Indholdsfortegnelse for July 2020 i Guitar World

THE BROTHERS OSBORNE were making excellent headway on their upcoming third album — until the recent tornado that tore through Nashville brought things to a halt. “When it happened, my first thought was, ‘Man, I hope everybody’s safe,’ guitarist John Osborne explains. “Then my third or fourth worry was about my guitars. I realized that every nice guitar I own was at our producer Jay Joyce’s studio.” As it turned out, Joyce’s East Nashville studio missed the brunt of the tornado’s wrath by a mere two blocks, but the power to the facility was knocked out, and with no word on when service would be restored, John and his singer-guitarist brother TJ were forced to seek another studio to resume recording. “Fortunately, we were able to move everything to Zac…

IT WOULD HAVE been easy for guitarist Katie Harkin — or just Harkin, as she’s best known — to turn her debut solo album into a showcase of riffs, solos and power chords. A professional musician since her teens, she’s lent her talents to the likes of Wild Beasts, Flock of Dimes, Kurt Vile and Courtney Barnett, and of course Sleater-Kinney, with whom she recently completed a European tour, pulling double-duty as band member and opening act. When it came time to shine on her own, however, she turned the spotlight toward her songwriting. Harkin, released on the Hand Mirror label, which she launched with her partner, poet Kate Leah Hewett, is a 10-song effort featuring plenty of guitar work, richly layered in soundscapes and heavy on textures and effects.…

WHEN THEY RELEASED their second full-length offering, 2010’s Écailles de lune, French experimentalists Alcest were widely considered pioneers of blackgaze. The seemingly unlikely style blended the roaring riffs and torrential tremolo guitars of black metal with the ethereal buzz and otherworldly textures of shoegazer music. In the years that followed, Alcest frontman Neige gradually moved away from his blackened beginnings and toward a more melancholy, atmospheric sound. However, with the band’s sixth and latest album, Spiritual Instinct, Alcest have revisited their blackgaze roots and created their most direct, aggressive album in years. For Neige, the move wasn’t an effort to please old-school fans, it was a sincere reflection of the tension and turmoil he experienced supporting Kodama. “Touring is very repetitive and hard,” Neige says.” I accumulated a lot of…

2020 WAS POISED TO BE A BANNER YEAR FOR LAMB OF GOD. THE REIGNING THRASH METAL KINGS — particularly true now that Slayer are no longer active — had put the finishing touches on their self-titled eighth studio album, the first to feature Art Cruz in place of longtime drummer Chris Adler, and had a rigorous touring schedule, including a still-scheduled mammoth trek alongside Megadeth, Trivium and In Flames. Guitarist Mark Morton had been busy for the past year or so with a pair of solo releases — last year’s Anesthetic full-length and a five-song, mostly acoustic EP titled Ether, released this past January — and tour dates in support of his solo endeavors. Then March came along, and the world came to a screeching halt — and that halt…

ANYONE WHO DIDN’T notice the self-effacing humor of Fleetwood Mac in 1968 didn’t look closely enough at the cover of the album. Not for them some grainily “authentic” pic of the fivesome looking grizzled and undernourished, clutching their axes like weapons of war. Instead it portrays a border collie sniffing around a garbage can (or a dustbin, as they say in the U.K.) in a dingy back alley. So? Well, the third track on the album is “Hellhound on My Trail.” How much more clearly could they say it? This was a band owning up — “We’re white boys from London playing the blues.” Little wonder, then, that the photograph eventually bestowed the album with its nickname, “Dog and Dustbin.” As Mike Vernon recalls, “It was taken by Terence Ibbott,…

WHILE ACOUSTIC FLATTOP and solidbody electric guitars seem to share a few similar attributes, they’re really two very different beasts when it comes to the physics behind how each instrument produces its characteristic sounds. As a result, designing a guitar that can provide both acoustic and electric tones in a convincing manner from a single instrument is a daunting proposition, even though some valiant attempts were made in the past. However, Fender has tackled that challenge admirably with their Acoustasonic series guitars, with the key solution being innovative new Acoustic Engine technology developed in collaboration with Fishman. Fender’s American Acoustasonic Stratocaster provides 10 new acoustic and electric voice selections that are different than those of the preceding Acoustasonic Telecaster model in a guitar featuring the familiar asymmetrical double-cutaway Strat-style body…

1 “The Dance of Eternity” Dream Theater Burbage: This song taught me how to play aggressively with my right hand — and what could be done on a guitar. Arnold: I feel like I’m on a rollercoaster every time I listen. It's chock-full of peaks and valleys that are masterfully woven together. 2 “Man Made God” In Flames Burbage: It shows how guitar-driven instrumental music is supposed to be done. Every moment feels melodically structured and well thought out; no wankery! 3 “I Will Return” The Black Dahlia Murder Arnold: The solo is one of the most memorable moments in metal. It’s a super-tasty and euphoric collection of bends and arpeggios that gives me chills every time. 4 “Electric Sunrise” Plini Burbage: It’s lush with no…

IN THE MUSICAL world of unlikely pairings, it doesn’t get stranger than Adrian Quesada and Eric Burton, otherwise known as the psychedelic-soul duo the Black Pumas. The collaboration came together at the urging of a mutual friend who told Quesada — a Grammy-winning, Austin-based guitarist and producer whose onetime band, Grupo Fantasma, toured with Prince — about Burton, a virtually unknown, self-described “acoustic busker” who was passing through town from his native Los Angeles. “On paper, we’re not supposed to work,” Quesada says. “You’d look at our histories and go, ‘What do these guys have in common?’ But the minute I heard Eric sing and play, I knew he had something I could work with. He’s got incredible talent, but he’s also sincere. That’s what bonds us. Eric isn’t trying…

WHEN YOU HEAR that a super-talented guitarist with incredible technique is releasing an album in 2020, it can be easy to roll your eyes. The shred market is saturated with legacy players and young upstarts, all looking to take the guitar to new heights of speed and insanity. That’s why Nothing Lasts, Nothing’s Lost, the debut full-length solo album from Polish prodigy Jakub Zytecki, is such a breath of fresh air. Zytecki honed his chops in prog-rock outfit DispersE, touring the world and releasing three albums of atmospheric progressive-oriented rock. Zytecki, who co-founded the band when he was just a teenager, often takes a back seat to the melodic vocals and keyboard lines in that band. On Nothing Lasts, Nothing’s Lost, Zytecki steps more firmly into the spotlight — but…

THE NEW BLUES? You could say Peter Green invented that back in 1968. Sure, first as guitarist for John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers (where he replaced Eric Clapton) and then as the guitarist/frontman and creative force behind the original Fleetwood Mac, Green was key to the British Blues Explosion — arguably the third wave of blues after “country blues” (acoustic) and “urban blues” (electric). And, yeah, these days the music of the British Blues Explosion is the orthodoxy — classic rock, dad rock, the preserve of blues bores the world over. But there was always more to Peter Green than blues vamps and old-timey shuffles. Between March 1968 and May 1970, Green’s Fleetwood Mac released six singles that redefined music. With “Black Magic Woman,” “Need Your Love So Bad,” “Albatross,” “Man of…

AS A FORM of popular music, instrumental guitar-based rock first found popularity in the early Sixties. A few years before that, with early practitioners of the form such as Duane Eddy, with his simple low-string melodic lines such as “Rebel Rouser,” and Link Wray, who gave us the feedback-laden “Rumble” (which featured one of the first uses of the power chord), the genre quickly took hold with young guitarists everywhere. Its rudimentary style made it easy for almost any guitarist to quickly fret a few chords, play some simple melodies, add an effect like reverb and presto! — a tune was born. Across the pond in England, the Shadows reigned as instrumental kings for the first few years of the Sixties, beginning with their U.K. chart-topper “Apache” in 1960. The…

“TOE TO TOES” Mastodon THIS MODERN METAL gem from Mastodon’s 2017 EP Cold Dark Place features well-crafted riffs, licks and rhythm parts, for which guitarists Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher employ a variety of exciting and challenging playing techniques, as does bassist Troy Sanders, all of whom perform the song in “drop-C” tuning (drop-D, transposed down a whole step). Hinds begins the song with a brief, dreamy, Appalachian folk-style intro that he performs on acoustic guitar (doubled by a clean electric). The guitarist hybrid picks this part, downpicking the open low D notes with down-strokes and plucking the ringing melody notes on the top three strings with his middle and ring fingers. For most of the passage, he’s holding down a 5th-position D triad shape on the top three strings,…

Colten Gardner AGE: 27 HOMETOWN: Chestermere, Alberta, Canada GUITARS: Gibson Les Paul Standard, Gibson SG Standard SONGS I’VE BEEN PLAYING: Jeff Beck “Scatterbrain,” Black Sabbath “Rat Salad,” Rainbow “Stargazer” GEAR I WANT MOST: Marshall 1936 V, Marshall 2536 horizontal cab Cave Rat AGE: 49 GUITARS: Keith Urban acoustic, 2012 Fender Telecaster, Epiphone Les Paul Special II SONGS I’VE BEEN PLAYING: Creedence Clearwater Revival “Green River” and songs from my 2008 album, Walking the Hills GEAR I WANT MOST: Jackson PC-1, Charvel guitar, DigiTech GSP21 Legend Anthony Miller AGE: 77 HOMETOWN: Ferndale, MD GUITARS: Gibson ES-335 and Les Paul, Fender Strat and Tele, Ibanez AG75, Epiphone Chet Atkins acoustic/electric, Alvarez acoustic/electric, PRS Mark Tremonti SE SONGS I’VE BEEN PLAYING: Broadway musical charts and standards GEAR I WANT MOST: A guitar designed…

U.K. FIVE-PIECE DEF Leppard burst out of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal scene in the late Seventies and released their debut album, On Through the Night, in 1980. They quickly followed up with 1981’s High ‘n’ Dry. By the time the band released their commercial breakthrough, Pyromania, in 1983, founding guitarist Pete Willis had been fired and replaced by Phil Collen. Hysteria, which followed in 1987, brought the band worldwide commercial success and etched them forever into the annals of rock history. Forty years on, the band are enjoying a busy 2020; projects include the recently released box set, The Early Years 79-81. Spanning five discs, it contains remastered editions of On Through the Night and High ‘n’ Dry, a newly unearthed Live at the Oxford New Theatre,…

“We’re not walking on eggshells, as far as the riffs we write. In our heads, we don’t go, ‘It’s gotta be thrash!’ Whatever sounds good to us now, we’re willing to put out”— Adam Carroll WARBRINGER GUITARISTS CHASE Becker and Adam Carroll break out the full artillery on the California quintet’s latest album, Weapons of Tomorrow (Napalm Records). Take “The Black Hand Reaches Out,” a toxic waltz confidently unloading rounds of precision judding before each player rips into their respectively squealing solo. These five-star generals of modern metal are clearly inspiring the other ranks, too. Less than 24 hours after the single premiered, a French YouTuber uploaded his own rapid-fire run-through of the tune. Warbringer’s members are awed by the dedication of this particular fan, fondly recalling what it was…

“Obviously hardcore is our bread and butter, but the parameters of a typical hardcore band, musically, are quite narrow: fast, heavy power chords”— LOUIS HARDY “WE COME FROM hardcore, but I don’t think of us as a hardcore band,” says Higher Power guitarist Louis Hardy. “I don’t listen to it and think this sounds like hardcore music. I just think of it as a rock band.” One spin of the Leeds, England-based crew’s excellent new sophomore record, 27 Miles Underwater, and you’ll immediately hear what Hardy is talking about — and why their genre-defying sound has made Higher Power one of the most exciting new acts in hardcore punk. Take opener “Seamless,” for example, which kicks off with a crushing, groove-heavy riff and seething vocals before transitioning into a massive,…

LINE 6 INTRODUCED modeling to the masses way back in 1998 with the release of the original POD, an affordable desktop unit featuring a variety of amp, effect and speaker cabinet models to provide guitarists with instant access to numerous virtual rigs. Over the next 15 years, Line 6 greatly expanded the POD universe with various desktop, rackmount and floor units and even the Mobile POD iOS app. However, after the introduction of the POD HD 500X and POD HD Pro X in 2013, Line 6 shifted its focus to the more sophisticated Helix series, and no new POD products were introduced for the next six years. Now Line 6 has boldly resurrected the POD series with the debut of the POD Go. Like previous POD products, the POD Go…

YOU KNOW WHAT’S no fun? Wrapping up cables. Those twisty strands of spaghetti known as your instrument and XLR cables always seem to end up in one long tangled mess! What if I told you I have something that can neatly organize, protect and swiftly coil those unruly cables? Well, let me tell you about the Singular Sound Cabli — a hand-held cable organizer that simultaneously winds up both ends of a cable in a matter of seconds with a clever whirling design that untangles as you wind it back into the Cabli. What’s more, you can pull out the desired amount of cable, eliminating cable slack and clutter. No muss, no fuss. And no, it’s not some As-Seen-On-TV gizmo, because this product actually works. From the ingenious Packouz brothers,…