Indholdsfortegnelse for May 2018 i Guitar Player

I RECEIVED A TEXT MESSAGE FROM GUITARIST JOHNNY A, JUST BEFORE I was about to cover Joe Bonamassa’s “Keeping the Blues Alive at Sea IV” cruise on February 26. I knew I was going to see him onboard, but I was surprised when he said his new solo show was based around a looping system. Johnny, of course, made a name for himself playing instrumental guitar music, and he also joined the Yardbirds a while back. This, however, appeared to be a bold transition into a different creative paradigm for him—at least as far as I knew. But it didn’t really matter what Johnny was planning to unveil aboard the Norwegian Jade liner. The cool thing for me was that he had changed his own game. I always root for…

CHORUS Effects Group: Modulation All You’ll Care About: Makes things all shimmery and sexy. Audio Example: “Come As You Are,” Nirvana (verses). COMPRESSOR Effects Group: Dynamics All You’ll Care About: Keeps the volume level of all of your notes and chords consistent. Puts everything right in the listener’s face. Audio Example: “Saved By Zero,” Fixx. DELAY Effects Group: Ambience All You’ll Care About: Your parts come right back at you like echoes across the Grand Canyon. Audio Example: “I Will Follow,” U2. DISTORTION Effects Group: Distortion/Overdrive All You’ll Care About: Ferocious, saturated grittiness with sustain. Audio Example: “Mr. Scarey,” Dokken. FLANGER Effects Group: Modulation All You’ll Care About: Swooping, sweeping ray-gun sounds. Audio Example: “Barracuda,” Heart (main riff). FUZZ Effects Group: Distortion/Overdrive All You’ll Care About: Buzzy, fuzzy majesty—usually a…

A FAMOUS BRITISH MUSIC JOURnalist once stated that guitarist James Stevenson “has now played in 72 percent of all known bands.” Although the statement was amusing, it’s also apt. After 40 years in the business, Stevenson has played countless sessions, launched a career as a solo artist, and has hit the road with Chelsea, Generation X, Gene Loves Jezebel, the Alarm, Kim Wilde, Glen Matlock, the International Swingers, Holy Holy, and many others. “Few bands today are really all-the-time things,” explains Stevenson, who has “72 Percent” imprinted on his custom picks. “Artists understand that most people play in several different groups. The way the industry has gone, you’re not getting any income from selling CDs anymore, so you constantly have to go out on the road in order to make…

MY INTEREST IN PEDALS is very much like my interest in guitars—I love the weirdoes. Blich-Chri refers to this box as a “Custom Guitar Pedal Weird Tape Noise Thing”—which just scratches the surface of its mindbending effects. WEIRDO FACTOR Let’s start with the graphics on the surface of the box. They look a bit like a ransom note cut out of unmatched newspaper fonts. (“wE haVe yOur dAugHter. SeNd $1 miLLion to kEEp heR breAthinG”). But the real weirdness happens when you plug in this circuit-bending marvel. PLAYABILITY & SOUND The Clari (Not) produces a great analog echo, as well as massive tube-style distortion. That might be enough value for what I paid for it, but you can also dial in an LFO (which is sort of like a wobbly…

I FIRST HEARD THE 1971 RELEASE, Live Johnny Winter And, when I was a curious 12-year-old kid who was just discovering blues rock. This great LP was recorded at the Fillmore East in 1970, and it showcased standout tracks such as “Mean Town Blues,” “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” and “Johnny B. Goode.” But the song that still blows me away is “It’s My Own Fault”—a blues-rock tour-de-force that clocks in at 12 minutes and 14 seconds. Every second of it is vital, spirited, and interesting, and I’m still inspired by the chemistry of the group, which included guitarist Rick Derringer, bassist Randy Joe Hobbs, and drummer Bobby Caldwell. Sure, the most obvious things on the album are the wonderful and fiery pentatonic onslaughts of Johnny Winter, but my vote for Most Valuable…

VENERABLE ACOUSTIC-INSTRUMENT electronics manufacturer L.R. Baggs had the Winter NAMM Show abuzz over its new Align Series pedal suite aimed specifically at acoustic-electric guitarists. We’re thrilled that they promptly sent review units ready for testing—and all together too, as a performance/recording system. The four distinctly acousticlooking pedals featuring stained-wood graphics fit perfectly and snugly affixed to a MONO Pedalboard Lite Plus ($129 street), all powered by a Truetone 1 Spot AC adaptor and Multi Plug 5 Cable ($29.90 street for both). To simulate a gig situation, Baggs also sent along its new Synapse Personal P.A. ($1,999 street; review coming soon). ALIGN SERIES SESSION Essentially a compressor and gain pedal rolled into one, the Session ($179 street) is designed to add oomph and richness for a studio-quality tone. Volume and Gain…

SOUND OFF! GET EXCLUSIVE NEWS. COMMENT. CRITIQUE. SHARE TIPS AND TECHNIQUES. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR E-NEWSLETTER. FACEBOOK.COM/GUITARPLAYERMAG TWITTER.COM/GUITARPLAYERNOW GUITARPLAYER.COM MICHAEL MOLENDA Editor In Chief mmolenda@nbmedia.com ART THOMPSON Senior Editor athompson@nbmedia.com PATRICK WONG Managing Editor pwong@nbmedia.com JUDE GOLD Los Angeles Editor judegold@gmail.com JIMMY LESLIE Frets Editor jl@jimmyleslie.com DAVE HUNTER Gear Section & Video Contributor dhunterwordsmusic@yahoo.com PAUL HAGGARD Art Director phaggard@nbmedia.com…

KEITH HYDE IS ONE OF THE friends I made while covering Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp a few years back, and the man is a tireless meme-dissemination artist. Without warning, Keith will blow up my cell with these daft guitar memes. I think he’s just trying to toss a few giggles into my day, but I also dig the fact that sharing memes is like a gentle finger wag to keep musicians from taking themselves too seriously. So for this issue’s theme, I’ve chosen six memes—discovered through Tumblr, Fortin Amps, memebase, memegenerator, and quickmeme—that take aim at “pedal pomposity.” If you have your own faves, please share them with me at mmolenda@nbmedia.com.…

I CAN’T THINK OF ANY OTHER GUITARIST I HAVE FOLlowed so closely, or who has influenced me so deeply, as Jeff Beck. It’s not just his Yardbirds or classic fusion days, either, as his new work is so strong. He just keeps getting better and better. Beck’s recent Loud Hailer delivers a multitude of brilliant guitar tones, but the instrumental “Pull It” really caught my attention, due to its melding of furious overdrive with dubstep-style bass and drums. This is precisely why Jeff is such an innovator—he takes contemporary music and bends it to his will. If you want to explore the “Pull It” tone in your DAW, here’s how I approached it. THE TONAL INGREDIENTS • Stratocaster • Overdrive • Ring Modulation • Phaser • Wah Pedal THE PLUG-IN…

WITH DIGITAL RECORDING software, you can create cool virtual pedalboards with plugins—no patch cords or batteries! Here’s how. INSERT EFFECTS All DAWs have effects bins (aka, “virtual racks”) for inserting plugins in series. The simplest option is to insert an amp sim—such as the Line 6 Helix, IK Multimedia AmpliTube, NI Guitar Rig, etc.—arrange its effects like a pedalboard, and you’re done. But you can also supplement your sim, or replace its effects, from the huge variety of third-party plug-ins. After creating your virtual pedalboard, save it. Many recording programs can save Track Presets—also called Track Templates. These save a track’s settings (pan, volume, etc.), any effects included in the track, and the effect settings, so that calling up your virtual pedalboard is just a few clicks away. PARALLEL EFFECTS…

THE GIBSON FLYING V IS such a prominent symbol of rock warriordom today that it’s hard to imagine a music scene without it. Yet there was a time when it did not exist, and that pre-V world was a very different place indeed. Born in 1958 and refined in ’59, this iconic guitar arrived when the Cold War was raging, a gallon of gas cost 25 cents, and the first US passenger jet flights were just beginning. Amid all of this, and with rock ’n’ roll still in its infancy, one of America’s more traditional guitar manufacturers busts out with the most ferocious and thrusting electric design imaginable—a veritable hormonefueled rocket of pure teen rebellion. Ahead of its time? The Flying V was totally out of its dimension. Alongside the…

THERE SEEMS TO B E A “THING” going on lately, where artists get contracted for a single session, but then end up as marquee players in the act they were brought in to bolster. This happened for Jennifer Batten with the Scherer/Batten BattleZone album (read all about it in the February 2018 GP), and it also went down for Adrian Belew, when ferocious drummer—and member of the Police—Stewart Copeland asked him to put some “stunt guitar” on a recording project in Italy. “I thought I was going to play for a couple of days on a couple of tracks, and I ended up staying ten days,” says Belew. “I thought, ‘It’s Stewart Copeland. It’s Italy. I get to hang out in the Italian sun and eat pasta. What could possibly…

ON JULY 3, 2016, MIKE STERN WAS crossing a street in Manhattan when he tripped over some of the construction debris that dots New York City. Putting out his hands to break his fall, Stern suffered fractures to both arms, and his right hand—his picking hand—suffered nerve damage. An injury like this would be shattering for any guitarist, but for Stern, who, since his days with Miles Davis, has had a reputation as one of the most technically proficient players on the jazz scene, it was especially tragic But Stern didn’t become one of jazz’s leading guitar lights by giving up when the going got tough. Within an amazing three months, he was back on stage, wielding his Yamaha signature guitar, and trotting out the endlessly inventive (if microscopically less…

> He shredded the rulebook. Early on, he asked himself, “What can I do with this instrument that no one else has done before?” And then he re-engineered the sound of a guitar. > He elevated the deployment of delay to a science, an art form, and a magic kingdom. > Under his direction, gargantuan, drool-worthy, and enormously powerful pedalboards have been constructed to bend, twist, morph, slaughter, and beautify his guitar tone. > He made his bones with a 1976 Gibson Explorer Limited Edition—purchased during a 1978 family vacation to New York City for $248.40—when practically no one else was playing that model any more. > He never stops exploring. “The guitar stands for freedom,” he said in 2001, “and I’m constantly trying to find uncharted territories via sounds…

Thanks to the super-generous staff at EarthQuaker Devices, I am able to offer you their groovy Space Spiral and Erupter pedals for my May giveaway. The Space Spiral is designed to “take you across the highways of fantasy” with its dark and moody modulated delays. True to its name, the Erupter produces classic fuzz—though with enhanced low end—that can reach what EarthQuaker calls a “pummeling intensity.” If you want one of these machines on your pedalboard, I’m gifting one each—chosen at random—to two lucky readers (who will also be chosen at random). To enter to win, email me at nbmgearcoordinator@gmail.com with “Earthquaker” in the subject line. Deadline for entries is May 20, 2018. Please note that these pedals are “as is,” as they were reviewed by the GP staff. Good…

Guild Jetstar $599 street The new Jetstar remains faithful to the first iteration of the S-50 Jetstar from the ’60s. Features include a solid mahogany body, a set neck, dual Guild LB-1 Little Bucker pickups, and a gig bag. Available in seafoam green, white, or black. guildguitars.com Batson Guitars Raven $1,699 street This concert-sized guitar is built with solid hardwoods (sitka spruce and mahogany), and features maple binding, a satin-finished neck, a camel bone nut and saddle, an armrest bevel, Batson Clear Voice UST piezo electronics, and a hardshell case. batsonguitars.com Voodoo Labs Pedal Power X4 $99 street Housed in an aluminum chassis, the X4 can drive up to four battery-operated or highcurrent DSP effects. It mounts easily to pedalboards and the multipole filtering eliminates noise. Includes power cables, power…

WHEN PLAYING GUITAR IN THE STUDIO, NOT ALL STRINGS are created equal—at least as far as their volume levels go. Compressing your guitar tracks can manage frequency transients and variations in your attack to keep your notes ringing clearly during solos and riffs, every note of your chords sounding articulately, and everything busting out of the mix without getting lost in the band instrumentation. Many compressors—especially the vintage ones—add coloration to the sound, so make sure the model you choose enhances the guitar part without destroying its natural tone (unless you want that). The examples below are from one plug-in and two hardware units, but the settings can usually be adapted to any compressor, whether software or hardware. You should also note that using compression can lower the overall level…

DO YOU ADMIRE HOW GREAT BASSISTS CAN EFFORTlessly “walk” their way through any blues progression, but don’t have a clue how they do it? Well, here’s your chance to become enlightened. In addition to developing a greater understanding of the bass’ function within the harmonic structure of a given chord progression, learning how to “walk the blues” will also give you the ability to sound like two players at once. This primer is designed to get you started with a few simple exercises, and then progress to walking through two different 12-bar progressions, adding chordal punctuations, and, ultimately, formulating a complete 12-bar harmonized bass line. Predominant in jazz, but also essential to blues, a walking bass line basically serves two functions: 1) To anchor the bottom end, while defining root…

IT WAS 2016, AND BEN NICHOLS, THE rough-hewn frontman of Americana rockers Lucero, weaved his 2007 BMW R1200GS through late-season snow and sleet over high Rocky Mountain passes on the western leg of his Bikeriders solo tour. Well above the tree line, the sheer cliffs fell away as he climbed through the icy mess. He thought that would be the worst of it. But the temperature soon dropped 20 degrees, and winds barreled around Nichols and the half-dozen other riders on the trek at 70 mph. “The wind was so fast that it was like trying to ride underwater,” he says. “When those gusts catch you, you want to slow down, but the slower you go, the easier you tip over. I thought I was going to die.” As the…

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 USD (includes delivery in the U.S.) ATH-M50x Professional Monitor Headphones Audio-Technica Available Now The critically acclaimed Audio-Technica ATH-M50x headphones provide exceptional clarity with deep, accurate bass response. Features large-aperture drivers, 90° swiveling earcups and three detachable cables. Ideal for studio/DJ use or personal listening. Available in black and white. $149.00 ATH-M50xBK; $169.00 ATH-M50xWH www.audio-technica.com pro@atus.com Lil Luber/Groove…