Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2016 i Guitar Player

WHEN IT COMES TO GETTING FROM one note to the next, the string group is blessed with perhaps the most options of any other family of musical instruments. Guitarists in particular have under their fingers at any given moment a plethora of available techniques, including hammerons, pull-offs, slides and slurs, string bends, finger vibrato, harmonics, and whammy-bar manipulations, all of which can be mixed and matched at will. Each technique, be it subtle or in-your-face, can be utilized to put a player’s unique expressive stamp on an otherwise pedestrian performance of a melodic line or lick. Let’s call it “finger grease.” This month we’ll investigate how implementing and cross-pollinating these indigenous physical guitar techniques can have a drastic or understated effect on the sound and feel of any lick. You’ll…

YOU HEARD IT ON 1972’S TRES HOMbres. You heard it on the radio. You’ve heard it in movies (Shanghai Noon, Armageddon, The Dukes of Hazzard, Dogtown, Z-Boys), TV shows (South Park, Bones, The Blacklist), pinball machines (The Getaway: High Speed II), music video games (Nascar The Game: 2011, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock), and of course, commercials—lots of them. So how after such massive overexposure does ZZ top’s “La Grange” remain such a badass ear-catcher regardless of context? One big part of the song’s magical allure other than its subject matter—“La Grange” commemorates a famous Texas brothel in the town of the same name—is the contrast between Billy Gibbons’ mezzo-piano intro and balls out forte verse figure. Both riffs were played on a stoptail 1955 Fender Stratocaster plugged directly…

IN 1963, THE SWEDISH COMPANY Hagstrom renamed its Corvette model “Condor” for the US market, possibly because Gretsch was already making a Corvette guitar. Hagstrom has kept the basic look and the set neck of the original, while making some significant changes. The round cutaway ends of the vintage version have been shortened and the neck profile has been carved into a comfortable, chunky U shape. The frets are fairly low, but bending strings was easy thanks to a flat fingerboard. Hagstrom also made improvements to the Jazzmaster-like “Vintage Tremar” vibrato to help it stay in tune, and it did. The original switching system has been modified too. Gone are the cool looking but unreliable colored rockers, replaced by new, more dependable, sliding switches. The lack of original color coding…

WITH ITS STYLISH SATIN PURPLE Burst finish, unusual quartet of brushed-aluminum pickguards, elegant chrome knobs and hardware, and non-glossy maple fretboard, the BC-1 is hardly your garden variety electric 6-string. Under the finish there’s a korina body and under the four pickguards are strategically placed chambers, contributing to the instrument’s relatively light weight (just under seven pounds) and distinctive tone. Also contributing to the BC-1’s tone are a pair of custom Billy Corgan Railhammer humbucking pickups. Designed to provide a range of sounds extending beyond that of typical humbuckers, while maintaining the quietness of dual-coil designs, the result is a unique amalgam of standard and non-standard sounds from razor thin and brittle to pleasingly plump and chunky, at least when they are used in conjunction with Reverend’s proprietary passive Bass…

XOTIC OF CALIFORNIA IS BEST KNOWN for its line of pedal effects, but the company also offers its own brand of strings as well as Raw Vintage guitar hardware. Xotic recently introduced a line of guitars and basses, all of which are built at their custom shop in Los Angeles. The XSC-1 (three single-coils) and XSC-2 (humbucker and two single-coils) are the current 6-string offerings, and are available in a variety of finishes, including the highly “relic-ed” lacquer of our review sample, which is complemented by aged nickel-plating on the tuners and bridge. The XSC-1 is a superbly made guitar and one of its standout features is the oil-finished roasted maple neck, which has a comfy medium-C profile and a fairly flat fingerboard (also of roasted maple). The mirror-polished jumbo…

BACK IN THE RACK DAYS, WE ALL had a wireless receiver perched atop or nestled within our fridge-style tone factories, with the cute little antennae poking up and out. Well, the rackmount days are gone for many of us, with pedalboards picking up the tone-modifying slack, and those bulky wireless receivers just don’t reside as comfortably on ’boards that are meant to be stomped on. Well, you don’t have to worry about that with the WiC wireless from PRA Audio Systems ($299 street), because both the transmitter and the receiver are no bigger than a pack of cigarettes, with no antennae on the receiving end. These incredibly lightweight units are fueled by rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, which boast over 20 hours of unfettered freedom on a charge. (Charging the unit takes…

YOUR LIST OF “40 BADASS BLUES SOLOS” at guitarplayer.com is disappointing and blatantly racist. It is disrespectful to black artists and to African-Americans to select a bunch of white dudes for your top solos spots. In fact, only a couple of black players occupy your leading slots. Anyone who knows blues knows the music originated with African-Americans, the pioneers of blues guitar were all black, and that many of the songs and licks subsequently laid down by white players were largely appropriated from their black predecessors. Looking at this article, my immediate thought is: “Where the hell are Albert Collins, the Kings, T-Bone Walker, Hubert Sumlin, Robert Johnson, Johnny “Guitar” Watson, Elmore James, Lonnie Johnson, Gatemouth Brown, Buddy Guy, Skip James, and, of course, Jimi Hendrix?” The white guitarists included…

THERE’S NO NEED TO VISIT YOUR stylist, fret about how you look in evening wear, or devise snarky bon mots to throw the Entertainment Tonight crew off their game. You can comfortably experience GP’s Hall of Fame celebration wherever you’re, um, comfortable. The staff nominates, argues over, and selects the artist inductees once each year, and gear picks are eligible from the Holiday 2015 issue to the November 2016 issue. GALLERY OF THE GREATS Carlos Santana and Neal Schon They reunited for Santana IV—after a bit of a break since Santana III. Like 45 years! Still fiery. Prince One of the most tragic losses to music in 2016. A fantastic guitar player who should be remembered along with the best. Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir The team is no more,…

“IT WAS 1987, AND I HANGING OUT AT a hotel pool in Southern California with [bassist] Pete Way, talking about joining his band Waysted,” says Perry, who has done a ton of cool gigs over the years, including being the first guitarist in Quiet Riot after Randy Rhoads, following Yngwie in Steeler, playing alongside Billy Sheehan in Talas, and doing keyboard work with Aerosmith. “Michael Schenker was staying at the same hotel, and he came over and said, ‘Mitch, I’m looking for a guitar player/keyboard player.’ I said, ‘That’s killer, but I don’t want to play rhythm all night.’ He said, ‘No. You play a different style than me,’ as he mimicked the overhand tapping stuff I picked up when I was playing with Billy Sheehan. ‘It might be a…

MITCHELL GUITARS MD400 Goodies Carved, double-cutaway mahogany body, mahogany one-piece set neck, Indian rosewood or maple fretboard with 24 jumbo frets, paraffin-dipped rail-style ceramic pickups (humbucker/mini-humbucker configuration), 3-way selector, Graph Tech Tusq XL friction reducing nut. Available in Black, Transparent Ocean Blue, Transparent Purple, Natural, and Transparent Forest Green quilt tops. Price $399 street, $449 street with quilt maple top More Info mitchellguitars.com COLBY AMPLIFICATION DUAL TONE BOOSTER DTB50MKII Goodies Two channels with independent tone controls so you can dial in your sound for each channel. Separate Bright and Shift switches for each channel. Clean boost on Channel 1, two boosts on Channel 2. Specially voiced, tube-buffered effects loop with Send and Return level controls. 3-way footswitch with detachable cables controls channel selection, Boost 1, and Boost 2 (boost 2…

SOME ASSEMBLY WAS REQUIRED in the making of Flux [Eagle Rock Entertainment], the latest solo effort from former Black Crowes guitarist Rich Robinson, and his first major release since the Crowes parted company. Heading into the studio in September 2015, all Robinson had was a chorus or a riff here, a verse there—nothing completely formed—and that was fine by him. “I decided not to go into the studio with a bunch of songs,” explains Robinson. “I preferred to go in with a few parts, and just kind of see what happened. Ultimately, you have to be inspired by what you’re doing, and that’s what inspired me this time.” Used to flying by the seat of his pants, Robinson saw sparks of creativity ignite into blazes, as fully realized songs grew…

SOMETIMES I ENCOUNTER CURIOUS souls who want to add some semblance of countrified funkification to their guitar-wielding activities, and they occasionally ask me for assistance in this regard. If the individual in question has some ability to play but has limited vocabulary in quasi-country stylings, I may start with some groovy morsels using sixths and open-string pull-offs. These give the fledgling barnyard-boogie enthusiast some poultry-flavored arrows in their quiver of lickery while also getting them on the road to utilizing some hybrid picking that is very effective without being overly challenging. I did include one particularly blazing iteration for veteran poultrygeists who may want another face-melter for the benefit of, well, “the kids.” For each of the following seven examples, the lower string involved in these descending sixth “licks” is…

EVER SINCE LEO FENDER INTRODUCED a truly practical “Spanish” guitar made from solid pieces of wood, guitar players have benefitted from the design’s notable elements, which include resistance to feedback, enhanced sustain, ruggedness, and compact dimensions. Solidbody guitars have come a long way since then, thanks in large part to the groundbreaking instruments that Gibson and Fender launched in the 1950s, and the explosion in guitar popularity in the mid ’60s created a boom in new guitar companies here and abroad that were hungry to get in on the action with their own solidbody designs. Fast forward to now, and we see a guitar market that has evolved to cover every imaginable taste, need, and pocketbook. Just this selection of eight new guitars from the production and boutique sectors highlights…

HARDEN ENGINEERING OF CHICAGO IS the nom de rock of Bill Harnden, a guitar, amp, and pedal maker who likes to build things “the old fashioned way.” In addition to striving to inject some old-guitar mojo into everything he creates, Harnden also has a knack for funky, individualistic styling, as exhibited by the Bronco Buster on review here. Stir together a heap of Tele, a smattering of Les Paul, a pinch of ’60s gold-foil electronics, and a dusting of Zemaitis-gone-west and you’ve got the picture. Despite the familiar body shape and 25.5" scale length, the Bronco Buster features a glued-in maple neck with a flamey back-angled headstock, and a chambered body made from mahogany and basswood. If the mottled, creamy-yellow finish looks like it was applied by the guy who…

Guitar Player EDITORS’ PICK JUST A FEW YEARS INTO THE GAME, Ronin has already forged a reputation for inspired designs that nod toward the more interesting guitars of yesteryear, without doing anything quite the way it’s ever been done before. Major players like Scott Metzger, Phil Lesh, Adam Rogers, David Torn, Oz Noy, and Jimmy Vivino are hoisting their own Ronins on stage and in the studio, so luthiers Izzy Lugo and John and Jack Reed have clearly got something going on here. The latest from this small team based in Humboldt County, California, is the Morningstar, a guitar that rises from obvious inspirations to take the formula somewhere else entirely. Like many of its brethren, the Morningstar’s body is made from old-growth redwood reclaimed from fallen trees on Reed…

Backbone Guitar Resonance Enhancers for Tele and Strat Style Guitars Backbone Guitar Products Available Now Backbone connects the neck, body, bridge and strings, immediately increasing core resonance for more sustain and improved tone. Easy, non-invasive user install. “You could literally feel it without the guitar plugged in.” - Texas Blues Alley MSRP $49 to $69 www.get-a-backbone.com infogp@get-a-backbone.com A.O.C. - Archtop Open Chamber Metalin’ Guitars Available Now Metalin’ Guitars manufactures a line of premium aluminum guitars featuring amazing sustain and harmonic content. All models are customizable and priced within reach of the working musician. The Standard AOC features Duncan Phat Cats and passive treble and bass controls. Street Price: $1799 www.metalinguitars.com sales@metalinguitars.com TUSQ Picks Graph Tech Guitar Labs Available Now TUSQ Picks are a totally new class of pick. Each model…

DETROIT ROCK CITY Paul & George, Olympia Stadium, Detroit, August 13, 1966 THE FABS PERFORMED TWO SHOWS ON AUGUST 13, TO A combined audience of 30,800 Beatlemaniacs. It was the last time they ever played in Detroit, as this date was part of the band’s third and final U.S. tour. But, even as the Beatles were about to (happily) end their touring days, Paul McCartney and George Harrison still appear to be beaming exuberance and joy, rather than weary cynicism. Good actors, or musicians still loving their jobs? For true Beatles fans, there’s only one answer to that question. In a partnership with the Bob Bonis Archive, Guitar Player is thrilled to offer limited-edition, fine-art prints of never-before-seen photographs of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones from 1964-1966. Bonis (1932-1992)…

WHEN HE WAS FOUR, REZ ABBASI AND his family moved from Karachi, Pakistan, to Southern California. At 11 he received his first guitar. “It was an SG-shaped guitar from a Sears-type company, but it was like a goldmine to me,” he recalls. Abbasi quickly began playing the same music as other budding guitarists his age: Led Zeppelin, Kiss, Rush, Yes, and Van Halen. At 16, a friend turned him on to Charlie Parker, and he was soon exploring the jazz style of Joe Pass and the jazz-influenced music of players like local hero Larry Carlton and fusion god Allan Holdsworth. “I loved of the intricacy of the music, as opposed to the five chords of rock,” he says. He went on to learn jazz and classical music at the University…

New York City funk/jazz master Oz Noy knows comping. He knows a thing or two about soloing as well. It stands to reason that he’s also pretty good at thinking about both concepts at once. These examples were culled from Noy’s improvisation on a mid-tempo funk groove with a straight eighth-note rhythm, as heard in his cover of “I Feel Good” from his latest album, Who Gives a Funk, but they can be played at any tempo and with a swung eighth-note feel as well. Also, some of the chords are “rootless voicings,” with the root ostensibly being supplied by the bass. —Vinnie DeMasi “WHENEVER I SOLO, ESPECIALLY IN A TRIO context, I like to conceptualize my improvisations as a musical interaction where I’m comping behind myself,” says Noy. “I’ll…

Guitar Player EDITORS’ PICK THE FANO STANDARD JM6 LOOKS A little like someone crossed a Jazzmaster with a non-reverse Firebird and then strategically roughed the results up a bit. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. With its slick Candy Apple Red finish, genuine Aged Pearloid pickguard, and antiqued nickel hardware, this instrument presents a handsome package, whether you dig the “lightly distressed” look or not. Fano’s Standard series, which also includes the Standard SP6 model, “standardizes” a number of the most requested features and options offered on its custom-built Alt de Facto guitars, streamlining the production process and thereby lowering costs. Which is not to say that corners have been cut when it comes to workmanship, wood selection, and quality hardware, such as the Fano-branded Gotoh reproductions of oldschool…

ART THOMPSON GLOWINGLY REVIEWED the single-coil version of the John Page Ashburn in August of 2015 and ultimately the editors deemed the instrument a worthy entry to the Guitar Player magazine Hall of Fame. Now Page has brought his classic-meets-modern design to a new twin humbucker version. Featuring the same alder body as the single-coil model, it too offers a maple neck with maple or (as tested) rosewood fretboard. The neck is a comfortable medium C shape with a 12” radius and medium-jumbo frets that allow both low action and easy bending. Like the single-coil instrument, the HH features an oversized machine-bolt neck fastening system that lets the neck and body transfer vibrations, while simultaneously eliminating worry about wood screws stripping out. A contoured heel makes for easy upper fret…

Guitar Player EDITORS’ PICK I’VE BEEN A FAN OF TEYE GUITARS since I reviewed their beautiful Coyote model in the November 2014 issue. The Cleopatra is every bit as gorgeous, with its acid/laser-etched aluminum top plate, sumptuous inlays, wonderfully figured mahogany back and neck, and cool graphics. It’s simply one of the most eye-catching guitars you’ll ever come across. Some observers found the blending of materials and colors to be a little over the top, but I think they’re brilliantly over the top. The only potential bummer about the cosmetics is that the pretty tailpiece and the saw-blade-style wheels on the bridge are super sharp, and could absolutely draw blood, although I made it through an entire rehearsal with no injuries whatsoever. Cleopatra plays and feels great, even with a…

GIBSON INTRODUCED A WOULD-BE classic electric guitar or two in the 1950s and early ’60s. But of all the models we lust after today—including the Les Paul, the Flying V and Explorer in the Modernist series, the reversebodied Firebird, and the SG—the only top-tier electric that was truly an overnight success was the ES-335. The others were undoubtedly ahead of their time, but the ES-335 was entirely of it, while also hitting the ground running with the kind of versatility that would render it timeless. Players grabbed them up in a big way as a result, and Gibson’s seminal semi has never really slipped out of style. Introduced in 1958, the ES-335 was conceived as a guitar to sell to forward-looking jazzers who were still conservative enough to want an…

Guitar Player EDITORS’ PICK LAST YEAR TAYLOR’S ANDY POWERS revamped the 600 Series with maple, which earned GP’s Maximum Gear Award. Now he’s worked his magic on the 700 Series. Redesign elements include Performance Bracing with a two-part bridge plate, hide glue for the bracing and bridge, a leather-like pickguard made from materials created in-house, and a rootsy new color blend option. The 712e wears the rustic Western Sunburst gloss finish on its Lutz spruce top like an old west debutante dressed in her finest. Coupled with the rich hues of Indian rosewood back and sides, a threeringed Douglas fir rosette, “weathered brown” pickguard, and bound together with tan Hawaiian koa, the multi-shaded brunette effect is sheer earthy elegance. Every aspect, from smooth, uniform medium frets to an impeccable interior,…