Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2018 i Guitar Player

THE LEVEL OF TECHNIQUE THAT PLAYERS CAN UNLEASH THESE DAYS IS astounding. One of my favorite quotes about the phenomenon is from our February 2018 cover artist, Steve Lukather, who once said, “There are embryos on YouTube who can play guitar faster than all of us.” That’s funny, of course, but if you look at the players who were touted as being speed demons in the ’60s and early ’70s, many of them seem as if they were picking while wearing a medieval suit of armor when compared to the latest teenaged guitar sensations posting their talents online. Guitar technique and 6-string velocity have come a very long way, and I truly believe that full-contact shredding is a great thing for the guitar. I’m also well aware that some players…

JOIN THE GP COMMUNITY! SOUND OFF! GET EXCLUSIVE NEWS. COMMENT. CRITIQUE. SHARE TIPS AND TECHNIQUES. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR E-NEWSLETTER. FACEBOOK.COM/GUITARPLAYERMAG TWITTER.COM/GUITARPLAYERNOW GUITARPLAYER.COM MICHAEL MOLENDA Editor In Chief mmolenda@nbmedia.com ART THOMPSON Senior Editor athompson@nbmedia.com PATRICK WONG Managing Editor pwong@nbmedia.com JUDE GOLD Los Angeles Editor judegold@gmail.com JIMMY LESLIE Frets Editor jl@jimmyleslie.com DAVE HUNTER Gear Section & Video Contributor dhunterwordsmusic@yahoo.com PAUL HAGGARD Art Director phaggard@nbmedia.com…

DO YOU PLUG RIGHT INTO YOUR AMP at the beginning of band rehearsals and immediately crank up and adjust your tone? Do you play blazing riffs while other band members are talking? Do you fear silence, and feel the need to play light-speed licks non-stop after a song stops? Even when you manage to not bark about for a moment, is your guitar’s volume still full up so that hiss and hum disturbs the quiet of the rehearsal room? Well, you may be a selfish, bubble-headed lout who is completely oblivious to the comfort, hearing health, and mental peace of your fellow musicians. Rehearsals are workplaces, and manners and decorum should be practiced to ensure your musical partners aren’t frustrated—or rendered somewhat unproductive—by inappropriate barrages of guitar noise. You want…

NOEL GALLAGHER COULD HAVE TAKEN the easy route in recording his new album. He had played a batch of demos for Belfast- based film composer and producer David Holmes, who said that there wasn’t much he could do for the former Oasis guitarist as the tracks sounded finished. Any other musician would have simply released those recordings as they were, but Gallagher was intrigued when Holmes suggested an alternative idea: How about the two of them start from scratch and see what happens? “It was the harder way to go, but it felt like the right kind of challenge,” says Gallagher. “David said, ‘Don’t bring any songs into the studio.’ So I went in cold— no songs, no ideas, no nothing. Just one guitar, me, and David. The first session,…

THERE’S A TEMPTATION TO SLIDE into cliché-speak, and view the saga of guitarist Veronica Volume and the Glam Skanks as an “L.A. story.” Or perhaps it’s more of a sweet father/daughter tale. In any case, it could only happen in Tinsel Town, as Volume’s father is producer/multi-instrumentalist Bruce Witkin—a member of the Hollywood Vampires, a buddy of actor Johnny Depp, the connection for the Glam Skanks getting a song in the 2016 Kevin Smith film Yoga Hosers, and the bassist/mellotron player for Adam Ant’s 1995 release Wonderful. All of the above certainly didn’t hurt the Glam Skanks big chance of nailing down the opening- act slot for Adam Ant’s sold-out American and U.K. tours last year. Thanks, Dad! But the Glam Skanks’ tough and glittery guitar-driven music is all their…

IF YOUR PERSONAL STYLE OF ARTISTIC enthusiasm veers toward the unique and funky—like a Le Corbusier cowhide lounger or Salvador Dali’s lobster telephone—then a Teye guitar will likely become your favorite jam (as the kids used to say). Teye combines elements such as acid-etched metal plates, mosaic tiles, and wood to create functional guitar art that simultaneously turns heads and seduces eardrums. The tariff for these wonders can make your cheeks flush—they’re expensive machines—but just about every editor who has reviewed a Teye has succumbed enough to their charms to consider a purchase. As the Jazz Cat is the first Teye I’ve evaluated, I wanted to experience precisely what the GP editors love about these mad mash-ups of materials and electronics. There’s a certain hand-tooled wonkiness about the Jazz Cat…

KEEPING UP WITH THE ACOUSTIC-amp market can be a challenge, as manufacturers release new units and update existing models at an everincreasing rate. We tried to keep you in-the-know about these products as they were released, and, as our 2018 NAMM reports are coming soon, we thought we’d take a look at some excellent amps of yore, before all of the new models hit the street. This guide includes some previously reviewed amps that got high marks from me and/or the GP staff, as well as some 2017 models we didn’t have a chance to look at before, and every one of them carries solid features that acoustic players should check out. There’s even a peek at some 2018 amps! Please note that this guide covers compact guitar amps with…

GUITAR PLAYER’S MONTHLY GEAR GIVEAWAY IS MADE POSSIBLE BY manufacturers that allow me to “gift” products reviewed by the staff to our wonderful readers. This month, you can raid my gear stash and win a Ditto X4 Looper from TC Electronics. Called the “guitar player’s looper,” the Ditto X4 features dual loop tracks, seven onboard loop effects, loop decay, MIDI sync, and more. All you need to do to get your hands on this sweet pedal is email me at nbmgearcoodinator@gmail.com with “DittoX4” in the subject line. The deadline for entries is March 20, 2018. Please note that all giveaway gear is used, as the products have been previously tested by Guitar Player staffers. Many thanks to TC Electronic for offering up the Ditto X4 for this month’s contest. Good…

Traveler Guitar Pro-Series Deluxe $499 street The Deluxe offers a number of upgrades to the Pro-Series line, including a hybrid piezo/ humbucker pickup arrangement (so you can play full-on electric and acoustic sounds), an ebony fretboard, abalone inlays, locking tuners, and gold hardware. Gig bag included. travelerguitar.com ZVEX Fuzz Factory Vertical $199 street The Vertical offers the same fuzz controls as the original, horizontal Fuzz Factory, but places them onto a more “pedalboard friendly” enclosure. Two new/old-stock germanium transistors power the buzz, and sounds automatically gate off when you stop riffing. zvex.com TUSQ Thumb Picks $9.95 street These thumbpicks are reminiscent of vintage tortoise shell—they’re thin, tough, and articulate. Sold in packs of three, the new thumbpicks are available in three different tones (bright, warm, deep), and two gauges (.88mm,…

THERE WEREN’T MANY GUITARISTS who made Jimi Hendrix sweat, but in 1968, he saw one who got under his skin. It was at the Whiskey a Go Go in Los Angeles, where Hendrix caught a set by the then-unknown group, Chicago Transit Authority. Impressed by their performance, he made his way backstage, and raved, “You guys are mother**kers. The horns are like one set of lungs, and your guitar player is better than me.” That guitarist was Terry Kath—a founding member of Chicago, whose life came to an abrupt and tragic end 40 years ago when he put what he thought was an unloaded gun to his head and pulled the trigger. Kath is now the subject of a fascinating documentary, Chicago: The Terry Kath Experience, conceived and directed by…

IN THE EARLY 2000s, ON an evening stroll in Cordoba, Spain, I walked past the small shop of my friend Manuel Reyes, who builds flamenco guitars. The light was still on, and Manuel was testing the sound of some different tops he had glued together. I suggested it must be difficult to source great-quality wood, and he suddenly stopped working. “Everybody always says, ‘Ah, the wood, the wood,’” he declared with passion. “But, let me tell you, if you give me some decent-quality wood—nothing special—I can still make you a great guitar from it. It is much less the wood, than what you do with it.” Well, I have noticed that the shape of a solidbody electric guitar can contribute to its tone right alongside the actual wood used for…

I HAD BEEN A TONY WILLIAMS disciple even before hearing Believe It, because of his incredible work with Miles Davis. But nothing hit me quite like hearing this album for the first time, as it introduced Allan Holdsworth to me. Released in 1975, Believe It unleashed Holdsworth as a new and powerful musical voice, sounding as if Jeff Beck, John McLaughlin, and Eddie Van Halen were put into a blender. During his long career, Holdsworth could shred to the point of no return, yet his Believe It solos sound like incredible nursery rhymes played through a Marshall amp. You can actually sing along to many of his phrases, which gives you something to hang onto in-between the otherworldly flourishes of his legato prowess. On “Proto-Cosmos,” for example, Holdsworth plays what…

“WE WANT TO PUSH SHRED AS FAR as possible,” says 17-year-old Rex Cox, who along with his 19-year-old brother, Zak, comprises the blitzing twin-axe portion of the New York-based progressive metal band Uncured. “People such as Paul Gilbert, Steve Vai, and Joe Satriani were the first guys to take shred to an extreme level, but we want to be part of the new wave of players that builds on the past and surpasses all expectations.” By all measures, the Cox brothers are off to a good start on making that goal a reality. Since forming Uncured in 2016, they’ve seen their debut album, 2017’s Medusa [Conclave Studios], hailed as a modern- metal classic. The guitarists’ intricate, high-speed solos on barnstorming tracks such as “Dilate,” “Myopic,” and “Stygian Pit” are already…

SINCE FORMING IN 2000, THE North Carolina-based progressive/ tech-metal quintet Between the Buried and Me has issued a number of cosmic opuses such as Coma Ecliptic, The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues, and The Parallax II: Future Sequence. The band’s newest offering, Automata [Sumerian]—a daring double-CD concept album—takes things even further by asking the question, “What if dreams could be broadcast for the purpose of entertainment?” The group’s guitar team of Dustie Waring and Paul Waggoner layers 3-D cinematic soundscapes throughout Automata, but they don’t skimp on scorching 6-string solos. When asked if they consider themselves shred stars for a new generation, they both answer in the affirmative. “Count us in!” says Waggoner. “It’s a big compliment to be called a shredder— particularly in this world of insane guitar players.” “In our…

IS IT PROGRESSIVE ROCK, PROTO-shred, or equal parts of both? However you label it, Focus’s 1973 international hit, “Hocus Pocus” (from 1971’s Moving Waves album), laid some serious groundwork for future prog-rockers and shredheads alike. Clocking in at nearly seven minutes—the US and UK single versions were significantly edited down to 3:25 and 3:13, respectively—the Jan Akkerman/Thijs van Leer-penned song is an epic journey through multiple genres, delivered with a distinctively Dutch touch in classical Rondo form that intersperses van Leer’s yodeled wordless verses, bizarre scat singing, and flute and accordion soloing with Akkerman’s immediately recognizable recurring eight-bar electric guitar riff, which reportedly emanated from a highly-modified Gibson Les Paul Professional (circa 1970- 71) and combination of Marshall (tube) and Fender (solid-state) amps, and combines all the necessary elements of…

FOR SEVERAL YEARS NOW, THE NAME Hahn is likely to have come up in any conversation about high-end T-style guitars. The man behind the brand, Chihoe Hahn, is a veritable Tele nut, but with a recent move further upriver from his old premises just outside NYC to the picturesque Hudson Valley town of Newburgh, New York, Hahn has also ventured into more original creations, such as this Model 910. Innately “Tele-like” in the broad sense, it’s actually a very different guitar where it counts—and once you plug it in—even if it relies on many upgraded-Tele concepts and constructs to get where it’s going. As hinted by the stylishly down-swept lower horn, the 910 is really a long way outside T-town once you get in close. Excepting, of course, the bolt-on…

THE EPIPHONE LES PAUL SL ($99 street) recalls Gibson’s original beginner guitar, the 1959 Melody Maker. Like that instrument, it features single-coil pickups and a jack mounted in the pickguard to save on production costs. Costs were also kept in check here by offering master Volume and Tone controls, rather than the mid-century model’s individual controls for each pickup. But Epiphone didn’t hold back where it counts. The SL has a mahogany neck, a rosewood fretboard, and a poplar body. And the setup and fretwork are excellent—this baby played quite nicely with no buzzes, fretting out, or rough fret edges. Electronically, the ceramic-magnet pickups sound good, though the neck pickup is a little dark. Extra kudos for the smooth feeling pots, though, an oft-neglected area even in costlier guitars. The…

SWEEPING CHORDS, SHIMMERING harmonic chimes, and haunting raga drones are relatively simple to render on an open-tuned acoustic, yet many players never venture from standard tuning—mainly due to comfort-zone conformity. Once you detune those pegs, the fretboard becomes unfamiliar. But that’s the beauty of modal tunings where no string is tuned to the major or minor third. Suddenly, there are essentially no “wrong” notes, and you’re free to explore the fretboard like never before. I’ve chosen a couple of options that are easy to access, and sure to inspire. Starting from standard, you can easily get to a dynamite-drone A tuning. Drop the second string a whole step from B to A, and then raise the fourth string a whole step from D to E. Finally, drop the third string…

I HAVE BEEN PLAYING FOR MORE THAN 50 YEARS, AND I ALWAYS LOOK FOR picks that won’t slip in my hand. My sister even bought me a pick cutter that turns old credit cards into picks, but some slippage still occurred. I thought about coating them—kind of like the Dava Grip Picks—but the only thing I could find in the garage was a spray can of Flex Seal. I experimented by spraying the top half of some Dunlop Jazz III picks, and, viola! It worked so well that I thought your readers might like to try it. One or two coats will do. At room temperature, the picks do not stick together, but your body temperature makes them tacky while in your hands. The only drawback is that the coating…

CANADA’S TERRA LIGHTFOOT HAS a huge voice (a multi-octave mezzosoprano), and, wielding a treasured Gibson SG she named “Veronica,” a big and gutsy guitar tone to match. The powerful double- barreled musical attack makes her latest album, New Mistakes [Sonic Unyon], simultaneously alluring and exciting. It’s packed with dynamics and moods, and it traverses styles from southern and classic rock to ambient to blues to echoes of Marc Bolan and T. Rex—all driven by Veronica’s chameleon-esque sonic talents. What kicked off your love for the guitar? When I was a kid, I took guitar lessons for six months after my mom bought me a guitar at a garage sale. Now, I don’t know if it was because I was just starting out, or because I was a girl, but the…

LAST DECEMBER, I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE part of a group of editors from several music magazines based here and abroad, who were invited by Taylor Guitars to get an early look at a guitar with an entirely new bracing system that chief designer Andy Powers had developed with the goals of enhancing the expressive range of an acoustic, while also improving intonation. What we witnessed in the guitar being demonstrated was a revolutionary system called V-Class bracing, which had resulted from Powers finding himself at the limit of what he could do to further refine the traditional X-bracing (invented by Martin in the early 1900s) that most steel-string acoustic makers, including Taylor, have been using for decades. To celebrate the V-Class launch, Powers created the Builder’s Edition K14ce…

He could murder all comers in a cutting contest. Eric Clapton once said of performing with the “Texas Cannonball”: “Freddie could be pretty mean, but subtle with it. He’d make you feel at home, and then tear you to pieces.” His 1961 single “Hide Away” became a blues standard, and it also broke into the pop charts (reaching #29 on the Billboard Hot 100)—a near miracle at a time when mainstream white audiences had little knowledge of blues music. He broke the mold by being one of the first blues artists to employ a multiracial backup band. The linebacker-sized bluesman’s ferocious tone was produced by a two-digit fingerpicking technique—using a plastic thumbpick and a metal pick on his index finger—as well as a Fender Quad Reverb cranked to almost heavy-metal…