Innehållsförteckning för October 2015 från Guitar Player

AS LOYAL GUITAR PLAYER READERS know, Joe Bonamassa has been sharing his vintage-axe explorations with all of us through his regular “Joe Bonamassa’s Guitar Safaris” column. But now—thanks to Ernie Ball—some lucky guitarists can win a chance to spend a day with Bonamassa and his legendary guitar collection in Los Angeles! You’ll be able to talk guitar with the collector and blues-rock master, and actually hang out with eight of his treasured instruments: 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard “Snakebite,” 1960 Gibson ES-335 TD “Dot Neck,” 1964 Gibson Firebird V, 1962 Gibson SG Special “Polaris White” (profiled in his June 2015 GP column), 1951 Gibson ES-5N, 1969 Gibson ES-355TD “Walnut,” 1955 Fender Stratocaster “Hardtail,” and 1951 Fender Telecaster “Terry Reid” (pro-filed in his September 2015 column). The global Ernie Ball Presents:…

IT’S ONE OF THOSE moments that’s not uncommon in L.A.—you’re hanging out at a sidewalk café, when suddenly one of the world’s most respected musicians comes strolling down the street, right past your table. While I’m not one to bug famous players merely because I recognize or admire them, the most recent time this happened to me it involved someone I knew. Yes, thousands of miles of land and sea away from his U.K. home, carless and hoofing it in the SoCal sun, there walked the rock/prog/fusion hero I interviewed for this magazine’s July 2011 cover story—Guthrie Govan. “Guthrie!” I hollered, getting his attention. “What brings you to this section of Sunset Blvd.? The music stores?” “Well, hello,” he replied. “Yes. I was looking to stock up on a couple…

Anyone who knows anything about B.B. King is aware of his famous story about Lucille… “I was playing a hall in Twist, Arkansas [in 1949],” he told GP in 1969, “and these men got into a fight and knocked over a burning barrel of kerosene they were using for heat. The whole place caught fire, and I had to run back into the burning building to get my guitar. I learned the men had been fighting over a woman called Lucille, so I named my guitar “Lucille” to remind me never to do a fool thing like that again.” King has had many Lucilles since that “fool thing” occurred, and Guitar Player staffers were lucky enough to get their hands on one of his ladies twice to detail how he…

EVER SINCE THE INCEPTION OF THE Historic program in 1993, Gibson has striven to recapture the magic of its glory years, namely by reissuing Les Pauls built they way they were circa 1958-’60. The quest wasn’t an easy one. They were a long way from the original formula—both literally and figuratively—and many of the original ingredients simply weren’t available. Through better and better analysis of vintage Les Pauls, Gibson Custom (as this division is now known) has gotten closer year by year: a more accurate neck joint one year, improved playing feel the next, better pickups and a period-correct trussrod after that, and so on. The introduction of the True Historic series for 2015, represented here by this 1959 Les Paul Reissue, offers the most significant coalescence yet of vintage-correct…

GOT A QUESTION FOR YOUR COMMUNITY? guitplyr@musicplayer.com THERE’S NOW A NEW WAY TO CHECK in with the Guitar Player universe. We recently launched our first podcast entitled No Guitar Is Safe, which is hosted by GP’s Los Angeles editor Jude Gold. The basic premise is that Jude will sit down with noteworthy artists—one guitar to another—and do some talking and some playing. Listeners will be treated to interesting guitar and performance facts, as well as a lot of licks, riffs, melody lines, and solos right from the player’s fingers. No Guitar Is Safe is available from the iTunes Store, or you can click to it via links at guitarplayer.com. Don’t miss exciting episodes with guitar stars such as Joe Satriani, Brad Gillis, and others—subscribe now!…

“MY PRODUCER, LIVINGSTONE BROWN, always tells me that albums never get finished, they just escape,” says Robin Trower, who managed to let Something’s About to Change [Manhaton/V12] dash out the studio door earlier this year. The 70-year-old guitarist drew heavily on his R&B roots for the project, played all the bass parts, and, for the first time ever, he wrote every song for his own voice. What’s the difference between writing for yourself as the singer, and composing songs when you know you’re going to hand it off to somebody else to sing? I work quite hard to get the keys right for me, because I don’t have any range at all in my voice. If I’m writing for another vocalist, the key is less of a worry. There’s also…

IN THE MID ’90S, SAN FRANCISCO GUITARIST Jim Campilongo forsook a burgeoning career as a funk-rock guitarist for the joys of twang, recording a series of Jimmy Bryant meets Speedy Weststyle records with pedal-steel maestro Joe Goldmark (Dallas Wayne, Jim Lauderdale) under the sobriquet Jim Campilongo and the Ten Gallon Cats. Despite the classic instrumentation, Campilongo’s compositions and unique playing style pushed against any strict “country” appellation. After moving to New York, Campilongo refined his distinctive “Roy Buchanan meets Thelonious Monk” approach in a trio format, moving even further from the hard country he loves. His new sound endeared him to attendees of his residencies in Manhattan, and his masterful manipulation of a top-loading, maple-fretboard 1959 Fender Telecaster brought him work with Norah Jones, Teddy Thompson, and Martha Wainwright, and…

1925-2015 WHEN WE LOST B.B. KING ON May 14, 2015, it was one of those earthshattering, catastrophic events that make everyone take notice. Even those with zero affinity for blues music or guitar players could feel that something momentous and sad and never-to-be regained had occurred that day. We lost a man who was such a tireless evangelist of the blues—and music in general—and one of the last surviving links to the plantations of Mississippi and its musical chroniclers of woe and hope. But King was so much more than a living history of war-era blues music. He also adored jazz, and he studied and read and practiced and lived in order to bring more depth to every note he played. He delighted in performing for young, white hippies in…

B.B. KING WAS THE UNDISPUTED KING of the Blues, but if you assumed this to mean he only played standard 12-bar blues progressions, think again. King’s voluminous discography features a rich variance of song forms and chord progressions that are just as bluesy as any 12-bar affair, so let’s investigate using a figured bass system, in which many different chord progressions can be illustrated without being associated with a particular key. Here’s how it works. The notes/steps of a chromatic scale are indicated using the following Roman numerals and accidentals: I, bII, II, bIII, III, IV, #IV/bV, V, #V/bVI, VI, bVII, and VII. Each numeral corresponds to a halfstep of the chromatic scale in a given key. For example, in the key of C, the notes correspond to the figured…

THE LATEST IN AN EVER-EXPANDING series of John Petrucci signature guitars, the JP15 is the first to feature a “roasted” maple top, neck, and fretboard—the last detail being significant as Petrucci has always shredded on rosewood or ebony fretboards. Music Man tells us that John was pleasantly surprised by the snappier sound of the maple-on-maple combination, and this circles back to the roasting process, which removes moisture, hardens the wood, and also gives a brown-ish hue to the grain pattern that looks very cool under a finish of gunstock oil and hand-rubbed wax. The Sahara Burst maple top is beautifully quilted, and you can also order this guitar with a flame top, as well as with a 7-string neck (sorry, no lefties). Cosmetics are furthered by shield-shaped pearl fretboard markers…

STOMPBOXES WITH SMALL FOOTPRINTS ARE AN OBVIous plus for any pedalboard, and Xotic’s new SL Drive Chrome Edition ($124 street), packs a lot into a rugged cast-aluminum enclosure that measures just 3.5" x 1.5" x 1.5". Only 3,000 units are being produced in this limited-edition package, which also includes the Xotic Voltage Doubler, a small unit that interfaces between the SL Drive and an optional 9VDC power supply to increase the voltage up to 18VDC for enhanced headroom and presence. A sweet-looking unit with its polished top cover and amber LED, the SL Drive features clear plastic knobs for Drive and Tone, and has a smaller trimmer for Volume. The output jacks are side mounted and the click-on mechanical switch provides a true bypass when the effect is disengaged. For…

HERE ARE A FEW GOODIES THAT MADE THE SCENE AT THE NAMM show in Nashville on July 9-11. Of course, for tons more product news from Music City and beyond, click to guitarplayer.com and search for “Summer NAMM 2015.” For some notable debuts in the acoustic-guitar market, please check out our Frets cover story on p. 69. GIZMOTRON GIZMOTRON 2.0 Goodies The mechanical bowed-string effect developed in the ’70s by 10cc’s Lol Creme and Kevin Godley is back with a vengeance. No modifications to the instrument needed. Quick-release mounting system. Toolkit provided. Onboard Speed control (footpedal optional). USB or AC powered (adapter included). Toolkit. Also available for electric basses. Price $449 direct More Info gizmotron.com BOSS DD-500 DIGITAL DELAY Goodies Twelve delay modes including Reverse, Analog, Tape, and Vintage Digital…

THE WORLD WAS SO SADDENED by King’s passing that scores of tributes flooded the airwaves and social media. Here’s a sampling of some of those remembrances from GP readers, rock stars, and politicians. BUDDY GUY B.B. King was the greatest guy I ever met. The tone he got out of that guitar—the way he shook his left wrist, the way he squeezed the strings. Man, he came out with that and it was all new to the whole guitar playing world. He could play so smooth—he didn’t have to put on a show. The way B.B. did it is the way we all do it now. He was my best friend, and a father to us all. I’ll miss you, B., and I promise I will keep these damn blues…

For the September 2000 issue, King shared with GP Senior Editor Art Thompson his “rules of the road” for managing his group of musicians. EVERYBODY HAS AN EGO, BUT SOMETIMES YOU DON’T SEE IT—OR THEY don’t show it—so you have to be diplomatic. If you’re what I call a “stiff boss,” there’s no gray area—either the band will get tired of you, or you’ll get tired of them. I tell my musicians and everybody who works with me, “If there’s something bothering you, let’s talk about it. I’m not Lord, God, master, or any of that. I’m the bandleader and the guy that pays you.” It makes me happy when the guys are concerned enough to say to me, “How come we have to sound like that here? Why don’t…

Guild Westerly M-140E GUILD’S RECENTLY LAUNCHED WESTERLY Collection pays tribute to the ’60-era guitars that helped to make this company a renowned marque in the world of steelstring acoustics. Composed of the 120, 140, and 150 series—and ranging in street price from $649 to $1,099—the Westerly Collection models offer a lot of value with their solid-wood construction and nice appointments. The OM-150 and M-140E we’re sampling here provide distinctly different ways to go, as the former is an orchestra-sized pure acoustic and the latter a smaller, concert-shaped instrument with Fishman electronics Though its street price is closer to the top of the Westerly Collection range, the OM-150 is still a worthy contender in the affordable end of the acoustic market. It’s a well made guitar that aims to deliver quality…

WHILE THERE’S SOME TRUTH IN THE SAYING THAT MONEY is better spent on lessons than gear, the fact is most guitarists put an immense amount of focus on guitars, amps, effects, and other things that promise to help them play and sound better. A good amp, of course, is a necessity, and when new ones show up at the office it’s always a rush to dive in and hear how they sound. That’s the fun part about working for a music magazine, and for this installment of our ongoing series of multi-product reviews, we’ve lined up recently arrived tube-powered models from Dr. Z, Magnatone, Supro, and Vox, along with a couple of intriguing solid-staters: The new Blackstar ID:Core BEAM and the Roland JC-40 Jazz Chorus. In fact, GP got an…

MICHAEL DETEMPLE HAS LONG BEEN known as an accomplished builder of high-end, bolt-neck Fender-style guitars. He developed his love of the breed during a distinguished playing career amid the West Coast scene of the ’60s and ’70s—including an extended period in Rick Danko’s band and stints with Dave Mason, Booker T Jones, Albert Hammond, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Paul Butterfield, Eric Clapton, and others—and segued into luthiery in the ’90s as a means of finding some relative stability while starting a family. Gradually perfecting his craft, with reference to his own collection of vintage instruments, DeTemple’s current style coalesced in the mid ’90s, although he’ll tell you that each guitar continues to get just a little bit better. On the strength of the Spirit Series ’52 Model, it’s hard to…