Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2018 i Guitar Player

WE’VE PUBLISHED A steady run of themed issues over the past year. As this month’s magazine was taking shape, we decided to break with that convention when a number of great, but seemingly dissimilar artists became available for interviews. We jumped at the opportunity to speak with each of them, and now that the issue is wrapping up, it’s become obvious that one compelling reason was behind that decision: All of these guitarists are originals whose impact and influence transcend musical genre and, in nearly every instance, time itself. That, as much as anything, is what unifies this issue’s artists. Take the Smashing Pumpkins. When the group emerged at the rise of grunge, their music stood out not only for its mix of psychedelic rock and metal but also for…

KEVIN GORDON’S LATEST release, Tilt and Shine (Crowville Media), is a college-level textbook of roots-guitar interaction. It’s the kind of fluid, nonhierarchical, twin-guitar attack rarely heard outside of the Muddy Waters’ band and the Rolling Stones. Though Gordon and Joe V. McMahan, his longtime partner in crime, both solo on the record, it’s the way their instruments rhythmically interact that is so special. “It’s about having the accents bouncing off of each other,” McMahan explains. “If Kevin’s playing straight time, I have to find a way to syncopate. If he starts to syncopate, I tighten down and play simply. At this point we don’t think about it much — it’s just a playful conversation. Often, one guy is doing the Chuck Berry rhythm while the other does the upward accents.”…

ALICE STUART IS the only female guitarist to be a member of the Mothers of Invention. How cool is that? She was badass before badass was a word. Stuart met Frank Zappa in 1964 and played acoustic guitar with an early version of the Mothers. She left shortly after, before the group recorded its debut album, Freak Out!, to pursue her love of electric blues. There were few female guitar role models in the mid-’60s, when Stuart’s career took off, and like all the trailblazers I’ve interviewed, she is completely self-created. What’s even cooler is she’s still out there playing. Make sure to catch her when you can. You can find her schedule and learn more about her at alicestuart.com. In an interview I read, you mentioned that Zappa taught…

IN FEBRUARY OF this year, Smashing Pumpkins announced a reunion of three-fourths of the original, founding lineup that had skyrocketed them to alt-rock glory in the 1990s. Since then, that trio — singer, guitarist and primary songwriter Billy Corgan, drummer Jimmy Chamberlin and guitarist James Iha — has been doing exactly what fans expect reunited bandmates to do: embarking on a massive tour that celebrates their history by diving deep into the music they created several decades ago. They’ve been joined by guitarist Jeff Schroeder, who for the past dozen years has been a member of the band alongside Corgan, the Pumpkins’ only constant presence over their 30-year career. (Founding bassist D’arcy Wretzky was initially approached before talks devolved into a public he-said-she-said spat between her and Corgan.) “SIMPLY PUT,…

IT’S TAKEN THE better part of 40 years, but Ace Frehley has finally come to terms with his stature as a guitar hero. “People say to me all the time, ‘You’re the greatest guitar player ever,’” he says matter of factly. “Or, ‘I picked up the guitar because of you.’ I get that one a lot. It’s weird, because I always looked at guitar playing as my job. Even when Kiss was at its height of popularity, I couldn’t take the acclaim seriously. It made me feel guilty, like I was pulling the wool over people’s eyes. I just did what I did, and things worked out.” Notable guitarists who have dissected his licks over the years include Dimebag Darrell, Slash, Mike McCready and John 5, to mention a few.…

THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY of Rudy’s Music is a milestone in and of itself. But what truly makes this particular anniversary a cause for both celebration and contemplation is the store’s survival in the increasingly difficult retail environment of New York City. Manhattan’s illustrious guitar shops have quietly vanished in recent years. Manny’s, on 48th Street, went out of business in 2009, a few years before all of the other stores vanished from the legendary Music Row that was once the heart of the city’s musical community. When Matt Umanov Guitars in Greenwich Village closed its doors last December, Rudy’s became the city’s sole remaining independent guitar store that can claim a connection to the instrument’s late-’70s glory days. “I really miss 48th Street,” says Rudy Pensa, the owner of Rudy’s…

INTRODUCED THIS PAST July at the Summer NAMM show, the new Player series guitars seek to lure younger guitarists to authentic Fender sound and vibe. To make the gateway as appealing as possible, they include some thoughtful updates, such as modern C-shape necks carrying 22 frets, Alnico 5-magnet pickups (some models have Alnico 2 or Alnico 3 magnets), and sleek bodies that are hand shaped as per “original specifications.” The guitar line (basses are also available) centers on Fender’s enduring classics, namely the Jaguar, Jazzmaster, Telecaster and Stratocaster. The series offers three versions of the Telecaster and seven of the Stratocaster. The latter include the HSH (two humbuckers, one single-coil), the SSH (two single-coils, one humbucker), the Plus Top (with a figured maple top available in Aged Cherry Burst or…

Raid Dana’s Gear Stash! Thanks to EarthQuaker Devices for contributing a Westwood Translucent Drive Manipulator to this month’s giveaway. Now it’s your turn to raid my stash and win this great pedal! The Westwood Translucent Drive is a light- to medium-gain overdrive with active controls for bass and treble. It’s great for producing everything from edge-of-breakup rhythm tones to articulate lead tones with satisfying even-order harmonics and loads of sweet sustain. Whether you have a low-wattage combo or a smoking stack, the Westwood will make a great contribution to your pedalboard. For a chance to win it, simply send an email to nbmgearcoordinator@gmail.com with “Westwood” in the subject line. One lucky winner will be chosen at random. The deadline for entries is December 20. Please keep in mind that all…

WHEN SINGER-SONGWRITER KT Tunstall was busking on street corners in her early 20s with acoustic guitar in hand, she surely imagined life as a successful musician would bring her happiness and make her feel energized. But a few years ago, following the loss of her father and the collapse of her marriage, she began to add up the cost of success to her personal life. The Grammy-nominated artist, whose four acoustic guitar–driven pop records had made her a star around the world, was running on fumes and dangerously close to burning out. “I felt like I had stepped into the wrong version of reality,” Tunstall says. “I’d been the sole architect of my existence and somehow had still managed to end up in a place where I was miserable.” Just…

BACK IN THE pre-Internet Stone Age of the 1970s and ’80s, my connection to new music was the Bay Area’s own KSAN radio. KSAN was the FM birth child of freeform radio pioneer Tom Donahue, an underground station where relaxed, understated DJs spun extended jams and strung together a gamut of musical styles that could segue from Link Wray to Ravi Shankar to the Ramones. I felt like I was inside the brain of those radio personalities, broadcasters who included Richard Gossett, Ben Fong-Torres, Dusty Street and Bonnie Simmons. Every day was a learning experience, and I always heard something new and exciting. KSAN radio introduced me to Muddy Waters, Lonnie Mack, Ravi Shankar, the Sex Pistols, the Police, the Pretenders, Devo and many other great artists that might have…

“I’M A VICTIM OF MY PSYCHE BEING SHOCKED BY A MILLION THINGS AT ONCE” RECORDING ARTISTS tend to get locked in a cycle. An album is followed by a tour, which is succeeded by a break that leads to another stint in the studio. And on and on it goes. Kurt Vile has found his own way out of that rut. The guitarist and songwriter cut his latest studio album, Bottle It In (Matador), at various studios in between road dates with his band, the Violators, and travels with his wife and daughters. During those more than two years on the road, the Philadelphia native also recorded an album of duets with Courtney Barnett (2017’s Lotta Sea Lice), opened for Neil Young and saw his single “Pretty Pimpin” (from 2015’s…

IN GUITAR PLAYER’S July 2018 issue, I wrote a lesson on how to play faux bottleneck slide guitar using a technique highly reliant on controlled whammy-bar manipulation. I’d now like to demonstrate some ways in which you can emulate the sweet sounds of country-style pedal-steel note bends, which often occur with two- and three-note chords. This endeavor is another animal altogether, one that seems to demand a bare-fingers approach coupled with sheer strength. I discovered this technique recently when I had to learn how to approximate the great Red Rhodes’ pedal-steel licks from the Fraternity of Man’s 1968 hippie anthem, “Don’t Bogart Me,” for this year’s An Unpredictable Evening with Todd Rundgren tour (coming to a town near you). In this lesson, I’ll present examples inspired by this song. A…

CALLING THE BOSS GT-1000 a guitar effects processor is like calling Amazon an online shopping site. While the description is technically accurate, it doesn’t really tell the whole story. Sure, the new Boss unit contains a selection of overdrives, distortions, delays, modulators and reverbs, as well as specialty effects like Slicer, Slow Gear and others, but it does so much more. The GT-1000 aims to provide an all-in-one solution for getting great sound on the fly. To that end, it also offers an array of guitar amp models and configuration possibilities that take into account the diverse needs of modern guitarists. There’s much to love in the GT-1000. Its models sound and feel great, thanks to Boss’s new AIRD (Augmented Impulse Response Dynamics) technology, which is supported by 32-bit AD/DA,…

AFTER 10 YEARS on the road with Keith Urban, Brian Nutter decided to relinquish the rockstar life to stay home in Nashville and build guitars. He started showing his creations at Summer NAMM 2017, where they stood out from a crowd of Tele, Strat and Les Paul clones like a unicorn at the Kentucky Derby. The body shape of the Astro Captain model on review here bears a resemblance to a Gibson Explorer, but only vaguely. Combined with a three-on-a side headstock and Red Sparkle finish (or Mint Green Sparkle, Ice Blue Sparkle, Silver Sparkle, Champagne Sparkle, Black Sparkle or custom finish of your choice), it creates a retro-modern vibe that should thrill any guitarist who wants to stand out from the crowd. The distinctive look is enhanced further by…

WASHBURN IS CELEBRATING its 135th anniversary with a limited release of 135 Revival Solo Dreadnoughts inspired by the original 1937 Washburn #5244/#5246 Solo Dreadnoughts. To represent the company’s history, the new guitars’ serial numbers begin at 1883 and continue through to 2018. GP’s review unit was 1943, making it number 60 of 135. It arrived in a fancy hard-shell case, with a certificate of authenticity and a hardcover copy of John Teagle’s book Washburn: Over One Hundred Years of Fine Stringed Instruments. The tome documents the company’s legendary roots as Lyon & Healy and chronicles Washburn’s development using oodles of catalog clips, photos of classic and modern guitars, and accounts from signature artists through the years. The aroma that wafts up when you open the case reeks of a hearty…

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THE ENDORSEMENT GUITAR, or “signature model,” was nothing new when this stylish creation debuted in 1963. However, the Mosrite Ventures model took the concept several steps further, to the point where it was difficult to discern which came first: the endorsement or the guitar. Mosrite founder Semi Moseley grew up in Bakersfield, California, after migrating there from Oklahoma (by way of Arizona) with the rest of his family while just a toddler in the late ’30s to early ’40s. Before setting out to build guitars, he played on the evangelical circuit in California. It was a far cry from the surf, rock and roll, and punk scenes that would passionately take to his guitars in years to come (although the Christian music world would remain a consistent, if less visible,…

THIS MAPLE HOLLOWBODY electric guitar has mesmerized me for years — not just this model but this very guitar. It’s been hanging in the vintage vault at Guitar Showcase, one of my favorite haunts in San Jose, California. I was always curious why Martin, one of the oldest and most respected acoustic guitar builders in the world, could not successfully break into the market for electric guitars. I figured there must be something terribly wrong with the company’s approach to designing and building them. So when I borrowed this GT-75 to write about it, I was expecting to give it a lackluster review and brusquely toss it into the proverbial pile of unsuccessful builds from the 1960s guitar boom. Boy howdy, was I wrong! This axe is just plain off-the-hook…

“I HAD THIS idea for many years, which was to create a show with five crazy guitar players and one backing band,” Steve Vai says. That show, which Vai dubbed Generation Axe, became a reality in 2016. And, true to his word, it features five of the most musically adventurous and technically accomplished players to emerge on the rock and metal landscape over the past 35 years. Rounding out the lineup alongside Vai is neoclassical six-string legend Yngwie Malmsteen, Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt, Ozzy Osbourne and Black Label Society axe master Zakk Wylde, and — the new kid on the shred block — Animals as Leaders eight-string wizard Tosin Abasi. Generation Axe is back for 32 shows beginning November 7. For guitar heads, the chance to see not just one…

THIS SUMMER’S TOUR season is now in the rearview mirror, and it’s been my busiest ever. Most of my shows have been with White Wedding, a costumed 1980s tribute band, of which I’m a regular member. But on numerous occasions, I’ve been fortunate enough to receive offers to fill in with other bands, allowing me to earn more while doing a job that I love. To get and maintain gigs, you have to spend countless hours woodshedding and honing your chops in the practice room. But effective people skills and a team-player attitude are equally as vital. Although there is no substitute for mastery of the material, being part of a successful working band — whether as a regular member or an occasional sub — requires more than just hitting…

THE LEGENDARY VOX AC30 has evolved through several incarnations since its introduction in 1959. The new AC30S1 is the latest, an offshore rendition intended to deliver the essence of this timeless tone machine at a price that should be appealingly accessible to most working musicians and weekend warriors. It’s more an homage to the image and sound of the early ’60s AC30 than a period-correct re-creation. It features just one simple channel with gain, bass and treble controls in a portable 1x12 combo that includes reverb, an effect loop and a master volume control. Vox bills the amp’s single channel as being derived from the classic Top Boost preamp, considered the apex of AC30 tone for most guitarists. But it’s worth noting that the traditional Top Boost circuit requires one…

TEXAS-BASED HONEYDRIPPER Amps recently introduced the Sugar Bee, a 1x12 combo designed by a team consisting of Kendrick Amplifiers founder Gerald Weber, Dave McGrew, Rick Dielman and Dr. Ulrich Neumann, a scientist at the University of Southern California. This unique design is intended to meet the needs of players who want an amp that performs like a 1x12 combo with two 6L6 power tubes (or equivalent), but weighs about half as much. The nut of the technology involved in the Sugar Bee is an exclusive, Patent Applied For “active output transformer” coupled to a single 12AX7 dual-triode running in class AB push-pull to produce 45 watts RMS. By eliminating the weight of a standard iron output transformer, and reducing the heft of the power transformer as well, the end result…

> Drawn to the sound of John Coltrane’s saxophone, Allan Holdsworth was compelled to create equally fluid legato lines on the guitar, which he adopted at age 17 after a sax proved too expensive. A self-taught guitarist, the English-born musician received his initial training from his grandfather, a jazz pianist, who, with his wife, raised the youngster. > Holdsworth developed his signature “outside” sound by exploring a wealth of scale forms in his solos and building a vocabulary of unorthodox chord progressions. Lauded by Frank Zappa as “one of the most interesting guys on the planet,” Holdsworth influenced Eddie Van Halen, Alex Lifeson and Joe Satriani, among many other guitarists. > After spending years supporting prog-rock and fusion acts like Soft Machine, the New Tony Williams Lifetime and the supergroup…