Innehållsförteckning för July 2018 från Total Guitar

This month, we’re taking you on a journey to play better blues. One of the key things we want to deliver here is more than just a disparate collection of licks and riffs: as always we want to give you something that is applicable in a real world situation. So, we’ve approached this month’s cover feature from the perspective of jamming - playing parts and interacting with other musicians; ‘But I’m not in a band!’ No worries, because we’ve also provided five authentic blues jam tracks for you to ‘sit-in’ with. Also this issue, we’ve lined up an all-killer list of tunes for you to learn, starting with Rockshool’s version of Eric Clapton’s Wonderful Tonight, plus Queen’s One Vision, The Jam’s That’s Entertainment and Knopfler’s classic riff from Dire Straits’…

GEAR Corting Favour We love a good mash-up here on TG and so does Cort. The Sunset TC has surfaced in the US at $599 and fuses the features of its single-cut, LP-style model with the T-style TC. Fano fans will also note that it’s reminiscent of the company’s pricier SP6. The Sunset TC has an ash body, bolt-on hard maple 9.5" radius neck and jatoba ’board with two distressed finish options – Worn Butter Blonde and Worn White Blonde. The pickup combination is the Duncan designed P90-1 and TC103B single-coil. WHEN Now EVENT Schools Of Rock BIMM’s Summer Schools will be returning to Brighton, Bristol, Manchester and London offering budding musicians aged 11 -17 (who are not absolute beginners) the chance to take one of three five-day courses; indie…

Def Leppard BOX SET: VOLUME 1 The major selling point here is that Leppard didn’t put a paw wrong up to fourth album Hysteria. They evolved from plucky NWOBHM upstarts with On Through The Night to US-conquering stadium-fillers after Pyromania. For well-healed fans beginning to dip their wallets into the vinyl reissue pool, there’s more justification buying the LP than the CD set of this, especially after the extensive anniversary CD reissues of Hysteria and Pyromania Leppard have put out in the past. But newcomers will discover fine Sheffield steel here and there are some sweeteners offered: a storming 1983 LA Forum live set (previously seen on a Pyromania reissue), their 1978 debut EP represented with a mini CD and a 10-track rarities disc rounding up b-sides and single edits.…

The Deluxe is the original Fender amplifier – the Model 26 ‘Woody’ Deluxe dates back all the way to 1946, however, it’s the tweed-covered versions made between 1948-60 that have become the most coveted. As with many Fender amps, the Deluxe circuit went through several iterations before arriving at the legendary ‘narrow panel’ 5E3 version. A pair of cathode-biased 6V6 output valves with no negative feedback gave the Deluxe a complex and highly-responsive overdrive when pushed hard, with an edgy bite that decays into a rich, smooth mid-biased sustain. The Deluxe has a simple control panel, with two pairs of inputs feeding a microphone and instrument channel, with separate volume controls and a single shared tone control. A compact pine cabinet and a single Jensen P12R made the Deluxe easy…

Some bands have a live reputation based on a timeless test: can they get a crowd moving within seconds? Skindred have always set the standard for other heavy bands when it comes to onstage energy and they’re still mixing a molotov cocktail of metal, reggae, alt rock and punk. Twenty years into their career the band continue to explore their sound with new album Big Tings. It’s also an eventful time for Mikey Demus’s rig with a new Manson signature model and Kempers on the menu for starters… MANSON MIKEY DEMUS SIGNATURE MD-1 1 “This is what Mansons call their MA shape and I’m playing it in drop C. Mansons obviously put a lot of tech into their guitars for some people but I wasn’t really interested in that, I…

To get you started we’re looking at some chords in the guitar-friendly key of A. You’ve probably heard of a I-IV-V (one-four-five) progression – it’s a common blues chord sequence and its name tells you that the chords are built on the first, fourth and fifth notes of the major scale. So, in the key of A (A B C# D E F# G#), the chords are A, D and E. Either jam on these three major chords or use 6ths, 9ths and dominant 7ths for an authentic blues vibe. We’ve used open-string root notes, but if you shift the root notes to fretted versions (at the 5th fret of the fifth and sixth strings) these can be moved to any key you like. John Mayer uses these types of…

This song features on the 1986 album A Kind of Magic and our transcription and backing track are based on the full album version. Rhythm guitar-wise there are two different sections throughout the song. Firstly, the verse (based on the famous opening riff) and secondly the chorus, which features sustaining chords. Rather than simply repeating these sections, Brian adds a variation here and there, to keep it interesting. There are three lead guitar spots, firstly in the intro, then a short blast in the middle of the tune, and a more extended solo jam at the end. Brian’s soloing style leans more toward blues-rock and is based mainly around the minor pentatonic scale. He also showcases his technique with some nimble fingered hammer-ons and pull-offs and a Van Halen-esque tapping…

Yes, you read that right – Eric plays left handed on a right-handed guitar, meaning he looks down and sees the strings in reverse position. This unusual way of playing has given Eric a new twist on a classic style in the same way that reversed strings or unusual tunings has informed the work of blues legends Alberts King and Collins. Eric is an incredibly versatile player, comfortable improvising lush chordal passages with a clean tone, or delivering blistering solos that call to mind players such as Eric Johnson, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix. High praise indeed, and, though we haven’t got the space here for a detailed analysis of Eric’s chordal approach, these tab examples will help you understand the way Eric views the fretboard. Moving through groups…

“I HAD NO INTEREST IN LEARNING SCALES OR ANY OF THAT OTHER GARBAGE” “The horizon is in a lot of my work,” Seattle-raised singer-songwriter Damian Jurado tells TG, referencing the title of his latest record The Horizon Just Laughed. Washingtonians came west from the east. They didn’t know how long it went. They had no maps. The settlers who came to the West Coast were the real dreamers: wherever they were was not good enough for them. It says something about the people that settled here.” There’s something of this in Jurado, for sure. The songwriter started off playing a borrowed Gibson SG bass in punk bands, but morphed into a critically-lauded urban folk singer-songwriter after discovering Billy Bragg – “my bridge” – in the early 90s. Since then he…

1 MASTER VOLUME Each pickup has its own volume control and there’s a master tone, but there is a master volume, too. It has a treble bleed circuit to give you easily accessible control over your sound 2 CONTROL KNOBS The chrome G-Arrow control knobs not only look the business, they’re tactile and digit-friendly in practice, too 3 ALL IN THE DETAILS The silver plexi pickup surrounds match the scratchplate and the screw-in strap buttons add to a classic Gretsch aesthetic We all have our preconceptions about guitar brands and models; players and styles we associate with tone and aesthetic. But Gretsch has been taking some interesting steps to give serious pause for anyone who only thinks of them as the home of aspirational rockabilly daddios and country gents. In…

1 THESE ONES GO UP TO... Live out your Nigel Tufnel dreams by cranking up the preamp gain on a host of amp models 2 TUBE FUSION  Ever wanted to try a Marshall with 6L6s or EL84s? Now you can by mixing and matching the power tube section 3 TWO MICS  Who said less is more? More is more when you can balance the signal from two microphones to such great effect The original Positive Grid BIAS probably did more than any other plugin to bring modern amp modelling to the masses. Whereas other modellers tend to stick closely to emulating real amps, BIAS is more concerned with opening up sounds as a stepping-off point for further tweaking. Choose an amp, and you can then modify everything from the preamp…

The first song I remember… Purple Haze – Jimi Hendrix “My father got a new set of super high-end hi fi speakers back in the 80s, or whenever, and I remember him playing Hendrix through it – and Purple Haze really stuck with me. I think I was actually playing a tennis racket at the time! That was way before I started playing, I must have been maybe 10 years old. I remember just grabbing a tennis racket and playing along – hearing that song through those speakers was incredible.” The song that made me want to play… Shine On You Crazy Diamond– Pink Floyd “It just really gave me the urge to dedicate myself to learning the guitar. There was a certain strangeness to the music – with the…

CHRIS BIRD Chris has been on a tonal quest this issue, keenly trying to recreate guitar tones to jam along to our Riff Of The Month and Classic Track tunes. “Mark Knopfler’s tone in Money For Nothing is fiendishly tough to dial in; Brian May’s sound in One Vision probably even more so,” says Mr B, “but our contributors’ audio backing tracks are spot on!” MICHAEL ASTLEY-BROWN Digital modelling is on Mike’s mind. First, he was wowed by the functionality of Positive Grid’s BIAS Amp 2, but after hearing that Thrice’s revered tonehound Dustin Kensrue employed the Line 6 Helix on the band’s new album, our gear guru contemplated ditching his beloved pedalboard and amp. Surely not! ROB LAING Before Rob takes his place in the big chair he’s been…

Abbey Road Talks WHEN 3-12 August abbeyroad.com Visit the legendary Studio Two at the hallowed Abbey Road to learn the history of the studio from producers and Beatles experts Brian Kehew and Kevin Ryan. 2000 Trees Fest WHEN 12, 13 and 14 July twothousandtreesfestival.co.uk Upcote Farm, Cheltenham hosts headliners At The Drive-In, Twin Atlantic and Enter Shikari (pictured) alongside some of the most exciting new talents in alternative guitar music. Tremonti Tour WHEN 28 June - 5 July marktremonti.com A new concept album (see review on p16), a sci-fi novel and judging our Guitarist Of The Year competition… how does Mark Tremonti do it?! Oh, and he’s also bringing his solo project over for UK and Ireland dates just in case anyone thinks he…

1 “I’ve been playing Les Pauls for the past eight or nine years and the shape just kind of called to me. When I was coming up, a lot of my favourite players had Les Pauls and when I picked up a Custom it felt different. Between the ebony fretboard and its weight, it felt huge and it was heavy. And I just felt when I put it on that it was a man’s guitar! I just got really excited.” 2 “I never truly went to the neck pickup a lot because I play with my fingers and when I do that I get a very thumpy, duddy sound right away, so I was always relying on my bridge pickup. I just wanted to do something different... something of my…

Haken L-1VE Filmed in Amsterdam on the final night of the six-piece band’s 10th anniversary tour in April 2017, L-1ve marks Haken’s first official live album, released as a 2 CD + 2 DVD digipak. A tight, polished show focusing heavily on the band’s most recent critically-acclaimed albums The Mountain and Affinity, L-1ve confirms Haken as one of the UK’s leading progressive acts. Longtime fans will appreciate the band’s epic Aquamedley performance and 22-minute encore of 2011’s Visions. A second DVD includes bonus tracks filmed at ProgPower USA 2016 and three official videos from Affinity. Even a decade in, Haken are still on the rise!…

TECHNIQUE 1: HAMMER-ONS Fret a note with your first finger, pick the string, then, as the note rings out, ‘hammer on’ to a higher note without plucking the string again. TECHNIQUE 2: PULL-OFFS Fret a note with your third finger, pick the string, then, as the note rings out, ‘pull off’ to a lower note without plucking the string again. You can use whichever finger you like for either technique; make sure to leave a finger free to play the higher (hammer-ons) or lower (pull-offs) notes. This all takes place on one string at a time.…

GET THE TONE #1 TEXAS CRUDE Getting that edgy blues-rock tone is as much about attitude as amp settings. A good humbucking guitar with a PAF-style bridge pickup will get you in the right tonal ballpark. One trick that works is to dial in more gain than you need and back off the guitar’s volume control for normal playing, pushing it up when you need extra emphasis and sustain. GET THE TONE Reverb bright room Delay approx 300ms GET THE TONE #2 VINTAGE BLUES, SWING AND ROCKABILLY Plug in a decent single-coil guitar – ideally a Tele, with the tone control backed off to achieve a nice round sound with not too much bite. This setup is ideal for recreating 50s and 60s western swing, though blues and into rockabilly,…

RIDE THE LIGHTNING Backstage at the Camden Underworld, Parkway Drive axemen Jeff Ling and Luke Kilpatrick are biting each other’s guitars and pulling faces while boxed inside the smallest dressing room they’ve had in years. Tonight’s sold-out show celebrates the release of sixth full-length album Reverence, but there’s no sign of uncertainty over the new material – instead the pair remain as light-hearted as ever. That mindset could very well be the secret to their success, which has seen the metalcore quintet top their native album charts back home in Australia and gatecrash Top 20s the world over with last album Ire. Yet their feet remain on the ground: “If people have only listened to our new record a few times, they won’t have a feel for it,” says Ling.…

Ben: “We grew up with southern rock and country, it was such a big thing in our area and naturally it’s in our DNA. That’s the quilt we’re cut from, basically. But my parents also listened to The Beach Boys, Neil Diamond, Robert Palmer… I’m a huge Elvis fan, so his guitarist Scotty Moore ended up being my favourite of them all. He had the most notifiable sound, the one I can hear a mile away and know exactly who was playing. At the time, it was incredibly innovative… to be coming out in 1955 with a Gibson plugged into an amp playing rock’n’roll. It was very risqué music back then! Sure, it’s not the best guitar playing in the world. It’s raw and original, which is what I prefer.…

“I’ve been with Vigier since 1997, so over 20 years now. I was doing a clinic in France and one of their reps brought one of their models that played so much better than my own guitars. I had dinner with the owner, Patrice – who is the sweetest guy in the world. He’s been open-minded about my propensity for the weird, asking him to make me strange guitars that are as part of the expression as the music made on them. There was the flying foot guitar, replicas of my original Swiss cheese guitar and then, of course, the DoubleBfoot fretless/fretted model. You can see how much pride and care has been taken in building them. Patrice sees his guitars like works of art – his company is not…

Shuffle feel (aka swing feel) is an essential ingredient of countless blues songs – Walking By Myself by Jimmy Rogers (and covered by Gary Moore in 1990) is a great example. In 4/4 time you can count ‘1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &’ to keep time with the music. If these ‘eighth notes’ are evenly spaced it is known as a straight feel. If you change this pulse to a triplet feel you’ll be counting ‘1 & a 2 & a 3 & a 4 & a’. Now leave out each middle triplet note (the ‘&’s) and you end up with a shuffle rhythm. Anyway, enough counting! Take a look at the tab and listen to the audio tracks and you’ll get the hang of it. It’s much…

Brian famously plays his homemade Red Special guitar equipped with three single coil pickups, which can be switched to a multitude of combinations. Add to this a Vox AC30 amp and a treble booster pedal for gain and you have the core of Brian’s sound. For straight rock songs Brian typically uses the middle and bridge pickups in an ‘in phase’ position. For solos he most likely switched the pickups to ‘out of phase’ to bring out the screaming harmonics in the notes. Approximate the tone with a Strat-type guitar and experiment with different pickup configurations. Brian uses a sixpence, so consider using a metal pick yourself.…

Welcome to the GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome*) Station! Every issue, TG scours the market for the hottest new gear and brings you transparent reviews that you can trust. From the smallest of accessories that make your life easier, to big investments such as brand new guitars, amps and effects pedals – if it’s worth your attention, you’ll find it here! HOW WE TEST CURATION Our product selection is driven by our love of gear. We select the most exciting products on the market every month to bring you opinions you can trust. FACE-VALUE REVIEWS We’re not gear snobs here at Total Guitar. We judge it on whether it looks good, sounds good and plays well – not by the name on the headstock. NO SNAKE OIL You won’t find us…

Gretsch released the single-cut black top-finished 6128 Duo Jet way back in the middle of 1953 after Fender’s Broadcaster (followed by Tele) and Gibson’s Les Paul model. The sparkly Silver Jet followed in 1955. Both Jet models were chambered but they were distinct from Fender and Gibson’s models in other ways too; pickups were supplied by DeArmond’s high-output Alnico V models (later called Dynasonic), while variations would come with a Bigsby tailpiece and those with a tone switch (instead of a master tone knob) would come with Gretsch’s own Filter’Trons. The Jet isn’t just a single-cut machine: Malcolm Young hammered AC/DC’s rhythms home with a double-cut 1963 Jet Firebird – the G6131 that took off in 1956 but didn’t become a double-cut design until ’62.…

1 TOUCH-SENSITIVE Editing patches is done by lightly touching – not pressing down – on patch switches 2 ROTARY  Most patch changes are easily accessible via the main rotary knob and three parameter controls 3 MENU  Additional options, such as signal routing are accessible via the menu button We were blown away by the Line 6 Helix series when it came out. We found ourselves wondering when Line 6 would follow up with a unit for those of us that have no need for amp modelling. The HX represents Line 6 making that jump, condensing the rock-solid build, intuitive user interface and neat form-factor of the Helix series into a svelte multi-effect box that will fit on a Pedaltrain JR with room to spare. In order to save on space,…

The term ‘travel guitar’ doesn’t hint at the diversity here. There’s more to be considered than portability. The Fender’s hardcase might not be ideal for the latter, but it’s a very good way to help keep it safe from the elements of change when it is at home. Alongside the Yamaha, it’s a guitar that has the potential to be your main acoustic, because neither sounds dinky. Far from it: plugged in, the CT140SE gives you a lot of control with its three-band EQ, helping you make the best of its inherent bright and clear character. The Yamaha isn’t just the best looker here and the only one with a smooth satin neck, it feels like the most mature mini of the bunch. You’ll need to bear in mind that…

Knopfler recorded Money For Nothingusing his 1958 Gibson Les Paul with a Laney amp generating the basic tone. Dual-mic’ing, double-tracking and the goal of achieving a ZZ Top-like sound combined to create the unusual drive tone. In early performances, Mark tried to recreate the sound with his Les Paul set to the bridge-position humbucker using his amps and little else for tone shaping. Later on, he started using the neck humbucker, adding a rackmount EQ/filter effect to alter the tone (best recreated with a wah pedal set to a fixed position).…

Modes are a simple concept – think of them as scales that start on a note that isn’t the root. For example, E Phrygian (E F G A B C D) is a mode of the C major scale (C D E F G A B). They have the same notes but different starting points and each scale has its own musical mood. How so? It’s because the gaps between the notes (aka intervals) are different in each scale. This starts to make sense once you’re happy that E is your root note, not C. With its moody, dissonant sound, this mode is perfect for thrash metal, flamenco and Latin styles. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN How the Phrygian mode relates to the major scale The character and feel of the…

Chris and Ben’s guitar style is rooted in Southern rock and country, but take one listen to riffs like White Trash Millionaire, Lonely Train and Killing Floor and it’s easy to hear their leaning towards hard rock and heavy metal too. A lot of the attitude comes from the way the pair play and the riffs they write, but they also use lower tunings to produce a thicker, fatter tone. Drop C#, drop C, drop B and even drop A tunings all feature in the Black Stone Cherry back catalogue. To help you get a bit of the BSC vibe in your playing we’ve written three tab examples showcasing key parts of the band’s sound and technique, all recorded in drop C tuning (CGCFAD) for that trademark weighty sound. This…

Twin lead guitar gained popularity in the 60s when acts like The Allman Brothers Band and the Eagles began using two guitars in a melodic way, rather than the traditional lead and rhythm guitarist roles. Other notable classic bands are Thin Lizzy, Kansas, Iron Maiden and, in a 00s revival, The Darkness brought their own particular brand of dual-guitar goodness to the masses. Taking twin lead as inspiration for this month’s backing track, why not try out some harmonised melodies with a guitar buddy? The Dorian and natural minor scales sound great for harmonies; the minor pentatonic scale gives a bluesier vibe. Generally, the most common approach is for the two guitars to play in 3rds. This means that the two guitars play the same licks, just three scale tones…

Featuring on Eric Clapton’s classic 1977 album Slowhand, Wonderful Tonight is easy to play, but surprisingly difficult to copy the feel of. Rockschool’s arrangement covers the lyrical phrasing of Eric’s intro guitar licks and the main vocal melody, and features several open strings to keep the music suitable for Grade 1 players. Once you have a little more playing experience you could experiment with playing these open string notes as fretted notes instead. The advantage of this way of playing is that you can apply vibrato for a more expressive feel, as well as use the string-bending technique heard on Eric’s original recording. There are three key techniques to master in this version. The main melody lines require careful picking and fretting – don’t hit those idle strings! From bar…

By the time Paul Weller penned That’s Entertainment in 1980, The Jam were already established as one of the biggest bands in the UK. Although the track was never issued as a UK single before the band split in 1982, loyal fans imported non-UK pressings by the thousand, propelling the track to No 21 in the charts. For our purposes, it’s a great tune to strum along to, and, aside from needing a capo to play at the right pitch, it’s really easy too! We’ve tabbed out the main strummed guitar part for you. It covers most of the track, so master this short section and you’ve got the song down! Notice there’s an accent (shown with a > in the music) over beat 2 in every other bar. It’s…

D’ADDARIO DIY PEDALBOARD POWER CABLE KIT 1 Got a rat’s nest of power cables? D’Addario’s DIY kit simply involves cutting the included cable to length, placing the power cable in the plug end and securing the set screw, resulting in power cables of whatever length you desire. The kit includes: 12 solderless plugs, 20” of power cable, a screwdriver, mini cable cutter and a cable tester. (£104, daddario.com ] KORG AW-OTG POLY 2 Another year, another Korg headstock tuner update. The snazzy-looking AW-OTG POLY features an OLED screen for smooth visibility at all angles, while its polyphonic function allows players to strum all strings at once and check they’re in tune. Accuracy is down as +/-0.1 cents, while a strobe feature further improves that figure. Other features…

PRS SE 245 £775 A similar scale to the Gretsch at 24.5", this 2018 iteration features the more recognisable two volume and tone control layout, a wide fat neck and SE 245 ‘S’ Treble and Bass humbuckers. EPIPHONE LES PAUL STANDARD £399  A classic single-cut design with a longer 628mm (24.75") scale than our Jet. It’s not chambered, so expect weight, but the Alnico V pickups pack a punch! GRETSCH G2622 STREAMLINER CENTER BLOCK £420  This semi-hollow double-cut further underlines Gretsch’s commitment to winning over players by packing its guitars with value.…