Indholdsfortegnelse for October 2022 i Guitar World

VOL. 43 | NO. 10 | OCTOBER 2022 MEGA MUSTAINE WHEN I SEE an artist on the cover of GW, I can’t help but recall the first time I ever saw that person on the cover. In the case of Dave Mustaine, my brain goes way back to the December 1991 issue, which was just before I stopped subscribing to GW. Yes, I admit it! I stopped subscribing for a little while in the Nineties; and don’t feel bad, Dave — it had nothing to do with seeing you (and Marty Friedman) on the cover! I actually forget why I stopped, but it probably had something to do with school and girlfriends and having no money. Anyway, here we are, almost 31 years later, and Dave is still a compelling…

Eschewing formal lessons, Rose schooled herself on YouTube guitar performance videos and tutorials FOUR YEARS AGO, Lexi Rose was a 16-year-old rock and metal fan who never considered playing the guitar. Then her aunt took her to a Kings of Leon concert, and everything changed. “I was just knocked out by the band’s power,” Rose says. “I said to myself, ‘That’s it — I have to play guitar.’ I was so excited that the next day I went out and got an Ibanez Gio. From that moment on, I was obsessed and played all the time.” Eschewing formal lessons, Rose schooled herself on YouTube guitar performance videos and tutorials, and before long she could play along proficiently to one of her favorite Metallica songs, “Nothing Else Matters.” “I was on…

GUITAR WORLD » OCTOBER 2022 PAGE 48 WHAT PRODUCT IS heard on more recordings than anything else over the last 60 years? Many guitarists, musicians or even casual music fans would probably answer something like the Fender Stratocaster, Gibson Les Paul, Martin dreadnought or even the Fender Precision Bass. Those aren’t bad guesses, but the answer is actually something that all of those choices have in common more often than not: Ernie Ball strings. The success of Ernie Ball strings in and of itself is a remarkable, noteworthy achievement, but it’s only one facet of the company’s extraordinary history over the last 60 years, starting in 1962 when Ernie Ball first packaged his own branded custom light-gauge Rock N Roll string sets and sold them from his music retail stores…

MEGADETH: TRACK BY TRACK MEDADETH’S 16TH ORIGINAL studio album starts with the sound of swooping wind and mournful cries of “bring out your dead.” A suitably ominous mid-paced arpeggio sweeps from left to right before the band rips into a chugging riff underpinned by melodic, harmonized and layered hooks. Augmented with a delicate undistorted midsection, a thrashy middle eight and multifaceted leads, any questions about whether or not Megadeth are still relevant are instantly vaporized by the title track of The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead! The follow-up to Megadeth’s Grammy-winning Dystopia, the new album reunites the band with co-producer Chris Rakestraw. The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead! is steeped in the technical thrash riffs of Megadeth classics like Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying? and Rust in Peace,…

SOUNDCHECK WITH MORE GUITARISTS eschewing back-breaking amplifiers for plug-and-play floorboard modelers from Fractal to Kemper, Blackstar has doubled down on tube amps by addressing weight issues, notching up powerful tone and adding advanced functionality with the release of their neatly trimmed St. James series of amplifiers. Debuting at the 2022 NAMM Show, with catchy phrases like “The weight is over” and “Let there be light,” much focus was directed over the models’ shockingly reduced weight, making their portability distinctly enticing. But we all know that’s not nearly enough, which is why with a new look, a new logo and ushering in classic and modern tones that approach the divine, the St. James line of all-tube combos and heads reflect a new mark of brilliance for Blackstar — and I don’t…

TALES FROM NERDVILLE I RECENTLY HAD the honor of producing a record with my friend Josh Smith for a great blues guitarist from Michigan named Larry McCray. Over the last 35 years, Larry has always been one of my favorite blues players out there. Getting to work with him not only as a singer and a songwriter but as a guitar player, I was able to pick up a few pointers from him, as he would show us some cool stuff when we weren’t recording. A signature element in Larry’s style is that he has a very distinct and unusual bending technique where he will “marry” two bends within one long phrase. Now, I can’t perform the technique quite as well as he does — he invented it! But I…

“SCARLET CROSS” Black Veil Brides THIS POPULAR NEW theatrical/glam-metal song features melodic single-note and power chord riffs that are both heavy and catchy, with well-written and-arranged parts, compliments of guitarists Jake Pitts and Jinxx. Using drop-D tuning down a whole step — what many refer to as “drop-C” tuning (low to high: C, G, C, F, A, D) — the guitarists make great use of the perfect-5th interval between their 6th and 5th strings to craft parts that are both convenient to play, with easily moveable one-finger power chords, and tight- and full-sounding. Notice the guitarists’ deliberate and intermittent use of pick-hand palm muting (P.M.) for the single notes played on the 6th-string (especially the open notes) throughout the song’s intro and verse sections, as well as during the rhythm…

Got something you want to say? EMAIL US AT: GWSoundingBoard@futurenet.com READER ART OF THE MONTH If you’ve created a drawing, painting or sketch of your favorite guitarist and would like to see it in an upcoming issue of Guitar World, email GWSoundingBoard@futurenet.com with a scan of the image! DEFENDERS of the Faith Pigman AGE: 29 in pig years LOCATION: Detroit, MI GUITARS: Fender Stratocaster and Showmaster SONGS I’VE BEEN PLAYING: Songs I’ve written for an upcoming solo release, I Wish My Brother George Was Here GEAR I WANT MOST: More Celestion Greenback speakers. My Effectron shreds them to pieces. Denny Kidd AGE: 34 LOCATION: Whitley City, KY GUITARS: Ernie Ball Music Man Mariposa, Schecter Damien 7, Schecter acoustic (Synyster Gates signature) SONGS I’VE BEEN PLAYING: Nita Strauss “Dead Inside,” Trivium…

TUNE-UPS NEWS & NOTES 60 MINUTES with BRIAN “HEAD” WELCH “I GOT A GOOD list for ya! It’s unique,” says Korn guitarist Brian “Head” Welch. “Well, it’s not really unique. [Laughs] Now that I look at it, it’s more along the lines of metal, but I threw in some atmospheric ones that I can’t live without… And you know what’s crazy? I picked all these artists and a lot of them are still going strong. AC/DC is bigger than ever, Ozzy is still going strong. Iron Maiden had a massive resurgence the last five years. Journey is killing it. So… I picked the good ones! [Laughs]” “BACK IN BLACK”AC/DCBack in Black (1980) “The album and the song that got me lit with the fire for the passion for rock…

ERIC JOHNSON ISN’T known for flooding the market with product. Since he first began issuing studio recordings in 1986, his average span between albums is four years, and he’s been known to sometimes make fans wait five and even six years for a new disc. “I know it might appear as if I’m taking my time,” he says, “but whenever I make an album, I usually record another one that I put aside.” He chuckles. “Looking at it that way, I’m really not that slow.” During the remainder of 2022, Johnson devotees can revel in an abundance of riches, as the Grammy-winning Texas guitar star will issue not one, but two separate albums simultaneously — The Book of Making and Yesterday Meets Today — and he’s even offering a bonus…

“I SOMETIMES THINK HOW MUCH BETTER THINGS WOULD HAVE BEEN IF WE WOULD’VE ALL TRIED A LITTLE BIT MORE WITHIN THE BIG FOUR” —DAVE MUSTAINE LESS THAN 20 MINUTES INTO A LENGTHY CONVERSATION with Dave Mustaine, Megadeth’s mercurial frontman has revealed multiple sides of his complex personality. His greeting is warm and sincere, and it isn’t long before he’s cracking dry, self-deprecating jokes. There are some comments about religion, thoughts on space travel and an informative aside about a new street drug called Krokodil (Desomorphine). “It’s supposed to be like some kind of super-heroin,” he says. “It’s made from a drug that’s been approved, but when you mix it with something else and inject it, it makes your skin rot until your bones stick out. Now, why on earth would…

EARLIER THIS YEAR Jackson Guitars introduced its new Concept Series with the release of four new models: a pair of Soloist models (the SL Walnut HS and SLAT7P HT MS) and a pair of Rhoads models (the RR24-7 and RR24 HS). The overall “concept” behind this series seems to be rather loosely defined and open, but the overarching premise is premium hardware, pickups, finishes and other features usually found on Jackson’s custom models but without the higher custom model price. Some of the models also offer compelling variations from Jackson’s regular lineup, such as the 7-string Rhoads RR24-7 or the humbucker/single-coil pickup configuration of the Rhoads RR24 HS and Soloist SL Walnut HS, while the Soloist SLAT7P HT MS offers a more upscale alternative to Jackson’s popular multi-scale Soloist models.…

DO YOU KNOW what’s 40 years old in 2022? For perspective, music lovers may be unaware that Iron Maiden’s The Number of the Beast and the Clash’s Combat Rock turn 40 this year. Feel old yet? And surprisingly, for musicians like me, I had no idea Squier is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year — because, if you ask me, the entry-level instrument brand is far from over the hill, but rather, coming of age. To commemorate the company’s Ruby Anniversary, the budget brand has released two collections of Fender’s most iconic guitar models in Vintage and Gold Editions that genuinely prove that Squier keeps getting better with age. I had the opportunity to wield Squier’s très chic 40th Anniversary Telecaster Gold Edition. Some will say Squier has often been…

MELODIC MUSE LAST MONTH, WE dove into the track “Shuggie,” which is my ode to late Sixties/early Seventies guitar master Shuggie Otis that’s included on my latest album, Electric Truth. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with Otis, he’s a brilliant guitarist whose two seminal albums, Freedom Flight and Inspiration Information, were released in the early Seventies. Freedom Flight included “Strawberry Letter #23,” which was a hit for the Brothers Johnson in 1977. In last month’s column, I detailed how to play the two-part harmonized lines that highlight the song. This harmonized section is played over the chord progression Gmaj7 - Bbmaj7 - Fmaj7/A - Abmaj7. When it comes time for the guitar solo, I play over these same changes, which will be the focus of this month’s…

As heard on THE PHANTOM TOMORROW “SCARLET CROSS” WORDS AND MUSIC BY ANDREW DENNIS BIERSACK, JACOB PITTS AND ERIK RON COPYRIGHT © 2020 BMG GOLD SONGS, AB513, IRON AUDIO, BMG PLATINUM SONGS US AND TOUCHDOWN BROWNS MUSIC. ALL RIGHTS ADMINISTERED BY BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT (US) LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. USED BY PERMISSION. REPRINTED BY PERMISSION OF HAL LEONARD LLC.…

THERE ARE MANY great reasons U.K. prog veteran John Mitchell begins his latest Lonely Robot album, A Model Life, with a cut called “Recalibrating.” For starters, it’s a ripper — a pulse-quickening piece of peak pop-fusion-era Police full of vibrantly polyrhythmic piano and the guitarist’s uncanny waggling. The tune takes inspiration from Mitchell having exited a 16-year personal relationship during the height of Covid lockdowns, the musician faced with pushing himself forward and “trying to find [his] way again.” Fittingly enough, A Model Life is likewise Mitchell’s return to his Lonely Robot solo project, after delivering last year’s Day and Age with his other long-term project, progressive supergroup Frost*. And in terms of his lead chops, A Model Life was also a chance to get his bearings back after reining…

*JUST THE FACTS MIKE CAMPBELL THE TITLE “The first record [2020] was called Wreckless Abandon, which is kind of how the Dirty Knobs play. So I carried that through to the second album, Explosive Combustion. When we play, it creates some chemistry, and it felt like external combustion. So I heard that phrase in my head and thought, ‘That’s a good follow-through.’ It really describes how the band sounds.” THE GEAR “I played a ’59 Gibson Les Paul for most of the record, and [guitarist] Jason Sinay played a Telecaster. Those two guitars seem to work together pretty well. We mostly stuck with them through the whole record. Sometimes with the Heartbreakers, I’d use different guitars because we had a lot of different types of songs, but with…

DAVID BOWIE’S THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND the Spiders from Mars, to give it its full title, celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. It’s the record that cemented Bowie’s status as an international superstar, selling more than 7 million copies, and it is second only to Let’s Dance [1983] in terms of Bowie’s most successful records. Key to Bowie’s rise to prominence was the work of guitarist Mick Ronson, the perfect visual and sonic foil for Bowie’s unique vision. At the helm for Ziggy was producer Ken Scott, who’d engineered a couple of Bowie’s albums when Tony Visconti was producing. Scott’s own story reads as the unlikeliest of tall tales. Applying for an apprenticeship in recording and engineering, his first job after leaving school was working as…

“IN THE PAST, I WAS LIKE, ‘I CAN’T SAY ‘FLYING V’ BECAUSE I’M NOT WITH GIBSON. I’VE GOTTA SAY ‘XYZ, THE ELE TRIC V’ OR SOMETHING.’ NOW I CAN FINALLY SAY ‘FLYING V!’” OVER THE YEARS, Dave Mustaine has had working relationships with Jackson, ESP and Dean. Since he was a kid, however, he’s had a special love for Gibson. “I saw the first Kiss album and it said, ‘Kiss use Gibson because they want the best,’” Mustaine says. “I thought, ‘Well, fuck, I want Gibson ’cause I wanna be the best!’” Mustaine ended his 13-year endorsement deal with Dean in late 2020, and in February 2021 he finalized a Brand Ambassador deal with Gibson. “I heard they were in the market for an ambassador,” Mustaine says. “I asked them,…

IN DEEP MUDDY WATERS IS widely revered as being one of the most important musical figures of all time and the “father of modern Chicago blues.” His great many recordings, spanning from 1941 to 1982, are among the most important and influential of all time. His 1948 single for Chess Records, “Rollin’ Stone,” set the template for many of his hit records to follow. In the early Sixties, certain young Englishmen joined forces based on their love of Chess Records, blues and rock and roll to form a band, taking their name from this early Muddy Waters hit, dubbing themselves the Rolling Stones, doing their part to ignite the soon-to-come British Blues explosion. By the end of the Sixties, guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Johnny Winter had…

LIVE FROM FLAT V LAST MONTH, WE started talking about my tune “Triple J Hoedown,” specifically the version from the Live at the Spud album. We made it all the way up to almost the bridge, which leads the way into a long unison lick, played by both guitar and bass, which is then followed by the funk section of the tune. So, as a composition, we transition from “bluegrass-fusion” to a funk groove. To recap, last month’s column ended with the ascending lick that sets up a restatement of the melody, or “head,” which is in the key of G major, after which the tune moves on to the aforementioned bridge. FIGURE 1 illustrates this ascending lick. In bars 1-3, I arpeggiate a series of arpeggiated triads on the…

CONVENTIONAL BIAS IN the guitar universe dictates that tubes are always better than solid state. However, when it comes to the differences between the tube-driven Maestro Echoplex EP-2 tape echo produced in the Sixties and the solid-state EP-3 model introduced in 1970, it’s really more a matter of preference than any blatantly obvious sonic superiority. While the EP-2’s tube-driven preamp delivers echo effects with a distinct warm, dark and sometimes even murky character that can sound hypnotic with clean guitar/amp tones, the EP-3 is more often favored by players who want more clarity and definition from the echo repeats — particularly by guitarists who plug directly into the input of an amp driven to distortion. The EP-3’s controls consist of sustain and volume control knobs, a slider that moves the…