Indholdsfortegnelse for February 2020 i Guitar World

EVEN THOUGH THIS issue of Guitar World is already packed with juicy first-person accounts from rockers who knew or “experienced” Jimi Hendrix in ancient times, I’m gonna add two more! The first one is from my 2014 interview with Donovan Leitch. It was a snowy, freezing February morning when I met him and his wife in a warm-and-toasty penthouse apartment overlooking Manhattan’s Washington Square Park (they didn’t live there, but they do have the sort of friends who lend them warm-and-toasty penthouse apartments when they’re in town). After telling me about working with Jimmy Page, the Beatles and Jeff Beck, Donovan worked his way to Hendrix: “Gypsy Dave [Gyp Mills], my road buddy since we were 16, and I used to hang out with the Animals. Gypsy was dating Yvonne,…

THE OLD ADAGE “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” has always been a guiding principle for me when it comes reviewing gear, boy, I being proved wrong. Earlier this year, Martin unveiled their brand-new Modern Deluxe series that’s comprised of the D-18, D-28, 000-28 and the OM-28, and I must admit, I was a bit skeptical. In other words, outside of electronics, how do you improve these timeless Martin acoustics? Well, Martin, far from being in retrograde, surprised me by pushing the forward-thinking envelope here. By injecting ultramodern features, introducing elegant appointments, and without compromising the look and vibe of these legendary acoustics, the result is a stunning modern classic, with instantly noticeable improvements in sound and feel. For this review, I chose the 000-28 Modern Deluxe, mostly because…

STREET PRICE: $1,700 MANUFACTURER: Kemper Amps, kemper-amps.com All of the same profiling and modeling capabilities of Kemper’s Head and Rack units in a live performance-oriented floor foot controller unit. Fourteen footswitches access five presets, bank scrolling (up/down), four assignable effects per preset, tap tempo, looper and tuner. THE BOTTOM LINE For discerning tone fanatics who prefer to create their own custom sounds or players who want a truly unlimited palette of tones, the Kemper Profiler Stage is by far the most powerful and convenient performance system available today.…

LIST PRICE: $1,379.30 MANUFACTURER: EVH, evhgear.com A pair of EVH Wolfgang humbucking pickups deliver refined tones with an ideal balance of bass, midrange and treble with exceptional expressiveness. The low-friction master volume pot makes it easy to perform smooth, fast volume swells, while the high-friction master tone pot stays solidly in place. THE BOTTOM LINE With a street price just under $1,000, the EVH 5150 Series Deluxe delivers unbeatable value for players seeking Ed Van Halen’s custom touches in a sweet Super Strat package ideal for any style of music or gig.…

GUITAR: 1963 Epiphone Casino (both pickups for rhythm track and slide overdubs, bridge pickup for other tracks), Neck Volume: 10, Bridge Volume: 10, Neck Tone: 10, Bridge Tone: 10 AMP: (rhythm track) Four c. 1965 Fender Twin Reverbs with two 12-inch Jensen C12N speakers (Vibrato channel, Input 1, Bright: On, Volume: 6, Treble: 7, Middle: 7, Bass: 4, Reverb: 5.5, Speed amps 1 and 3: 1, Speed amps 2 and 4: 6, Intensity: 10); For slide, lead and harmonics parts turn up reverb control to 7 and turn vibrato effect off EFFECTS : AMS-DMX 15-80 (pitch shift function on slide overdubs: +third on G string track, -third on B string track, +1 octave for lead fills); Boss OD-1 Overdrive (for melodic lines, Level: 7, Overdrive: 5) Slinky STRINGS # .010…

Shorty Should’ve Made the Short List Thanks for the great article about Jeff Beck [Holiday 2019]. He’s the guitarist I’d most like to sound like. I appreciate the list of his best solos with other artists. There were a couple I hadn’t heard. Thanks for that. If I were doing that list, my Number 1 [choice] would be “Do to Me” from Trombone Shorty’s 2011 album, For True. Great solo with that big horn sound. Check it out. —Mike Reish An Operatic Fail? I really loved the list of Iron Maiden’s greatest songs [December 2019] — but come on! “Phantom of the Opera” at the bottom of the list!? That’s a Maiden masterpiece. Top five all the way, baby! One thing that would’ve been great is a feature on guitarist…

1 “Right Off” John McLaughlin McLaughlin opens with a bombastic riff before launching into wah-pedal-infused chordal work and signature virtuosic lines spit out through a fuzz pedal. 2 “The Prettiest Girl in New York” Jim Campilongo In addition to his dazzling lead work and Tele pyrotechnics, his deceptively simple compositions are full of cinematic beauty and inspiration. 3 “Tanya” Earl Hooker There is a lightness and sense of humor in Hooker’s slide playing that is a joy to listen to. His standard E tuning offers a welcome contrast to open-tuning slide cliches. 4 “Undiú” João Gilberto Gilberto’s chordal genius radiates as he shifts from a simple hypnotic ostinato to seemingly endless reharmonizations and voicings under his wordless melody. 5 “Days of Wine and Roses” Wes…

LIKE ALL GREAT overnight SENSATIONS, Jimi Hendrix took years to get off the ground. His was a long road to fame: from the little boy who, in 1958, used his beat-up guitar to imitate sound effects from cartoons, to the guitar-slinger who hired out his talents to Little Richard, the Isley Brothers and others in the early to mid Sixties, to the outlandish psychedelic six-string shaman who flew into London in late 1966. However, within weeks of Hendrix being launched to the Big Smoke’s goggle-eyed media at The Bag O’Nails club in London on November 25, 1966, virtually every major British blues guitarist found himself rethinking his musical direction. Inevitably, the purists would continue to recycle the past, and the unimaginative would slavishly emulate Hendrix — but a handful of…

IT’S PRETTY IMPRESSIVE to consider how far the Reverend Guitar company has come over the last 23 years. Starting out in a garage behind a bicycle shop in East Detroit in 1997 where founder Joe Naylor built highly affordable guitars with an unusual polymer rim and laminated phenolic top and back body design, Reverend Guitars has grown into a thriving company that produces about 50 guitar and 10 bass models, cultivating an impressive roster of endorsements from artists along the way. From the company’s very first instruments, which delivered a modern reinterpretation of the Danelectro budget aesthetic, to the more traditional tonewood designs they offer today, Reverend has always prioritized outstanding playability, stylish designs, innovation and maximum affordability. Reverend’s new Charger RA and Rick Vito Soulshaker models represent the higher…

LIST PRICE: $5,199 MANUFACTURER: C. F. Martin & Co., martinguitar.com With protein glue construction, dovetail neck joint, Adirondack spruce bracing and a VTS (Vintage Tone System) Sitka spruce top, the 000-28 Modern Deluxe yields a beautifully rich and sweet sound. The Liquidmetal red dot bridge pins — along with the composite carbon fiber bridgeplate — provides a discernible boost in volume. THE BOTTOM LINE Possessing a clear harmonic range, ultramodern features and vintage-style appointments, the Martin 000-28 Modern Deluxe is by far one of the most responsive and satisfying acoustics available.…

IN THE PREVIOUS two lessons, we looked at celebrated examples of musically effective ways in which songwriters, when composing in a major key, have borrowed chords, specifically triads, that are generated from its parallel natural minor or harmonic minor key and scale. As you recall, we checked out uses of the sad-sounding and hauntingly beautiful iv (four minor) ly chord poignant and the b VI somewhat (flat-six major brighter ), which but equal are - typically, but not always, preceded by the IV (four major) chord. Forging ahead with this fascinating topic, I’d now like to cite a few equally famous ways in which musicians have expanded used upon what thischord would borrowing be considered concept the and b VII dominant-7 chord, or b VII(dom7), which, due to its dissonance…

UNUSUAL PHRASING IS a subject that I’m very familiar with because my dad, Frank Zappa, was probably the most unusual guitar player I can think of, in terms of taking stock articulation techniques and twisting them around. Additionally, his rhythmic ideas were generally rather complex. Let’s begin this column with a few techniques that can instantly apply to your own playing, and then we’ll get deeper into ones that might require some mind bending before these ideas will come more naturally to you. One concept that’s really helpful, in regard to unusual phrasing, if you use it as an option with melodic lines, is what I call “string transference.” Let’s say you want to play the three-note sequence illustrated in FIGURE 1, D - C - A. Phrased in this…

“PSYCHO KILLER” Talking Heads TALKING HEADS GUITARISTS David Byrne and Jerry Harrison employed a variety of effective playing techniques to create the wildly dynamic and punchy guitar parts featured in this late-Seventies breakout hit for the band. For example, in the latter half of the song’s intro, bars 7-10, staccato dots appearing above the tablature for Gtr. 1 indicate where Harrison employs fret-hand muting immediately after strumming each Am triad to create short, detached, “poppy” rhythms. To recreate Harrison’s punctuated articulations here, simply lift your fingers off the fretboard immediately after each strum, but only enough to kill the string vibration. Avoid letting go of the strings, as doing so would likely result in the sounding of one or more unwanted open-string notes. Xs in the tablature for Gtr. 2…

DIRTY HONEY HAD no label and had never released a full-length — but that didn’t stop them from making rock history. In early 2019, the Los Angeles band self-released their self-titled EP, which contained the powerhouse, classic-rock-inspired single “When I’m Gone.” And in October, Billboard announced that the track hit Number 1 on the Mainstream Rock Songs Chart — the first time that’s ever been achieved by an unsigned band. The accomplishment was the culmination of a whirlwind couple of years for Dirty Honey, whose music channels the heavy Seventies-era rock of Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith. Since 2017, the quartet signed on with a big-time management team, recorded with a hotshot producer in Australia and landed coveted spots opening for Slash, The Who, Alter Bridge and Guns N’ Roses. “It’s…

THE SHE ROCKS Awards is set to dazzle audiences January 17 at the House of Blues in Anaheim, California. The Awards — a feel-good event that combines an inspiring award presentation with once-in-a-lifetime performances by the evening’s honorees and special guests — is celebrating its eighth year. This year highlights several pivotal guitar stars, including the inimitable Lzzy Hale, frontwoman of Grammy winners Halestorm and outspoken role model for female empowerment. “I’m so honored to be a part of the 2020 She Rocks Awards, celebrating iconic women in the music industry and inspiring young women to take the reins of their own destiny,” Hale said. Attendees will have a chance to watch Hale in action as she performs with Rock Sugah, the She Rocks Awards’ house band. The heavy-hitter-packed band…

On a recent late-summer morning, Chris Shiflett is getting ready to hit the road. But in stark contrast to the luxurious private-jet mode of travel he usually enjoys in his day job as guitarist for the Foo Fighters, Shiflett (who recently released his second solo album, Hard Lessons) and his three-piece group will s a van. ne. “We’re just a bunch of dudes rolling down the road,” he says. “It’s how I started playing shows back in the day. And even while doing the Foo Fighters, I’ve done side bands and my own thing, so I’ve never strayed too far from the van thing. You just get in and it feels like second nature. I enjoy it.” Whether he’s cruising at 30,000 feet or barreling down a freeway, Shiflett is…

LIST PRICES: $1,329 (Charger RA); $1,919 (Rick Vito Soulshaker) MANUFACTURER: Reverend Guitars, reverendguitars.com The Rick Vito Soulshaker features a dazzling pearloid top overlay available in ivory or grey and custom-made checker top binding. The Charger RA boasts a stunning flame maple top over a solid Korina body and is available with Coffee Burst, Transparent Black or Transparent Blue finish options. Pickups consist of a pair of custom humbuckers for the Rick Vito Soulshaker and Railhammer Hyper Vintage and Nuevo 90 humbuckers for the Charger RA. Both models feature Reverend Pin-Lock tuners, Pure Tone output jacks, a treble bleed circuit on the master volume control and upgraded pots and caps. THE BOTTOM LINE With the Charger RA and Rick Vito Soulshaker, Reverend is certain to make guitarists seeking an affordable instrument…

EDDIE VAN HALEN may have invented the Super Strat way back in the mid Seventies, but for the last three decades he’s focused more upon his own original signature models while letting other companies profit (quite handsomely) from his initial revelatory design. While Ed’s own company EVH appeased many classic Super Strat fans with its Striped Series guitars, the instruments’ single pickup and master volume-only design along with Ed’s iconic striped finish made those guitars more ideal for Van Halen fanatics than players with everyday gigs looking for something more incognito. With the introduction of EVH’s new 5150 Series guitars, Ed is finally offering Super Strat aficionados the ax they’ve been waiting for. FEATURES The EVH 5150 Series Deluxe is the flagship model of the company’s new 5150 Series guitars,…

ESSENTIAL TO EVERY serious electric guitarist who plays blues, rock, country, and even jazz is a thorough study of string bending and finger vibrato techniques. These cornerstone elements of single-note melody playing afford players the ability to emulate the sound of the human voice and deepen the impact and feeling in their solos. As has been often discussed, the greatest guitar players in all genres, such as Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian in jazz, Albert King and B.B. King in blues, and Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Beck in rock, are all absolute masters of bending and vibrato. In the past few columns, we’ve examined bending each string in varying increments, from a half step, to a whole step, to one and a half steps, to two whole steps and beyond.…

IMPROVISATION IS A state of mind, such as composition or interpretation, and it employs the very same musical materials, meaning there is not a set of chords, arpeggios or scales for composition and another for improvisation. This is why, in some cases, musicians who are very proficient in classical music and are accustomed to performing only what is written on the page are less comfortable improvising something of their own design. It’s not that they do not possess the technique, harmonic understanding or rhythm necessary to improvise; it's more a matter of musical intent. With improvisation, there are certainly foundational techniques and approaches that can and should be built up in layers. Improvisation is really based on the knowledge of harmony, which is the science of chords and the grammar…

JOHNNY MARR SAID he wanted the intro to the Smiths’ “How Soon Is Now?” to be as potent and recognizable as “Layla.” But instead of writing a catchy melody or bombastic riff, he took an entirely different approach by crafting a hypnotic, pulsating groove by running his rhythm guitar track through four amps to generate a lush, complex stereo tremolo effect. That trippy tremolo rhythm track along with several inventive guitar parts throughout helped make “How Soon Is Now?” one of the most memorable and enduring alternative music recordings of the Eighties. Marr’s performance can be broken down into five distinct parts: the tremolo-heavy rhythm, a howling doppler effect slide, a melodic line during the chorus, random lead “noodling” and a marimba-style line played with harmonics. For the main rhythm…