Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2023 i Guitar World

VOL. 44 | NO. 2 | FEBRUARY 2023 SOMETIMES, IT’S THE LITTLE THINGS TOMORROW IS THANKSGIVING (so yeah, now you know we shipped this issue in late November). At this festive, contemplative and weirdly cold time of year, my thoughts typically turn to… buying gear for myself! Two Thanksgivings ago — right after stuffing the ol’ breadbox — I walked over to a deserted couch and ordered a Fender Professional II Tele. Last year it was a rosewood Tele. So sure, I do like my annual Teles, but over the course of the past year, I’ve come to realize that that sort of “festive” annual spending will put me in a Charles Dickens-style “workhouse” before I know it. So I’ve (for now, anyway) shifted my monetary allegiance to the little…

TYLER BRYANT & the Shakedown’s fifth album, Shake the Roots, is their first for their own label, Rattle Shake Records. Having built a rep for their direct, no-frills approach, the new record doesn’t deviate from that template but does add a host of new tonal colors, with the sound of resonators and acoustic guitars shaking up the sonic mix. Q: What led you to set up your own record company? Whenever you’re on a record label, not only are you giving a piece of the ownership of your art away, but you’re also expecting every single person at that company to like what you do and to work as hard as you would to promote the record. Doing it this way, we’re able to cherry-pick the people we use to…

Q: JACK WHITE ON EDDIE VAN HALEN AND EVH GUITARS: “We had a bit of a relationship. What happened was, when I was doing my [2018] album, Boarding House Reach, I found that the songs took weeks of rehearsal, which was something new to me. I thought, ‘I want to get the easiest guitar there is to play,’ which is the opposite of what I normally do. I saw an interview with Eddie Van Halen and [EVH Master Builder] Chip Ellis in which they talked about building the Wolfgang EVH guitar. Eddie talked about how he didn’t want to fight the guitar, and I thought, ‘OK, that might be the one for me.’ I bought one, and sure enough, it was so easy to play. It practically played itself. That’s…

Marcus King with his Gibson ES-345. “I listened to any big, trio-sounding group I could get my hands on and just blared it at my place by the lake,” he says ARENAS DON’T RATTLE like they used to. Or, at least that’s the premise guitar phenom Marcus King took into Nashville’s Easy Eye Sound when he cut Young Blood, his second solo album. “I wanted to take it back to Cream at Madison Square Garden,” the 26-year-old tells Guitar World. “Just really crank the amps and do a rock ’n’ roll record.” In an era when quiet stages and in-ear monitors are making rock music safer than ever, there’s something to be said for diming a guitar amp and letting the chips fall where they may. And in 2021, King…

NO BAND HAS had more pages written about them than the Beatles. There are books that examine every day of the band’s history, large volumes about their recordings and books devoted entirely to their gear. Yet for all that has been written about them, there is still much mystery about the finer details, such as what exact guitars and amps they used to record specific songs. We set out to answer that last question by closely examining a select group of songs spanning the Beatles’ entire recording history. A big part of the challenge is that a great amount of conflicting info exists, even among the experts. Even the members of the Beatles, producer George Martin and engineers like Geoff Emerick have provided conflicting accounts, and sometimes those people have…

MOST BEATLES fans who play guitar obsess over the electric guitars and amps that the band members played through various stages of their career. However, with the exception of the Gibson J-160E acoustic-electrics that were seen throughout the entirety of the band’s existence, the acoustic guitars that they played don’t get as much attention, even though they played equally important roles in the acoustic songs they recorded, as well as those where acoustic and electric instruments were blended together. Harrison and Lennon purchased a pair of brand-new J-160E guitars in 1962, and Lennon replaced his with a new 1964 model after his was stolen. Although a J-160E doesn’t have the most stellar acoustic tone (the Beatles used theirs amplified as often as they recorded it acoustically), it managed to provide…

ASIDE FROM PAUL and Linda, Denny Laine was the only member who was in every incarnation of the band from 1971-80. There were four drummers (five, if you count Paul) and three lead guitarists — Henry McCullough, Jimmy McCulloch and Laurence Juber. We asked Laine to discuss the differences between them. “My favorite was Henry, because he was coming more from the style of music that I like, which is kind of based on the old blues and Irish folk music. Jimmy was kind of a good copier of what was going on in that era, for his age group. He’d been in Stone the Crows, so he did have some of that blues rock background. He was very efficient, but his approach was very much about showing the world…

URBAN IRONBARK MIGHT sound like a military assault vehicle, but for Taylor Guitars, it’s a species of wood otherwise known as red ironbark eucalyptus, and above all, Taylor’s latest “urban” tonewood sharing the back and sides of their reimagined 500 Series 514ce and 512ce models. The idea of using “urban” tonewoods reclaimed from Southern California municipalities is nothing new for Taylor Guitars. In partnership with West Coast Arborists Inc. (WCA), Taylor has been able to selectively source trees — removed due to age or as a hazard to the community — and ultimately transform them into remarkable-sounding acoustics. Andy Powers, Taylor’s chief guitar designer, president and CEO, has done wonders utilizing locally sourced woods that match some of the same tonal properties as traditional tonewoods, as evidenced by his creative…

For video of this lesson, go to guitarworld.com/february2023 A GREAT CHALLENGE for exploring new soloing ideas is to play improvised lines up and down a single string. There are a variety of benefits to this approach: primarily that it pushes one out of playing “learned” positional lines and patterns based on muscle and visual memory; additionally, this approach forces one to be aware of the specific articulation techniques — slides, hammer-ons, pull-offs and bends — that are pretty much necessary to play lines in this way, which in turn plays a major role in the way any given melody “speaks." As usual, the more creative and adventurous one chooses to be, the more there is to discover. The design of the guitar also allows the player the luxury of incorporating…

For video of this lesson, go to guitarworld.com/february2023 OVER THE LAST two columns, we’ve been breaking down the song “Brown Gatton,” my ode to both Danny Gatton and James Brown, which I originally recorded in 2017 for my album, Still. For those who may be unfamiliar with Danny Gatton, he was one of the greatest guitarists who ever lived, and he has been a major influence of mine for many years. Danny could move effortlessly from country and western swing to blues to jazz to bebop in the blink of an eye, and I learned so many licks from listening to his records. I’m still learning Danny Gatton licks! And as is the case with all of one’s influences, it’s a fun and challenging goal to bring them into our…

“NORWEGIAN WOOD (THIS BIRD HAS FLOWN)” WORDS AND MUSIC BY JOHN LENNON AND PAUL MCCARTNEY. COPYRIGHT ©1965 SONY MUSIC PUBLISHING (US) LLC AND MPL COMMUNICATIONS, INC. IN THE UNITED STATES. COPYRIGHT RENEWED. ALL RIGHTS FOR THE WORLD EXCLUDING THE UNITED STATES ADMINISTERED BY SONY MUSIC PUBLISHING (US) LLC, 424 CHURCH STREET, SUITE 1200, NASHVILLE, TN 37219. INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT SECURED. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRINTED BY PERMISSION OF HAL LEONARD LLC.…

STAY CONNECTED WITH GUITAR WORLD ON AND GET THE LATEST GUITAR NEWS, INSIDER UPDATES, STAFF REPORTS AND MORE! How to make a Guitar World [The December 2022 issue] is a good snapshot of what a great Guitar World magazine should be. A bit of both old and new. Steve Vai and Polyphia. Small articles on new and old artists. Three songs tabbed which are each from a different decade. And my favorite — finally a piece on one of my main influences, Johnny Thunders. Never thought I’d actually see him grace your pages. I don’t play their style of music, but I appreciate Vai and Polyphia and am in awe of their playing. But Thunders was a huge influence on me earlier in life and he rarely gets the…

KIRK DOUGLAS — OR “Captain Kirk” as most will know him — will be a familiar face to fans of The Tonight Show, where he performs as part of the Roots every weeknight. Most weekends he heads out with the band to play shows across the country. Utilizing the time spent traveling, Douglas managed to compile enough ideas to put together his second solo album, Hundred Watt Heart, which is also the name under which he’s been performing sporadic solo shows. “I thought it seemed a poetic way of describing what this music is,” he says. “I’m plugging my heart into a loud facility.” The album, with its broad range of styles, may wrongfoot fans of the Roots. There’s more than a hint of psychedelia, with elements of Jimi Hendrix…

Keith Levene — founding guitarist of the Clash and Public Image Ltd (PiL) — performs in Atlanta with PiL, April 24, 1980. Levene, who is considered one of the most influential guitarists of British rock and post-punk, passed away November 11, 2022, at age 65. “It’s people like Keith Levene from Public Image... who are exploring the possibilities of what you can do with the guitar,” John Frusciante said in 2009 AND ALONG COMES THE EVENTIDE H90 After years of R&D, Eventide has unleashed its next-generation multi-effects unit, the H90 Harmonizer — a new-and-improved pedal that builds upon the solid foundations set by its predecessors (H9 and H9 Max) and introduces new features. With a refined control layout — which looks to be far more user-friendly than the H9’s single-knob…

Cream , Disraeli Gears Led by Eric Clapton and featuring drummer Ginger Baker and bassist and singer Jack Bruce, Cream established the power trio blueprint with 1966’s Fresh Cream. But their 1967 follow up, Disraeli Gears, confirmed their preeminence among Britain’s blues-rock upstarts. The group’s volatile chemistry sparked the genius in “Sunshine of Your Love” and “Strange Brew.” ZZ Top , Tres Hombres ZZ Top fully realized their boogie-rock vision on Tres Hombres, their smash 1973 set. Tres Hombres gave boogie-rock its first signature tune, “La Grange,” but opener “Waitin’ for the Bus” and the chugging “Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers” are every bit as infectious. Throughout the album, Billy Gibbons plays like a man possessed — exactly why Jimi Hendrix raved about him after his pre-ZZ band, the Moving…

PLAYING the part of John Lennon or George Harrison requires talent and extreme attention to detail. You’re taking the iconic musicians through 10 years of evolution over a two-hour performance — from “Twist and Shout” to “Strawberry Fields Forever” to “Let It Be.” So, woodshedding, guitars and amps aside, it makes sense that you’d need more than a little help from the right effects units. THE FAB FOUR “When we get to Rubber Soul and Revolver in our set, that’s when things get more nuanced and complex,” says Ron McNeil, who plays John Lennon, and is the founding member of the Fab Four, which started in 1997. “That’s where the Vox Valvetronix ToneLab with the tube inline comes in.” “It’s compact, can hold a lot of information and it nails…

“AS A WRITER who thinks of himself as part craftsman, the idea of writing a Bond theme is akin to being asked to make a bit of furniture for the national collection,” Paul McCartney said in the 2013 biography Man on the Run. In October 1972, McCartney was introduced to 007 film producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, who gave him a copy of Ian Fleming’s novel Live and Let Die. He read it in a day, and finished the theme song the next, with Linda contributing the middle reggae section. It all came easy, though McCartney admitted working the title in was a bit tricky. “I thought, ‘Live and let die’ — okay, really what they mean is live and let live, and there’s the switch. So I just…

For video of this lesson, go to guitarworld.com/february2023 ONE OF THE most expressive tools for electric guitar players is the use of the volume swell. An essential element in the arsenals of such legendary players as Danny Gatton, Roy Buchanan, Walter Trout, and, of course, Jeff Beck, a volume swell is produced by raising the volume of the guitar from zero to “on” after picking a string. The note’s initial attack is inaudible through the amplifier, after which its sustain fades in, or “blossoms,” getting louder as you turn up your guitar's volume knob. When done correctly, the sound produced is like that of a bowed instrument, such as a violin or cello. Once you have the technique down, it’s possible to play long phrases wherein each note is sounded…

“662” Christone “Kingfish” Ingram THIS FUN, NEW rock and roll song by young blues lion Christone “Kingfish” Ingram features the talented electric guitarist/vocalist celebrating his musical-cultural roots and jamming out with his rhythm section and traditional tube-driven Fender guitar-and-amp tone. Playing in the time-honored key of A and at the bright tempo of 158 beats per minute, Kingfish attacks pretty much all of his quarter- and eighth-note rhythms with downstrokes, Chuck Berry-style, which gives his riffs and licks a consistently punchy attack. While it may seem counterintuitive to not alternate-pick the eighth notes at this tempo, which would require less effort, the guitarist instead jabs/pummels the strings with consecutive downstrokes, applying some palm muting (P.M.) to the open A and D notes to keep them from ringing too long. The…

LAURA COX DOESN’T know how to not rock out. You can see it in her performance at the 2021 Hellfest. There she is, onstage at the largest rock festival in her native France. Her fingers are sliding all over her Les Paul, cranking out an impressive array of bluesy, AC/DC-esque riffs, her vocal delivery is impeccable, she’s running between band members and just selling the hell out of her stage presence. Before her, there is an empty field. There’s no one there. The show must go on, but the audience is sheltering at home, watching on computers and wondering when the damn pandemic is going to end so they can sweat and guzzle overpriced beer as the music gods intended. But Cox’s unique career path has prepared her for these…

STARCRAWLER GUITARIST HENRI Cash can do a whole lot with very little. Throughout his band’s smashing new album, She Said, he fires off rip-snortin’ punk rock riffs and rhythms on just three strings. “It’s something I’ve done since I was a kid,” he says. “My dad played guitar, and he used a lot of open tunings. I kind of narrowed that down to the bare essentials and found that three strings were all I needed.” Cash’s main guitar is a custom model designed by luthier Randy Parsons. He struck up a friendship with the guitar builder several years ago at a NAMM show, after which Parsons crafted Cash’s White Bat model. “It’s got one pickup, kind of Malcolm Young style,” Cash says. “And there’s an R2R treble booster built right…

“I have a favorite breakfast cereal,” Yes and Asia guitarist Steve Howe told us in 2011. “It’s what we call porridge, but you call it oatmeal. That to me is the most rewarding and delicious cereal. Obviously if you get it out of a packet and put it in a microwave, then forget it, it’s rubbish. If you go to a health store and get some organic oatmeal, I would buy the small one, not the big things. Who needs giant oatmeal? Scary! Let’s have normal-size oatmeal. If you want to do it the Steve Howe way, it’s one cup of oatmeal, one cup of water and one cup of milk, and that gives it a nice creamy texture. “Don’t put sugar in it, on it, or anywhere near the…

ON THE SUBJECT OF HEADLESS GUITARS, there really is no sitting on the fence — you either love ’em or hate ’em. For purists and traditionalists, these are the kind of instruments nightmares are made of, deviating far beyond what’s acceptable in ways that feel unnecessary and, in more extreme circumstances, broken or incomplete. More modern-style players, however, tend to think differently and often welcome innovation at its most radical; there’s a futuristic charm to these daring designs that’s almost indicative of our own evolution as a species. While the roots of these guitars can be dated as far back as the 18th century, Ned Steinberger is usually credited as the pioneer behind the headless as we know it today. After designing the NS-1 bass alongside Stuart Spector, he launched…

MARK TREMONTI IS COUNTING HIMSELF LUCKY. Not just because he’s got a lot going for himself these days. For more than 20 years, he’s been the engine behind some of the best-selling rock records in the world, a streak that continues with Alter Bridge’s just-released seventh album, Pawns & Kings. He’s got a successful solo side project that traffics in slightly heavier fare and in which he’s solidified his shredder bonafides. He’s even been able to indulge in some more off-the-wall projects; earlier this year, he released an album of distinctly traditional and non-heavy Frank Sinatra tunes. No, today he’s counting himself lucky because he and his family are alive and well after Hurricane Ian hit his hometown of Orlando, Florida, with punishing winds, rain and floods. However, even if…

“THE FIRST LINEUP of Wings was my favorite one,” Denny Laine says. “Something about those players together really gelled.” With the benefit of hindsight and critical reassessment, the early incarnation of Paul and Linda McCartney’s group — rhythm guitarist/vocalist Laine, drummer Denny Seiwell and lead guitarist Henry McCullough — really does stand out. They were, as Laine modestly puts it, “a really good rock ’n’ roll band.” But back in 1971-72, Wings was relentlessly maligned by the press. Rolling Stone called them “flaccid” and “aimless,” wondering why they even bothered to release their debut album, 1971’s Wild Life. Linda’s presence in the group galled critics to go further, writing what McCartney called “really savage stuff” about her. Much of this was fueled by the impossible bar raised by the…

SOUNDCHECKFEBRUARY 2023 ANYONE WHO HAS paid close attention to Paul Reed Smith’s thoughts about guitar gear over the last decade or three knew that the chance of PRS ever releasing effect pedals was as likely as pigs flying or hell freezing over, as he often criticized stomp boxes. However, seasons change and reasons change, and here we are looking at a trio of brand new boxes introduced by PRS. “I hate pedals,” Smith acknowledges in a promo sheet included with each product, before he elaborates, “At least that’s what I used to say,” and admits that he’s started collecting them. Like many guitarists who get the collecting bug, Smith discovered that none of the various overdrives he had provided the sound he was looking for, so he decided to design…

AT THIS POINT, you’ll need either a king’s ransom or the patience of Job to procure the fabled “King of Tone” pedal. But if you’re following the KoT’s regal succession, I’m going to declare there’s a new royal that’s far more accessible — the MXR Duke of Tone. While I don’t have the space to get into the alluring popularity of the “King of Tone” overdrive made by Analog Man proprietor and famed pedal builder Mike Piera, rest assured, many savvy guitarists will be pleased to see MXR’S mini-chassis incarnation of the purple box wonder based on the Prince of Tone (a single-channel version of the legendary KoT pedal) come to fruition. For many who lament the years-long waiting list for the KoT, Dunlop and Piera’s hands-on collaboration to introduce…

For video of this lesson, go to guitarworld.com/february2023 THIS MONTH, I’D like to take a look at my song “That Day Came,” which I recorded for my 2016 album, Theme From a Perfect World, as a means for exploring how to present a melody while supporting it with small two-note chords, often referred to as dyads, and other chord voicings that serve to fill out the harmony. FIGURE 1 presents the tune’s introductory melody, which is played in the key of F# minor. I begin by sounding an F#m chord in 9th position across the first three beats of bar 1, and on beat 4 a melody is introduced that sets up a change to the V (five) chord, C#7. This line is based on the F# Aeolian mode (F#,…

“SEPARATE WAYS (WORLDS APART)”WORDS AND MUSIC BY STEVE PERRY AND JONATHAN CAINCOPYRIGHT ©1982 LOVE BATCH MUSIC (ASCAP) AND TWIST AND SHOUT MUSIC,A DIVISION OF WEEDHIGH-NIGHTMARE MUSIC (ASCAP).ALL RIGHTS FOR WEEDHIGH-NIGHTMARE MUSIC ADMINISTERED BY WIXEN MUSIC PUBLISHING INC. INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT SECURED. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRINTED BY PERMISSION OF HAL LEONARD LLC AND ALFRED PUBLISHING.…