Innehållsförteckning för July 2015 från Guitar Player

BOZ SCAGGS KNOWS WHAT HE LIKES, and he likes who he makes records with— which made the sessions for his latest album, A Fool to Care [429 Records], an exercise in smooth confidence. And fun. Who wouldn’t have a blast tracking mostly live with drummer Steve Jordan (who also produced the record), bassist Willie Weeks, guitarist Ray Parker, Jr., and keyboardist Jim Cox? Recorded in just four days at Blackbird Studio in Nashville, the album explores the love that Scaggs and Jordan have for classic R&B, soul, and rock, and it features a guest spot by Bonnie Raitt—which Scaggs called, “one of the highlights of my career.” Your guitar parts are so in the pocket on this record. Do you work them out, or just play by feel? I’m a…

ARISTIDES INSTRUMENTS 080 EIGHT-STRING GUITAR Goodies One-piece body and neck construction, integrally layered with Arium. Arium has no fiber structure, which allows it to vibrate in three dimemsions, increasing sustain and volume. 27" scale length. Equipped with either Seymour Duncan, EMG, or Bare Knuckle pickups. Hardware is available in chrome, black, or gold and includes either a Hipshot Hardtail bridge or an Official Floyd Rose bridge. Available in several different finishes. Price $2,616 factory direct More Info aristidesinstruments.com ANDREWS AMPLIFICATION SPECTRAVERB SERIES AMPS Goodies Available in head, 2x10 and 2x12 combo versions. 22 watts and 40 watts. Tube reverb. 4/8/16Ω speaker selections. Two 12AX7s, two 12AT7s, one GZ34 rectifier, and two 6V6s (Spectraverb 22) or two 6L6GCs (Spectraverb 40). Price Head, $1,595 to $1,695 retail; Combo, $1,795 to $2,069 retail…

LAST YEAR WAS A SEASON OF monumental change for Warren Haynes. Gov’t Mule—formed in 1994 by Haynes and the late bassist Allen Woody as a side project to their membership in the Allman Brothers Band—celebrated its 20th anniversary with a series of archival live releases, including Sco-Mule [Evil Teen], a recently rediscovered 1999 performance that captures oodles of intricate dialogue between Haynes and John Scofield. Brian Farmer—Haynes’ longtime guitar tech and close friend—passed away on August 24, 2014. A few months later, the Allman Brothers Band ended its epic run with a final bow at New York’s Beacon Theater on October 28, 2014. As 2015 unfurled, the creatively restless Haynes decided to let his fans experience some changes by releasing an acousticoriented Americana solo album, Ashes and Dust [Concord/Universal]. Backed…

WAIT A MINUTE—DIDN’T WE JUST DO this? Well, yes in a way, but this is different. The May installment of Rhythm Workshop dealt with how to create overlapping 6/4, 12/8, and 4/4 meters, primarily in a blues-rock context à la Hendrix, but this month we’re revisiting the concept as applied to “Healer,” a typically quirky Todd Rundgren tune that’s been rhythmically on my mind ever since I played it on our 2010 Todd/Healing tour. We begin with Ex. 1, which illustrates two ways to play the rhythmic motif used during the song’s intro and verse figures. The top stave is written in 12/8, which imparts an almost Irish jig feel, with accents on every dotted-quarter-note downbeat, while the bottom stave maintains the same accents, but recasts the same eighth-notes in…

FOUNDED IN 1999 BY BILL KRINARD and Joe Mloganoski, Two-Rock aimed from the start to marry Fender-style cleans and Dumbleinspired drive tones in amps rendered with optimum attention to detail and component quality. The heart-stopping price tags that this venture entailed didn’t prevent major names like John Mayer, Carlos Santana, and Matt Scofield from flying the Two-Rock flag, but the company spread its umbrella wider a few years ago with the introduction of a more affordable—yet still handmade—series aimed at the working musician. On review here are two models from the line: the Akoya and its matching 2x12 XL cab and the Studio Pro 35 1x12 combo. AKOYA Just unveiled at Winter NAMM 2015, the Akoya is Two-Rock’s first effort to produce an amp with unashamedly ’60s-Fender inspirations, while retaining…

ALESSANDRO MUSIC SERIES ONE Hand built in Brooklyn by Grado Labs, the Music Series headphones—including models One (original and 2009 model as tested), Two, and Three—feature voice coils that are wound from ultra-high-purity, oxygen-free copper for clear sound transmission and lowest possible coloration. They also employ high-power neodymium magnets to give a cleaner and more dynamic sound. The Series One phones on review here ($110 street) are lightweight and have slideradjustable foam pads that press comfortably against the ears. An important element of these passive phones is their use of a vented polymer diaphragm with a large air chamber in order to reduce distortion of the diaphragm, while also extending bass response. The result is a full 20kHz bandwidth without any noticeable distortion at lower frequencies. I’ve used the Series…

System 10 Stompbox Digital Wireless System Audio-Technica Available Now Featuring a rugged pedal-board mountable receiver with foot switch, two switched TRS balanced ¼” outputs and an output mode selector, the System 10 Stompbox provides unique functionality to guitarists. $349.95 Street Price www.audio-technica.com Vapor Shield Guitar Strings La Bella Strings Available Now The future of coated strings...are not coated! Guitar players no longer have to sacrifice tone using a conventionally coated string. Our Vapor shield technology mutates the molecules of the string, creating a slick, low friction surface resistant to grime and oil. No peeling or flaking after extended play! Available for Acoustic, Electric guitar, and bass. Contact www.labella.com to purchase these strings. Hand wound and treated in the U.S.A. SRP: $10.95 www.labella.com Contemporary Guitar Improvisation (Utilizing the Entire Fingerboard) Book…

IN 2008, AUTHOR MARTIN MCQUADE— a consultant for Bing Crosby Enterprises—interviewed Les Paul for a planned article on his musical relationship with Crosby. The interview produced a transcript that spanned 40 pages, and, due to other projects getting in the way, it was never published. Now, to honor what would have been Les Paul’s 100th birthday, GP is excerpting part of McQuade’s interview for the next few issues. We feel it’s an excellent “lost” discussion, and it’s a great way to honor two great musicians—Les Paul and Bing Crosby—on the occasion of Les’ centennial year. How did you meet Bing Crosby? I heard him in 1939. I loved him, and I loved [guitarist] Eddie Lang. Who could you pick better than who Bing picked? That was Eddie Lang. So, consequently,…

BACK IN THE LATE ’60S AND EARLY ’70S, SINGER/guitarist Randy Bachman was on quite a winning streak. As a member of the Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Bachman had a hand in the creation of such classic rock staples as “American Woman,” “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet,” “Takin’ Care of Business,” and more. On his new album, Heavy Blues [True North], Bachman has gloriously reconnected with his hard rock side (as evidenced by such ass kickers as “Little Girl Lost,” “Wild Texas Ride,” and the title track), and is joined by an impressive list of special guests that includes Neil Young, Joe Bonamassa, Jeff Healey, and Peter Frampton. Bachman was more than happy to discuss his hard rock rebirth with Guitar Player, as well as his memories of penning a…

WE’VE BEEN MINING A WHOLE LOTTA Led Zeppelin gems here in YPIW, but why not? Between odd timings, altered tunings, and off-the-beaten-path harmonic structures, the Zep catalog is bursting with potential candidates. For instance, there is apparently quite an ongoing debate regarding the chord Jimmy Page inserts into the outro section of “Immigrant Song,” the opening cut from Led Zeppelin III. Questioned about the chord, Page once described it as a “block chord that people never get right,” and seemed genuinely delighted that “it’s a chord that nobody could work out.” Until now. The chord in question has, to my ears, always been a stock C9 (Ex. 1a), a standard b5 substitution for the song’s relentless main F# octave riff, that was used for, as Page described it, “putting a…

GREAT MELODIES DO NOT HAPPEN simply by playing ascending and descending scales. They happen by putting scales to work and exploring their many melodic configurations. Any melody can be represented numerically. A melodic motif is a short pattern of notes whose numerical interval structure has been adapted to a given scale. In the following examples, “1” represents the root, “2” represents the 2nd scale degree, “3” the 3rd, and so on. Ex. 1a illustrates a four-note 1-2-3-5 motif applied to a C major scale. Any melodic motif may be attached to any rhythmic motif as shown in Ex. 1b. Each of the three-note melodic motifs in Ex. 2 is applicable to any seven-note scale. Apply them to the major scale and its modes while experimenting with various harmonic backdrops, and…

HAVING ALREADY STIRRED UP THE replacement pickup scene with its Fluence Single-Width units (reviewed in the May 2014 issue), Fishman has introduced the Fluence Classic Humbuckers, which are designed to deliver PAF-type sounds via a unique construction process that uses stacks of thin printed coils instead of the wire-wound bobbins of traditional humbuckers. Fluence pickups are completely analog, and they utilize active circuitry that’s powered by a 9-volt battery or an optional rechargeable battery pack ($99 street). Playing time is specified at 200 hours. The reasons for using active circuitry include immunity to cable losses and loading issues, and ability to deliver higher output without the primary drawback of traditional overwound humbuckers: loss of high-end response. While the Classic Humbucker Set on review here comprises pickups with alnico V bar…

NO ONE COULD ACCUSE DAVID TORN of grinding out guitar records lately, but 30 years ago it was a different story. Beginning in 1985 with Best Laid Plans, Torn ripped through six groundbreaking, guitar-heavy releases in one decade. Since 1996’s What Means Solid Traveller, however, the master of ambient looping and fuzz-drenched, Eastern-inflected soloing has been flying under the guitar-hero radar. It is not that the sonic pioneer has been idle. In the interim, he has lent his distinctive guitar work to a Who’s Who of creative musicians, including David Bowie, k.d. lang, John Legend, Tori Amos, David Sylvian, and Meshell Ndegeocello, as well as producing records for Jeff Beck and Tim Berne. Torn sandwiched those gigs in between soundtrack work on films like Friday Night Lights, The Big Lebowski,…

MENTION GENESIS TO MOST GUITARists and they ’ll likely effuse over the band’s one-time lead ax-grinder Steve Hackett who, among other sonic innovations, helped popularize the use of fretboard tapping. Conversely, speak of rock’s finest 12-string players and the names McGuinn, Page, and Harrison are apt to dominate the conversation. Truth be told however, despite Hackett’s brilliance as a lead player, the blueprint for Genesis’ signature sound of the early-to-mid ’70s was created by the ingeniously layered 12-strings of guitarist/bassist Mike Rutherford, keyboardist/guitarist Tony Banks, and, Hackett’s predecessor, guitarist Anthony Phillips. Epic multi-section tracks like “Supper’s Ready,” “The Musical Box,” and “Stagnation” generally started with rolling arpeggio inversions on multiple acoustics before Banks switched to keys and Phillips or Hackett to electric, leaving Rutherford to hold down the fort on…

THE IDEA OF RE-DESIGNING AN ARCHTOP guitar to better take advantage of the instrument’s electric abilities was something that guitar companies put considerable R&D into as higher volume rock-and-roll became popular in the 1950s. Gretsch had its chambered-body Duo Jet by the mid ’50s, but it was Gibson’s Ted McCarty who spearheaded the development of the then-radical ES-335, a guitar that used traditional hollow construction but also incorporated an internal block of solid maple running through the center of the body that made it sort of a solidbody within a hollow shell. Launched in 1958, the semi-hollow “thinline” ES-335 was a true hybrid that could handle volume much better than a standard archtop, but gave the player a more resonant experience than anything with a body of solid wood. Semi-hollow…

BRITISH PICKUP MAKER MONTY’S Guitars was founded a few years back by Matt Gleeson, who cut his teeth as a repair tech working at Chandler’s Guitars in Kew in southwest London for several years. Working in the repair shop alongside tone nuts such as Brinsley Schwarz (now back at his gig playing guitar with Graham Parker and the Rumour) and Charlie Chandler himself, Gleeson developed a particular interest in the sonic enigma behind many of the great vintage pickups, and set out to crack the codes—a venture that seems to be having plenty of success at Monty’s. Having played, studied, and measured every original PAF and all the best repros that came through the door during years of servicing many of London’s A-list musicians, Gleeson compiled a knowledge base of…

THE FUZZBOX WAS A PRIME AURAL delight in the psychedelic rock of the late ’60s, and has been a mainstay of heavier styles of guitar music ever since, but it had its origins in very different realms. The fuzz pedal was first developed to reproduce the clipping-distortion sound on Grady Martin’s bass track when a mixer channel broke down during the session for Marty Robbins’ 1961 hit “Don’t Worry,” and many early iterations were thought to be primarily useful in helping guitarists to replicate the sounds of saxophones and trombones. Maestro bottled and sold that busted-mixer tone in the U.S. as the Fuzz-Tone pedal in 1963, and by 1964 adventurous artists on the other side of the pond were already probing the wonders of fuzz—purportedly first heard via a fuzz…