Innehållsförteckning för April 2019 från Guitar Player

IN THE MIDST of putting out an issue, it’s sometimes easy to forget how exciting this industry is that we work in. The thrill of hearing great guitar playing, luxuriating in impeccable tone, or lusting after a particular guitar, amp or pedal is frequently numbed by the pressure of cranking out pages as we slog toward yet another crushing deadline. This issue was a happy exception. Yes, the usual, relentless editorial demands still dogged us. For that matter, as I sit here writing this on deadline, a virtual stack of pages awaits my approval. But the April issue is annually the time at which we depart our homes and head to Anaheim for the NAMM show. For those of us on the East Coast, the chance to visit California’s sunny…

IT’S A CHILLY afternoon in Boston and Juliana Hatfield is noticeably under the weather. But talking about guitars and her new album, Weird (American Laundromat), appears to be a welcome distraction. “I’m trying not to think about it,” she says between coughs. The sentiment fits Weird’s recurring theme of isolation. To paraphrase a line from “Do It to Music,” the album’s closing track, music is how she blocks out the world and its troubles. Hatfield is best known for her alt-rock hits “My Sister” and “Spin the Bottle,” both from the Juliana Hatfield Three’s 1993 album, Become What You Are, and for her stint in the Lemonheads the previous year, when she played bass on It’s a Shame About Ray. Those who jumped ship when the ’90s faded have missed…

LAMB OF GOD guitarist Mark Morton wasn’t planning on recording a solo album, but neither was he planning not to. “The whole thing just kind of evolved through my writing,” he says. “Lamb of God is my mothership, so I’m always working on songs for the band. But there’s a whole lot of stuff I write that I put aside, stuff that isn’t right for them. So over the years I’ve amassed a big stack of material. At a certain point, I was like, ‘Okay, now what should I do with all of it?’” Much of the music Morton had compiled was straight-up rock and didn’t fit into Lamb of God’s style of full-assault heavy metal. After he played his demos for the band’s longtime producer, Josh Wilbur, they decided…

THE TONE CONTROL hasn’t changed much over the years. It’s a capacitor in series with a potentiometer, and these connect between the volume control’s hot (or middle) terminal to ground. Removing the gray capacitor (5 nF) shown in Fig. 1 produces the traditional circuit, though the potentiometer may be a different value (and the remaining capacitor will probably be 20 nF, or 0.02 µF). In their quest for “better” tone, many players make changes to the capacitor, the potentiometer or the wiring. To my ears, most of these mods don’t necessarily make a guitar’s tone better, just different. However, that difference may be better for the way you play, your pickups or your musical tastes. The studio offers many opportunities to change guitar tone. Before going into amp sim distortion,…

IT’S A COLD, wet day in Seattle (what else is new?) when Guitar Player catches up with Queensrÿche’s Michael Wilton. Despite the nasty weather, the guitarist is enjoying some much-needed time at home before his band heads out on the road for a North American tour in support of its new, and 15th, studio album, The Verdict (Century Media Records). As Wilton points out, Queensrÿche, like many other rock bands in this current era of continuously declining album sales, have been spending more and more of their time on tour. “In this ever-changing world of entertainment and technology colliding, it just seems like that’s the way it’s going to be, because no one’s buying music anymore,” he says. In a positive twist, all that time on the road served to…

AMONG GUITARISTS, Lawson Rollins has carved out a place of his own with his impeccable nylon-string shredding. GP celebrated him for it in our August 2017 acoustic special issue, where we ranked him among 50 “Transcendent Acoustic Guitarists.” Since then, however, Rollins has decided to try his hand at steel-string acoustic and — gasp! — electric guitar. The results can be heard on Dark Matter: Music for Film (Infinita), his new, sprawling 25-track release, which also features ambient violin by Grammy winner Mads Tolling. “I was inspired by Eric Clapton’s work on the Rush soundtrack and Ry Cooder’s work on various soundtracks,” Rollins explains. “But, generally, only a couple of their cuts have the dark, moody, atmospheric quality I like. I decided to make an entire album that way.” While…

EVER HEAR THE saying, “two heads are better than one?” Well, musically speaking, sometimes two notes are better than one, especially when you’re looking for a way to fortify a single-note riff or lead lick. In this lesson, I’ll present some musically cool and useful ways to play and apply diatonic (scale-based) intervals, specifically thirds and sixths, all over the fretboard, offer some exercises, discuss applications, and provide “real world” examples of these shapes in play. When it comes to harmony, these dynamic duos are the sweetest sounding of them all, and for that reason they’re a mainstay in the arsenal of experienced pickers. They really are must-know shapes for all guitarists. C MAJOR SCALE IN THIRDS We’ll get started with some basic music theory, harmonizing the major scale in…

THESE MODERNIZED VERSIONS of the original Jet models Gretsch offered in the late ’50s — which were designed to give Gibson’s Les Paul a run for the money in an alternative, semi-hollow body design — are fine looking guitars with a high-end vibe that befits their price. They feature a chambered mahogany body, a laminated arched maple top and a glued-in mahogany neck with a 24.6-inch-scale rosewood fretboard. The BT is fitted with new Tim Shaw–designed Broad’Tron BT65 humbuckers, while the FT has High Sensitivity Filter’Trons. The control sets on both include independent volume knobs, master tone and volume controls, and a three-way pickup selector. The guitars on review also differ in hardware. The green BT (also available in black or red) is fitted with an Adjusto-Matic bridge and anchored…

THERE ARE TAP delays and then there are tap delays. While the former feature tap tempo, the latter allow you to take various outputs, or “taps,” off the delay line, which are known as multi-tap delays. This awesome pedal from Emma Electronic does both of these things, and more, in a straightforward and intuitive manner. At the Navigator’s heart are two voices: a main delay and a second one that can be split into eighth notes, dotted eighth notes or triplets. The repeats can have their tone modified with the color knob, taking them from a crisp and pristine echo to one that is darker and somewhat muted. It’s a great tool for helping a heavily delayed tone settle into a mix less intrusively. You can further expand the delayed…

Ampli-Firebox Atomic Amps Available Now World-class tube amp modelling and effects in a compact stomp box. Customize up to 9 rigs. Footswitch accesses up to 4 sounds instantly. Free USB editor. XLR and 1/4" outputs. The Ultimate Amp in a Box! MSRP: $299 www.atomicamps.com/amplifirebox Teach Your Kids Guitar Teach Guitar at Home - No Experience Required Available Now Innovative, new approach allows any parent toteach guitar! Kid-tested curriculum includes huge song collection, instructional guides, professional play-along tracks, videos, lifetime website access / support, and more. Make music with your child and save thousands over private lessons. MSRP: $119.99 Digital Download: $69.99 TeachYourKidsGuitar.com info@teachyourkidsguitar.com Contemporary Guitar Improvisation (Utilizing the Entire Fingerboard) Book & CD by Marc Silver Available Now Since 1978, Contemporary Guitar Improvisation is THE classic book for learning guitar…

Raid Dana’s Gear Stash! Thanks to Electro-Harmonix for contributing their Cock Fight Plus Talking Wah and Fuzz to this month’s giveaway and making it possible for our participating readers to Raid My Stash. The Cock Fight Plus lets you choose between wah and talking wah for two distinct tones, as well as indulge in a wide range of fuzz options. Together, the effects can produce everything from classic funk to synth-like tones. For a chance to put this on your ’board, simply send an email with “Cock Fight” in the subject line to nbmgearcoordinator@gmail.com. One lucky winner will be chosen at random. The deadline for entries is April 20. Please keep in mind that all gear is “as-is.” This is simply a fun way for us to spoil our readers.…

GUITAR RECORDS ARE often long on solos but short on serious songwriting. Ariel Posen’s self-released debut album, How Long, differs in that it’s chock full of melodic tunes, with great hooks, thrilling vocal harmonies, smart lyrics and short solos. So what makes it a guitar record? While the solos may be short, they never fail to serve the song, whether they’re detonating out of the speakers or laying solidly in the medium-tempo R&B grooves Posen favors. And then there’s that tone. The Canadian guitarist (who now resides in Dublin, Ireland) is one of a group of players, including Josh Smith, Joe Bonamassa, Matt Schofield, Eric Johnson, JD Simo and others, who form what you might call the Tone Titans — players known as much for their mastery of sound as…

IT’S AN ODD twist of the space-time continuum when the “non-reversed” creation comes after the “reversed” original. But such was the case with Gibson’s iconic Firebird lineup. The company tore up the world of guitar design in 1963 with Ray Dietrich’s automotive-inspired blueprint for the “reverse-bodied” Firebird, so-called because its body and headstock resembled those of a Fender Jazzmaster or Jaguar turned upside-down. In early 1965, Gibson settled back into the reality that guitarists were actually fairly conservative and unveiled the “non-reverse” Firebird. This gorgeously clean and original example of the Firebird III model from that debut year has more conventional body lines in terms of its offsets and horn proportions. That said, it’s still an unusual ’Bird, and another vintage Gibson possessed of its own unbridled sense of cool.…

RELEASED ON COLUMBIA Records in 1973, Love Devotion Surrender was a collaborative album by John McLaughlin and Carlos Santana. I purchased it as a teenager and was taken aback by the back-cover photo of the two guitarists — dressed all in white, hands clasped in respectful prayer — with spiritual teacher Sri Chimnoy. I thought, I know McLaughlin was into this spiritual stuff, but I guess he roped Carlos in too? More on this in a moment. Love Devotion Surrender is a mind blower of an album, starting with its version of “A Love Supreme,” a track that, to me, features the greatest guitar duel ever. Curiously, McLaughlin is mixed louder on it than Santana, but both men are on fire, answering each other respectfully, with sawed-off shotguns blaring. There…

OF ALL THE many guitar projects guitarist/luthier Buzz Feiten has embarked on, perhaps the most significant from an artistic standpoint is an instrument that he was commissioned to create as a tribute to Bo Diddley. A close friend of Bo’s named Frank Davenport was the idea’s originator. “I was Bo Diddley’s partner and friend for 30 years,” Davenport told GP, explaining the project’s personal significance. “We lived together in New Mexico and three different places in Florida. He considered my kids his godchildren. I took care of his ranches when he was gone, and he would occasionally sneak away and stay with us in a trailer park when there was too much attention on him. He worked on his Cadillac out front, which would draw a huge crowd to our…

AS ITS NAME SUGGESTS, a blues turnaround is a section of music that comes at the end of a verse, giving it harmonic interest and resolution and leading the song back to the start of a new verse, which is almost always a repeat of the first, in terms of form. Generally speaking, a turnaround occurs in the last two bars of a blues or jazz standard, whether it’s an eight-, 12-, 16-, 24- or 32-bar form. In the context of a standard 12-bar blues progression, the melody generally concludes at the beginning of the 10th bar, so instead of simply sitting on the tonic, or “one,” chord for two more bars, a chordal turnaround is inserted in bars 11 and 12 to maintain interest and forward momentum and create…

I RECENTLY GOT back into the digital home-recording game after years of avoiding it due to computer overexposure. Over the next few columns, I’d like to share a few insights I’ve learned along the way. Being the Frets editor at Guitar Player brings a uniquely acoustic perspective to the process. Whereas it’s possible to get a great electric guitar sound working “in the box,” as Adrian Galysh eloquently explained in his January 2019 Recording feature, the acoustic side remains largely about grabbing great sounds with a microphone, adding yet another layer of complexity to the process. The good news is that home digital recording is much easier and more affordable than it was just a few years ago. In this column, and in my next few, I’ll share advice that…

THESE NEW OFFERINGS from Electro-Harmonix include a maxed-out delay, a reconsidered reissue of an original classic and a cheeky revamp of a competitor’s popular distortion. All were tested with a Les Paul and a Novo Serus J into a Friedman Small Box head and 2x12 cab. GRAND CANYON DELAY & LOOPER First, a minor detraction: I had to wear my reading glasses to have even a slim hope of discerning the legends and functions on this bountifully loaded pedal, but I guess that’s my problem. Let’s just say it’s a small price to pay for the power and the glory that is the Grand Canyon Delay & Looper. Upping the ante on 2017’s Canyon Delay & Looper, the Grand adds new effects to achieve a full dozen delay and echo…

THE RECENT INTRODUCTION of the Grand Pacific models heralds an entirely new design from Andy Powers, who has been the head of R&D for Taylor since 2015. These slope-shouldered dreadnoughts are identical in size and shape, and both feature torrefied Sitka spruce tops and V-Class bracing. However, the Builder’s Edition 517 has mahogany back and sides, while the Builder’s Edition 717 uses rosewood for the body. Taylor also offers a less expensive version in the model 317 ($1,699 street, $1,899 with ES2 electronics), which has a Sitka spruce top and sapele back and sides. The Grand Pacific guitars do not have a cutaway, and this is an intentional part of their design. Powers sought to build a guitar that would sound like the guitars on the country and bluegrass records…

> Born in Washington, D.C., in 1945, Daniel Wood Gatton Jr. began playing guitar at age nine, inspired by players like Les Paul and Hank Garland. Bringing dazzling virtuoso technique to down-home styles, Gatton distilled blues, rockabilly and country into a twanging brew he called “redneck jazz.” > By the mid ’60s, Gatton was working sessions in Nashville, where he recorded on tracks by Roger Miller and Robert Gordon, among others. In 1975, he began cutting his own records that showed off his stylistic proficiency. According to John Previti, who played bass with Gatton for 18 years, the guitarist referred to himself as “a Whitman sampler of music” for his versatility in many genres, as heard on albums like his 1991 major-label debut, 88 Elmira Street. > Gatton worked his…

SOUND OFF! GET EXCLUSIVE NEWS. COMMENT. CRITIQUE. SHARE TIPS AND TECHNIQUES. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR E-NEWSLETTER. FACEBOOK.COM/GUITARPLAYERMAG TWITTER.COM/GUITARPLAYERNOW GUITARPLAYER.COM CHRISTOPHER SCAPELLITI Editor chris.scapelliti@futurenet.com ART THOMPSON Senior Editor arthur.thompson@futurenet.com JUDE GOLD Los Angeles Editor judegold@gmail.com JIMMY LESLIE Frets Editor jl@jimmyleslie.com DAVE HUNTER Gear Section & Video Contributor dhunterwordsmusic@yahoo.com ALICE PATTILLO Production Editor alice.pattillo@futurenet.com ROSIE WEBBER Art Editor rosie.webber@futurenet.com…

JOANNE SHAW TAYLOR is from the Black Country U.K. — or as she calls it, “the Detroit of England.” It’s also the home of Black Sabbath and members of Led Zeppelin, and it’s where Taylor saw blues bands perform every weekend with her dad. She began playing classical guitar at age eight but switched to electric at 13. Her inspiration came from blues-rock guitarists like Gary Moore and Paul Kossoff, but she gravitated toward Texas players, namely Stevie Ray Vaughan, Albert Collins and Billy Gibbons. “I had heard blues before: Robert Johnson and Zeppelin,” Taylor explains. “But as a 13-year-old girl in a village in England, I couldn’t relate to the older stuff. Stevie Ray Vaughan was the one who made me turn my head and go, ‘Okay, screw everything…

THE LATE JESSIE Mae Hemphill is a legend of hill country blues. Born in 1923, she grew up in a lineage of familial fife-and-drums bands from northern Mississippi. She rose to popularity in the mid 1980s and had a fruitful career during which she performed around the globe, traveling mostly on her own. Hemphill played in open tunings and, having started as a drummer, had a percussive guitar style that included slapping and banging the instrument. She would also tie a tambourine around her calf, which, together with her strumming-and-drumming guitar work, gave her performance the sound of a one-woman-band. In 1993, a stroke left Hemphill unable to play with both hands, but as this 2005 interview reveals, her independence and faith allowed her to persevere and accept her circumstances…

OVER THE YEARS, I’ve written about a few Frankencasters, which are typically Fender-style guitars pieced together from aftermarket parts. There are a lot of cool examples out there, but this meld of a Peavey T-60 body and a Travis Bean–style aluminum neck — a Peavey-Bean, so to speak — ranks high on my list. WEIRDO FACTOR My friend Michael Gurule, from the Starving Musician musical-instrument store in Santa Clara, California, built this guitar. To me, the weirdo factor is that anyone would use a Peavey T-60 body to make a serious build. Don’t get me wrong — I love Peavey’s guitars and basses and have always thought they were terribly underrated, but I also regarded the T-60 strictly as squaresville, daddy-o! Until now, that is. By adding a brand-new Travis…

“THERE ARE MALEVOLENT forces at work right now, dragging the world again to the brink of disaster,” Steve Hackett states in the press release for his 26th studio album, At the Edge of Light (Inside Out Music). But Hackett isn’t about to go quietly into the planet’s long good night. He is raising a battle cry through the power of music. And although he experienced first-hand the social disruptions of the 1960s, the onetime Genesis guitarist isn’t deploying the rock and roll sloganeering of the flower-power generation to heal our current ills. Instead, At the Edge of Light is a magnificent epic poem for a world bedeviled by war, social division and suffering — a time where the Youngbloods singing their 1967 hippie plea “Get Together” just won’t cut it. Conceptually…

Any introduction to guitarist and luthier Buzz Feiten has to touch on his extensive history as a player. It began at age 19 when, following a jam with Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix in New York City, he was asked to join the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Feiten blazed with Butterfield at Woodstock and went on to have a storied career recording and/or playing with many other greats, including Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Bette Midler, the Rascals, James Taylor, Gregg Allman, Rickie Lee Jones, Chaka Khan, Al Jarreau, Bob Dylan, the Brecker Bothers, David Sanborn, Michael Franks, Mr. Mister, Dave Koz and Olivia Newton-John. Through it all, Feiten has continually sought to improve the performance of guitars by making them play better and sound more in tune. In…

YOU CAN ALWAYS expect to find a surging mass of humanity at the NAMM show, as attendees arrive in droves to check out the latest musical gear. But even before the doors of the Anaheim Convention Center opened on the morning of January 24, it was clear that excitement for the 2019 event was at a fever pitch. and with good reason. This year’s NAMM show was a veritable gear feast, certainly for guitarists. We previewed many of the latest offerings on guitarplayer.com and on our social-media pages and YouTube channel. And while we hope to (eventually) review every cool guitar, amp, effect, accessory and live/recording item that captivated us at the show, it will take some months to accomplish that. In the meantime, enjoy this first look at some…

THIS LATEST GUITAR amplifier to roll out of Mesa’s Petaluma, California, factory is a deceptively simple-looking 1x12 combo with one channel and a row of controls for gain, treble, mid, bass, presence, master and reverb. The multi-watt dial on the far right barely hints at what’s going on under the hood of this sweet combo, but designer and Mesa founder Randall Smith equipped it with his patented selectable power-amp function, which encompasses Multi-Watt and Duo-Class technologies to provide five power levels, two operation classes and three wiring options, all under the control of a five-position rotary switch. This allows the Cali Tweed to be run in five different configurations of its four 6V6 power tubes: • 40 watts in 4x6V6 class A/B pentode; • 30 watts in 2x6V6 class A/B…

YAMAHA INTRODUCED ITS TransAcoustic resonance-based effects processing system in 2016 aboard its premium LL and LS models. This new type of signal processing is generated in the guitar’s resonance chamber and springs forth through the soundhole when the instrument is unplugged, turning the acoustic guitar into its own amplifier, complete with reverb and chorus effects. Yamaha has now extended the system to its more affordable FS-TA concert-size guitar and the FG-TA dreadnought on review here. The TransAcoustic system controls are discreetly located, so no one but you will notice the three slightly raised black knobs at the crest of the bass bout. There’s one for reverb, one for chorus, and another that controls guitar volume and turns the effects on and off. Even when turned to their maximum, the effects…