sound. Available with either eight- or 16-ohm impedance, the A-Type speaker features a ceramic magnet, round copper coil and 50-watt power rating. The A-Type delivers bigger, fuller bass and more sparkling, complex treble than most classic Celestion speakers, but it maintains thick, rich midrange as well. It’s a great match for amps driven by KT88 power tubes as it maintains tight, defined low end and delivers satisfyingly articulated crunch when pushed hard. From country players who want lots of bark with bite to progressive metal guitarists who need clarity from the lowest lows to the highest highs, Celestion’s A-Type speakers offer a great alternative choice. —Chris Gill STREET PRICE $99 MANUFACTURER Celestion, celestion.com For videos of these reviews, go to GuitarWorld.com/Sept2014 for iPhone, and Android! *iPadoptimized e
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For video of this lesson, go to GuitarWorld.com/Sept2014 FULL SHRED for iPhone, iPad and Android! * optimized By Marty Friedman  COLUMNS worldmags.net worldmags.net MELODIC MOODS Using various articulation techniques to expressively phrase a melody An essential element of guitar soloing, one that to me separates the grownups from the kids, is the player’s ability to interpret single-note melodies in a musical way, with emotion and expression. There are countless ways in which one could play a note or series of notes on the guitar, and if you do not focus on being in control of how each note sounds, you’re wasting an opportunity for expression, via articulation and phrasing, which are among the most important tools available to you as a soloist. The little details in the manner by which you choose to play each note in a melody is what will give you the opportunity to sound different than any other guitar player and develop a unique musical “voice.” Using articulation as an expressive element is the one thing I concentrate on the most when playing live or recording, simply because there are so many options. The way in which you ultimately interpret a melody is the way you reveal your musical personality, which, to me, is the whole point in making music in the first place! As an example, I’ll use the melody to a song of mine called “Devil Take Tomorrow.” I’ll begin by playing the melody in a straightforward manner, and then I’ll demonstrate a few different ways in which it could be varied by using different articulations. FIGURE 1 illustrates an approach to playing the melody that is similar to how I play it on the studio recording of the song. This vocal-like melody is comprised mostly of half, quarter and eighth notes, so there are plenty of notes that sustain, leaving room for subtle variations in phrasing as the melody progresses. The song is played in the key of Fs major and is based on the notes of the Fs major scale: Fs Gs As B Cs Ds Es. In this first performance of the melody, I use subtle slides, bends, hammer-ons, pulloffs and vibratos to exude an expressive feeling. In FIGURE 2, I offer very subtle variations in phrasing and articulation, specifically in the manner in which the melody is performed over the Cdim7, 100 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 Fig. 11 “Devil Take Tomorrow” intro q = 124 FIGURE          6 4  8 8 9  3 4 7 6 6   4 6 6 F#/E 3   6 1 7 6 6 Fig. 33 FIGURE 1 1/2 6 D#m7 6  7 4 8 6  3 1 3  7 4 6  B/C# 6   6   8 8 9 3 1/2 6 6 6 6 1 6 6 4 B/C# 6 8 6 1/2 Dsm7 and B/Cs chords. In FIGURE 3, I push things a little further by altering the phrasing and articulation in just about every bar, taking more liberties as I move along. Now that you have the idea, try playing 3 6 F#  6 8 6 8 6 6  8 6 F# 8 6 4 9 11    8  6 3  1/2 4   3  F#/E 11 11  6 8 1/2 6 1/2 6  1/2 6 1/2 6 6 6 4  3   8  6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 3 4 4 6 F# 3   6 3 6 7 6 7 6 7 6       6 Cdim7 1/2 6 6  6 1/2 6  6 D#m7 6 7 6 1/2 6 6 8 F#   7 1/2 8 4 6 8 6 F# 4 4 Cdim7 6 6 6    6 6  6 FIGURE Fig. 22 1/2 3 B   1 1/2 6 8  1/2 6 8  4 6 6 8 4 6 1/2 B 6  G#m7 3 6   1/2 4 6 3  B 7 G#m7 4  8 11 3 B/C# 4   4 F#/E F# 6 G#m7 8 8 6 Cdim7 5   F# 1 D#m7 1 6 6  4 4 6 3 F#   4   4 3 this melody in as many different ways as you can think of, using various combinations of the above techniques. Then try doing the same thing with other melodies that you know or, even better yet, with your own. MARTY FRIEDMAN is a world-renowned American-born virtuoso guitarist living in Japan. His latest album is Inferno.
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THRASH CouRSE For video of this lesson, go to GuitarWorld.com/Sept2014 By Dave Davidson of Revocation for iPhone, iPad and Android! * optimized  COLUMNS worldmags.net worldmags.net DARK SHADOWS Using minor-seven flat-five chords in metal, part 2 7-string gtr. arranged for 6-string gtr. Tune down one half step (low to high: Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb). All music sounds one half step lower than written. FIGURE Fig. 11 FIGURE Fig. 22 Cm7 Cm7¨5 (root position)  Last month I introduced the dark- chord tone: 1 b7 5  4 b3  3 3 4 b5 1 4 ! 4 b7 b3 Fig. 33 FIGURE Cm7¨5 root position first inversion second inversion 5fr 1324 6 3 4 3 4 3  8 8fr 5 7 2314 2314 7 5 8 6 11 8 10 9 13 11 13 13 3 4 3 8 10 8 Cm7¨5    1 4      9 6  13 16 13 15 3 6   4  13 16 13 6 3 5 3 13 13  4 -1/2 6 3   13 3 9 3 6 4 11 10 13 10 8   11 3 3 5 3     13 second inversion 9 13     13 FIGURE Fig. 66    6 1. 13 15 3 w/bar 9 4  6 3    6 third inversion 13 15  13 11 13 root position 6 7  let ring throughout Fig. 55 Cm7b5 arpeggios FIGURE 3 3 first inversion 6 9 11fr 2413  Fig. 44 FIGURE    third inversion  gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 20 14 3 5 3  1324 ! 4  102   13121  sounding minor-seven flat-five (m7f5) chord and demonstrated a few ways guitarists can incorporate it into the writing of thrash-metal rhythm-guitar riffs and ideas. This month, I’d like to continue with more examples of how to use this unusual sound in a variety of cool, effective ways within thrash metal. To review, FIGURE 1 illustrates an arpeggiated Cm7 chord voicing, starting with the root, C, then the fifth, G, the minor, of “flat,” seventh, (f7), Bf, and the minor, or “flat,” third (f3), Ef, on top. FIGURE 2 shows Cm7f5, for which the fifth, G, is lowered, or “flatted” one half step, to Gf. The intervallic structure of this chord voicing is, low to high: root (C), f5 (Gf), f7 (Bf), f3 (Ef). The f5 creates a cool kind of “tension” that’s fun to explore within metal music. A great way to find alternate voicings for a given chord up and down the fretboard is to go through all of its inversions. This is done by placing a different chord tone on the bottom of a note stack, or “in the bass.” When the root note, or tonic, is in the bass, as it is with this first voicing of Cm7f5, the voicing is known as root position. One can easily find other voicings for Cm7f5 (or any chord) by moving each note in the voicing up to the next higher chord tone on the same string, as illustrated in FIGURE 3. I begin with the root-position Cm7f5, and then move up the fretboard on the fifth string in order to sound the next chord tone, Ef, the minor third. A voicing that has the third in the bass (minor or major) is called a first-inversion voicing. We can also place the fifth as the lowest note, in this case the f5, Gf. This is known as a second-inversion voicing. Lastly, we can sound the seventh as the lowest note, in this case, the f7, Bf, and this is known as a thirdinversion voicing. FIGURE 4 presents some cool licks derived from these voicings. I’m simply arpeggiating each voicing, starting with the third-inversion Cm7f5, and then moving down through the lower inversions, using my whammy bar to dip or shake the top note of each voicing. Another approach is to use the arpeggio as the jumping-off point for fast, repeating licks, as shown in FIGURES      15 2. 13 15 13 16 13 6 5 and 6. I play the arpeggiated notes of the chord in alternating ascending and descending manner using hammer-ons and pull-offs. Once you become familiar with these shapes, try doing the same thing on other 15    Cm7¨5 9 13 10 13 10 13    6   13 15 13 16 13 15 13 15   3 string groups and in other keys, and with other chord types as well. This is my final column for the time being. I hope the ideas I’ve shared have been helpful and useful. See you out on the road. DAVE DAVIDSON is the founding guitarist for technical death metallers Revocation. Their latest, self-titled release is out on Relapse Records.
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STRING THEORY For video of this lesson, go to GuitarWorld.com/Sept2014 for iPhone, iPad and Android! * optimized By Jimmy Brown  COLUMNS worldmags.net worldmags.net MY GENERATION, PART 3 Some crafty, ambitious improvising over “Song for My Father” As a final lesson on improvising over the changes to Horace Silver’s “Song for My Father,” this month I present a chorus of original melody played over the tune’s 24-bar, AAB form that features musically crafty contours with interesting twists and turns (see FIGURE 1). Following last month’s sparser, bluesy chorus, I now shift into higher rhythmic and harmonic gear and play double-time 16th-note bebop-style lines over the tune’s laid-back bossa-nova groove and loosely spaced chord changes, which present an opportunity and challenge to try and “get inside the changes” and say a lot over each chord, while bringing the twochorus solo to an exciting climax. I begin with a noodley Bach-style pedalpoint lick over Fm9 that incorporates chromatic lower neighbor tones, specifically on the fifth, C, with its lower neighbor, B. There’s a wide fret-hand stretch required here, so make sure you’re limbered up, and start out slowly. At the beginning of the second A section, in bar 9, I use a variation on this pedal-tone idea, again over Fm9, here with a repeating, syncopated rhythmic motif—two 16th notes followed by a 16th rest— that shifts to a different part of the beat on each repetition. This is an example of a hip melodic device known as rhythmic displacement. Notice how, across bars 9 and 10, the ascending line outlines the underlying Fm9 chord (F Af C Ef G) via the use of the F minor hexatonic scale (F G Af Bf C Ef). While we’re focusing on Fm9, check out the descending sweeps in bars 15 and 16, wherein I play an Afmaj7 arpeggio (Af C Ef G) in two octaves to efficiently describe the chord without playing its F root, which the bass provides. I take more of a scalar approach in bars 19 and 20, with a gently rolling line based primarily on F Dorian (F G Af Bf C D Ef) that also includes a few chromatic passing tones, used as “line shapers” and melodic fill, as I strategically target chord tones on the downbeats. Notice again the use of rhythmic displacement, across bar 19, where a melodic idea repeats starting on a different part of the beat. When playing over Ef13 (bars 3, 4, 11, 12, 104 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 Fig. 11 FIGURE Moderately q = 124 Fm9    w/light P.M. on the lower strings throughout 1   323  3 323 5 1 323 5 323 1 3235 323 13 5 5 E¨13 6 35 653 65 6468 36  68986 58 C7#5 Fm9   6 4 967876 7 7 54   86 86 56 65   5 865  8 7 6 5 689 986 5 58 8   8 6 5 4 87 8 D¨13 4 6 4 8 11 (C7#5)  Fm9 5 6 5 5 8 6 5 3 3   5 3 6  3 3  4 5 5  G8  6 8 8 8   D¨13 let ring         14  14 11 11 11 14 13 12 11 15 15 11 13 13 12 12 8 10 11 3 14 13 14 13 10 11 13 10 12 13 11 3 11  12 12 10 12 13 11 12 13 12 15     10 13 12 11 14 14 13 16 15 14 13 1513 14 13 16 13 10 3 13 1114 10 13 12 10 10 1113 10 1112 13 12 13 12 11 10 12 13 15 15 10 12 11 10 E¨13 11 13 14 15 11 D¨13 12 11  13   13 11  15 3 17 and 18), I use either Ef Mixolydian (Ef F G Af Bf C Df), which includes the perfect fourth, or 11th, Af, or its wilder cousin, Ef Lydian-dominant (Ef F G A Bf C Df), which features the ear-tickling raised, or “sharped,” fourth, or 11th, A, and again add some chromatic notes to fill out the lines while targeting chord tones on the beats. My  Fm9 Fm9 14  E¨13  C7#9 14   Fm9 3 11  20 22 3 6 8 9 11 13 15 13 15 13 15 13 13 13 6 8 8 10 10 11 11 13 13 14 14 16 16 14 14 16 16 14 14 16 16 14 12 12 12 12  6 12 13 18 7 6 4 E¨13 C7#5 14 8 6 6 12 13 11 12 14 13 10 11 12 11 11 10 13 12 (C7#5) 15 16 3 13 14 16 3 13 15 1214 13 14 16 3 12  15   Fm9 15 3 go-to scale for Df13 (bars 5, 13 and 21) is Df Lydian-dominant (Df Ef F G Af Bf Cf), and, for C7s5 (bars 6, 8, 14, 22 and 24), mostly C super-Locrian, also known as C diminishedwhole-tone (C Df Ef E Gf Af Bf). For more in-depth analysis of this solo and helpful performance tips, check out the accompanying video lesson. Senior music editor Jimmy Brown has transcribed hundreds of songs and authored instruction books and DVDs. His latest DVD, Mastering Scales 2, is out now! Get yours at store.guitarworld.com.
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For video of this lesson, go to GuitarWorld.com/Sept2014 METAL FOR LIFE for iPhone, iPad and Android! * optimized by Metal Mike  COLUMNS worldmags.net worldmags.net OPEN THROTTLE Powerful-sounding chord voicings with open strings Within heavy metal, the art of rhythm guitar can sometimes seem a bit predictable—either root-fifth (or rootfifth-root) chords shifted up and down the fretboard on the same strings, or open lowstring pedal tones played against two-note power chords, and little else. In this column, I’ll demonstrate a few ways that metal guitarists can open up their approach to rhythm guitar by using less-common chord voicings and those that include open strings. FIGURE 1 is a driving, eighth-note rhythm part that incorporates different types of Fs and Cs chords. Instead of just playing basic root-fifths for each chord, I vary the voicing, creating more harmonic depth and a more powerful sound. The entire figure is played in a steady eighth-note rhythm, with the same rhythmic syncopation applied to each two-bar variation. I begin in bar 1 with a root-fifthroot Fs5 power chord fretted on the bottom three strings, initially accented on beats one and two and subsequently moved over one eighth note and accented on the upbeats of beats three and four, on the “and” counts. On each eighth note between the chord accents, I play a palm-muted low Fs note on the sixth string’s second fret. This concept is then moved up a set of strings in bars 3 and 4, as I fret an Fs major triad on the A, D and G strings and play a palm-muted low Cs note on the A string between the accented chord hits. In bar 4, I additionally include the open B and high E strings above the fretted Fs triad, which yields a rich-sounding, prog-style Fs7add4 voicing. I move to the V (five) chord, Cs5, In bars 5 and 6, initially played in the same manner as the Fs5 chord in bars 1 and 2. In bar 7, I switch to Cssus2, while in bar 8, I sound Csm7 by incorporating the open top two strings. Bars 9 and 10 recap bars 1 and 2, and in bars 11 and 12, I play an Fs octave on the A and G strings with the major third, As, sandwiched in between, on the D string. In bar 12, I additionally incorporate the top two open strings to sound a higher voicing of Fs7add4. The part concludes in bars 13 and 14 with a recap of bars 5 and 6, followed by an alternate voicing of Cssus2 that 106 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 FIGURE Fig. 11     F#5 1  5 P.M.  P.M. P.M. 4 4 4 4 6 6 6 6 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 2 2 2 2 F#7add4 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 4 4 4 4 4 4 FIGURE Fig. 22 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 2 2 2 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 4 4 4 4 4 4 P.M. 8 8 8 8 6 6 6 6 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 0 2 2 0 3 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 11 11 11 11 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 0 0 11 8 9 11 11 8 8 9 9 9 Em/G 0 0 4 5 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 3 2 0 X 2 2 2 2 0 0 3 3 0 5 5 0 0 0 11 8 9 F#5 2 2 2    5 5 0 0 includes the open B string. As you see, via slight tweaks to each chord voicing, I end up with a longer, more interesting and varied rhythm part. FIGURE 2 incorporates the use of ascending voicings interspersed between low E pedal tones played in an eighthnote triplet rhythm. I’m playing voicings of Em7, D/Fs and G that share a common tone as their highest note while the bass 5 5 0 3 3 0   P.M. 3 0 0 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3    0 4 4 2 P.M. 3 0 0 2 3 D5 3 2 P.M. 0 3 3 0 0 0 3 3 3 P.M. B¨/D 0 0 0 3 4 4 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 C/D sim. 0 0 11 8 9 G Fig. 33 FIGURE 2 2 0 0 0 3 4 4 C#5 0 0 11 8 9 P.M. 3 E5   0 0 4 5 3 B¨/D P.M. 3 5 5 2 2 0 5 A 0 0 11 8 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 D/F# 3 2 0 X 2 0 0 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 2 2 2 2 2 2 C#7sus2/G# 8 8 8 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 0 0 0 3 A5 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 F#7add4 P.M. 0 0 3 4 4 F#5 F# 8 11 11 11 Em7    3 3 0 0 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 C#sus2/G# 6 6 6 6 7 2 F# sim. C#sus2 13 4 4 4 4 4 C#5 9  P.M. 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 2 2 2 2 2 2 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 4 4 4 4 4 4 1   3 0 3 2   0 P.M. 0 3 2 0 D5 3 3 0   notes ascend the low E string. FIGURE 3 has two-note chords on the G and B strings alternating with an open D pedal tone, outlining a neat-sounding progression in D minor. Notice that some of the chords consist of a major-third interval as opposed to the more typical use of fourths and fifths. Try creating metal rhythm parts of your own that incorporate these kinds of cool and unusual voicings. METAL MIKE CHLASCIAK plays with Halford and with his own band. His latest releases are The Metalworker and This Is War (metalmike. net.). His DVD Metal for Life! is available at store.guitarworld.com
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For audio of this lesson, go to GuitarWorld.com/Sept2014 Talkin’ Blues for iPhone, iPad and Android! * optimized by Keith Wyatt  COLUMNS worldmags.net worldmags.net Rockabilly Pioneer A tribute to Cliff Gallup’s legendary flash Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps epitomized rockabilly’s iconic image, with their leather jackets, ducktail hairstyles and kick-ass-and-take-names personae. The band also introduced one of the most adept, versatile and influential electric guitarists of his generation: Cliff Gallup. Born in 1930, Gallup was 26 when he joined up with Vincent. In May 1956, as the brief but volcanic rockabilly craze was peaking, Vincent was invited to record in Nashville under the guidance of veteran producer Ken Nelson. Nelson had session pros standing by, in case the energetic but green Blue Caps failed to deliver. But from the moment Gallup launched into “Race with the Devil” it was clear that he was an extraordinary guitarist and unique stylist. The Nashville sessions produced Vincent’s biggest hit, “Be-Bop-a-Lula,” and in the process Gallup defined the classic rockabilly guitar sound with his bright, clean tone, augmented by a healthy dose of slapback delay. His setup featured a Gretsch Duo-Jet with DeArmond pickups, Bigsby vibrato and heavy, flatwound strings, most likely played through Martin’s Standel amp. Gallup combined fast chromatic phrasing reminiscent of Les Paul and a Chet Atkins– inspired hybrid picking style (flatpick plus metal fingerpicks on his second and third fingers, with his fourth finger working the Bigsby tremolo bar), but the spontaneous, imaginative results were entirely his own. FIGURE 1 compiles some Gallup-style phrases similar to those in high-energy 12bar Vincent classics like “Cruisin’,” “Race with the Devil” and “Blue Jean Bop.” Gallup typically kicked off a solo with a catchy idea, like the open-string triplet pull-offs in bars 1–3, and his phrasing generally emphasized chord tones or incorporated the chords themselves, as in bars 3–6. Like Les Paul, Gallup had a quirky, humorous imagination that he expressed with unusual textures, like the dissonant clusters in bars 7 and 8 and the precisely timed, chromatically ascending octaves in bars 9 and 10. In the second chorus, the ascending arpeggio in bars 1 and 2 leads into a series 108 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 Fig. 11 FIGURE 1  Fast swing q = 220 1st Chorus N.C.(G)  3 2 0 3 2 0 3 3 G 4  3 3 4 5 8  0 4 3 3 5 4 5  15   5  33 3 3 3 2 4 5  5  4  5  0 0 0 0 0 0 8 9 5 4  3 3 4 6 4 3 6  (G) 3 6  10 10 5 5 3 5 10 8 8 4  5 3 4 2 5 5 5 of syncopated arpeggios in bars 3–8 that suggest Chet Atkins-style fingerpicking, minus an underlying bass pattern. Bars 9–12 include typical Gallup-style singlenote runs. He never bent strings more than a half step and favored the sweet sound of the major sixth over the bluesier 6 5 3 4 5 4 5 3 3 4 5 3 10 10 8  (G) 3 8 3 (D7) 10 22 4 4 let ring 3 3 3 3    0 3 9 10 let ring 3 0 3 (C7) 5  3 6 8 4 5 let ring 6 3 (G) 7 5 3 2 0 N.C.(G) 0 6   4 5 3 2 0     0 3 6 3 5 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2nd Chorus (G) 0 3  5 3 3 7 8  3 2 0 3 6 6 7 3 2 0 3 5 5 6 3 2 0 3 5 3 6 3 3 3 3 3 3  3 3 2 0 3 C13 w/bar  3 2 0 3 C9 0 3 2 4 4 5 5  18 3 (D7) 12 5 3 3 4 5 3 2 0 3 2 0 G6 G 3 3 4 5 3 3 2 0 3 4  8  5 3 1/2 5 5 3 5 3 G 69  let ring 2 5 4 3 3    w/bar 15 15 14 14 minor seventh, including the trademark 6–9 chord that caps off the solo. Gallup’s ability to handle fast tempos was second to none, but Vincent also recorded ballads that required Gallup to solo over sophisticated changes. Next month: rock and roll romance. Keith Wyatt tours with American music legends the Blasters and teaches blues guitar at Musicians Institute. His latest DVD, Talkin’ Blues Part 2, is available at store.guitarworld.com.
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Acoustic Nation For video of this lesson, go to GuitarWorld.com/Sept2014 for iPhone, iPad and Android! * optimized by Dale Turner  COLUMNS worldmags.net worldmags.net WHITE NOISE The rootsy, aggressive acoustic style of “modernretro” genius Jack White Since the late Nineties, Jack White has been the torchbearer of all things rootsy, retro and rocking. His unique blend of blues, garage rock, punk and acoustic styles has informed the artistry of his groups the White Stripes, the Raconteurs and Dead Weather and played an evident role in his production, soundtrack and solo work. While blues legends Son House and Blind Willie McTell have been big influences on White, he has seamlessly distilled a wide-range of inspirations, from experimentalists like Captain Beefheart and fellow Michigan-based punkers Iggy and the Stooges to singer-songwriters like Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and Loretta Lynn. Toss in his Led Zeppelin fandom, analog-only approach (to avoid digital signal processing’s perfection and its lack of extraneous noise), fascination with vintage gear (Gretsch Rancher Falcon, Gibson Hummingbird and 1915 Gibson L-1 acoustics) and oddball stomp box effects, and you get the basic elements of White’s unique sonic fingerprint. This month, let’s treat ourselves to a grab bag of his acoustic guitar goodies. White formed the influential rock duo the White Stripes, with Meg White on drums, in 1997. By the turn of the millennium, their ferocious garage rock not only helped revive the genre but also yielded smash hits like “Seven Nation Army,” “Icky Thump” and “The Hardest Button to Button.” But the raucous act also had a softer side, as seen via White’s acoustic fingerpicking in “We’re Going to Be Friends” (from 2001’s White Blood Cells). FIGURE 1 features similar chords and uses White’s thumb-andindex-finger plucking pattern. Five Jack White acoustic songs are featured in the 2003 film Cold Mountain, in which White also acts, sings and plays mandolin. One of the songs, “Never Far Away,” incorporates the use of sliding sixths (two-note shapes, the notes being six scale tones apart), thumbed low E-string drones and other bluesy touches like those in FIGURE 2. On the White Stripes’ relatively mellow Get Behind Me Satan (2005), White largely focused on rhythmic piano and acoustic guitar grooves, conjuring up cuts like “As Ugly As I Seem,” which informs FIGURE 3. 110 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 pick-hand fingering: p = thumb i = index finger = downstroke = upstroke  Fig. 1 1 FIGURE  p i 3 p i 7 8 7 0 a i a i C  2 0 a i Dadd4 C   5 4 0  FIGURE Fig. 55 0 2 i  p p 2 m p  5 3 2 0 i m p m p p G7#9 0 p a i i 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 D 3 0 2 3 0 3 0 3    0 0 3 2 3 3 Cadd2 0 0 30 3 3 3 2 0 0 3 2 2 2 0 3 0 3 G  0 3 0 2 0 i G/A A 3 2 0 0 0  00  32  0   0 a Asus4 A 2. 2 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 p m p m p m p i i i   i         3 5 0 5 30 5 0 0 0 5 31 X 3 D 3 0 p    0 p p p i p m p m i i 3 3 3 3    3 3 2 i 1 p    0 2 p 0 p 1. 30 3 i 0 0               3 2 p 0 1 0 A 0 i 2    0 0 2 a i Dsus4  3 p i m p i m p let ring    i G  3 a i 4 4 0 p   3 0 3 p 7 let ring    i 0 p 0 3 p 7 7 0 p let ring 3 8 2 0 E7     9 Fig. 44 FIGURE i D 0 3 p let ring 9    1 3 a = ring finger G 0 3 Fig. 33 FIGURE  C5 0 Fig. 22 FIGURE  G let ring   m = middle finger     3 0 0 3 2 0 0  3   3 Be careful not to inadvertently drop a beat in this fingerstyle riff’s opening bars, where White employs a polyrhythm, in this case a three-note pattern phrased in a rhythm of “twos” (eighth notes), before playing the song’s signature open A-chord passage in bars 3 and 4. In 2005, White formed the Raconteurs, a musical partnership with Brendan Benson, Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler. In 2008, this “supergroup” of sorts (each member was also obligated to other established bands) issued its sophomore effort, Consolers of the Lonely, a disc highlighted by tunes that merge Led Zeppelin and the Who, such as the groovy acoustic rocker “Top Yourself,” hinted at in FIGURE 4. Fret the G7s9 chord with all four fingers, lifting the pinkie off the G string at various points to play the melodic hook. The title track to Blunderbuss, White’s 2012 solo debut, is peppered with ornamented open D, C and G chords, similar to those in FIGURE 5. These “chord decorations” are the result of hammering on from and/or pulling off to an open string while keeping the remaining chord tones fretted. Dale Turner is a Musician’s Institute instructor. His CD Mannerisms Magnified is available at intimateaudio.com. His DVD Acoustic Rock Guitar Part 2 can be purchased at store.guitarworld.com.
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For video of this lesson, go to GuitarWorld.com/Sept2014 IN DEEP for iPhone, iPad and Android! * optimized by Andy Aledort  COLUMNS worldmags.net worldmags.net TRAIN OF THOUGHT Employing chromatic passing tones to connect phrases and fretboard positions One of the most commonly addressed topics with my students is how one goes about connecting scale positions while playing an improvised solo. Many guitarists learn licks that are played on certain strings in specific areas of the fretboard. As great as these licks may be, connecting them into a unified solo statement remains, for many players, a mystery, or at least a challenge. In this lesson, I’ll demonstrate how to use chromatic passing tones to connect scale positions up and down the fretboard and how to introduce some unusual and unexpected melodic twists and turns. Last month, our focus was on how to build rhythm patterns over a static, unchanging harmonic environment, such as Am or Am7. Using the A Dorian mode (A B C D E Fs G) as our basis, we formed chord voicings built from stacked fourths and moved up and down the fretboard, all the while remaining diatonic to (within the scale structure of) A Dorian. FIGURE 1 illustrates a 10-bar rhythm part built from shifting stacked-fourths voicings derived from A Dorian. While playing through this figure, notice how all the notes in each voicing are fourths apart within the structure of A Dorian, and be sure to memorize each of these distinct chord shapes, or “grips.” If you were to traverse the entire fretboard with these types of voicings, you’d discover that there are only four different physical shapes used, and it is helpful to bear this in mind. A serious improviser needs to memorize every scale and mode in every position and key, which is a lot of work! Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts to gaining a complete understanding and mastery of this. But no matter one’s familiarity with scales and modes all over the fretboard, employing chromatic passing tones is a concept that is 112 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 Fig. 11 FIGURE * Am9-13 1  4 Rhy. Fig. 1  75  87  5 7 7 7 7 5 5 7 7 5 5  0 5 5 4 4  5 5 4 4 7 8 7 X 8 5 X 7 5 X 7  XX 75 7 7 7 5 X 5 5 5 5 4 4 0 5 5 4 4  7 7 5 5 *Chord name represents implied overall harmony. 7 7 5 5 7 9 8 8 8 7 7 0   7 7 5 5 0 8 8 7 7 7 7 5 5    7 7 5 5 8 8 7 7 4 5 7 7 7 5 5 5 5 4 4 7 7 5 5  5 7 8 3 3 2 2 7 7 5 5  7 7 5 5 3 3 2 2 7 7 5 5 0 7 7 5 5 5 5 5 7  7 7 5 5  87  5 5 4 4 5 5 4 4 8 7   0 5 5 4 4 0  5 5 4 4  7 7 5 5 8  87  7 7 5 5 8 7 5 5 4 4 0 10 10 7 7 5 5 7 7 5 5  5 5 4 4 5 5 4 4 10 10 9 9 8 8 7 7  10 10 10 10 9 9 9 9  8 8 7 7 3 3 2 2 3 3 2 2  4 5 7 FIGURE Fig. 22 A Dorian mode 7 7 5 5 0 8 7 5 7 7 5 5 8 8 7 7 0 7 7 5 5 8 7 5 7 7 5 5  87  109 109 7 9 9   7 5 4  5 7 5 4 7 7 5 5 8 8 7 7   5 FIGURE Fig. 33 1  Am9-13 w/Rhy. Fig. 1  7 875 8 7 6 5 5 4 7 4 7 4 7 5 6 4 5 7 4 5 754 3 3 4 2 5 3 4 2 4 5 2 3 5 6 4 5 7 4 7 4 5  5 4 7 6 7 5 5   7 5 4 7 5 4 5 ! Andy Aledort is a GW associate editor. His solo blues-rock album Live at North Star 2009 is available on Steve Vai’s Digital Nations label.
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IN DEEP by A n dy A l e d o r t as easy to understand as it is to apply. It just comes down to working these chromatic movements into your muscle memory. FIGURE 2 details the A Dorian mode played in fourth-fifth position. Play this pattern repeatedly in order to memorize it and get it under your fingers. Also, be sure to memorize the Dorian mode’s intervallic structure, or formula, which is 1(root) 2 f3 4 5 6 f7. Let’s look at an example of some soloing over the rhythm part in FIGURE 1 that is based A Dorian, with chromatic passing tones added to facilitate moving from one fretboard position of A Dorian to another. FIGURE 3 illustrates a five-bar phrase that begins in fifth position and then moves down to fourth position, and then down to second position before winding its way back up to fourth and then fifth position. Rhythmically, the line is built primarily from straight 16th notes articulated with hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides, combined with some alternate picking, in a style influenced by jazz guitarist Pat Martino. Notice the occasional pair of 32nd notes, added to give the phrases extra “bounce.” The first six notes of FIGURE 3 all “live” in A Dorian, but on the second 16th note of beat two, I play an F note between Fs and E in order to sound a chromatically descending progression of 16th notes, moving from G to Fs to F then E. The last note in bar 1, Gs, is used to set up the subsequent G-to-A movement on beat one of bar 2. Moving into beat three, Gs is again used as a chromatic passing tone, allowing me to pivot off of the A root note in different directions. The last note in bar 2, Cs, is employed as a chromatic passing tone between D and C, enabling me to shift down to third and then second position. Notice also the low Gs note played on beat one of bar 3, which I use to provide a more varied harmonic environment. Moving into beat four, I slide from D to Ef on the A string before crossing over to the D string, a move that enables me to shift up the fretboard to fourth position. FIGURE 4 offers another five-bar solo. I begin this example with a chromatic slide up from the flatted fifth, Ef, to E, followed by the superimposition of an Em7 arpeggio (E G B D) over the Am tonality. In bar 2, on the last 16th note of beat one, I use Gs as a passing tone, and throughout this bar I decided to replace the expected G note with Gs and the Fs with F in order to tap into the sound of the A harmonic minor scale (A B C D E F Gs). Within A harmonic minor, I now have some built-in chromatic movement— between A and Gs and between F and E. 114 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 worldmags.net worldmags.net FIGURE Fig. 44 FIGURE 4 1 Am9-13 w/Rhy. Fig. 1 9 9 10   8 9 8 Am9-13 w/Rhy. Fig. 1 FIGURE 4 1 7 10 8 7 7 8 Am9-13  8 9 9 10  w/Rhy. Fig. 1  8 9 1 7 10 8 7 7 8 2 9 9 10   8 9 8 7 2 10 9 7  6 9 8 6  7 7  6 5 7 5 7 7 5 7 5 3 5 3 3 2 7 7 10 8 7 7 7 10 9 7  6 9 8 6  7 FIGURE 5 7 6 8 10 8 7 5 57 5 7 7 5 7 5 3 5 3 10 8 7 10 8 7 530 3 5 3 10 9 10 9 10 9 35 7 35 7 10 9 8 10 9 8 10 9   8  5 5  7  5 5 5 5 7Am9-13 5 530 3 5 1 w/Rhy.5Fig. 1 5 10 9 7  6 9 8 6  7 5 7 7 7 7 5 3 5 3 3 35 12 13 127  6 10 Fig. 55 FIGURE 7Am9-13 530 3 5 13 12 10 9 12 11 59 10 9 10 9 9 12 1 w/Rhy. Fig. 1 12 9 12 12 13 12 10 FIGURE 5 Am9-13 13 12 10 9 12 11 9 10 1 w/Rhy. Fig. 1 9 10 9 9 12 12 9 12 12 13 12 10 2 13 12 10 9 12 11 9 10 9 10 9 9 12 10 9 12 9 12 12 10 9 2 12 10 9 8 10 8 7 10 8 7 5 7 3 5 7 5 ! 5 10 9 2 12 10 9 12 10 9 8 10 8 7 FIGURE 6 10 8 7 5 7 3 5 7 5 ! 5 10 9 Am9-13 12 10 9 1 9 8 10 8 7 1 w/Rhy. Fig. 12 10 10 8 7 5 7 3 5 7 5 ! 5 FIGURE 6 Am9-13 6 5 8 6 5 5 4 7 5 4 4 5 7 8 7 7 1 w/Rhy. Fig. 1 6 6 7 Fig. 66 5 6 4 3 6 4 5 3 5 6 3 4 6 7 FIGURE Am9-13 6 5 8 6 5 1 w/Rhy. Fig. 1 5 4 7 5 4 4 5 7 8 7 7 4 3 6 4 3 3 4 6 7 6 6 7 3 5 6 5 5 6 6 5 8 6 5 9 8 11 9 8 8 9 11 12 8 710 8 7 7 810 11 5 4 7 510 410 11 4 5 7 8 10 107 7 6 6 7 5 6 8 9 4 3 6 4 8 38 9 3 4 6 7 5 5 6 8 5 6 3 9 8 11 9 8 8 9 11 12 8 710 8 7 7 810 11 10 10 11 10 10 568 9 8 89 3 8 9 8 11 9 8 8 9 11 12 8 710 8 7 7 810 11 10 10 11 10 10 568 9 8 89 8 7                       At the end of bar 2, I use Ef as a chromatic passing tone leading to D and then wind my way down the D string using occasional passing tones, such as Gs, Bf and Ef. FIGURE 5 is based primarily on A harmonic minor and starts higher up the fretboard, in 10th position. On beat two of bar 2, I add Bf as a passing tone between B and A, using Gs as a “set-up” to get back to A. This sequence of notes—B, Bf, Gs, A—is an example of what’s often referred to as a “surrounding-note figure,” in that        !   !   !  the A root note is the target note, and the surrounding notes, Bf and Gs (also referred to as upper and lower chromatic neighbors), are played first in order to set up the landing on the A root note squarely on the downbeat of beat three. FIGURE 6 is a four-bar line based on the A symmetrical diminished scale (A Bf C Cs Ds E Fs G). Notice how the notes move up in chromatic pairs—A to Bf, C to Cs, D to Ds, and so on—with whole steps used between each chromatic pair.
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Making Tracks By Tom Beaujour  COLUMNS worldmags.net worldmags.net Vance Powell on recording Jack White and miking guitars Grammy-winning engineer and mixer Vance Powell split his time between recording bands and doing live sound before settling in Nashville at the turn of the millennium to become chief engineer at the legendarily well-equipped Blackbird Studios, a facility that he also helped build and outfit. Powell now operates from his own heavily geared-up Sputnik Sound, also in Nashville, and continues to build an impressive list of credits with artists like Jars of Clay, Buddy Guy and Kings of Leon. He has also engineered and mixed a large portion of Jack White’s post–White Stripes work with the Raconteurs and the Dead Weather, as well his two solo albums, including Lazaretto, the prolific guitarist’s most recent release. an unnatural way. A ribbon mic hears like our ears, so as the frequencies go higher and higher, the ribbon kind of rounds off the top end. But condensers don’t; they stay flat out to 20kHz and sometimes beyond. And that was great for recording on tape, because now cymbals sounded like cymbals instead of being kind of dull. And all those growly overtones in the guitars made it to the tape differently than if you were using a ribbon. That up-close classic- rock guitar sound was the sound of condenser mics right up on the cabinet. Speaking of classic rock, the acoustic guitar on the title track of Jack White’s 2012 Blunderbuss sounds like it’s coming through a time machine from 1964. How did you get that sound? That was my 1955 RCA 77 DX multipattern ribbon mic into a Neve 1073 preamp. Is that your go-to mic for acoustics? Jack is the easiest guitar player to record I’ve ever worked with, because everything that comes out of his amp sounds exactly like what you hear on record. It’s all in his hands. It doesn’t matter what guitar he plays or what amp he plays it through. Most of the time when I’m recording Jack, he is playing through his 1963 Vibroverb or this really cool old Airline, and I use a Neumann U67 and just move the mic to whichever amp he picks for the song. No, not normally. If I want the acoustic guitars to sound like Exile on Main St., I’ll pick a pencil condenser, like a Neumann KM84, and put it up on the 12th fret, down where the fretboard meets the hole and back a couple of feet. And often I’ll put a 67, or even a 77, back by the strumming hand, facing the guitar at 90 degrees. You get a nice stereo thing, and when you are summing it, it works really well in mono as well. And I don’t have to use EQ that way; if I want the guitar a little brighter, I just turn up the KM84, or if I want a little more body, I turn up the 67. And if I want to do stereo, I pan them. It seems like many of the classic electric guitar sounds we often use as reference points were recorded with condenser mics rather than with dynamics or ribbons. You do a lot of mixing of projects that were recorded by other engineers. Are there any recurring things about the guitar tracks you receive that you wish were different? Jack White has a very particular guitar sound. Did it take you a while to discover how to best capture it? They were. And the reason for it was that the playback medium—24-, 16- or eighttrack tape—wasn’t a full-range medium. Condenser mics did something useful for the engineers working in those mediums, because they extend the high frequency in 116 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 People send too many tracks. They’ll send me one guitar part that has five mics and a room mic. Don’t do that; just make a fucking decision! Because what happens is that, by the time it gets to me, I’m looking at a session that has 45 tracks of guitars: There’s an up-close 57, there’s a Royer ribbon, and sometimes there’s even a mic on the back of the cabinet. Then there’s a close room and a far room. For five guitar parts. That’s 25 tracks! To be honest with you, I just turn almost all of them off. I mean, if there’s 25 or 30 tracks of guitars, all layered on top of each other—come on, man, something’s got to go. With the technology that we have at our disposal today, we aren’t forced to make decisions and make a record like we had to when we were using 24 tracks. Back then, you were using four or five tracks for drums, maybe two for bass, and then four or five guitar tracks. You’d have some vocals and some background vocals and percussion— and guess what—that’s 24 tracks. There’s every classic record ever! TOM BEAUJOUR runs Nuthouse Recording in Hoboken, New Jersey (nuthouserecording.com). He has recorded, mixed and produced Guided by Voices, Nada Surf, Phoenix and Scale the Summit, among others. L a r ry B u s a c c a / W i r e I m a g e / GE T T Y IMAGES Nashville Cat
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worldmags.net worldmags.net TRANSCRIPTIONS ELECTRIC EYE Judas Priest As heard on Screaming for Vengeance Words and music by Glenn Tipton, Rob Halford and K.K. Downing • Transcribed by Jeff PERRIN E5 A5 B5 D5 7fr G5 D5 144 11 144 C5 144 G5 1 E5 B5 144 144 A 11 G 9 7 P.M.  9 7 Bm7 D5/A 5fr 144 C5/A 7fr 144 (C) Gtr. 1 (elec. w/dist.) 1 111 1 12 5fr 33 11 Intro (0:00) Fast q = 194 E5 N.C.(Em)  A 112 A5 7fr  Asus4 5fr  P.M. P.H. P.M. P.H. 2 4 0 0 5 0 pitch: C# A5  3 P.M. P.M. P.H. P.M. P.H. 2 3 N.C.(A) 4 0 D Bb 5 0 0 C# D 4 5   P.M. 2 0 2 0 0 0  5 (B) P.M. 2 0 B5 P.M. slight P.H. 4 0 5 0 2 2 4 2 4 2 E5 slight P.H. 4 0 2 5 4 2 9 7 5 4 2 9 7 7 0   Gtr. 2 (elec. w/dist.) Rhy. Fig. 1   Bass    Gtr. 1 5 9 7  9 7  Bass Fig. 1  0 0 2 4   3 2 3  N.C.(Em) (C) Gtr. 2 repeats Rhy. Fig. 1 (see bar 1) P.M. 9 7  Bass 0 P.H. P.M. P.H. 2 0 4 0 pitch: C# 118 5   0 5 B   3 3 5  3 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 4   5 P.M. P.M. 2 0 0 P.M. 5 0 0     5   (B) P.M. 4 4  (A) 0 P.M. P.H. 2 0 5 4 0 G 3 2  5 P.M. 2 C# D A   7   E5 P.H. 0  2 7 P.M. 4 0 P.M. 5 0  4 0   9 9 7  0 Electric Eye Words and Music by Glenn Tipton, Rob Halford and K.K. Downing
 © 1982 EMI APRIL MUSIC INC., CREWGLEN LTD., EBONYTREE LTD. and GEARGATE LTD. All Rights Controlled and Administered by EMI APRIL MUSIC INC. • All Rights Reserved International Copyright Secured • Used by Permission • Reprinted by Permission of Hal Leonard Corporation
worldmags.net worldmags.net “ ELECTRIC EYE” 1. D5 Gtrs. 1 and 2 P.M. 9   9 9 7 P.M. 0 9 9 7 0 0  P.M. 0 9 9 7 0 0 E5 0 7 7 5 0 (B¨5)(A5) P.M. 7 7 5 9 9 7 9 9 7 0 (G5) E5   P.M. 9 9 7 0 0 0 9 9 7 0  88 7 7 7 7 7 7 5 5 9 9 7 Bass *   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 B Verses (0:20, 1:00) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   0 *Note tied first time only. 2. 1. Up 2. Always (B¨5) (A5) 13 9 9 7 0  88 7 7 0 I’m 16 0 7 7 0 A5 7 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0     2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0 0 0 0 2 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 A5 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 2 2 0 0 trace P.M. 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  G5 P.M. 0 0 0 0 lasers zoom into do there P.M. 0 0 A5 0 0 P.M. 0 0 everything you you don’t know I’m P.M. 0 0 My I G5 0 A5 0 0 0 but 0 0 0 2 2  G5 P.M. 0 P.M. 0  0 0 space focus P.M. you stare G5 P.M. 2 2 0 2 2 0 P.M. P.M. you 19 0 looking down on Can you feel my P.M. 2 2 0 here in in 0 0 0 0 0 0 E5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 9 7 0 guitarworld.com 119
worldmags.net worldmags.net TRANSCRIPTIONS You I 22 think take P.M. 9 9 7 0 0 you’ve private a pride P.M. 0 0 0 0 9 9 7 0 9 9 7 0  7 7 0 P.M. 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 9 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 (G5) E5 8 8 7 7 7 7 0 0 0 0 7 7 5 0 9 9 7 9 9 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 is tearless P.M. 5 5 Think 0 0 0 0 0 7 7 5 9 9 7 9 9 7 0 0 0 no 28 the can all that P.M. 9 9 7 0 0 0 0 P.M. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 9 7 P.M. 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 9 7 0 P.M. 3 P.M. 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 5 0 0 0 0 circuits 3 3 ! 3 3 4 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 I’m takes D5 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 7 5 0 E5 P.M. 0 0 7 7 5 9 9 7 0 0 Pre-chorus (0:40, 1:19, 2:50) 3 3 P.M. 0 0 ! 0 0 metal 3 3 3 3 3 gleam (A) P.H. 0 0  (C) P.M. 4 0 My 31 0 9 9 7 I’m made of N.C.(Em) 0 0 P.M. time prove P.M. 9 9 7 0 kind moves P.M. true escape retina C watching pictures the P.M. P.M. 9 9 7 of secret nothing your all E5 P.M. There My  (B¨5) (A5) 25 lives probing D5 in 0 D5 P.M. 2 0 4 5 2 0 0 5 0 pitch: C# 3 120 3 3 3 3 3 3 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
worldmags.net worldmags.net I am perpetual I keep N.C. 34 2 0 2 0 D P.M. 4 5 0 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 country 7    12    11 0 5 5 5 5 5  4 2 7 7 0 12 11 0 4 2 3rd time, skip ahead to H Outro Chorus (bar 94) clean B5 P.M. 0 the “ ELECTRIC EYE” 0 7 7 7 7 7 7 ! 7 Chorus (0:50, 1:29) I’m Asus4 elected A G 2 2 2 0 0 0 38 3 2 2 3 2 2  0   electric D5 E5   9 9 7 9 9 7  Asus4 A 3 2 2 7 7 5 3 2 2   2 2 2  0 spy G let ring 0 0 0 0 (repeat prev. bar) Bass Fig. 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 go back to 1. I’m Asus4 42 3 2 2 0 0 2. 0 0 3 2 2  0 protected A G 2 2 2 0 0 0   0 0 electric D5 E5   9 9 7  0 0 0 9 9 7 7 7 5 0 0 0 Asus4 A 3 2 2 3 2 2  0 0 0 0 0 0   0 7 11 8 10 8 12 9 11 10 13 10 12 11 14 11 13 11 15 12 14  13 16 B 2nd Verse (bar 14) eye G A5   0 0 0 0 0 0 E eye B5 Gtr. 3 (elec. w/dist.) 46 7 10 7 10 2 2 2  0 0 0 0 0 0 0   0 0 Guitar Solo (1:41) E5 18 D5   18 18  1/2 18 0   2 2 18 E5 1 18 3 Gtrs. 1 and 2   0 4 4 2 0 7 ! 7 ! 4 4 2 Bass  P.M. 4 4 2 7 9 9 7 9 9 7 7 7 7 P.M. 9 9 7 9 9 7 9 9 7 7 7 5 7 7 7  5 0 guitarworld.com 9 9 7  7 121
worldmags.net worldmags.net TRANSCRIPTIONS  18 49 18  1½ 18   D5 C5  15 G5 1 15 12  15 12 15 12 7 7 9 9 7 9 9 7 9 9 7 7 7 5 5 5 3 7 7 7  5 3  3 17 15 14 15 14 17 0   14  12 12 12 P.M. 5 5 3 3 ! 3 7 7 9 9 7 9 9 7 7 7 5 7 7 7  5  55 12 9 12 9 3 10 9 12 12 12 15 12 15 12 15 12 0 122 0 9 9 7  7 7 7   2 2 0   0 ! 0 9 9 7 2 2 0 9 9 7  15 12 15 12 14 12 15 14 3 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 9 9 7 9 9 7 0 7 7 14 11 12 11 3 9 9 7 9 9 7 7 7 5 5 5 3 E5 12 9 12 9 3 7 7 7  5 3  0   5 5 3 17 14 3 ! 3 17 3 2 2 0   0 1 14 14 17 17 14 17  A5 17 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 9 9 7 9 9 7 7 7 5 7 7 7  5 5 G5  14 P.M. P.M. 9 9 7 11 9  1 14 17 9   B5 14 17 17 14 14 14 17 14 14 17 12 3 5 5 3 1 7 7 G5 3 9 9 7 P.M.   9 9 7 0 C5 A5 17  let ring 1  0 2 2 0  B5 17 12 3 P.M. 9 9 7 12 3 0 2 2 0 3 D5 P.M. 9 9 7 14 12 let ring E5 15 14 14 12 3 3 9 9 7 17 12 14 12 3 5 5 3 D5 52 1½ 1 15 12 P.M. 9 9 7 E5 let ring 9 9 7 9 9 7  7 7 7 9 9 7 9 9 7 9 9 7 7 7 5 5 5 3 7 7 7  5 3   
worldmags.net worldmags.net A5 B5 P.M. 58 14 15 17 16 17 5 5 3 3 3 17 14 15 17 14 15 17 14 15 16 14 16 16 7 7 5 7 7 5 9 9 7 0 3 5 5 7 7     A5 9 9 7 A5 B5  19 14 17 14 19 14 16 14 19 14 17 14 19 14 16 14  14 16 16   P.M.   5 5 3  61 14 15 7 7 7 G5 7 7 9 9 7 9 9 7 9 9 7 7 7 7 7 A5 22 14 17 14 22 14 17 22 17 19 17 22 17 19 17 “ ELECTRIC EYE” 19 22 19 9 9 7 9 9 7 9 9 7 7 7 5 7 7 7  5 B5 22 22 22 21 19 19 22 21 19 20 21 22 21 P.M. 1 1 19 22 22 9 9 7 X X  7    22 22 C5  P.M. 9 9 7 7 64 7 9 7 8 9 9 7 9 9 7 9 9 7 7 7 5 5 5 3 5 5 3 7 7 7  5 3  3 10 3  8 3 7 A5 0 1 9  7 7 5 5 grad. release 9  3 0   0 5 5 3 3 7 7 5 3   8 8 ! 5 5 3 3  5 5 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 0 0 2 2 0 0 3 0 0   0 9 9 7 0 5 7 7 9 9 7 9 9 7 7 7 7  9 ! 9 ! 9 7 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16   0 0 0 0 3 C5 0 2 2 0 7 5 5 3 0 14 2 2 0 5 5 3 0 3 guitarworld.com 123
worldmags.net worldmags.net TRANSCRIPTIONS 68 9 7 8 10 8 3    8 8 5 7 0 F 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3    3 4  0 5 5 3 3 3 3 3 D5 P.M. 4  3 5 5 3 3 B5 0 2 3 5 2 3 5 3 3 4 4 2 2 2   2 2 N.C.(Em)   P.M. 9 9 7 (C)  *Gtrs. 1 and 2 2 A5 2 4 0  P.M. 0 5 0 N.C.(Em) 9 7  Bass 0 5 5 5 9 9 7 5 0 3 P.M. P.M. 2 3 P.M. 4 0 P.M. 5 0 0 2 0 2 0 P.M. 2 0 2 0 4 0  5 0   3 3  3 3 A5 P.M. 2 0 P.M. 4 0  5 0   2 0 2 0 4 0 X  5 5 5 D 4 2 4 2 B5 2 Gtr. 1 80 7 7 Gtr. 2 7 7 Bass 5 P.M. 0 P.M. 0 5 5 P.M. 0 D5/A 4 4 5   0 0 7 7 P.M. 0 5 5 0 C5/A P.M. 0 0 P.M. 0 7 7 4 2 4 2  7 7 0 D5/A 0 0 0 4 0 5  2   (4th time) E C5/A 0 7 7 5 5 5  4 2 0 0  19  D5/A 0 7 7 5 7 7   (play 4 times) P.M. P.M. 5 5 0   (play 4 times) Bass Fig. 3 5 9 7 (play 4 times) P.M. 5 5 4 2 B5 P.M. 5 5  N.C. Bridge (2:21) C5/A 5 P.M. 0  4 0 A P.M. 0 E5 P.M. N.C.(A) P.M. B5  C#  P.M. N.C.  (C) D5/A 124 5 10  7 7 5 B5   P.M. Gtrs. 1 and 2 P.M. 76   8 10 12 0 N.C.(A) *Gtr. 2 doubles Gtr. 1 simile   4   7 7 5 2 Bass plays Bass Fig. 1 (see bar 1)   4 3 7 7 5 0 2 2 3  0 4 4 2 1 2 4 (2:11) Gtr. 3 72 12 G 2 3 4 E5 trem. pick P.M. 5 5 5 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5  
worldmags.net worldmags.net (1.) lectric (2.) Feel my D5/A Gtrs. 1 and 2 P.M. 82   7 7 0 eye stare C5 B5 A5 in always C5/A P.M. 0 5 5 0 4 4 2 2 sky there C5 B5 A5 the D5/A 0 7 7 7 7 7 7 0 C5 P.M. P.M.  5 5 0 “ ELECTRIC EYE” 0 P.M. 5 5 0 4 4 2 2  5 5 0 D5 7 7 C5    5  5  Bass plays Bass Fig. 3 four times (see bar 80) B5 There’s nothing you can do about Bm7 Gtrs. 1 and 2 let ring 86 2 2 4 4 2 4 2 I 2 2 2 2  Bass 2 4 4 2 2 feed upon your  2 2 3 2 4 4 4 4 2 4 4 2 2 2 2 2 4 2 2 H Outro Chorus (3:00)  2 2  2 I’m I’m I’m Asus4   94 Gtrs. 1 and 2 3 2 2 3 2 2  0 Gtrs. 1 and 2 98 4 4 3 2 2 G 2 2 2 0 0 0   elected A 2 2 2 0 0 0  0 Bass 0 0 2 2 2  0 0 0 3 2 2 2 4 4 2 2 4 4 4   9 9 7   electric electric electric D5 ,97 9 G 0 0 0 0      3 9 9 7 0   7 7 5   7 7 5 7 5   4 4 2 2  4 4 , 0 0 9 9 7 A 3 2 2  G5 7 7 5  7 5  5 5 3 3     0 2 2 2 2 2 2 2  2 2 go back to P.M. N.C. P.M. eye E5  0 2 2 0  2 2 (B5) P.M. 4 2 2 4 4 Pre-chorus (bar 30) C 2 2 B5 2 2 5 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 spy eye spy G   0 (play 3 times)   0 0 0 Asus4  7 7 5 0  2 2 protected D5 9 9 7 A5 2 0 D5   3 2 2  0 2 2 Asus4 E5 0 4 4 4 4  E5 E5 0 0 0 4 4 and expose A5 F#5 and so my power grows A5 F#5 electric detective G 101 4  elected proected elected A 3 2 2 2 2 B5 3 2 2 3 2 2 4 4  thought Bm7 Bass plays Bass Fig. 2 three times (see bar 38) I’m Asus4 Develop  every 2 2 2 2 2 let ring 2 2 3 2 2 B5 90 it B5 A 3 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 5 5  5     fdbk.  0 2 2 0 pitches: B D# 0 ! guitarworld.com 125
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worldmags.net worldmags.net TRANSCRIPTIONS SUNSHINE OF YOUR LOVE Cream As heard on Disraeli Gears Words and Music by Jack Bruce, Pete Brown and Eric Clapton • Transcribed by JEFF PERRIN D7 C7 10fr 1312 A G F 8fr 10fr 1312 A C 8fr 1444 1444  12    Bass 4   1444 134211 12 7 10 7 10 5 12 5 7  12   7 10 5 8 3  D7 11 10 12 10  10  6 10   11      11 10 12 10  8 10  5    5  C7 D7 9 8 10 8 11 10 12 10 10 3 5 10 12 5 7 12 10 12 1342 7 5 7  12   11 10 Bass Fig. 1 5 3 5 5 3 D7 C7 D7 N.C. (repeat previous two bars)   5 *1/4 7 * 1/4 6 6   *1/4 5 (0:13, 1:07, 2:55) D7 C7 D7 N.C. Substitute Riff A third time (see next page)   12 12  12  7 11 6  10 12 10   5 *1/2 3  5 1. It’s 2. I’m            gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014  N.C. B 128 8fr 1342 *pull string in toward palm 7 C Intro (0:00) Gtr. 1 (elec. w/dist.)  D 10fr 134211 Moderately q = 114 N.C.(D7) 1 G 5fr Sunshine of Your Love Words and music by Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Peter Brown © 1968 (renewed) E.C. MUSIC, LTD. and DRATLEAF MUSIC, LTD. All rights reserved • Reprinted by Permission of Hal Leonard Corporation
worldmags.net worldmags.net“SUNSHINE OF YOUR LOVE” C Verses (0:17, 1:11, 2:59) near dawn (1.) gettin’ (2., 3.) with you my love when lights close their tired eyes the light’s shining through on you D7 C7 D7 N.C. C7 D7 N.C. D7 Substitute Riff A on 2nd and 3rd Verses (see below) Gtr. 1 11  11 10 12 10 15    11 9 10 8 12 12 10 8  11 10 12 10  12 soon be with you my with you my love D7 C7 D7 N.C.     10 10 10 8 12 12 12 10 3 5  Bass 5 5   10   12 10 12 give you my dawn surprise It’s the morning and just we D7 C7 D7 N.C.   soon now 12  I’ll I’ll  11  5  12 10 love be with you darling stay with you darling G F G N.C. Gtr. 1 Riff B 19 12 12 12 12 12 12 10 10  11 4 10 4 3 10   3 8 10 1 12 12 12 10 10 12 12 12 10 Gtr. 1 Rhy. Fig. 2     11 10 12 10 11 9 11 10 8 10 12 10 12 10 8 10   12  11 10 10 Riff A (1:11, 2:59) Gtr. 1  D7 8   C 11 12 12 10 10 9 10 10 8  11 12 12 X 8  D D  12 12 12 10 stars seas  12 11 3 11 12 12 10 10 N.C.  start falling are all dried up   10 10 8 8 8 10 10 12 11 10 12 10 10  11 3rd time, skip ahead to G 3rd Chorus (bar 81) C7 D7 N.C.          D7 C7 D7 N.C. Substitute Riff C on 2nd and 3rd Verses (see below) 23 10 10 10 8 I’ll I’ll two  be with you when the stay with you ’til my G F G N.C.       I’ll Yes I’m 11 9 11 10 8 10 12 10 12 10 8 10  10   12  11    10 10 12 10 0  12 10 12 12 10 Riff C (1:36, 3:24) Gtr. 1      D C D N.C. 10 10 9 11 10 12 10 12 8 10  11 11 12 12 12 12  12  11     10  12 10 12 10 10   D C D N.C. 11 11 12 12 12 12 10 10 9 11 10 12 10 12 8 10  12  11   10  12 10 12 12 0 guitarworld.com 129
worldmags.net worldmags.net TRANSCRIPTIONS D 1st and 2nd Choruses (0:50, 1:40) I’ve been waiting A C Gtr. 1 27 5 5 6 7 7 5 Bass     Riff D 5 5 6 7 7 5 5 5 6 7 7 5  Bass Fig. 2 5 A Gtr. 1 31 5 5 6 7 7 5  5    5 5 6 7 7 5 5 5 6 7 7 5   your  E 5  5 5 5 6 7 7 5 be where I’m    5 5 6 7 7 5          5 5 6 7 7 5 5 5 6 7 7 5 5 5 6 7 7 5    going G C 5 5 6 7 7 5 5 5 6 7 7 5    5 5 6 7 7 5 5 5 6 7 7 5 5 5 6 7 7 5    5 5 6 7 7 5    5 5 6 7 7 5 5 5 6 7 7 5  end Riff D   10 5 5 6 7 7 5 5 5 6 7 7 5 (A)   3   3  5 5 5 5 3/4   5 5 5 5 5 5    12   end Bass Fig. 2 5 5 3   4 Guitar Solo (Verse) (2:01) Gtr. 2 35 D C D N.C. Gtr. 1 plays Riff A four times (see previous page) 3/4  3/4  12 ! 12 12 12 1 12 D C D N.C.  39 7 !   10 ! Bass 5 5 3 5   7 9 7 7 10  7 6 9 9 9 C D    12 !  1 12 9 9 9 9  1/2 1 9 9 9 9 D 1/2 1 9 9  9  9  3 5 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 7 !   5 3 D 7 F 9 G 9 5 9 5 9 7    7 ! 5 3 5 9 9 7 9 9 1 10 10  2 1¾  1¾ 10 10 10 N.C. 7 9 7 9 9  1 3/4  5 9 N.C. 1 9 1/2 1 1/2 C 9 G 1 N.C. 3 1/2 1 G F G N.C. Gtr. 1 plays Riff B (see bar 19) Gtr. 2 1 1 43 10 D 12 Bass plays Bass Fig. 1 four times (see bar 5) 130 love A  3 3 4 5 5 3   5 3 G 5 5 5 3 to A 3 3 4 5 5 3  of Gtr. 2 (elec. w/dist.) (2nd time only) Bass  3 in the sunshine C long G 5 5 5 3  5 so   9 9 3 5  9 4 7 9 9  3 3 1½   9 1  3 9 7 9 3 3 1 3 4
worldmags.net worldmags.net“SUNSHINE OF YOUR LOVE” D C D N.C. Gtr. 1 plays Riff A twice (see second page) Gtr. 2 47  7 9    7 !   13 14 D 11 12 10 C D N.C.  11 10 X   12 10 10 12 11 X 1/2  10 11 10 10 12 Bass plays Bass Fig. 1 twice (see bar 5) F Guitar Solo (Chorus) (2:34) A Gtr. 1 plays Riff D (see bar 27)  13  12 1 51 12  C   1 12 G 12 10 10 12 A let ring 1 12  14 13 12 10 12 1/2 10 12 12 10 C G  10 12 10 12 10 10 12 10 10 12 A 10 12 10 10 10 12   13 12  14 12 12 C   14 13 12  14 1/2 14 13 13 15 13 14  12 10 12 10 G  1/4  13 13 15 13  G 12 12 15 14 13 12 10 12  13 13 13 13 14 14 14 14 14 14 12 10 12 10 12  B 15 (bar 9) Gtr. 1 plays Riff A (see second page)  10 12   10 Bass plays Bass Fig. 1 (see bar 5) H I’ve I’ve I’ve to in    Gtr. 1 61 5 5 6 7 7 5    1/4 3rd Chorus (3:32) A   14  12 10 12 1 go back to A 57 10 12 3 Bass plays Bass Fig. 2 simile (see bar 27) 54  1/2 10 5 5 6 7 7 5  Bass  5  5 5 6 7 7 5 5 5   been been been be the waiting waiting waiting where I’m sunshine C 5 5 5 3 3 so so so going of G   your  love A (play repeats simile)        (play 5 times) 3 3 4 5 5 3 Outro (3:53) long long long 5 5 6 7 7 5     5 5 5 6 7 7 5 5 5 6 7 7 5    5 5 6 7 7 5 5 5 6 7 7 5       (repeat and fade) 5 5 6 7 7 5 5 5 6 7 7 5 5 5 6 7 7 5 (play 5 times) 3  5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 guitarworld.com     131
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worldmags.net worldmags.net TRANSCRIPTIONS CAFO Animals as Leaders As heard on ANIMALS AS LEADERS Words and Music by Tosin Abasi and Misha Mansoor • Transcribed by jeff perrin 8-string guitars arranged for 7-string guitars in drop-D tuning (low to high, B D A D G B E). Bass is a 5-string in drop-D tuning (low to high: B D A D G). F#5 F#7sus4¨9 G5 4fr 5fr 11 11 Gsus2 D5 Bmaj7 A B6 13 8fr 144 7fr 124 124 D#5 Bmaj7 4fr 3 F#m/A 7fr 11 7fr 113 F#/A# 7fr 111 5fr F#sus2 A5 4fr D5 4fr 444 113 134 Intro (0:00) N.C.(F#m) *Gtr. 1 (elec. w/dist.) Riff A     1 P.M. 23 19 18 19 21 21 3 *doubled in repeats 2  19 19 23 19 23 3 21 21 23 19 3 21 23 3 18 21 19 3 19 3 19 21 3 21 18 23 3 21 18 21 23 3 19 23 3 21 19 21 23 21 3 23 19 3 23 18 21 3 3 (play 3 times) end Riff A 19 23 21 19 19 19 3 3 P.M.    4 4   4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5-string Bass 4 4 4 4 4 4          3 F#5 Gtr. 1 plays Riff A (see bar 1) Gtr. 2 (elec. w/dist.) 3 23 19 3 19 21 23  21 (play 4 times) 4 4 4 4   4 4   4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 (play 4 times)   4 4   4 4 4   4 N.C.(F#m) 5 6 Gtrs. 1 and 2  23 19 21 19 18 21 3  19 3 134 23 19 23 3 21 19 3 21 19 3 18 21 19 23 21 3 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 19 23 21 19 21 3 21 3 18 23 21 3 18 23 3 19 23 21 3 21 19 23 3 23 19 23 3 21 21 23 19 3 19 18 21 3 21 23  3 19 23 21 19 19 19 3 3 
worldmags.net worldmags.net B 7 (0:27) Gtr. 2      “CAFO” (0:34, 0:48) Gtr. 1 plays Riff A (see bar 1) P.M. Gtr. 1 plays Riff A (see bar 1) P.M. P.M. 6 7 7 7  9 11 7 7 7 7 7 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 P.M. 7 P.M. 6 9 7  Bass 4 4 4 P.M.   9 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 4 4 4 4 4 4 7 6 4 4 4 P.M. P.M. 7 8 7    4 4   P.M. 7 7  11 7 7 7 7 7  3 4 4 4 4 4 4 7 6 4 N.C.(B5) Gtr. 1 plays Riff A twice (see bar 1) Rhy. Fig. 1 10 P.M.  P.M. 8  7 11 7 P.M. 9 7 7 7 7 7 7 3 7 7 4 4 4 4 4 4 6 7 4 4 4 4 4     0 P.M. P.M. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0 Bass Fig. 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0 P.M. P.M. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   3 3 3 (1:02) 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 0 0 0 0 0  0 0 3 3 3 3 3 end Rhy. Fig. 1  3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 end Bass Fig. 1  3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 T T T     7  5 7 12 14 9 11 12 14 16 9 10 14 16 9 11 14 16 9 T 3 11 12 16 18 T  T  *T  12 14 15 17 19     12 14 15 21 *Perform tapped hammer-ons with pick-hand index and middle fingers. Bass C 0 0 0 0  (C#5) Gtr. 1 15  0 0 P.M. 1st time, go back to bar 9 (D5) 13 0 P.M. 7 ! 7 ! (1:05, 1:15, 1:35) T T T T T T T 5  16 i 5 16 4 16 4    5 4  (repeat previous bar)  5 5 7 5  5   T T 14 16 *m = pick-hand middle finger; i = pick-hand index finger Bass Fig. 2 T 5 16 7 16 16   16 T  7 T  16 T  *m 5 T  16  16  4 16  16 4        5      Riff B (1st time, play 4 times and go back to bar 17) (2nd time, play 8 times and go back to bar 17) (3rd time, play 8 times then continue) (1st time, play 4 times) (2nd and 3rd times, play 8 times) (w/clean tone) 17   5     guitarworld.com 135
worldmags.net worldmags.net TRANSCRIPTIONS (1:55) G5 F#7sus4¨9 G5 A5 N.C.(E5) G5 F#5 Gtr. 1 plays Riff B (see bar 17) Gtr. 2 P.M.   19 5 5 0 0 0 4 4 4    0 0 0 4 4 4 P.M. 5 5 5 5 7 7  5 5 5 5 G5 5 5  Bass plays Bass Fig. 2 (see bar 17) D G5 F#7sus4¨9 G5 5 5 7 7 5     5 0 0 0 4 4 4 5 5    0 0 0 4 4 4 A5 N.C.(E5) P.M. 5 5 5 5 7 7 5   5 (2:16) F#sus2 F#/A# Gtr. 2 Rhy. Fig. 2 23  0 T 4 T 16 2 T 16 4 16 T 4 F#m/A 26 0 11 9 7 7 5 5 T E 16 19 T 7 T 19 7 19 7 T 16 4 T 16 4 16 4 T  8 20 T 8 T 20 8 D5   5 17 7 0 0  5  0 7 0 0 T  T 4 Gsus2 7 11 9 8 11 11 7 Bass Fig. 3  0 0 11 11 7 Bass T 3 3  T 15 3 3 15 3 8  end Rhy. Fig. 2   0 7 0 0 20  end Bass Fig. 3 T 3 T 15 3  T 3 15 3 T T T 3 15 3 (2:25) Gtr. 1 F#sus2 Gtr. 2 plays Rhy. Fig. 2 (see bar 23) Riff C T T T  9 11  5 7 12 14 9 11 12 14 16 7 9 10 14 16 14 16 T 9 11 12 16 18 12 14 15 17 19 T 12 14 15 19 T 21 11 T 19 18 11 17 18 12 20 T T    T  T F#/A#  29 P.M. (play 5 times)  4 4 A5 N.C.(E5) G5 F#5 G5 A5 21 0 14 9 11 12 16 Bass plays Bass Fig. 3 (see bar 23) F#m/A 32 (2:33) Bass 35   38 T T T T T T 11 16 16 9 16 16 10 17 17 14 F#sus2 Gtr. 1 plays Riff C (see bar 29) Gtr. 2 plays Rhy. Fig. 2 (see bar 23) 4 4  4 Gsus2 * *Note sounds one octave lower 2nd and 4th times. gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 5 T 11 16 T 16 9 T T 16 16 10 T 17 end Riff C T 17 T 17 14  F#/A#  4 F#m/A  18  9 11 12 16 17 7 ! 136 Gsus2 D5 T  18 T  *  4  4 D5  3 3 !  4 4  8 ! 4  *Note sounds one octave lower 2nd and 4th times.   (play 4 times)  3 !
worldmags.net worldmags.net F “CAFO” (3:09, 3:23) Badd9 1st time, Gtr. 1 plays Riff A four times (see bar 1) 2nd time, Gtr. 1 plays Rhy. Fig. 1 twice (see bar 11) Gtr. 2 Rhy. Fig. 3 let ring    41 3 ! 6 Bass  3 !  Substitute Bass Fig. 1 twice, 3rd time (see bar 11) Bass Fig. 4   4 4 4 7 4 4 4  6 4 4 5 7 4 4  4 4 4 7 6 6 7  9 ! 10 !  G 4 4 4 4 4 4 Badd 11 7 12 14 11 11 9  end Rhy. Fig. 3 F#add9  14 14  10 !  13 0 10 Bass plays Bass Fig. 4 three times simile (see bar 41) 46  4 4 F#m 43  7 (3rd time, let ring into next bar) 13 16  ! ! 16   16 (3:51) Bmaj7 Gtr. 4 plays Rhy. Fill 1 on repeats (see bar 51) B6 Bmaj7 Gtr. 3 (elec. w/clean tone) played fingerstyle  Rhy. Fig. 4    49 let ring throughout 0 3 1 2 1 4 2  4 4 4   0 2 6 4 4  0 Gtr. 1    0 !  0 !  Bass    0 ! 1., 2. Gtr. 3 repeats Rhy. Fig. 4 (see bar 49) Gtr. 4 (elec. w/clean tone)(fade in, 1st time) Rhy. Fill 1 51 12 13   0 ! 12 13 15 12 13 15 12 13 15 13 13 15 0 13 15 0 13 15 0 13 15 0 13 15 12 13   (play repeats simile) Bass 2 !  2 !   guitarworld.com 137
worldmags.net worldmags.net TRANSCRIPTIONS H 3. N.C.(B5) Gtr. 3 plays first bar of Rhy. Fill 1 simile (see bar 51) Gtr. 1 53        6 6 8 8  !8  8 Rhy. Fig. 5 Gtr. 2 0 ! Bass Guitar Solo (4:23) P.M.   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bass Fig. 5   2 ! 0 P.M. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  P.M.  0 0 P.M. 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 8 P.M. P.M. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0     ! 11 11 6 6 6  ! 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0    (D#5) 56   58 P.M. 4 4 4 P.M. 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4  4 4 P.M.  4 4 4 4 end Rhy. Fig. 5 P.M. 4 4 4 4 4  6 P.M. 4 4 P.M. 4 4 4 4 end Bass Fig. 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 11 9 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4   (B5) Gtr. 2 plays Rhy. Fig. 5 three times (see bar 54)  1 3 8 6 6 4 10 8 6 10 11 9  8 3 bar 54) Bass plays Bass Fig. 5 three times (see  (D#5) 60 6  9 11 13 13 13  11 9 11 13 13 9 13 16 13 9 11 13 3 T  11 15 3  T 13 13 10 8 6 6 13 11 13 14 13  11 3 (B5)  16 16 16 15 13 14 16 12 16 14 13 15 16 15 13 14 16  5 63  12 16 15 5 138   13 14 13 11  15 13 16 15 16 13 16 15 15 15 16 13 15 14   (D#5) 13 14 13 13 15 16 5 16 16 16 15 13 16 16 15 13 11 13 15 16 6 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 3 13 3 3 3
worldmags.net worldmags.net 65  let ring 11 11 12 12 15 15 11  10  10 1/2 12 10 10 (B5) 1/2  13 “CAFO” 13 13  13 11 13 15 15 13 13 16 16 16 16 16 16 14 14  16 16 3 67 (D#5) 14 14  18 18 16 16 19 19 18 19 19 16 16 18 18 14 14 16 16  16 16 16 16 16 13 13 15 15 13 13 14 14 15 15    D#5/B 69 I (let ring into next bar) Gtr. 2  13 13 14 14 13 13 11 11 12 12 9 9 11 11   11 4 3 1 4 3 1 4 3 1 4 3 1  0 0 0  0 0 (4:53, 5:06) Gtrs. 1 and 2 71    P.M. 4 3 1 4 3 1 4 3 1  0 P.M. 4 3 1 0 0 0 0 4 3 1 4 3 1 4 3 1 4 3 1  0 P.M. 4 3 1 0 0 0 0  0 0 0 0 0 Bass   74     77 1  0 1  0 1 0 0 0 4 3 1 4 3 1  0  12 0 1 0  0 0 15 0 13      1 0 0 0  0 0 12 14 16 12 14 16 12 14 15 13 14 16 13 14 16 13 13 15 15 0  let ring 12 14 15 0 15 16 16  15 15 16 16 15 16  16 14 0      14 14 14 D5 12 15 13 0 1 P.M. P.M. 0 1 0 0 1 0  0 let ring P.M. 4 3 1 0 1   12 15 13 12 15 13 12 15 13  0  0   12 15 13 12 15 13 0 0 0 0 0 0   13 13 13 13 11 11 11 11  0 0 0 0      guitarworld.com 139
worldmags.net worldmags.net TRANSCRIPTIONS “CAFO” N.C. 79 J   1   1 3 10 3 10 8 9 8 9 11 7 11 7 5 12 5 12 14 15 12 14 13 18 15 16 16 18 1st time, go back to I 16 16 16 18 (bar 71)   18 17   15 12 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 (5:18, 5:32) Badd9 Gtr. 1 plays first two bars of Rhy. Fig. 1 (see bar 11) Gtr. 2 plays Rhy. Fig. 3 (see bar 41) Bass substitutes Bass Fig. 1 on repeat (see bar 11) Bass (1st time only) 81   Gtr. 1 83   0 ! 0 ! 0 Badd 11 7 F#m P.M. 3 P.M. 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3  P.M. P.M. 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 P.M. P.M. 3 3 3 3 3  (Bass cont. with Bass Fig. 1)  K P.M. P.M. 0 0 0 P.M. 0 0 0 0 0 0 P.M. 0 0 0  0 0 P.M. P.M. P.M. 6 7 7  9 11 7 0 P.M. P.M. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 7 7 7 7 P.M. P.M. 7 7 P.M. 6 9 9 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 N.C.(F#m) Gtrs. 1 and 2 P.M. 89    23 19 19 21 18 21 3  19 18 21 19 23 19 23 21 19 3 3 21 19 3 3 23 21 19 3 23 19 21 21 3 21 3 18 23 21 18 23 21 3 19 23 3 21 23 19 23 3 19 3 23 21 19 3 18 21 19 3 23  3 19 23 21 19 19 19 3 D5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4  4 4 4 4 4 4  Bass   23 21   3 (play 12 times and fade) Outro (5:53) F#5 Gtr. 1 plays Riff A (see bar 1) Gtr. 2 P.M. 91    21 3 L 140   Bass plays Bass Fig. 4 simile (see bar 41) (5:48) 90  Bass plays first two bars of Bass Fig. 1 (see bar 11) F#add9 86  gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014      0 0   0 F#5    0 0    0   4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4    
worldmags.net worldmags.net 00696042 00695752 00696473 00695453 00696427 00695418 00696374 00695830 00695584 00695038 00695250 00695924 00696409 00695747 00695183 00695848 00696560 00695894 00695264 00696009 00695635 00695178 00695872 00695632 00696421 00695387 00696379 00695730 00695097 00109304 00695660 00695800 00695155 00695772 00695988 Duane Allman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $22 .99 The Best of Chet Atkins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $22 .95 Avenged Sevenfold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $22 .99 Best of the Beatles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $22 .95 Jeff Beck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $22 .99 Best of George Benson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $22 .95 Blues Breakers with John Mayall & Eric Clapton . . . . . . $22 .99 Kenny Burrell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $22 .99 The Best of Charlie Christian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $22 .95 The Best of Eric Clapton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $24 .95 Eric Clapton – From the Album Unplugged . . . . . . . . . . . $24 .95 Creedence Clearwater Revival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $22 .95 Tommy Emmanuel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $22 .99 Best of Grant Green . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $22 .95 The Best of Guns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $24 .95 Jim Hall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $22 .99 Jimi Hendrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $24 .95 John Lee Hooker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $19 .99 Robert Johnson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $22 .95 Barney Kessel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $22 .99 B.B. King – The Definitive Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $22 .95 The Guitar Style of Mark Knopfler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $22 .95 Lynyrd Skynyrd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $24 .95 The Best of Pat Martino . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $24 .99 Megadeth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $22 .99 Best of Wes Montgomery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $24 .95 Brad Paisley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $22 .99 The Best of Joe Pass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $22 .95 The Best of Queen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $24 .95 Radiohead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $24 .99 The Best of Django Reinhardt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $24 .95 Mike Stern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $24 .99 The Guitar Style of Stevie Ray Vaughan . . . . . . . . . . . . . $24 .95 The Best of The Ventures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $19 .95 Neil Young – Greatest Hits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $22 .99
worldmags.net worldmags.net
worldmags.net worldmags.net
worldmags.net worldmags.net TRANSCRIPTIONS LONELY BOY Black Keys As heard on EL CAMINO Words and Music by Dan Auerbach, Patrick Carney and Brian Burton • Transcribed by ANDY ALEDORT E5 G A E5 5fr T 3211 A T 3211 Intro (0:00) Moderately q = 168 N.C.(E5)  w/bar (fade in) 1   0 !  -1/2  0 0 ! 5fr 13 13 13  0 0 0 0 w/Whammy pedal * -3½  3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 *Pedal is set to detune down one octave; different detuned pitches are sounded each time the pedal is engaged, depending on how far forward it is pushed. (drums enter)  1/4 5 0 B A5 (0:05)  Gtr. 1 (w/dist.) G5 7fr 0 0 0 3 *  0 0 0 0 0 -3½ 0 -6 0 0     (0:16) (E5) (A5) Gtr. 1 (melody doubled an octave higher by keyboard until bar 19) 11 w/pick and finger; bass notes on bottom two strings palm muted 5 0 5 0 5  0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0  0  0  2 2 2 0 0 0 0 5  5  (E5) 14 2 144 2 0 Bass (w/pick) Bass Fig. 1 0 3 0 0 0 5  2 0 0 5 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 2 0  5 5 5 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0  0  0  2 0 2 Lonely Boy Words and Music by Dan Auerbach, Patrick Carney and Brian Burton © 2011 McMoore McLesst Publishing (BMI) and Sweet Science (ASCAP) All Rights on behalf of McMoore McLesst Publishing in the world excluding Australia and New Zealand Administered by Wixen Music Publishing, Inc. All Rights on behalf of McMoore McLesst Publishing in Australia and New Zealand Administered by GaGa Music All Rights Reserved • Used by Permission • Reprinted by Permission of Cherry Lane Music Company
worldmags.net worldmags.net “ LONELY BOY” (0:27) (A5) E5 2 2 2 0 0 0  5 Gtr. 1 20 0 0 2 0 5 P.M. P.M. 3 0 0 0   2 0 0 3 P.M.   end Bass Fig. 1   0 0 2 0 5 P.M. 0 0 0 0  0 C  w/pick 17 P.M. 0 0 0 0 (1st time only) 5 P.M. 0 0  0 0  (2nd time) 1. Well  P.M. 0 0 P.M. 0 0 0 P.M. 0 0 0 I’m  P.M. 0 0 0 0 0 3   Verses (0:39, 1:37) (1.) so (2.) mama E5 Gtr. 1 P.M. 23 above  P.M. 0 0 0  0 0 P.M. 0 0 0 0 plain daddy G And it’s But your you you kept 0 0 0 0 0 0 P.M. P.M. 0  P.M. 3 3 3   0 3 Th Bass But I And I you A 3 3 4 0 0 see left to 6 7 6 7 5 5 5 5 6 5 5 6 5 5 6 6 7 0 0 5 Th Bass Fig. 2 0 ! 0 !  P.M. 0 0 0 0 love done to came should’ve E5 Gtr. 1 P.M. 27 0 ! 0 3 ! 5 you you 3 ! anyway just the 5 ! P.M. 0 0 0 0 0 0 P.M. P.M. 0 0 0 you I 6 7 6 7 5 5 5 5 6 5 5 6 5 5 6 P.M. 6 7 5 0 0 3 5 3 3  3 Th pulled came E5 A 30 3 3 4 3 Bass plays Bass Fig. 2 three times (see bar 23) So But  P.M. 0 0 0 0 same G  P.M. 0 0 3 0  0 0 my to P.M. 0 heart 0 0 P.M. 0 love  0 0 out And Am you P.M. 0 0 0 P.M. 0  0 I I 0 0 P.M. 0 0 0 Th guitarworld.com 145
worldmags.net worldmags.net TRANSCRIPTIONS don’t goin’ G mind to P.M. 33 3 3 4 bleeding bleed A  3 3 3  0 3 Th  36 me 6 7 6 7 5 5 0 0 0 P.M. 6 7 0 Chorus (1:02, 2:00, 2:46) whoa Oh E5 you keep you keep P.M. 0 0 0  P.M. 0 0 0 0 waiting A  3 3 3  0 3 Th D 0 0 time time  P.M. 5 5 6 5 3 3 4 0 0 0 5 5 6 waiting G P.M. 0 0 5 5 6 old old Th waiting P.M. 0 0 any any E5 oh I got G5 5 5 5 6 7 5 5 6 7 5 5 6 7 5 5 5 a love that keeps me A5 5 3 5 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 waiting 39 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 5 3 5 3 5 3 5 3 7 5 7 5 7 5 7 5 7 5 7 5 7 5 0 Bass plays Bass Fig. 2 four times (see bar 23) oh Oh E5 43 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 I’m a 9 7 0 9 7 0 lonely 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 0 5 3 5 3 5 3 love that keeps 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 I’m a 9 7 0 9 7 0 whoa Oh E5 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 0 5 3 5 3 lonely 7 7 5 5 3 7 7 5 7 7 5 7 7 5 7 7 5 7 7 5 7 7 5 0 7 5 7 5 7 5 7 5 7 5 7 5 0 boy 5 3 5 3 5 3 5 3 5 3 5 3 7 5 got I G5 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 waiting A5 oh 9 7 0 me A5 G5 9 7 0 51 a boy E5 47 I got G5 9 7 0 9 7 0 9 7 0 5 3 0 5 3 a love that keeps 5 3 5 3 5 3 5 3 2nd time, skip ahead to E Breakdown (bar 63) 3rd time, skip ahead to F Ending (bar 71) me 54 E5  0 0 7 5 146 waiting A5 7 5 7 5 7 5 7 5 7 5 7 5 7 5 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 9 7 0  0 0    0 0  0 0   1/4  0 3 P.M. 0  0 0 P.M. 0 0 0 P.M. 0
worldmags.net worldmags.net  58 1/4 P.M. 0 0 0 0  P.M.  0 0 0 2 3 0  P.M. 0 0 “ LONELY BOY” P.M. 0 0 0  0 2 0 go back to  P.M. 61 P.M. 0 P.M. 0 0 0 0 Breakdown (2:23)   *  0 0 0 3  0 0  0 1/2 0 your 3 0 (1st time) Hey N.C.(E5) Gtr. 1 63 P.M. 0 0 0 2nd verse (bar 23) C 2. Well 0 0 E 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1/4 -3½ 0 *  0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 -6 0 0 0 0   *w/Whammy pedal   Bass (2nd time)  0        (1st time) 2nd time, go back to (E5) Gtr. 1 (melody doubled an octave higher by keyboard) 67 5 5 5 3   0 D Chorus (bar 39) (A5) 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 2 2 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 0   Bass plays Bass Fig. 1 twice (see bar 11) F Ending (3:08) N.C.(E5)  5 ! Gtr. 2 (Kybd. arr. for gtr.) 71 Gtr. 1 N.H.  0 ! Bass 0 !   guitarworld.com 147
worldmags.net worldmags.net TRANSCRIPTIONS SING Ed Sheeran As heard on X Words and Music by Ed Sheeran and Pharrell Williams • Transcribed by jeff perrin A¨m D¨m7 D¨m 4fr 134111 A A¨m 4fr 4fr 13121 G¨ 3421 11fr 342 * A¨m D¨m 12fr 13fr 111 213 12fr 111 *rotate index finger so that it is diagonal to the frets Intro (0:00) Moderately q = 120 1. It’s late in the eve - A¨m 1   *Gtr. 1 (acous.)     4 4 4 6 6 4  *doubled throughout B 4 4 4 6 6 4  (repeat previous two bars)  4 4 4 6 6 4  I  Gtr. 1 5   4 4 4 6 6 4 ning    X X X X X X 4 4 4 6 6 4    4 4 4 6 6 4 4 4 4 6 6 4 *Gtr. 2 (elec. w/clean tone) Rhy. Fig. 1    Verses (0:08, 1:28) glass on side the don’t wanna know I saw flames from the side of the stage and the fire brigade (2.) told her my name and said it’s nice to meet you then she handed (1.)     4 4 4 6 4 4 4 6 6 4 4 4 4 6 4 4 4 6     X 6 4 X X    4 4 4 6 X X X 4 4 4 6 6 4 X X X I’ve me a been sat with you if you’re gettin’ ahead of the program comes in a couple of days Until bottle of water with tequila X X 4 4 4 6 6 4      4 4 4 6 6 4  4 4 4 6  X X   4 4 4 6 4 4 4 6  4 4 4 6 6 4  4 4 4 6  4 4 4 6 6 4     X X X X X X X  4 4 4 6 *doubled throughout  Gtr. 3 (acous.) Rhy. Fig. 1a   6 4 7 6 4  4 X 4  Bass (1st Verse: plays on repeat only) Bass Fig. 1   148 6 4 7 6 4 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 4 4  4   4 4 2 4 4 4 2 4   4  14  Sing Words and Music by Ed Sheeran and Pharrell Williams
Copyright (c) 2014 Sony/ATV Songs LLC, EMI April Music Inc. and More Water From Nazareth
All Rights Administered by Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, 8 Music Square West, Nashville, TN 37203 International Copyright Secured All Rights Reserved
Reprinted by Permission of Hal Leonard Corporation
worldmags.net worldmags.net for most of I want you to then we got nothin’ to say and nothin’ to I already know she’s a keeper just 7  4 4 4 6 6 4  4 4 4 6 6 4   4 4 4 6 6 4  4 4 4 6 6 4  4 4 4 6 4 4 4 6    4 4 4 6 6 4 X X X X  4 4 4 6 6 4 the night be mine know but from this   X X 4 4 4 6 6 4  4 4 4 6 4 4 4 6 X X X X X X  6 6 4 4 7 6 7 6 4 everybody here hold your Let it go until our deep If anybody 9 D¨m7 * 4 5 4 6 4 X X X  4 5 4 6 4 X X X  D¨m * 4 5 6 6 4 5 6 6 *omit chord first time on 2nd verse 4 6 7 4 * 4 6 7 4 *omit notes first time on 2nd verse Ignoring lady To somethin’ to drink and maybe somethin’ to smoke one small act in of kindness I’m 4 X 4     4 4 4 6 6 4  4 4 4 6  4 X X X 4 4 4 6 4 4 4 6   4 4 4 6 6 4  4 4 4 6 6 4     X X X X X X X  4 4 4 6 4 4 2  4  4 4 4 2  4 We wish body change roads’ll finds out I they would disappear so close Take another step into singin’ we found love in a local rave meant to drive home but I’ve drunk all of it now 4 5 4 6 4 4 5 4 6 4 X X X 4 5 4 6 4  4 5 4 6 4 4 5 6 6 4 5 6 6 X X X 4 5 6 6  4 5 6 6   4  4 4 4 X  4 4      4 5 4 6 4 4 5 4 6 4 4 5 6 6 4 5 6 6   4 5 4 6 4  4 5 6 6  4  4  4 5 4 6 4 X X X  4 4 4 2 4 2 4  maybe the no no not X X X X  4 5 6 6  4 X X  4 4 4 6     4 4  4 4 4 6 6 4   4 “SING”  11  guitarworld.com 149
worldmags.net worldmags.net TRANSCRIPTIONS now we could get down time man’s land for the longest but I can I don’t really know what I’m supposed to say One thing sobering up We just sit on the couch D¨m7 11 4 5 4 6 4 4 5 4 6 4 X X X  X X X  D¨m 4 5 6 6 4 5 6 6 4 5 4 6 4 4 5 4 6 4 4 5 6 6 4 5 6 6  6 4 C 6    7    4 4 4 4 X X 6 6 X X 6 X X 4 6 4 4 4 6 6 4 6 4 D 4 5 4 X 6 X X 4 X X 4 5 4 6 4  X X X  4 5 4 6 4 X X X 4 5 6 6  4 5 6 6  44 4 4 6 6 6 6  4 4 X X 6 X X 6 X X X 4 4 4 6 4 4  4 5 4 6 4 5 4 4 6 4 4 5 4 6 4 4 5 6 6 4 5 6 6  44 4 4 6 6 6 6    4 5 4 6 4  4  4   X X X  4 5 6 6 4 4  4 5 6 6 2   4   X X end Rhy. Fig. 1   end Rhy. Fig. 1a   4 2  4   end Bass Fig. 1 feel you’re falling won’t you let me know rushing through you from your head to toe Oh Oh   4 4 X X 6 X X 6 X X X X oh oh 4 5 4 4 6 X X X X X 4 4 X X X X X 4 5 4 6 4  If you Feel it  4 4 6 6 4 5 4 6 4 I ooh ooh Sing!   4 4 4 5 5 5 4 X 4 4 6 X X 6 X 6 X X X X X 4 X X 4 X 4 X X X X X X   (1:12, 2:32) Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh A¨m Gtr. 2 plays Rhy. Fig. 1 (see bar 5) Gtr. 3 plays Rhy. Fig. 1a (see bar 5) 21  4 4 4 4 4 X X 6 6 X X 6 X X I hope and pray kissing my mouth I   the tone involved set get   4   4       D¨m7 4 5 4 6 4 Come on Come on ooh ooh 17 4 4 Chorus (0:40, 2:06) need you darling If me you love A¨m Gtr. 1 13 4 7  4 5 4 6 4  4 lady it out and now she’s just figure led to another       4 4 4 6 6 4 X X X X 4 4 4 6 6 4 4 4 4 6 6 4    4 4 4 6 6 4 4 4 4 6 6 4 X X  4 4 4 6 6 4 oh  oh oh oh oh     4 4 4 6 6 4 4 4 4 6 6 4 4 4 4 6 6 4 4 4 4 6 6 4    4 4 4 6 6 4 X X X oh   4 4 4 6 6 4 X 4 4 4 6 6 4 oh oh oh  4 4 4 6 6 4  4 4 4 6 6 4 oh  4 4 4 6 6 4 oh 4 4 4 6 6 4 oh 4 4 6 6 4 X X Bass plays Bass Fig. 1 (see bar 5) oh 24 150   4 4 6 6 4 oh oh 4 4 6 6 4  4 4 6 6 4 oh oh  4 4 6 6 4 Louder!  4 4 6 6 4 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014 X X X X X oh X X X X D¨m7 4 5 4 6 4 oh oh X X 4 5 4 6 4 oh oh X X oh X X oh X X oh X X X 4 5 4 6 4
worldmags.net worldmags.net oh oh oh oh oh D¨m7 26   4 5 4 6 4 4 5 4 6 4 Sing!    4 5 4 6 4 4 5 4 6 4 4 5 4 6 4 even wanna dance  30  4 4 4 6 6 4 Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh X X X 4 5 4 6 4 X X X X Can you feel it 4 5 4 6 4 4 5 4 6 4 X X 4 5 4 6 4 to   4 5 4 6 4    4 4 5 5 4 4 6 6 4 4 4 5 4 6 4   4 5 4 6 4 Ooh Oh A¨m D¨m A¨m D¨m 14 13 14 12 13 13 14 13 14 no no Outro (3:20) you darling come on need (Oh...) you love me come on If (Oh...) A¨m Gtr. 2 plays Rhy. Fig. 1 (see bar 5) Gtr. 3 plays Rhy. Fig. 1a (see bar 5) Gtr. 1 45 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 6 X X 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 X X 6 6 6 6 6 X 6 4 X X 4 4 4 4 X 4 X 4   49 12 13 13 14 13 14 the tone get involved 6 6 4 oh - oh (Oh...) oh - oh (Oh...) D¨m7 4 5 4 X 6 X 4 X 14 13 14 12 13 13 14 12 14 13 13 13 13 14 13 14 4 4 4 6 6 4 X X X 4 5 4 6 4 4 5 4 6 4 4 5 X 4 X 6 X 4  4 5 4 6 4 4 5 4 6 4 X X X X X X X 4 5 4 6 4 4 5 4 6 4  A¨m D¨m  12 13 13 14 13 14 4 4 4 6 6 4 4 4 4 6 6 4 4 4 4 6 6 4 4 4 4 6 6 4 4 4 4 6 6 4  11 11 11   X X X  X X X X 4 5 4 6 4 X X X 4 5 4 6 4  4 4 4 6 X X 6 X X 4 11 13 it A¨mD¨m A¨mD¨mA¨m D¨m A¨m D¨m Gtr. 1 plays Rhy. Fig. 3 twice (see bar 33) 14 12 14 12 14 12 14 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 14 13 14 13 14 13 14 12 13 13 14 13 14 12 13 13 4 4 4 6 X 6 X 4  4 4 4 6 6 4   12 14 13 13 13 14 (Sing) I A¨m D¨m A¨m D¨m 14 13 14 A¨m   12  11 11 13 12 11 12 13 11 11 13 13 11 13 14 13 14 X X X X X me know oh (Louder!) to toe oh (Louder!)    4 4 4 X 6 X 6 X 4 4 4 4 6 6 4 4 4 4 6 6 4 X X X X X X X (Sing!) (Oh...)    4 5 4 6 4 D¨m      4 4 4 6 6 4 oh 4 5 4 6 4 12 13 13 you feel you’re falling won’t you let (Oh...) Feel it rushing through you from your head (Oh...) oh      11 11 11 If    4 4 4 6 X X 6 X X 4 D¨m  Interlude (2:04) 12 11 12 11 12 14 13 11 13 11 13 13 13 11 13 11 13 X X X X 14 A¨mD¨m A¨mD¨mA¨m set  44  11 12 11 13 11 13 4 4 4 6 6 4 G¨ A¨m G¨ A¨m G¨ A¨m G¨ Gtr. 1 plays Rhy. Fig. 2 twice (see bar 29) G¨ A¨mG¨ A¨m no 14 13 X X X X X 14 G  Can you feel 12 11 12 11 12 11 12 13 11 13 11 13 11 11 13 13 11 13 11 13 11 13  it 12 13 13 13 G¨A¨mG¨A¨mG¨ A¨m G¨A¨m 12 11 12 11 12 12 13 11 13 11 13 13 13 11 13 11 13 X X X X X 13 12 13 13 A¨m         12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 38 14 13 14 feel oh G¨ A¨mG¨ A¨m 42 Can you Gtr. 1 repeats Rhy. Fig. 3 (see bar 33) Gtr. 2   Found you hiding here so 4 5 4 6 4 before the beat kicks in again   4 4 4 6 6 4    A¨m Rhy. Fig. 2 D¨m7 Rhy. Fig. 3 F 34 it All the guys in here don’t X X X X  won’t you take my hand darling Bridge (2:48)  4 5 4 6 4 All that I can hear is music from the back Can you feel it  E 1st time, go back 2nd Verse (bar 5) oh oh oh 2. This love is ablaze (2nd time) Can you feel oh oh 4 5 4 6 X 4 X B “SING” 4 5 4 6 4 X X X 4 5 4 6 4 4 5 4 6 4 4 5 X 4 X 6 X 4   4 5 4 6 4 4 5 4 6 4    4 5 4 6 4 4 5 4 6 4 4 5 4 6 4 (Sing!) X X X guitarworld.com   151
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worldmags.net worldmags.net Product PRofile Just Pick It! With a Wrist Pick! Wrist Picks may look like just a “pick on a string” or a “pick-bracelet”, but they are far more than that…they eliminate lost, dropped, or misplaced picks! Being assured to outlive the life of most strings they will give you comfort, reliability, and help you avoid losing your picks! Your Wrist Pick can even increase your performance and ability to multi-task! Prices range from $5.55 – $8.88 (shown: Type – B Wrist Picks for easy pick-switching capability) www.wristpicks.com www.facebook.com/wristpicks LOVE YOUR BOSE® L1®? DRESS IT UP & TAKE IT OUT. We have several products that will make your BOSE more versatile and enhance your BOSE experience. Shown above is our BCT1 which will mount the ToneMatch® audio engine on the BOSE Compact. Check our website for some of the most interesting gig enhancement equipment available. Gig Ready, Gig Tested, Gig Proven. info@markbheller.com www.markbheller.com Contemporary Guitar Improvisation (Utilizing the Entire Fingerboard) Book & CD Marc Silver 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. SRP: $42.00 USD (includes delivery in the U.S.) MarcSilverGuitarImprov.com Big Bends Nut SauceTM Big Bends LLC is proud to introduce the complete line of Nut SauceTM tuning lubricant applicators: the 0.5cc Lil Luber–for the guitar hobbyist; the 1.5cc Groove Luber–for the serious player; and the 6cc Bench Luber– for the guitar tech or repair shop. Accept no imitation! Lil Luber $12.45, Groove Luber $24.95, Bench Luber 59.95 bigbends.com 1(888)788-BEND For more information on advertising in the Product Profile section, contact Anna Blumenthal at anna@guitarworld.com or (646) 723-5404! 156 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014
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NAIL HEADS 160 GU I TA R WOR L D worldmags.net worldmags.net BLACK KEYS continued from page 56 to the top of the pops hasn’t been without a personal toll for both band members. Carney went through a difficult divorce in 2009, which led to a short period of estrangement between him and Auerbach. The guitarist’s own turn came in 2013 when he divorced his wife, Stephanie Gonis. This difficult transition is very much reflected in Turn Blue’s dark lyrical content. It's an album fraught with the chains and pains of love. “It was a pretty fuckin’ hellacious year, to put it lightly,” Auerbach admits. “So it was hard to avoid that in the lyrics.” The despair in the album’s lyrical content is beautifully echoed by the disc’s haunted sonic ambiences—its ghostly keyboards and strangled, mangled guitar timbres. Danger Mouse’s ability to sculpt otherworldly soundscapes, à la Gnarls Barkley, finds a perfect foil in Auerbach’s lo-fi minimalism and intuitive, almost slapdash approach to the recording studio. With some glee, Auerbach reveals the offhand manner in which acoustic guitar on opening track “Weight of Love” was recorded. “It was just an old Gibson I have,” he says, “absolutely nothing special. I was just sitting in a chair in the control room playing it, and Pat is holding a Shure SM58 in front of the acoustic. I just played it and said, ‘Got it? Good. Okay, let’s move on.’ You can actually hear the scratch vocal and stuff bleeding into the acoustic mic. So once again, some kind of wrong way to do it is the right way.” Deploying off-the-wall vintage sounds in new ways is the essence of the Black Keys aesthetic, and a variety of effect pedals play a key role in Auerbach’s edgy guitar tones. He’s a connoisseur of cheesy vintage fuzz devicesand owns a boatload of units [see sidebar, page 53]. For the guitar solo in the Turn Blue track “It’s Up to You Now,” he played his Telecaster into a Ibanez Standard Fuzz, a Japanese made octave-fuzz pedal, into his Flot-o-Tone amp. But Auerbach, having once been a man who never met a guitar pedal he didn’t want to buy, seems to have hit a saturation point. “I haven’t bought a pedal in years, I don’t think,” he says. “I already got every flavor of fuzz. I still have plenty of room to explore on stuff I have.” For Turn Blue, Auerbach rummaged through a box full of pedals sent over by EarthQuaker Devices, an Akron based company owned by a friend and former guitar tech. Whenever possible, the Black Keys like to take care of their homies. “I used a bunch of the EarthQuaker pedals on this album,” Auerbach says. “I think he had a phaser and a simple two-knob fuzz in the box. I used those.” And just as Turn Blue’s opening track, “Weight of Love,” carries echoes of Pink Floyd classic rock pomp, the closing track, “Gotta Get Away,” is a country rock stomper that wouldn’t have been out of place on the Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers or Exile on Main St. It’s another product of Auerbach’s talent for instant inspiration. “That was the fastest song that we’ve ever come up with,” he says. “We were in the studio in Michigan and I basically just improvised that song from start to finish on guitar. I was playing my Telecaster capoed at the second fret, sitting in the room next to the drum kit, and that just tumbled out. I only had that little intro riff. I started playing it, and I just went through the parts of the song in my mind without ever having played them before. Verse, pre-chorus, chorus, second verse, bridge… It was like a first take and it was done. The whole arrangement was made up on the spot. I added a bass, some keyboards and came up with the lyrics. I was playing through a little Kalamazoo amplifier at the time. That’s where I got the lyric, ‘I went from San Berdoo to Kalamazoo just to get away from you.’ And that was that. “It felt very weird because it’s such a traditional kind of Seventies rock and roll song. We’ve never done anything so straight-up retro. We always like to have something in the song that makes it not just retro. But there was something about the way that song was created—how naturally it evolved. It was almost like it was subconsciously happening from years of, you know, growing up listening to rock radio out of Cleveland, Ohio. Those classic songs are lodged in your brain.” In December 2012, the Black Keys received what for any band must surely be the ultimate classic rock validation: they were invited to join the Rolling Stones onstage in Newark, New Jersey, to jam with them on Bo Diddley’s “Who Do You Love.” “You know, they’re a real rock and roll band,” Auerbach says of his encounter with the Stones. “It was easy to play with them but surreal at the same time. Standing onstage singing into a microphone that Mick Jagger was just singing into. Playing a guitar solo and looking over at Keith Richards and he’s nodding in approval. It was pretty weird. But amazing. You know who really impressed me was Charlie Watts. The way that he doesn’t play the hi-hat when he plays the snare is so fucking cool. It’s a real quirky style and when you see it in person it just sort of magnifies. Little things like that make it all seem worthwhile.”
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worldmags.net worldmags.net It Might Get Weird inside the minds of some of the world’s most creative custom-guitar builders. OM IS WHERE THE ART IS Shawn Bowen’s OmCaster T he Om symbol means so much to Shawn Bowen that he has four tattooed on his body. When he decided to design a custom guitar to play with his bands Didges Christ SuperDrum and Stones of Madness, it was pretty much predetermined that he would make it shaped like the Om symbol as well. “One day the idea just came to me,” Bowen says. “I thought it would be a cool guitar design, so I drew it on paper. Even my crude pencil drawing of it looked awesome.” The finished guitar, which Bowen calls the OmCaster, is a collective effort between him, Bezl Labonte, who carved the initial body shape and assembled the guitar, and Lada Barta of SPC Guitars, who did the decorative carving, finishing and inlay work. “Bezl made a few cool guitars, so I knew he would do a good job,” Bowen says. “And I was really impressed by Lada’s custom finish work. He does amazing distressed finishes.” The OmCaster is a seven-string guitar with a pecan wood body, a maple neck with a bubinga center strip, DiMarzio Blaze humbuckers and a kill switch. Custom decorations include a maze near the controls and a Sanskrit inscription that reads Om Mani Padme Hum (a Tibetan mantra), both of which are inlaid in Luminlay material that illuminates under a black light. “My band Didges Christ SuperDrum does a highly theatrical show with lots of UV light and costumes,” Bowen says. “With all the black lights we use, the fret markers appear to be electric and light up really good! All of the symbols on the guitar as well as the Om shape of the guitar serves to deepen my connection with the instrument.” —Chris Gill For more information, visit facebook.com/didgeschristsuperdrum Have you created a custom work of guitar art suitable for It Might Get Weird? Email us at soundingboard@guitarworld.com! 162 gu i ta r wor l d • SE P T E M BE R 2014
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