Indholdsfortegnelse for February 2022 i Guitar World

IF I DO say so myself, Guitar World does a fine job — in the Tune-Ups section, especially — of keeping readers informed about some of the new talent that’s coming up in the world. You know, new guitar-centric albums, new songs, new bands, new guitarists — that sorta thing. But really, it would probably take six or seven issues’ worth of Tune-Ups to accomplish what we did with “A heapin’ helpin’ of top-notch guitarists weigh in on the year’s best new albums, songs, guitar solos, riffs & more,” a sprawling feature (and headline!) that kicks off on page 36. That’s where we asked 70 respected guitarists to chime in on 2021’s best new guitar-based music. As an editor, I pay special attention to their “New artist/ guitarist” replies, because…

1 “Alice’s Theme” Danny Elfman I love this composition. The melody is super catchy and the instrumentation has immense drive! I love listening to this while walking or doing repetitive work-related tasks. 2 “Dream Is Collapsing” Hans Zimmer I just love how massive this piece is. It has a truly majestic sound that just stops you in your tracks. I find it very inspiring. 3 Westworld: Season 1 Ramin Djawadi It’s impossible for me to choose just one song from this album. I love how it has been put together. Whenever I listen to music, I tend to treat it as a separate activity. I only ever listen to music while I work if I’m doing simple repetitive tasks online. But…

“We don’t have any big secret plans to [reunite], but I’ve always thought it would be fun to do. Maybe someone out there could try to set that up!” THE FABULOUS THUNDERBIRDS’ debut album, Girls Go Wild, released in 1979, totally transformed the blues genre. The T-Birds played from the heart of the beat to the sole of the feet — good-time, Saturday night, juke-joint-rocking blues. For most, that was the first time that they would have been aware of Texan guitar ace Jimmie Vaughan. Each track on the record was a mini primer into every facet of the art of blues guitar, whether it be tasteful, economical soloing or subtle comping behind vocalist Kim Wilson’s virtuoso harp playing. The Thunderbirds released three more albums before unexpectedly breaking into the…

THE WORLD MIGHT still be in a state of recovery, but it’s been a spectacular year for gear, with all kinds of enticing offerings and world-class designs getting launched across the past 12 months. If anything, the guitar trade has been remarkably buoyant — maintaining momentum even when the biggest events and exhibitions were unable to take place. There were some big surprises, like recording hardware and software specialists Universal Audio moving into the effect pedal market, Gene Simmons teaming up with Gibson for his own G² guitars and basses, Boss launching their very first six-string, as well as a whole host of truly innovative ideas coming from companies old and new. So, without further ado, here’s our roundup of some of the best guitar gear released in 2021. GIBSON…

IF YOU’RE IN the market for a thinline semi-hollow electric, there’s never been a better time to shop than the present. Whereas only a few years ago the selection was pretty much limited to large, double-cutaway 335-style models with a pair of humbucking pickups, today one can find semi-hollow guitars in a variety of body sizes and styles with a wider variety of pickup and electronic configurations. The Eastman Romeo LA is one of the coolest concepts for a semi-hollow model that I’ve ever seen. Its asymmetrical compact body design makes a bold first impression thanks to its smaller, sharper treble horn with a deeper cutaway, but closer examination reveals several other distinctive details, including Seymour Duncan Phat Cat pickups and Göldo hardware. The end result is a guitar with…

STREET PRICE: $229.99 each MANUFACTURER: Fender, fender.com The Dual Marine Layer Reverb offers three reverb algorithms and two independent footswitchable settings, and a sustain switch to trigger infinite shimmering reverb. The Duel Pugilist Distortion offers two independent gain channels with separate footswitches, and three modes for stacking, layering or blending the distortions. THE BOTTOM LINE: The Dual Marine Layer Reverb and Duel Pugilist Distortion double up on the control set of their original namesakes as 2-in-1 stompboxes with exceptional tones and versatility.…

LAST MONTH, I introduced a few approaches to soloing over the two-chord vamp from the classic Allman Brothers Band song “Dreams.” As I stated, Duane All-man’s solo improvisations on this song are played over alternating C/D and D chords. The song is played in 6 8 meter, which may be counted “one two three, four five six,” and each chord is played for one bar. I also introduced the concept of utilizing three different scales as a basis for soloing: the D Mixolydian mode (D, E, F , G, A, B, C), D major pentatonic (D, E, F , A, B) and D major hexatonic (D, E, F , G, A, B). This month, we’ll expand our investigation of various soloing approaches to take with this vamp. To review, FIGURE…

WHEN I RELEASED my album Resolution in 2006, on Steve Vai’s Favored Nations label, it included songs I had been working on over the previous five years. While recording, it took some work to find the right sounds and blend of various guitars, and there was something that Steve had said to me while I was recording my previous album that stuck with me: he said, “I love the songs with only one guitar, backed by just bass and drums, because I can clearly hear your fingers on the frets.” That little nugget of positivity from him made me think, “What if I recorded an entire album like that?” And that is what Resolution became. Having made the decision to go with just one guitar on the tracks, it took…

“WAY COOL JR.” Ratt FEATURING AN INFECTIOUS swing-16ths groove and soulful guitar riffs and licks, this late-Eighties gem showcases Ratt’s highly appealing “blues-rock hair metal” swagger. Guitarists Warren DeMartini and Robbin Crosby serve up tastefully crafted parts that incorporate elements of traditional, “swampy” blues playing, such as fingerpicking open-position E minor pentatonic melodies over a “dead thumb” open low-E-string pedal tone and chromatically resolving 6th intervals (see bars 13, 20 and 56), combined with flashy modern rock techniques like palm muting (P.M.), string bends, finger vibratos and pinch harmonics (P.H.). When playing the song’s intro and first verse, which are performed fingerstyle, you’ll want to keep your pick tucked into your palm for quick retrieval and deployment at bar 16, to play the subsequent riffs leading up to the song’s…

Vince DiVincenzo AGE: HOMETOWN: Prior Lake, MN GUITARS: Fender MP and MIM Telecaster, Squire Surf Strat, Epiphone Casino Coupe, Epiphone Hummingbird Pro SONGS I’VE BEEN PLAYING: Pearl Jam “Yellow Ledbetter,” Rory Gallagher “Bad Penny,” the Allman Brothers Band “One Way Out” and original slide compositions GEAR I WANT MOST: Any ’58 to ’61 grey tweed Ampeg reverb amp Brennan A. Thompson AGE: 19 HOMETOWN: Edmond, OK GUITARS: Kramer Snake Sabo Baretta, Kramer Pacer Classic, various Les Pauls, Boss Katana 50, Big Muff Fuzz, Zakk Wylde wah SONGS I’VE BEEN PLAYING: Cinderella “Gypsy Road,” Skid Row “Youth Gone Wild,” anything by Peter Green or Dio GEAR I WANT MOST: 1986 Gibson Custom Shop Edition Les Paul Aldo Nova in Polaris White Chuck Hillyard AGE: 49 HOMETOWN: Jacksonville, FL GUITARS: Gibson Les…

“There aren’t any rules of how you play [blues guitar] or what technique you use, just as long as you can input your own personality and feel… and use it as your voice” FOR JOANNE SHAW Taylor, there’s nothing quite like playing the blues. Compared to the more disciplined world of classical guitar, which she played in her youth, blues offers much more freedom. She enjoys its raw, funky feel. “There aren’t really any rules of how you play or what technique you use, just as long as you can input your own personality and feel, and use it as a vehicle, as your voice,” Taylor says. “I like that sense of personality and individuality.” That said, the British-born guitarist wouldn’t go as far as calling herself a blues writer,…

SEVEN YEARS IS a long time — it’s the distance between the Beatles’ mop-topped debut and embattled swan song, and nearly twice as long as the span between Nirvana’s first and final albums. So, what happened in the seven years between L.A. indie rockers the Bots’ 2014 debut, Pink Palms, and their latest album, 2 Seater? [Big Indie, 2021] “I was making music for my side project as well as my solo project, where I go more free-form and experimental with my approach,” says frontman and guitarist Mikaiah Lei. “I try to write different kinds of beats and electronic music. Experimental folk and acoustic stuff.” Lei’s musical wanderlust returns to base on 2 Seater, a collection of songs bristling with energy written during the band’s hiatus that benefit from those…

“THE WORLD KNOWS ME, BUT THE WORLD DOESN’T KNOW ME.”  Eric Gales, heralded as one of the greatest blues and rock guitarists of his generation, has lived a life of soaring heights alongside deep, dark lows. His brilliant, spectacular playing has garnered the respect of generations of guitar fans as well as peers like Eric Johnson, Joe Bonamassa, Dave Navarro, Gary Clark Jr. and Zakk Wylde, as well as his own heroes, such as Carlos Santana who says, “Eric is absolutely incredible.” Since 1991, the Memphis-born Gales has redefined the language of blues guitar with stunning virtuosity and on-the-edge musical daring, combining the influences of Albert King and Jimi Hendrix with an infusion of the harmonically complex sounds of jazz and classical music, all delivered with a combination of emotional…

FOR A CONSIDERABLE majority of electric guitarists, one of their top three holy grail/bucket list amps is a Marshall JMP 100- or 50-watt plexi head from the late Sixties. Some of the most beloved performances of all time by players that include Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen were recorded using Super Lead amps from this era. These days Marshall JMP Model 1959 100-watt Super Lead heads in original, unmodified condition can cost nearly $10,000 (or more, if you can even find one), while the 50-watt JMP Model 1987 cost only a little less. Fortunately, PRS recently introduced its new HDRX series amps, which are based upon one of Jimi Hendrix’s personal amps that he allegedly played at Woodstock. Hendrix’s amp features a special “touring circuit” modification that is replicated…

STREET PRICE: $1,990 MANUFACTURER: Eastman, eastmanguitars.com The radiator gold foil front Seymour Duncan Phat Cat P-90 pickups deliver that just-right balance between single-coil sparkle and humbucking punch. The nickel-plated Göldo hardware includes a Bigsby-style LT2 vibrato tailpiece and locking tuners that keep tuning stable. THE BOTTOM LINE The Eastman Romeo LA’s compact thinline semi-hollow design and upscale pickups and hardware deliver extremely satisfying performance when it comes to playability and versatility.…

IF YOU HAVEN’T tried out Positive Grid’s Spark, you really should. So far, nearly 300K users own this state-of-the-art amplifier, which offers a wealth of stellar-sounding onboard virtual amps and effects curated from Positive Grid’s BIAS tone engine. Spark also includes advanced features like Smart Jam and Auto Chords, plus a tone library of well over 10,000 preset tones — created by users and artists — that you can access and download when paired with Spark’s free mobile app. This practical combination truly puts Spark in the category of a “smart” desktop amp that serves as an ever-evolving practicing tool for guitarists. Considering this, wouldn’t you want the ability to jam along to some classic songs by one of the most influential guitarists of all time while playing through his…

LAST MONTH, WE began our investigation into a song of mine called “Mean Streak,” which is basically a mutated 12-bar blues that includes chords that present the opportunity to infuse some altered-dominant mayhem, if you will. We were specifically addressing the section of the tune that’s built from the chord progression E7#9#5 - A7#5 - D7#9 - G#13. That last chord may alternatively be thought of as Ab13 and, either way, it ultimately resolves to G13. And as I demonstrated in the previous column, one can easily utilize the symmetrically structured E whole-tone scale (E, F#, G#, Bb, C, D) to play over the first, third and fourth chords in this section. Over A7#5, you can simply move it up a half step, to the F whole-tone scale (F, G,…

TODAY I’D LIKE to talk about some effective ways that you can reinforce your rhythm guitar tone when recording, by double-tracking parts and utilizing unusual tunings, octave effects and split-coil tones. To illustrate, I will cite the intro riff I wrote and recorded for the Periphery song “Follow Your Ghost,” from Periphery IV: Hail Stan. I play this song on a 6-string guitar that’s tuned to what many players refer to as “drop-A,” which is drop-B tuning (low to high: B, A, D, G, B, E), transposed down a whole step. So, low to high, the strings are tuned to A, G, C, F, A, D. An interesting thing about this tuning is that it puts your bottom two strings almost an octave apart, specifically a minor 7th interval —…

STREET PRICE: $2,900 (HDRX 50 head); $899 (HDRX 2x12 cabinet) MANUFACTURER: PRS Guitars, prsguitars.com The three-way bright switch provides a standard bright setting (middle) and a custom bright based on the touring circuit found in Jimi Hendrix’s amp. A high-mid boost switch emphasizes very desirable midrange frequencies that are ideal for fat, singing guitar solos. The Treble and Bass channels are internally linked so users can blend and balance each channel just by adjusting the volume controls. The amp features no effects loop, but thanks to its voicing and low-noise circuit it delivers excellent performance with pedals. THE BOTTOM LINE: The HDRX 50 truly delivers some of the most desirable amplifier tones while offering guitarists an even wider tonal palette than the original classic model that it is based upon…