Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2019 i Guitar Player

PERSISTENCE HAS THE power to transform our careers — and our lives. That thought was frequently on my mind as we were pulling this issue together. Consider our cover artist, Richard Thompson. Now some 50 years into his career, the British-born guitarist continues to push himself in new directions, writing music that both sounds fresh and makes a vital contribution to modern guitar virtuosity. Since starting out with Fairport Convention in the late 1960s, he’s been an original, eschewing tried-and-true American rock and blues influences for elements of Celtic music, including fiddle and pipe tunes, which he’s woven into his nimble, but muscular guitar work. Anyone familiar with Thompson’s catalog knows he’s an alchemist who has never stopped exploring music’s possibilities. Speaking in this issue with Michael Molenda about his…

AT THE AGE of 10, guitarist and songwriter Sadler Vaden caught a glimpse of his future when his parents took him to see the Who, featuring one of his eventual guitar heroes, Pete Townshend. That night wasn’t just the beginning of his infatuation with music of the ’60s British invasion, though. The opening band was the hard rock–and-country-influenced band Drivin’ N Cryin’. Some 15 years later, Vaden joined the group as lead guitarist, playing sideman on songs like the sing-along “Straight to Hell,” the hooky “Honeysuckle Blue” and, their biggest hit, “Fly Me Courageous.” “They let me off the leash big time,” Vaden says of Drivin’ N Cryin’, during a break from his current gig in the 400 Unit, Jason Isbell’s rock-solid accompanying band. “I didn’t have to sing and…

MANDOLIN ORANGE HAVE long kept up a pace that belies their lithe, organic music. The bluegrass-and-Americana duo released five albums in six years, filling the spaces between discs with relentless touring. After wrapping up dates supporting the acclaimed 2016 release Blindfaller, the group’s first with a full band, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Marlin decamped and set aside his guitar and mandolin. “I can be a little pushy sometimes with wanting to stay productive musically,” Marlin reflects, “but with these songs, I just let them come. I would sometimes go two months without writing a song. A big part of the writing process was patience.” While unwinding from the whirlwind of their schedule, Marlin also unraveled the grief that compelled him to write in the first place — the untimely passing…

THE WORDS CLASSIC and Vox might bring to mind that musical-instrument manufacturer’s iconic three-letter logo inscribed on the front of a 1960s British amp. But Vox guitars had their brief moment in the spotlight too during those heady years of the British Invasion. These quirky cousins of the familiar AC30 and AC15 combos established a look that remains familiar today, even if the instruments themselves are less well known than the amps they accompanied in the catalogs of Jennings Musical Industries (JMI), the brand’s original owner. Consider the 1966 V223 Mark XII 12-string shown here. Many guitarists will be familiar with its six-string sibling, the Mark VI, which Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones famously used. It’s a strikingly original design, but Vox had created others before it came up with…

ONE SATURDAY NIGHT in 1978, I couldn’t decide whether I was going to see the Sex Pistols at Winterland or Bo Diddley in a tiny club in Burlingame, California. After much deliberation, I chose Bo, and he put on a show I’ll never forget. But I often wonder what it would have been like to see the last gasp of the short-lived Sex Pistols, self-destructing at their final show. Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols was released on Virgin Records in 1977, at the height of the disco craze. To give some historical perspective, that was the year Saturday Night Fever was released, Jimmy Carter was sworn in as president and Star Wars hit theaters. Though the Bee Gees, who epitomized disco’s sound and style, have grown on…

LOVING GUITARS MEANS you’ve got to love the cheap ones as well,” Mark Knopfler reflects as he leans back in his chair in the control room of his studio in West London. “A really powerful part of my childhood was gazing longingly at those things. I didn’t know whether it was going to be a Futurama or a Hofner or a Burns Sonic that I was going to get first. But I was desperate for something. Boy, I loved them and I still do. You never escape that.” He should know. Four decades on from Dire Straits’ 1978 debut hit, “Sultans of Swing,” he’s still making records that are, among other things, love letters to the sound of the guitar in all its many guises. His latest album, Down the…

Knopfler has two ’Bursts that get used frequently on recordings and live dates: a 1959 example and this beautiful ’58 that he says is remarkable not only for its tone but also for its rock-solid tuning stability. This ’58 formed the basis for a Gibson Custom replica model that was issued with a long neck tenon, PAF-style custom humbuckers and hide-glue neck construction. On his new album, Knopfler used examples from the original run of 100 hand-aged and 150 VOS (Vintage Original Spec) replicas along with the original ’58.…

EVER SINCE I can remember, my mega-Italian mother, Mary Buono, has prepared a mystical grain pie for Easter, the recipe for which is to be kept secret at all costs. It’s the stuff of legend. Anyone who’s lucky enough to have had a taste speaks of the pie with reverence. While Mother Superior is adamant about keeping the formula classified, in true Italian matriarchal fashion she is always more than generous with the dish, wasting no time putting a plate in front of you for you to enjoy. Edward Van Halen’s innovative and exciting lead guitar playing has had the same kind of presence in my life, and in countless others’ too. Like my mom, he guarded his secret recipes by literally turning his back on live audiences during some…

HERITAGE GOT ITS start when some former senior employees of Gibson wanted to continue making handcrafted guitars in Kalamazoo, Michigan, following the company’s move to Nashville in 1984. They leased space at the iconic guitar factory located at 225 Parsons Street, along with much of the original guitar-making equipment, and the first Heritage guitar, the H-140 solidbody, was introduced at the 1985 NAMM show in New Orleans. After building a variety of instruments over the ensuing years, Heritage now focuses exclusively on hollow, semi-hollow, and solidbody electric guitars in both its standard and custom lines. The H-535 reviewed here is a standard production model that follows the design specs of one of Gibson’s most popular electrics, the ES-335. As such, it features a top and back of laminated curly maple…

AMPTWEAKER HAS MADE a name for itself as a company that builds high-quality guitar pedals based on its own unique designs. This month, we’re looking at two of its latest creations: the DepthFinder active EQ and Curveball Junior three-band EQ. DEPTHFINDER Although he’s been known as the Amptweaker guy for many years, tone guru James Brown made his initial splash as the brains and brawn behind the legendary Peavey 5150 amplifier. What many guitarists loved about that amp — aside from its searing, high-gain tones and sweet sustain — was the resonance control, which provided awesome thump to go with the presence control’s sizzle in the power section. Now Amptweaker has packaged those two magical knobs in a bite-size box called the DepthFinder active EQ. The DepthFinder couldn’t be easier…

FOR ALL THE variety available in replacement pickups today, very few that offer “traditional” electric-guitar performance stray from the formula of coupling a wire coil to a magnet. According to Fishman, a company best known for making acoustic pickups and amplifiers, all of that changes with its Fluence Open Core Classic Humbuckers. Each Fluence Humbucker is made from 48 thin layers of “traces” (similar to what’s found on printed circuit boards) laid on a robust substrate, which makes them impervious to variations in wire gauge and insulation, fluctuations due to heat and humidity, and other anomalies. At the same time, it allows for consistent sonic results from one pickup to the next. While this might imply that they can’t sound like the conventional PAF-style pickups that zillions of players have…

> California-based multi-instrumentalist Ryland Peter Cooder has made his mark as a musician, songwriter, film score composer, record producer and diviner of lost musical traditions. His career spans six decades and includes work with Taj Mahal, Captain Beefheart, the Rolling Stones (that’s him playing slide on “Sister Morphine”), Eric Clapton, Neil Young and last month’s GP cover artist, John Hiatt. > After a failed attempt at playing banjo with Bill Monroe and Doc Watson (“Son, you just ain’t ready,” Monroe told the teenager), Cooder applied the instrument’s tuning and three-finger-roll technique to guitar. Later, he employed alternate tunings, including the five-string open-G variant that Keith Richards adopted following Cooder’s late-’60s session work with the Stones. > In the 1970s, as a solo artist, Cooder released a series of albums that…

Raid Dana’s Gear Stash! Last issue we offered our readers a chance to raid my gear stash for an Oxford fuzz pedal by Bogner Amplification. This month, our generous partners at Bogner are offering one lucky participant an opportunity to win their Lyndhurst compression pedal. Featuring a custom audio transformer created by audio pioneer Rupert Neve, the Lyndhurst recreates the dynamic response of a precision VCA-style compressor and produces a 3-D sonic image rich in harmonics and the vintage warmth heard on classic recordings. For a chance to win this Lyndhurst pedal, simply send an email with “Bogner” in the subject line to nbmgearcoordinator@gmail.com. One lucky will be chosen at random. Please note that all gear is “as is.” Deadlines for entries is February 20. — DANA PARKER Into the…

“FIVE YEARS AGO I DIDN’T THINK YOUTUBE WOULD BE AN AVENUE FOR GUITAR PLAYERS” LOOKING AT A musical landscape in which fans don’t buy records and musicians don’t get paid for gigs might lead an aspiring professional guitarist to despair. Nevertheless, there is hope in the story of R. J. Ronquillo, who epitomizes one path taken by many of today’s players trying to making a living from their craft. That route often includes some combination of live and session work, product demos, teaching, a vlog or, in Ronquillo’s case, all five. Take heed — this guitarist’s story might well serve as a template for your own. Having started on piano and guitar, Ronquillo soon became serious about the latter. “At 13, I asked my parents for jazz guitar lessons,” he…

TWENTY-NINE YEARS ago, Jason Becker was diagnosed with ALS and given five years to live. Now he’s 49 and has a new record out. How can that be? Anyone who has heard Becker’s astounding feats of six-string musicianship in Cacophony or with David Lee Roth knows that he’s always been good at making the impossible possible. And he’s done it again with Triumphant Hearts (Music Theories Recordings), an album of deep compositions and sweeping orchestral arrangements. It’s also full of amazing guitar playing, with monsters such as Steve Vai, Joe Bonamassa, Neal Schon, Joe Satriani and many others helping Becker realize his musical vision. Best of all, Becker’s own playing, from sessions he did back in the day, fuels several tracks. Triumphant Hearts would be a great listen and a…

BARBARA LYNN’S CAREER took off in 1962 when she had her first hit, “You’ll Lose a Good Thing.” Lynn was an anomaly from the start — a black, left-handed, female guitarist who played lead and wrote most of her own material. Her songs have been covered by many artists, including Aretha Franklin, who cut a version of “You’ll Lose a Good Thing,” and the Rolling Stones, who recorded her song “Oh Baby (We’ve Got a Good Thing Goin’)” in 1965. In June 2018, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded the Beaumont, Texas, native with a National Heritage Fellowship. Now 76, Lynn continues to tour and perform live. How did you come to play the guitar? When I was young, I always pretended that I was playing piano on the…

“COME SEE A seven-foot-tall transvestite play heavy metal guitar” is how one poster announced a show for San Francisco/Los Angeles performance artist Brigit Brat back in the ’90s and 2000s. Brigit was an underground guitar player from San Francisco who performed both as a solo artist and with her band, God’s Girlfriend, at clubs like the Bondage A-Go-Go, Club Makeup and the Klubstitute Cabaret. Her show was wild and the music super-heavy, with an industrial-goth tinge highlighted by crazy dark guitar playing and singing. Brigit’s look was half of the appeal. Thin, with long blond hair, and standing seven foot four in her stage pumps, she looked otherworldly, almost angelic. Prior to transitioning, Brigit was a nuclear engineer in the U.S. Navy. In addition to making music, she recycled and…

The guitar that graced the cover of Dire Straits’ Brothers in Arms is still used extensively today for studio and live work. It dates to around 1936 or ’37 and has a few details that might not be obvious at first glance, such as the right-hand f-hole, which hides a jack socket for an instrument cable so the guitar’s internal pickup can be used. Due to its position, only right-angle jacks can be used, for obvious reasons. National’s Style 0 resonator debuted in 1930 and continued in production until 1942, when demand for resonators was waning during the war years. The Style O came in several cosmetically different variations. Knopfler’s is a Variation 7 model, most of which were issued with a tortoiseshell-style Lucite pickguard, which, as here, was often…

DURING A NEARLY 40-year career, Marshall Crenshaw has released 10 impeccably crafted albums and almost as many EPs that have seamlessly melded the catchiest — and many would argue, the smartest — elements of pop, rockabilly, British Invasion, folk, country and western, and rhythm and blues into a singular style that miraculously avoided all traces of pastiche. Starting with Robert Gordon, who scored a hit with one of Crenshaw’s early songs, “Someday, Someway,” artists who have covered his compositions include Bette Midler, Gin Blossoms, Marti Jones, Lou Ann Barton, Don Dixon, Was (Not Was), Ronnie Spector, Rosie Flores, Kelly Willis, and New Grass Revival, among others. Yet, in spite of his well-regarded reputation with contemporaries and music critics — and even despite Golden Globe and Grammy nominations for penning the title…

LAST ISSUE, WE presented the first part of our lesson in electric fingerstyle technique, featuring examples in the styles of Freddie King, Mark Knopfler and Jeff Beck. This month, we conclude our exploration of this playing approach with a look at the highly evolved guitar work of former Allman Brothers Band guitarists Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks, with a particular focus on their respective slide playing styles. Haynes, who has led the world-renowned jam band Gov’t Mule since 1994, is especially noteworthy for his bold blues-rock phrasing, including his ability to play slide very cleanly and expressively in standard tuning. Trucks, who together with his wife, guitarist and singer Susan Tedeschi, heads up the Tedeschi Trucks Band, is regarded by many as the world’s foremost living slide player. We’ve also…

COMPARED TO THE majority of boutique amplifiers, Magnatone stands out with such adventurous models as the Panoramic and Twilighter Stereo, both of which feature true stereo vibrato, and the Double V, with its dual monobloc power amps. However, it’s the Master Collection — which includes the Super Fifty-Nine MKI and MKII amps — that has inspired players like Billy Gibbons and Jeff Beck, and new additions to the line include the Super Fifty-Nine M80 and the Super Fifteen on deck here. The smallest in the series, the Super Fifteen is nonetheless a stately amp that features solid-wood cabinetry with nickel-plated brass vents and a neatly applied covering made of 100-percent cotton textile in Black Levant color. White piping and off-white woven grille cloth, along with a logo that’s illuminated by…

FORMER TONE KING head honcho Mark Bartel recently started building amps under his own name after passing his longtime brand to a new owner. The results are both something to behold and an entirely next level up from the amps for which he was previously known. As Bartel himself says, “I really wanted to create a new category of elite, master-built, bespoke guitar amps that truly represents the best of what I can do.” The Starwood derives 28 watts from two cathode-biased 6L6 output tubes and has a single 12-inch Celestion Alnico Cream speaker. As with all new Bartel amps, the circuit is entirely original and not derived from any existing guitar amp, new or old. Bartel tells us that the volume pot actually controls the gain in two different…

WHEN MARTIN REVAMPED its Standard Series acoustics in 2018 for the first time since Moby Dick was a minnow, it was hard to decide which instrument to have sent for review. After all, so many classics, including the HD-28 and 000-28, were on the table. Then I remembered something: When Ben Harper spoke with GP for his October 2018 Frets feature, he said he chose Martin’s M-style body for his signature model (circa 2008). Harper, it should be pointed out, grew up playing every acoustic guitar imaginable in his family’s Folk Music Center, located in Claremont, California. Faced with selecting a Martin for review, I recalled his reason for selecting the M-style body: “I couldn’t have too much bottom coming out of my instrument, but I didn’t want to sacrifice…

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FENDER’S NEWLY RELEASED Albert Hammond Jr. Signature Stratocaster ($874.99 list) has an interesting genesis. The Strokes guitarist obtained the original instrument when he was 18, used it exclusively throughout that band’s phenomenal trajectory, and continued playing it for a solo career that began with his 2006 release, Yours to Keep. Three albums later, Hammond still works his mix of powerhouse rhythms and intricate melodic forays on the same modified, 1985 reissue of a ’72 Strat that has been his mainstay since 1998. “It’s a crazy story,” Hammond says, explaining how he acquired the guitar. “I was 18 and walking around New York City trying to get my guitar fixed, and someone told me to go to Matt Umanov’s shop. I went there and they said it would take, like, three…

ON A VISIT to the factory in Markneukirchen, Germany, where Framus guitars and Warwick basses are made, you can be sure you’ll learn what’s behind the creation of these quality instruments and get a first-hand look at some of the company’s extraordinary custom finishes being made. What you might not anticipate is how much the subject of wood comes up. Of course wood is important to the sound and look of guitars and basses, and you would rightfully expect the luthiers at Framus and Warwick to pay particular attention to these details. But, seriously, these guys are obsessed. They’ve got more than 45 different types of the stuff, not counting all the different grades on hand. There’s bubinga, rosewood, ebony, wenge, camphor, flame maple and countless others. We are even…

CAN YOU STOMP on a foot switch to change sounds with amp simulations? The answer is…maybe. MIDI program-change messages were originally intended to let players call up 128 different synthesizer sounds, but they can also be used to select amp sim presets. MIDI foot-switch boards (like the Behringer FCB1010) and keyboard controllers can send these messages, as can the programs that host amp sim plug-ins. Take note that some manufacturers number programs from 000 to 127, while others use 001 to 128. As a result, a controller that calls up program-change number 000 may call up program number 001 on an amp sim, or vice versa. STANDALONE AMP SIMS This is the common live performance mode. Open the program, set up your audio interface connections and start playing. Most amp…

“IF I CAN GET THAT LIVE-PERFORMANCE SPARK ACROSS IN THE STUDIO, I’M VERY HAPPY” THROUGHOUT MORE THAN five decades of music making, Richard Thompson has been a sublime, famously confessional artist who treads unafraid into the dark, hellish twists of earthbound existence. Critics and fans typically adore him for his poetic bravery, and journalists tend to get all “literary” describing his work in suitably important prose. He absolutely deserves all the accolades, and, yes, it must be frightening for any writer to try to describe Thompson’s enduring and transcendent talent using the same vocabulary one might deploy to make sense of 5 Seconds of Summer’s bazillion YouTube views. However, the Richard Thompson discussing his latest album, 13 Rivers (New West), seems so removed from a half-century of hero worship and…

John D’Angelico, one of history’s most influential archtop guitar makers, built only 1,164 guitars in his lifetime, starting out in a Kenmare Street, New York City, workshop. Earlier pre-war examples of the Excel tend to have less ornamentation than the ones that followed later, so this example does not feature the stair-step tailpiece that became a D’Angelico hallmark from around 1940, nor other art deco–style appointments. The body measures 17 inches across the lower bout. The headstock is topped by classic “pineapple and pediment” D’Angelico ornamentation and sits atop a seriously chunky neck.…

IN LAST MONTH’S Frets feature, we addressed the basics of ordering a custom acoustic guitar. With that knowledge in hand, we’re primed to go down the rabbit hole this month and explore the finer details of the process for those acoustic zealots who seek to build a singular instrument. A modern custom shop’s order sheet offers oodles of options, and to help you make the right choices, we’re going to discuss the issues that matter most, such as getting a great-feeling neck that will help you play your best and keep your hands healthy over the long haul. Once again, our guide is Santa Cruz Guitar Company founder Richard Hoover, whose four-plus decades of custom acoustic guitar building gives him a crucial understanding of what you need to communicate to…

THE TONEWOODS USED in the creation of an acoustic guitar are critical to how it sounds, as the instrument’s top, back and sides have the greatest overall effect on tone. The top is the soundboard that pumps air into a resonance chamber formed by the back and sides. “With tops, density and weight are particularly significant, while the weight-to-strength ratio, as well as the shape, are important regarding the reflective back and sides,” explains Santa Cruz Guitar Company founder Richard Hoover. We visited Hoover at his shop, where he was down to play a game: I named popular tonewoods from the list of available options, and he provided the following descriptions. TOPS • Sitka spruce A warm tone, forgiving and universal. Sitka spruce is the most popular choice in acoustic…

U.K. AMPLIFIER MAKER Victory recently launched the V4 series of preamp pedals, which are based on the company’s Compact Series amplifiers: the Countess (developed with Guthrie Govan), the Sheriff and the Kracken. The V4 pedals have identical controls and features, but they differ in gain and voicing, as is the case with the aforementioned amps. Victory designed these all-tube pedals to be used in place of, as opposed to in front of, an amplifier’s preamp, although they can be used ahead of an amp just like a standard OD pedal. The controls include a shared set of bass, middle and treble knobs, and independent volume and master controls for the Clean and Overdrive channels. The Countess on deck here weighs in at more than three and a half pounds and…

THERE IS NO way that I can describe everything that the HX Stomp can do. This unassuming effects box — which, by the way, isn’t even asking for much space on your pedalboard — is so deep that the manual is 50 pages long. If you ask any questions that start with the words, “Can it do…,” I’m just going to go ahead and say, yes, it can do that, and more. Check out the videos on line6.com (which are super-informative) or, if you actually buy the HX Stomp, read the manual and then read it again. Get to know the HX Stomp and learn to play it as if it were a musical instrument. I guarantee you will be amply rewarded. If any of that sounds overwhelming, fear not.…

Contemporary Guitar Improvisation (Utilizing the Entire Fingerboard) Book & CD by Marc Silver Available Now 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. MarcSilverGuitarlmprov.com $42.00 USO (includes delivery in the U.S.) Ampli-Firebox Atomic Amps Available Now World-class tube amp modelling and effects in a compact stomp box. Customize up to 9 rigs. Footswitch accesses up to 4 sounds in stantly. Free USB editor. XLR and 1/4" outputs. The Ultimate Amp in a Box! MSRP: $299 www.atomicamps.com/amplifirebox Shredneck BelAir Models Shredneck LLC Available…