Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2018 i Guitar Player

OVER ITS (ROUGHLY) 120-year history, the blues has proved to be a supremely versatile and durable musical genre. Sanctimonious purists may decry modern musicians who mix their blues in a cocktail of divergent musical influences, but that sort of intermingling has played a vital role in the genre’s history. From its origins in the Deep South, the blues spread throughout the U.S., taking root in various regions where it blossomed into such forms as Piedmont, swamp and hill country. It became electrified in Texas and the West Coast, and in urban markets like Detroit, Chicago, Memphis and Kansas City. By the 1960s, the blues had spread to England — where it eventually merged with rock and roll, courtesy of guitarists like Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Jimmy Page. Wherever it…

Fender Albert Hammond Jr. Stratocaster $874.99 The Strokes guitarist’s signature model offers his customized pickup switching configuration: position four activates the neck and bridge pickups, while one and three are reversed from the traditional layout. Other features include a large ‘70s-style headstock, bullet truss-rod nut, three-bolt “F”-stamped neck plate with period correct Micro-Tilt adjustment and retro logo. vibramate.com Boss WL Series Wireless Systems Prices Vary The WL wireless systems find the optimum connection when the transmitter and receiver are docked, and the rechargeable battery provides 12 hours continuous use. The series includes the WL-20L ($179.99), the WL-20 with cable tone simulation ($179.99), and the WL-50 for pedalboards ($199.99). The WL-T transmitter ($99.99) can be purchased as a spare. boss.info Martin D28 Bigsby $3,999 The D28 Bigsby pays tribute to the…

PLAYING BLUES GUITAR is as much about attitude as it is technique. If you’re suffering in either department, put some power back into your playing with this advice from blues guitar heroes of the past and present. STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN “Your sound is in your hands as much as anything. It’s the way you pick and the way you hold the guitar, more than it is the amp or the guitar you use.” ROY BUCHANAN “Use circle picking to play faster. Start by playing with your pick at an angle. Hit the string with one edge of the pick and you’ll find that you’re in position to come back on the upstroke with the opposite edge. Then, alternate pick with a rotating motion in either a clockwise or counter-clockwise circle.…

WHEN PROPERLY MIC’D, acoustic guitars can sound beautiful and lush. Just think of those wonderful albums recorded by the Eagles, with their rich acoustics melodies. Yes, plug-ins can improve your results, but there’s nothing more gratifying than capturing that perfect acoustic guitar tone with a microphone. The key is to record not only the guitar sound but also the ambience of the room. Before setting up your mic and hitting “record,” take a few things into consideration: • Your acoustic guitar’s size (jumbo, concert, etc.) and body style (single-cutaway, thin body, etc.). Both of which affect its tone and volume. • Room size and treatment: Is your space large or small? Carpeted or bare? • Player style: Are you a heavy strummer or a light picker? • Microphone type (condenser,…

I WAS ALWAYS in awe and just a little jealous of Debbie Davies. Her 1993 solo debut, Picture This (Blind Pig), came out on the heels of her time as second guitarist to the Master of the Telecaster himself, Albert Collins, who is one of my all-time faves. From 1988 to 1991, she was a member of Collins’ band, the Icebreakers, and it doesn’t get much cooler than that. Debbie is still one of the most loved and respected members of the blues community. She plays it right — the way she learned from Albert and from so many other greats that she’s shared stages with. Looking at your history, it seems that camaraderie and jamming is a big part of your musical journey. The blues thing has always had…

“I CONSIDER MYSELF an artist and there are no rules to it, because it’s art, right?” Gary Clark Jr. is talking about the pre-release tracks for what will soon become his fifth studio album, This Land (Warner), the follow-up to 2015’s The Story of Sonny Boy Slim. While on the road in Europe, taking a break from the studio, he’s offered GP an exclusive opportunity to hear the new songs in rough mix form. Listening to the tracks, I was immediately struck by the freedom and spontaneity of the music. Clark navigates through rock, soul, punk, R&B, hip-hop, even some reggae — all of it righteously juiced up by his explosive guitar playing and infused with shades of psychedelia. He cut much of the album with his new signature Gibson…

“I THOUGHT BLUES SHOULD COMPETE WITH POP MUSIC. WHY SHOULD IT BE SOME NICHE MARKET? NO. THIS IS THE BEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD” ROBERT JOHNSON MET Satan down at the crossroads all on his own. It was a different story for Savoy Brown’s Kim Simmonds — he brought an entire caravan with him. Simmonds, who founded his seminal British blues-rock band way back in 1965, embraces the “it takes a village” approach, when it comes to his artistry. Throughout the years, his creative team has included his wife, Debbie Lyons, as well as an entire army of band members (including drummer Bill Bruford, guitarist “Lonesome Dave” Peverett and bassist Andy Pyle) and a vast storehouse of influences from his constant absorption of diverse musical styles and other players. Furthermore,…

FOR 39 YEARS, Hamer Guitars were a favorite of artists and weekend warriors alike, who wielded the company’s instruments as better-made alternatives to similar offerings from major manufacturers. Despite its stellar reputation, the U.S. guitar maker dissolved in the shifting guitar market of 2012. But you can’t keep a good brand down, and last year the Hamer name reappeared on a small lineup of import-only guitars. The roster has been expanded for 2018 with another two models that are fresh to these shores. There’s no renewed American production — not yet, anyway — but fans of the style and attitude that Joel Dantzig and Paul Hamer founded back in 1973 are likely to receive these affordable creations with a welcoming smile. I tested both through a Carr Mercury V combo…

THE NEW OCEANS 11 Multifunction Digital Reverb ($147 street) is the most powerful compact reverb Electro-Harmonix has produced. Its control set includes FX level, time and tone knobs, an 11-position reverb type selector, and a mode switch that provides up to three different options for many, though not all, of the effects, significantly expanding the Ocean’s palette of sounds. The pedal also has an Infinite function that allows the selected reverb to play in the background ad infinitum, while you hold down the bypass switch, or when an external momentary footswitch (not included) is connected to Infinite jack. At the same time, you can independently use and control a reverb of the same type with the time and tone knobs. The pedal’s buffered-bypass footswitch also doubles as a tap tempo…

THERE’S NOWHERE TO hide when you go it alone acoustically, but here are a few things to consider in order to make your show as musically interesting and entertaining for the audience as possible. If You’re Playing Near Home, Go Big Bring as many guitars as you can manage. If you’ve got a ukulele or mandolin you can incorporate into the set, do it. Folks like to see solo performers play different instruments, and most people — especially other players — simply dig looking at musical gear. It’s also great for starting conversations before and after the show. Otherwise, Travel Light When driving a small vehicle or flying, bring your most versatile instrument — which is usually a mid-sized acoustic-electric setup to accommodate a variety of plucking and playing styles.…

Raid Dana’s Gear Stash! Now for something completely fresh! I present to you the Optical Phaser Techno-FA, generously contributed by Mark Svirkov of SviSound. Don’t be fooled by its compact stature — this versatile stomp box offers flexible modulation with controls for freq, range, bright and depth, as well as a button to select between two- and four-stage operation. Its metal casing and blue-green lighted indicators give the Optical Phaser Techno-FA a cool industrial vibe. You can find out more about SVI Sound’s available wares at www.svisound.com. For a chance to get this pedal on your board, send an email with “SVI Sound” in the subject line to nbmgearcoordinator@gmail.com. One lucky winner will be chosen at random. Please note that all contest gear is “as is.” This is simply a…

WHERE CAN YOU catch Larry Carlton, Adrian Belew, Yngwie Malmsteen, Paul Reed Smith, Nita Strauss and many other industry legends, all in one go? They were among the participants at Sweetwater’s GearFest 2018, held this past June 22 and 23 on the music retail giant’s campus in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Now in its 17th year, GearFest has grown into a truly educational and entertaining experience. The annual two-day music trade event combines the latest and greatest musical equipment and products from countless manufacturers with workshops, presentations and clinics — all hosted by an impressive roster of talent, including modern musicians and industry legends. As always, this year’s activities included workshops and performances inside Sweetwater’s massive indoor campus, but much of the action took place outdoors. Guests enjoyed booths and exhibits…

ANYONE WHO’S WRITTEN a song knows the process doesn’t always end with lyrics, melody and harmony. Arranging a composition — refining and developing its musical parts, grooves and vibes — to maximize the tune’s seductiveness is essential. Doing this in collaboration with others can lead to creative boondoggles and bruised egos. So, imagine doing it with six musical co-conspirators, as Sister Sparrow — a.k.a. Arleigh Kincheloe — does when she brings her songs to the Dirty Birds, the artist’s brass-fueled backing group that includes her brother Jackson on harmonica, guitarist Mark Marshall, bassist Josh Meyers, drummer Dan Boyden, trumpet player Phil Rodriguez and saxophonist Brian Graham. It seems a miracle that anything gets done. Yet, somehow the group manages to fit all the elements into a cohesive and exciting mix…

RELATIVELY FEW guitarists have had the privilege of holding an original D’Angelico archtop guitar; and upon close examination of a D’Angelico instrument — like this 1955 New Yorker — it’s easy to see how the storied maker earned his stellar reputation. From the elegant carve of the woods to the decorative details (that don’t look as over the top as they might on another instrument!) to the very feel of the thing — this is a guitar for which the term masterpiece seems barely adequate. It’s the epitome of the archtop guitar from the golden years of the Jazz Age. John D’Angelico was born in Little Italy, on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, in 1905. He studied classical violin making and learned Italian-style flat-top guitar craftsmanship under the mentorship of his…

HANK GARLAND WAS born in South Carolina in 1930; a “natural” guitarist, by 18 he recorded his classic country instrumental, “Sugarfoot Rag.” Originally created as a warm-up for his left hand, the recording went on to sell more than a million copies. Hank played a Byrdland guitar, a model custom-built for him and Billy Byrd, taking its name from a combination of both men’s surnames. Jazz Winds from a New Direction was released in 1961 on Columbia Records. Recorded in one day., the album chronicles Hank’s successful leap into becoming a bona fide world-class jazz guitarist. The lineup included 17-year-old whiz kid Gary Burton, bassist Joe Benjamin and drummer Joe Morello (from the Dave Brubeck Quartet). Every tune on it is a guitar tour de force. “All the Things You…

SAMANTHA FISH CLIMBS the steps of her 19th-century New Orleans home, shouldering her Arctic White Gibson SG as she retreats from the midday summer sun into a wide parlor. The air is thick with bayou humidity, but as a Kansas City native who spent her first 20-something years weathering winter blizzards, Fish doesn’t seem to mind. As she finds a spot on her couch, the muted thud of drums sounds through the walls of a recording studio, situated next door in a former church. In New Orleans, music is everywhere. “You could walk down any street and come up with an idea,” the acclaimed blues guitarist says. “There’s so much music around, and the people are inspiring.” Fish grew up hearing bluegrass, Americana and hard rock, eventually finding her way…

ONE GREAT WAY to escape the so-called limitations of blues and pentatonic scales is to blend your existing vocabulary of blues clichés with new ideas, derived from melodic substitutions. Take, for example, a 12-bar blues progression in the key of G. You’re probably already aware that its inherent I, IV and V chords (G7, C7 and D7, or G9, C9 and D9 extensions) can be navigated using licks built from combinations of the G minor pentatonic, major pentatonic and blues scales. Granted, there are countless ways to utilize these scales to produce both clichéd and non-clichéd licks. (It’s always interesting when someone claims to be “stuck in a rut” with pentatonic and blues scales!) However, substituting melodic lines drawn from other scales can open up endless new avenues for musical…

IK MULTIMEDIA HAS long been at the forefront in providing iOS audio/MIDI interface solutions for guitarists, but the company’s new iRig Stomp I/O ($299) takes it to another level. The USB pedalboard controller integrates a professional 96kHz/24-bit audio interface and Class A preamp with MIDI I/O for iPhone, iPad, Mac and PC. IK Multimedia is located in Italy, not far from the Ferrari auto factory, and this piece of gear is as sleek, solid and stylish as a Berlinetta. It features four onboard metal stomp switches, plus an expression pedal with a virtual switch, all with LED indicators. You can connect two additional switches or pedals, and the MIDI IN/OUT ports allow you to control external processors using iRig Stomp I/O as a stand-alone MIDI foot controller. The device bay…

THOSE WHO WORK hard to make a living as a musician, take note: There’s a new sheriff in town — the Bose S1 Pro Multi-Position P.A. system ($599 street). Its flexibility and innovative features were certainly a boon to my gigging business over the months that I used it. For solo acoustic shows, the super-portable S1 Pro is great for reducing time and labor, as it is an all-in-one guitar amp and P.A. system. Weighing in at about 15 pounds, it’s far lighter than just one of the wedge monitors I have to lug around for band shows. The S1 Pro’s versatility is something to behold. It has three channels, including two combo inputs (XLR and ¼-inch) for guitar or vocal, and a choice between a ⅛-inch aux input or…

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CANADA’S BROS. LANDRETH were a highlight of Joe Bonamassa’s Blues Cruise IV this past March, playing an amalgam of roots, folk country and blues. The Juno Award–winners stopped cruisers dead in their tracks with soulful vocals, impassioned songs and some absolutely fearsome slides, courtesy of Joey Landreth, who cofounded the band with his bassist brother David in 2013. Joey sat down with GP to share the secrets behind his seductive slide tone and its role in his songwriting. Your slide tone is really fiery and compelling. What kinds of things inspired your approach? We listened to a lot of Sonny Landreth at home, and I avoided slide for a long time because of him. He’s a phenomenal player, and he has the same last name, so why would I ever…

WE IDENTIFIED MARCUS King as a “person of extreme interest” long before he cracked his 20s. We even put him on the cover of our September 2017 issue. Now just 22 years old, King is already a veteran of the road and a leading flag bearer for modern blues and blues rock. He sings like an old soul with demons on his tail and gets colossal tones from his grandfather’s ’62 Gibson ES-345. No less than Warren Haynes — who produced King’s most recent album, The Marcus King Band (Fantasy Records) — calls him “the first young player I’ve heard since Derek Trucks who plays with such soul and emotional maturity.” We caught up with the blues guitar phenom to find out how he works his magic onstage. What’s your…

ONE OF MY most fond memories from opening for blues bands (aside from Buddy Guy’s outstanding guitar tone) is of the sound of the club itself. These venues were often built for hundreds — not thousands, like today’s venues — of people; and the hard walls, minimalist acoustic treatment and sheer number of high-frequency-absorbing humans resulted in a special kind of ambience. I had never been able to re-create this sound with conventional digital reverbs, but once convolution reverbs became affordable, I had hope: All I needed was an acoustic impulse file to provide that sound. When I couldn’t find any, I decided it was time to go rogue and make my own. I did it, and you can too. It may seem daunting, but it’s easier than it sounds…

AS A COLLECTOR of what we smarmy elitists call “weirdos” or, indeed, “whack jobs,” I have to say that the Italian birds of the 1960s still continue to amaze me. In particular, it’s the Italian designers from that period that blow my mind and capture my imagination: the clothes, the motorcycles, the accordions, the scooters, the cars… These, and more, stand today as testaments to a time when imagination met not only humor but industrial practicality. Italian guitars from the ’50s and ’60s, many of which were born out of retooled accordion plants, are no exception to that glorious, untethered lightness of design. Brands like Eko (which also produced guitars for Vox), Wandré, Crucianelli, Diamond, Panoramic, Welson, Galanti, Meazzi and Goya, to name a few, all share that unique and…

YOU’RE READING THE headline “Blues Crusader” and you’re looking at a photo of Rick Springfield, and you’re probably asking yourself, “How can that be? The Guitar Player staff must have been hit by a communal acid flashback that fried their collective neural networks.” O ye, of little faith… At this point in his career, Springfield shouldn’t be perceived solely as an actor/musician who scored a 1981 pop-rock mega hit with “Jessie’s Girl.” In fact, he has released 19 studio albums celebrating guitar riffs, guitar solos and balls-out rock and roll — albeit with a Beatles-esque approach to melodic hooks — and his live shows always deliver a take-no-prisoners intensity. The guitarist — who has a home studio to record his song ideas and album parts — has been honest about…

EVER WONDER WHY some blues-rock guitarists sound like they’re playing much more than just minor pentatonic licks? Perhaps it doesn’t quite sound like diatonic scales and modes but more like something in between? Chances are the player is using minor pentatonics as a foundation and sprinkling in extra notes here and there at strategic points. This is a method used by many of the genre’s master improvisers. Knowing which notes should be tossed into the mix, and when, are the key factors that separate chaos from musicality. This lesson is designed to unveil some of the mystery of this playing style, offering enough practical know-how to get you adlibbing those blues licks. Using the minor pentatonic scale as a platform, we’ll take a look at a few neck diagrams, explore…

To the great delight of many guitarists, Supro has successfully revamped its popular vintage amp line. To make players even happier, the company has set about reimagining some of its original designs to incorporate features that better suit the needs of modern players. All the while Supro are ensuring these modern incarnations retain the essential elements of that irresistible lightning-bolt style and tone. Among the latest models to receive a thoughtful revision are the 1695RTH Black Magick Reverb head and 1790 Black Magick 1x12 speaker cabinet. The Black Magick name derives from a favorite Supro combo of Jimmy Page’s, frequently used on Led Zeppelin studio dates and which is currently on loan to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The head reviewed here takes the cornerstone dual 6973 output…

COMBINING MULTIPLE EFFECTS in one box is a good way to maximize pedalboard space and can result in better interaction between effects than chaining two or more single-effect pedals together. The new Bête Noire ($300 street) pairs distortion and analog phasing in a convenient package that features a Variac (gain) control, a switchable brown mode, Chomp (bass) and high controls, a scan switch for activating the modulation, sweep and speed knobs, and mix and level controls. The metal enclosure has a silent true-bypass footswitch, an external power jack, and a board-mounted receptacle for a 9-volt battery that is accessed by removing the bottom plate. There’s an LED for bypass status and another LED that illuminates when the phasing is activated and blinks in time with the speed setting. Although the…

As front-woman for the Tedeschi-Trucks Band, Susan Tedeschi mines the singular vein of potent blues she became famous for as a solo artist in the late ‘90s. Freely mixing the blues with R&B and gospel influences, she has integrated the genre’s diverse strains into a fluid and powerful amalgam of fiery guitar work and impassioned vocals. Born and raised in the Boston suburb of Norwell, Tedeschi was influenced by the Mississippi John Hurt and Lightnin’ Hopkins records in her dad’s vinyl collection and the gospel music of the black Baptist churches she attended. She wrote her first songs at 13 before studying at the Berklee College of Music and launching her own band in ’91. After years of fine-tuning the Susan Tedeschi Band, she burst onto the scene in ‘98…