Innehållsförteckning för July 2022 från Guitar Player

WHEN WE CELEBRATED Jack White as one of our 25 guitar innovators in the April 2022 issue, we found ourselves in a dilemma. Should we acknowledge him for helping to popularize the use of cheap vintage axes from the 1960s, a nod to his early years of success with the White Stripes? Or should we honor him as one of modern rock guitar’s leading gear customizers and the man behind an in-demand line of effects pedals built by his Third Man Hardware with companies like Gamechanger Audio and Union Tube & Transistor? In the end we decided to celebrate the former achievement, and with good reason. We’d learned that Jack had granted Guitar Player exclusive access to his gear collection, a mouth-watering assemblage of custom guitars and pedals — not…

IN THE LATE 1970s and early ’80s, the synthesizer threatened to take over popular music, and legion were the pundits who lined up to ring the electric guitar’s death knell. Then, just as guitarists were getting fit to burst with oscillator envy, Roland Corporation swooped in to save the day. Introducing what were arguably the most functional and genuinely usable guitar synths yet to hit the scene, the Japanese music-electronics company presented a series of impressive modules that culminated in the whopping GR-700 of 1984. While Roland’s guitar synth didn’t dominate popular music as a result, it wasn’t for a lack of trying. Guitarists have been trying to make their instrument of choice sound like something other than itself ever since a pickup was first introduced to an amplifier. Early players…

“I RARELY DO FULL SWEEPS WITH THE WAH, OR PUMP IT IN REGULAR RHYTHMS. IT’S MORE ABOUT GIVING MY PLAYING THAT ‘TALKING’ QUALITY” “BLACKSABBATH MEETS Chicago!” Ozzy Osbourne exclaims, clapping his hands with great enthusiasm after Austin band Brown Sabbath slays the Sabbath chestnut “Fairies Wear Boots” for him in person — complete with conga drums and a wicked Latin brass section — at a small bar in East Austin. “There are a lot of [Black Sabbath] cover bands,” Ozzy notes a minute later, on an episode of A&E’s Ozzy & Jack’s World Detour, “but this, by far, is such a unique way of doing it. I’m really impressed. Your playing is fuckin’ great.” Recalling the moment from his Lechehouse studio on the outskirts of Austin, the band’s guitarist Beto…

WHEN LESLIE WEST passed away on December 23, 2020, at age 75, the list of guitar legends queueing up to honor him told its own story. Many of them are among the players who appear on the new release Legacy: A Tribute to Leslie West (Mascot label Group), featuring contributions from such luminaries as Slash, Zakk Wylde, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Morse and Martin Barre, all of which highlights West’s towering influence over rock and roll’s many diverse strains. To the uninitiated, West is best remembered for “Mississippi Queen,” an essential hard rocker from the classic rock canon. Anyone with a deeper interest in the music West created, both as a member of Mountain and under various solo and band guises, would know his work is crammed with thundering riffs and exquisitely…

GuitarPlayer Editors’ Pick THE ERA OF the smart acoustic-electric guitar is upon us, and Lava Music is developing some brilliant ideas on its first models. They include the carbon fiber ME 3, on review, here as well as the Blue Lava Touch, made with high-pressure laminate, which is up for review next month. Both models feature the HILava system (HI = Human Interface) with L3 smart preamp, and it’s a game changer. The system is loaded with apps that offer everything from internally actuated effects (no amp required) to a practice program, onboard recording and looping, all of it accessed with a multitouch display that functions like a smart phone. Lava even created a social element to let users share original creations via the Lava+ app, which pairs the guitar…

BACK IN THE early ’90s when I’d frequent the Emeryville, California, Sunday morning Record Swap Meet, I discovered a copy of The Fabulous Roy Lanham in a seller’s milk crate. Finding this type of rare-bird LP was the reason I set my alarm to wake up at the crack of dawn, but paying a whopping (then personal record) high of $40 for an LP was a little unsettling. That was a ton of money to me back then, but, kind readers, I made the plunge and had no regrets whatsoever. This holy grail album showcased a tremendous guitarist, and its cover photo gives one the impression Roy Lanham could be a double for Robert Goulet. How could anyone regret this? The Fabulous Roy Lanham was originally released on the Sims…

“SE CAE EL SOL” THE LOS SUNDOWNS, THE LOS SUNDOWNS (2021) Se cae el sol translates roughly as the sun goes down, so it’s clearly a kind of theme song for Beto’s cumbia-tinged psychgarage band of the same name. Blending a funky Latin beat with spaghetti-western–approved bell-like tones, the track is based on a I-IV-V progression in harmonic minor — Bm–Em7–F# dom7 — over which Martinez flows slinky blues-scale and harmonic-minor ideas with a classic spring reverb–soaked tone courtesy of a vintage Fender Super Reverb. “INTO THE VOID” BROWN SABBATH, BROWNOUT PRESENT BROWN SABBATH (2014) Even Ozzy was gobsmacked by the originality and sheer badassery of this horn-blasting take on the early Sabbath epic. Like the original, Martinez tunes his entire guitar down a minor third — that’s a hellspawn C# on…

THE RELEASE OF Legacy: A Tribute to Leslie West demonstrates the respect felt by so many axe heroes for Leslie West’s unique talents. The breadth of artists that contributed to it — from contemporaries like Robby Krieger and Martin Barre to shred legends such as Yngwie Malmsteen and Marty Friedman — highlights the fact that a truly great artist can transcend all genres. Blackberry Smoke’s Charlie Starr formed a close friendship with West in his later years and was keen to be a part of the star-studded album project. Why did you choose to cover “Silver Paper,” from Climbing!? I don’t believe you could go wrong with any Mountain track, but this one has always hit home with me. What is it about Leslie’s playing that spoke to you? His playing…

FORTY YEARS AGO, Fender launched the Squier series of offshore-made versions of Strats, Teles and Jazz and Precision basses, which quickly became popular with players for their affordability, playability and tone. In celebration of this chapter in guitar-making history, the 40th Anniversary Gold Edition Telecaster, Stratocaster, Telecaster and Jazzmaster are offered as blinged-out versions of these classics that feature gold hardware, neck binding and a variety of available color finishes. The Gold Edition Tele on review here looks sharp with its gloss-black finish (also available in Sherwood Green Metallic) and preponderance of gold-plated parts, including the bridge and its three saddles, tuners, front-pickup cover, knurled knobs and control plate, strap buttons and engraved neck plate. Even the pickguard is brushed gold anodizedaluminum. It all made a feast for the eyes…

COMPRESSION MAY BE the least understood of effects. The easiest way to comprehend it is to think about turning a simple tube amp up. As you increase the volume, the amp gets louder and the tubes begin to distort. Past a certain point, however, the distortion increases but the amp ceases to get any louder. That is compression at work. The tubes have placed a cap on how loud the signal can get. This effect can increase the apparent sustain of your guitar, and a compressor pedal performs a similar function, but without the distortion. Cutting my teeth in the clubs of Manhattan, where any kind of volume is frowned upon by the people who live upstairs, I relied on an MXR Dynacomp, the only compressor pedal available at the…

WHEN IT WAS issued in 1992, The Police — Greatest Hits became a multimillion seller on CD, but its availability on vinyl was limited. To mark its 30-year anniversary, the 16-cut set (which, not surprisingly, packs in monsters like “Message in a Bottle,” “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,” Every Breath You Take” and loads more) is getting the deluxe vinyl makeover. Each track has been remastered at Abbey Road and cut at half-speed, and the package contains two heavyweight LPs and expanded artwork, along with other bells and whistles. For guitarist Andy Summers, along with his former Police bandmates (bassist-singer Sting and drummer Stewart Copeland), approving remixes of tracks he recorded 40 years ago is all part of the job, but he’s enthusiastic about the new vinyl edition.…

LIKE MANY LONG-FORGOTTEN guitars of the 1960s, the Standel Custom had a stealth arrival and an even quieter departure. But don’t let its obscurity fool you. As this 1967 model reveals, it’s a nicely engineered guitar that sports some fine amenities and an interesting pedigree. Built in Southern California initially, and later in New Jersey, these guitars were manufactured for a few years at the end of the ’60s before the line was retired. They were created by Standel amp builder Bob Crooks, who had collaborations with guitar makers Semie Moseley of Mosrite Guitars and Joe Hall of the fabled Hallmark guitar line. In ’66 Standel joined up with Sam Koontz, who designed this model, and others, through the Harptone Company, Unfortunately, he was able to make guitars for just…

1964 “JB Hutto” Montgomery Ward Airline Fender Three-Wheel-Motion Low-Rider Telecaster (Blue) Fender Three-Wheel-Motion Low-Rider Telecaster (Copper) Fender Acoustasonic Jazzmaster Gretsch G6199 Billy-Bo Jupiter Thunderbird Third Man Holeyboard Custom Pedalboard…

A NEW TUNING can change the soundtrack of your life. So can a new guitar, and so can your buddies. Since becoming Frets editor in 2016, I’ve poured all the glorious gear goodness and artistic wisdom bestowed upon me into an epic recording project documenting my transition from Strat cat to percussive acoustic fingerstylist. Lucky Recording Company became the treehouse where musical friends could exchange ideas without limitations, and Spirit Hustler was born of an acoustic heart and layered with cosmic electricity. “Circlin’ the Sun,” the second single from our self-titled debut album features a skywalking slide solo by Jules Leyhe. The backstory to the tune is a stellar example of how being amenable to fresh ideas at all times can be transformative in the long run. BE OPEN TO TUNINGS…

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