Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2020 i Guitar Player

PUNK ROCK SOMETIMES gets a bad rap where musicianship is concerned, but Lagwagon guitarist Chris Rest says that hasn’t always been undeserved. “Most of the bands we played with in the beginning were the worst,” he says about his tenure with pioneering SoCal punkers Rich Kids on LSD in the 1980s. “The first couple of U.S. tours we did, every band’s songs were just one or two chords with barking-dog vocals.” But times have changed, Rest says. “Back then, punk did suck, for the most part, as far as the garage bands were concerned. Nowadays, it’s totally different,” he says. “Every band is good.” Although Rest came from an era of punk that didn’t place virtuosity on a pedestal, his love of Thin Lizzy, Cheap Trick and Pink Floyd armed…

NANCY WILSON WAS all of nine years old when she first saw the Beatles on TV. She remembers it as her “call to Mecca moment.” “That was it for me,” she says. “What the Beatles were doing was so mind blowing, it just went right through me. I immediately set my sights on learning the guitar.” Her sister Ann was similarly besotted, and after much begging of their parents, the Wilson girls were rewarded with a $30 Lyle acoustic, which Nancy remembers as being nearly impossible to play. “You could not form a barred F chord on it to save your life,” she says. “It was such a struggle. A little later, Ann got sick and our grandmother gave her a much better guitar. I would sneak off and play…

ALTHOUGH WE LIVE in a stereo world, most guitars have a mono output jack. While it’s possible to run that mono signal through stereo effects like reverb, chorus and delay, it would be cooler to make the guitar output itself inherently stereo without having to do something like rewire two different pickup outputs to a stereo jack. And it would be even cooler still if the stereo output collapsed perfectly to mono, without phase changes, and without using time-based effects. As for the cost of doing this, how does “free” sound? Yeah, I thought you’d like that. As it happens, Voxengo makes several free plug-ins (including an amp sim and tube saturator), as well as commercial plug-ins that are well worth the money they cost. The one we’re interested in…

Green Day have always been, first and foremost, a punk rock band. This would seem to be stating the obvious. But it’s also been clear that the spiky-haired three-piece from California’s East Bay don’t fit easily into the genre’s confines. Consider 1997’s smash acoustic ballad (and enduring high-school prom anthem) “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” or 2004’s politi-rock opera concept album American Idiot. At the very least, cast your mind back to 2010, when that multi-Platinum-selling, Grammy Award–winning record became a full-blown Broadway musical. Of course, singer and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tré Cool have shown as recently as 2016’s Revolution Radio that they’re still capable of churning out turbocharged, three-minute, three-chord anthems with unbridled energy and emotion. But no one who has followed…

NOTES STEVE VAI, “There are a couple of simple rules that can help musicians with their economics, because balancing money as a musician can be quite a challenge sometimes. Performing is not like a nine-to-five job; there can be good times and lean times. “There are two things I discovered that were extremely helpful for me back in the day. One was that financial anxiety is the devil. It’s unworthy of you, and unnecessary, and most people in the world suffer from it. “The other thing I discovered was that the way to alleviate that fear of financial anxiety is to live under your means. When I was making $200 per week, I figured out a way to live on $180 a week. You can do that. I then took…

THE GRETSCH WHITE FALCON was conceived as a one-off showpiece demonstration guitar, one that would grab people’s attention and draw them in with as much bling and over-the-top craftsmanship as Gretsch’s Brooklyn factory could muster. Unveiled at the NAMM show in July 1954, the guitar created such a flap that Gretsch hatched a plan for the guitar to become a fully fledged member of its electric guitar line. The following year, the White Falcon debuted at the top of Gretsch’s pecking order as its most expensive instrument, retailing at $600, roughly $5,750 today. Much like Gibson’s flagship Super 400CES, introduced in 1951, the White Falcon was established as Gretsch’s crowning glory, and to this day it remains the superlative guitar for many. “It was my ultimate dream guitar,” says the…

THE HYBRID AMP, a concoction marrying tubes and solid-state amplification, has been around for a while. Makers like Music Man and Peavey mixed solid-state preamps with tube-powered output stages way back in the ’70s to create amps intended to serve as professional-grade rigs. A couple of decades later, Marshall, Vox and others went the other way, melding a preamp tube or two in the front end with solid-state output stages. As the tech needed to populate a tube-driven front end is less expensive, lighter and runs cooler than what’s required for a tube-powered output stage, this proved to be an affordable way of giving a modicum of tube tone to the student-and-novice buying sector. Solid-state technology has come a long way in the years since then, and the U.K.’s Rajani…

ANY GUITARIST REMOTELY into the DIY trend of the past 20 years will likely be familiar with kits-and-parts supplier Mojotone. Those a little more familiar with the company will know that it has segued from supplying amp kits to fully assembling them and applied the same “we can build it” ethos to pickups. The latest offering in Mojotone’s comprehensive lineup is the Premium Historic Limited ’59 PAF Humbucker neck-and-bridge pickup set. Yeah, we know — yet another maker purportedly cracking the secret to the hallowed PAF tone! Mojotone’s approach is a little different, however. The company also offers the set at a price that’s very competitive on the boutique humbucker scene, which inspired us to acquire one for testing. Naturally, Mojotone uses all the essential vintage-correct components, including field-charged, rough-cast…

THE NEXT TIME someone tells you the age of the guitar hero is over, just point them toward Anthony Pirog. Although he has chops to spare, he isn’t your prototypical blues-rock virtuoso or metal shredder. Like many modern guitar heroes, Pirog is musically multilingual. In his case, this means that he’s equally conversant with Danny Gatton–esque country picking, jazz, free improvisation and post-rock experimentalism. Over the past year, he’s provided plenty of places to point, beginning with three albums released within months of each other. Music from the Anacostia Delta (Cuneiform) features the Spellcasters — Pirog and fellow Telecaster-wielders Joel Harrison and Dave Chappell — whose music demonstrates the wide range of tones available from Leo Fender’s revolutionary instrument. Also, from Cuneiform came the self-titled record from Five Times Surprise,…

MAKING AND SELLING amplifiers was an afterthought for Orange, an act undertaken out of desperation to save the company from eviction. The Orange concept was founded in London in 1968 by musician and would-be all-round empresario Cliff Cooper, who rented a storefront on New Compton Street in the Soho district of London’s West End. Out of this he ran what was intended to be a recording studio, record label, music publishing and promotional agency business. Unfortunately, business wasn’t very good. When the venture failed to bring in a profit, Cooper displayed his band’s gear in the front window and marked it “for sale,” in an effort to make the rent. The amps sold the very same day, and soon after, the shop began selling second-hand musical equipment, catering to the…

ON MY 14TH birthday, my sister Kathy took me to Tower Records San Francisco, on Columbus and Bay, and said I could buy any one record. I’d never seen or imagined a record store like Tower, and my 14-year-old brain was overwhelmed. It took a couple of hours before I chose The Memphis Sounds of Lonnie Mack, on Trip Records. I have no recollection why, out of 100,000 LPs, I specifically chose Lonnie Mack, but I was no dummy. It was a double LP. Born Lonnie Macintosh in Harrison, Indiana, in 1941, Mack started playing guitar in his family’s country-based jam sessions when he was five or six. The radio was his only connection to the outside world, and he forged a deep connection with black radio and gospel before…

“THAT MUSIC WAS BUBBLING UP INSIDE ME FOR YEARS. I WAS WAITING, WAITING, WAITING TO BIRTH THE ALBUM” In the pantheon of shred gods, three names instantly come to mind: Eddie Van Halen, Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai. It’s perhaps not a coincidence that Vai replaced EVH as sideman to David Lee Roth and Yngwie as guitarist in Alcatrazz. Few people could take over from either of those giants, let alone both of them, but Steve Vai is unlike any other guitarist. His prodigious talent was recognized at an early age by Frank Zappa, who first employed him to transcribe guitar parts, and then included him in his band. For Guitar Player readers, the appearance of Vai’s solo track “The Attitude Song” on the first flexible Soundsheet disc in the…

OVER THE COURSE of more than 50 years, Yes have survived lineup changes that would have done in lesser bands. Certainly, the 2015 death of founding bassist Chris Squire was a major blow to the long-running British prog-rock act. Squire was the only band member to have appeared on every Yes album from the group’s inception in 1968. Now his melodic lead-style bass work, with its distinct and dynamic tone, would not be heard again. As it happens, his former bandmates had other plans. Shortly after Squire’s passing, Yes guitarist Steve Howe and keyboardist Oliver Wakeman decided to revisit previously unreleased studio recordings that feature Squire. The results can be heard on the mini-LP From a Page (Yes 97 LLC), available exclusively from BurningShed.com. “My goal was to go back…

STONE TEMPLE PILOTS built their sound and legend as a hard rock band, cranking out electric guitar–dominated tracks like “Interstate Love Song,” “Plush” and “Vasoline,” to name a few of their many chart-topping hits. So it might come as a surprise to learn that the San Diego rockers have cut an acoustic record. Perdida (Rhino) is a true band effort featuring lyrical songs that are not only performed largely with acoustic instruments but also adorned with acoustic flourishes and a handful of colorful electric elements, including guitar solos. But as guitarist Dean DeLeo explains, the album came to life the way most of STP’s records have since they cut their first, Core, in 1992. “I started out on acoustic guitar,” DeLeo explains, “and the larger portion of our songs have…

EVER BEEN PLAYING your acoustic guitar and suddenly noticed an extra bit of reverberation or the hint of a surprise harmonic? Those magical-sounding resonances, which seem to come out of nowhere, can occur almost anywhere on any string. You may have never stopped to investigate why or how they happen, or to figure out how to conjure that kind of magic intentionally, but this month, that’s just what we’re going to do. LET IT RING There are many ways to set a guitar string in motion, and the most common — playing with a plectrum while resting the heel of the palm near the bridge — is a resonance killer. While that technique works wonderfully to control extraneous noise when playing an amplified electric guitar, it takes away some of…

HAVING EARNED A boatload of praise since the 1990s for its relatively affordable, yet high-quality acoustic stringed instruments, Eastman saw its reputation in the electric guitar world go from strength to strength in the 2010s. The majority of its models have been homages to and near-replicas of classics from the golden age of American-made electrics, such as Eastman’s take on the Les Paul or the ES-335. However, the new Romeo is very much an original concept, and one that aims to punch above its weight class. Designed by Los Angeles–based master luthier Otto D’Ambrosio, the Romeo is a thinline archtop semi-acoustic guitar that appears primed to take you from jazz to blues to rock, all in one sitting, while delivering a big dollop of its own personality along the way.…

COMFORT AND ELEGANCE are the hallmarks of the Builder’s Edition K24ce, an exquisite addition to Taylor’s Koa Series, which features V-Class bracing, a beveled cutaway, Silent Satin finish and Expression System 2 electronics. In the grand scheme of Taylor acoustics, only the Presentation Series is more luxurious, so it’s no surprise there is much to appreciate about this Builder’s Edition model. It’s hard to overstate how stunning the K24 appears, especially when viewed in natural sunlight, where every nuance can be fully absorbed. The front and back are made of book-matched koa that ripples both laterally, from the middle toward the sides, and vertically, from headstock to heel. At certain angles, the ripples take on a three-dimensional quality and appear to flow back and forth. The Kona Burst finish adds…

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. MarcSilverGuitarImprov.com $42.00 USO (includes delivery in the U.S.) Lil Luber/Groove Luber/Bench Luber Big Bends LLC Available Now Big Bends LLC is proud to introduce the complete line of Nut Sauce™ tuning lubricant applicators: the 0.5cc Lil Luber - for the guitar hobbyist; the 1. 5cc Groove Luber - for the serious player; and the 6cc Bench Luber - for…

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THIS PAST NOVEMBER 30, Arlo Guthrie gave his last Alice’s Restaurant Massacree concert at New York City’s Carnegie Hall. The show has been a holiday tradition for 52 years and dates back to the time when Guthrie performed at the venue alongside Pete Seeger, the great folk icon and close friend of his father, Woody Guthrie. But time has taken its toll, if not on the music then on its fans. “The audience I inherited from Pete, as well as my own crowd, is dwindling,” Guthrie explained after the show. “Most people under 50 have no idea who I am. We’ve had a great run of shows in the most prestigious venue in the most important city in the world for over 50 years, so there are no complaints. It’s…

NOW AND THEN, some distinctive country and blues picking that I don’t recognize will surface on local Americana radio. It quite often turns out to be a solo on one of Eilen Jewell’s records that perks up my ears. Through YouTube, I was able to discover the creator of the solos was long-time Jewell bandmate Jerry Miller — not the Moby Grape member of the same name but an equally prodigious player who, like the Grape guitarist, possesses a musical vocabulary spanning blues, country and jazz. This Miller gets to exhibit his extensive and expansive lexicon of licks on Jewell’s latest record, Gypsy (Signature Sounds). Speaking to GP from his current home in Bloomington, Indiana, Jerry Miller reveals that he came by his country chops while growing up around Nashville…

FIONA BOYES’ DOWN-HOME style of blues guitar has made her a favorite on the festival circuit and with the blues hierarchy in Memphis. Though she hails from Australia, her guitar style is steeped in the U.S. southern tradition, leaning toward fingerpicking and slide, and has a natural spirit that captures the true essence of blues music. Over her now 30-year career, she’s won multiple awards and gathered as much attention in her home country as she has in the U.S. and abroad. Her latest album, Voodoo in the Shadows (Reference Recordings), was released in 2018. For more information, visit fionaboyes.com. When did you start playing guitar? Not until I was in my mid to late 20s. I started playing professionally at 27, and so in some ways it was an…

THE NAME VALCO comes up often when one is chasing down the DNA of an obscure amp or guitar, and with good reason. Valco was behind not only Supro’s fabled guitars and tube amps but also the Airline, National and Oahu brands, to name a few. You can add Custom Kraft to that lineup as well. Kay manufactured the brand in the U.S. from the 1930s through the ’60s, during which time Custom Kraft served as the house marque for St. Louis Music, one of the largest distributors of musical instruments and accessories in North America. In 1967, Kay merged with Valco, but the partnership dissolved in 1968, the year that the Beat Blaster shown here was built. The company’s assets were auctioned off, with the result that the Beat…

Gibsons weren’t easy to come by in England in 1964, when you acquired your first ES-175. How did you get it? It had to be ordered. I went to Selmer on Charing Cross Road and said, “I want a 175,” and they went, “Well, we haven’t got any of those.” But they said not to worry, as they could get me one as long as I ordered it. They ordered it, and two months later I went and picked it up. One of the guitarists that I admired at the time was Kenny Burrell. I got back home, plugged it into a Fender Tremolux and played “Chitlins Con Carne,” or something, and…that’s Kenny Burrell! That’s his sound. He did play a 175, but his main guitar was a Super 400,…

IN OUR LAST issue, we presented the first part of our two-part lesson in understanding and using the unique and highly idiosyncratic scale-based chord voicing and single-note soloing techniques of the late Allan Holdsworth. In consideration of the complexity of his chord progressions and numerous scale-playing techniques, our goal throughout this lesson has been to provide an accessible and inspiring introduction to Holdsworth’s style that doesn’t require his rare genius to understand or employ. Last month, we presented examples in the family of relative modes based on the parent C major scale (C, D, E, F, G, A, B), with an orientation primarily around F Lydian (F, A, B, C, D, E) and D Dorian (D, E, F, G, A, B, C). We also looked at Holdsworth’s inventive chord voicings…

FENDER UNVEILED ITS Vintera series at Summer NAMM, and the guitars were so successful that several months passed before we could finally get our hands on a few test models. Situated between the American Professional and American Original series of the past couple of years, the Vintera line is designed, Fender says, to capture “Vintage style for the modern era.” The series acknowledges the specs and looks that so many players are chasing today, with clever new takes on the contemporary and vintage-inspired entrants in Fender’s USA-made lineup. The Vintera ’50s Stratocaster Modified, ’60s Jaguar and ’70s Telecaster Thinline reviewed here sneak a wealth of stealth modern features into creations that outwardly retain the desirable visual chic of their era-specific originals, to the end of delivering exactly what many guitarists…

THE ELECTRO-HARMONIX Operation Overload pedal is a great-sounding stereo overdrive pedal that puts tons of tones at your fingertips. But what if you, like many other guitarists, don’t really need stereo operation? EHX has thoughtfully delivered the new Nano Operation Overlord Allied Overdrive, a mono pedal that creates the same overdrive and distortion tones as its bigger sibling, but in a smaller box. The first thing you’ll notice about this EHX overdrive is that it is tiny. Yay! The second thing you’ll notice is that the power-strip-hogging wall wart is not. Oh well. More important than any of that is the sound quality, and the little Overlord scores a victory on that front, with open, amp-like tones and smart features that make it compatible with just about any instrument, including…

AT LONG LAST, a major manufacturer has made an overdrive pedal for the acoustic market. But Fender’s Smolder Acoustic Overdrive isn’t a slightly tweaked take on an overdrive pedal for electric guitars. Rather, it was designed from the ground up with the acoustic performer in mind. In our January 2020 Frets feature, progressive bluegrass player Billy Strings spoke about his struggle to achieve overdriven acoustic tones and said he was looking forward to Fender’s new pedal. He recently received a Smolder and graciously shared some of his insights for this review. The Smolder is specifically made to accommodate the piezo bridge transducers found on most modern acoustic-electrics. Piezo pickups excel at capturing the percussive nature and myriad nuances of the acoustic instrument. The downside is that when you try to…

> HE POPULARIZED GARAGE ROCK with his groundbreaking Nuggets anthology, helped launch Patti Smith’s music career and produced Suzanne Vega’s breakthrough hit. Salon, the online arts and culture magazine, has called him “one of the most influential men in rock history, even though most people have never heard the name.” Indeed, guitarist Lenny Kaye has spent much of his career behind the scenes in support of other artists. He was born in Manhattan on December 27, 1946, and raised in Queens and Brooklyn. Though he started out on accordion, Kaye had switched to guitar by the time he began attending Rutgers University as a history major in the 1960s. While there, he launched his music career by strumming a cherry-red Gibson Les Paul Special in the Vandals, a garage-rock frat-house…