Innehållsförteckning för June 2019 från Total Guitar

A band rehearsal last week was a painful reminder of what happens when I don’t take my own advice. I knew that dialling in what I thought were ideal overdrive tones at home with a pair of headphones and a loaned Line 6 Helix Stomp (see Gear Diary next issue for more on that) is a very different scenario to playing at rehearsal levels in a band mix. I knew that leaving my usual amp at home and going straight to a PA for the first time with an electric would impact on that sound too. I also knew I shouldn’t still be learning how to play a song at a time that’s meant for rehearsing as a band. But I was guilty on all charges that night. And after…

GEAR The Age Of Ultra Although leading British string maker RotoSound is known for its range of mid-priced sets, it’s making a step into the high-end sector with its new Ultramag electric strings. Made with Type 52 Alloy - a composition of 52% nickel and 48% iron – the highly magnetic steel is claimed to accentuate mids and low end more than steel strings, and should help maintain tuning stability in wide ranging environments. The new Ultramag sets are initially available in three gauges: .009, .010 and .011. WHENNow RIP Paul Raymond TG is sad to hear of the passing of UFO guitarist and keyboardist Paul Raymond, who died from a heart attack on 13 April, aged 73. UFO had just begun their final tour, a celebration of their 50th…

1 STANDARD TUNING NOTES In standard tuning the open strings are: E A D G B E 2 DADGAD NOTES In DADGAD tuning the notes are (obvious, right?): D A D G A D 3 ADJUST THE SIXTH, SECOND AND FIRST STRINGS Three of the notes are the same in both tunings, so there are three strings to retune; all three go down by two semitones. D A D G A D 4 TAKE IT EASY… Gradually ease the tension from your guitar’s first, second and sixth string tuners. Each of these strings needs to go down by two semitones – the same as two frets. The third, fourth and fifth strings are the same notes in both standard and DADGAD.…

“Gibson gave it to me a long time ago,” Craig says of his touring go-to. “I kept asking for a J-45 and they said, ‘What about a J-35?’. So they sent one over and I tried it, liked it a lot.” Both are slope-shouldered dreadnoughts, but the J-35 can offer more balance for fingerpicking compared to its more famous strum-happy brethren. And hearing Craig’s, we find it has all the right hallmarks in its strong woody sound. He uses a capo to give flexibility over key too. “I tend to write a lot with capos,” he adds. “it brings out new things that excite you. You can write something and then try it in different places.”…

Vox AC30 & Fender Twin “It’s been mostly the same since the beginning: a Vox AC30 with a Fender Twin. Though for some of the heavier stuff, like Zombie, I’ve used a Marshall JCM800. Otherwise we tend to drive the Vox for heavy sounds. We keep the Fender clean for the jingly stuff.” Telecasters “I have two main Telecasters. I have the original 1973 one that I bought in the early 90s, which is your bog standard Telecaster and then I’ve got a Thinline Telecaster with humbuckers in it that I use for the heavier stuff.” DOD FX68 Chorus “I don’t use a lot of pedals, but I have this old DOD chorus. It’s cheap as anything, but it became very much a part of The Cranberries sound and it’s…

Written by late guitarist Randy Rhoads with Ozzy Osbourne and bassist Bob Daisley, Mr Crowley is about influential occultist Aleister Crowley. The inspiration for the song came while the band worked on the album in Ridge Farm Studios in Surrey. Even with current Deep Purple keys man Don Airey’s eerie Hammer horror intro, Randy’s work is the song’s main event. The solos fuse straightahead rock licks with classically inspired arpeggio lines – something of a calling card for Randy Rhoads, whose hunger for learning never diminished – he even had classical guitar lessons while touring with Ozzy. The opening bars of the outro solo are great examples of Randy’s swiftly delivered arpeggios. You don’t need to move your hand too much here, so building up the required speed isn’t as…

This Noel Gallagher-penned Britpop banger opens with an unaccompanied guitar riff. Essentially a blues boogie riff (and sounding similar to T. Rex’s Get It On), you’ll need a steady ‘internal metronome’ here so count to four for at least a full bar to get a feel for it if you’re playing without the benefit of the backing track. The initial riff opens out in bar 7, going via the Lydian-like F# chord before switching to a doublestop-based lick and some brighter sounding E chords. The guitar part in bar 12 is a classic rhythm guitar move used by players as diverse as Keith Richards and Nile Rodgers. F# appears again in bar 15, this time as an arpeggio. Practise the picking slowly to start consistently hitting the right strings. Dial…

1 RICHTER MATT HEAFY DOUBLE GUITAR STRAP Trivium are one of metal’s leading purveyors of heavy riffs, and Matt Heafy wields one of the heaviest guitars with his signature Les Paul Custom. His strap collaboration with Richter aims to alleviate the weight – an extra strap for the other shoulder wraps around the guitar’s body to spread the weight. “Guitar straps are not ergonomic,” says Heafy. “The concept of a weight on one side of a trapezius/shoulder joint for an entire musical lifetime is detrimental to the balance of your body.” (€159, richterstraps.com) 2 ROCKBOARD MOD 5 RockBoard’s latest pedalboard module is the MOD 5, an IR loader, DI and connection box that’s designed to be mounted into the company’s pedalboard frames. The collaboration with Mooer features six selectable stereo/…

1 SHAPE OF 2  The S02 is based on Lowden’s popular S (small) body shape and the Sheeran S series features four guitars including the S03 and S04 cutaways (£930 and £965), plus the cedar top, walnut b&s S01 (£700) non electro model 2 BEVEL  All the S series Sheeran guitars feature a soundbox bevel for picking arm comfort over the relatively deeper body. Its low-key integration with the design fits in well 3 STRINGS AND CONTROLS  Both these guitars ship with Lowden 12-53 strings and the controls for the Baggs’ preamps can be found inside the body at the top of the soundhole TOP: Solid Sitka spruce BACK ANDSIDES: Laminate Santos rosewood (five-piece construction) SCALE LENGTH: 630mm (24.8") NECK: Mahogany FINGERBOARD: Ebony ELECTRICS: LR Baggs Element…

1 CLASSY  What sets D’Angelico’s electrics apart is the attention to detail, like these gorgeous Stairstep tuners and that inimitable headstock 2 VERSATILITY  As on D’Angelico’s other solidbodies, lifting the tone controls splits the Duncan Designed humbuckers’ coils 3 HORNS  Look at the upper-fret access on that! The dusty end will be dusty no more with those cutaways Since D’Angelico introduced its first solidbodies last year, we’ve been big fans of its fresh approach to guitar design, melding aspects of tried-and-tested formats with inspiring new shapes. The Brighton is the latest to join the mid-priced Premier line-up and, although it looks to be the most conventional yet, the features it shares with its D’Angelico brethren set it apart from the crowd. “THERE’S A REAL MIDRANGE BARK TO…

There is only one Dot in this round-up and that’s the Epiphone, so if you are chasing authenticity, that guitar, with its Gibson DNA, would be it. It’s also an excellent instrument, with quality hardware and electronics at an excellent price. The finish will divide opinion; given the choice, we’d love one in Cherry. The Vintage VSA500 is a more sober alternative, and one we would endorse for its ‘small-V’ vintage tone. Don’t be fooled by the name on the headstock; you hear this advice time and time again but only because it’s true. The value Vintage presents and the quality of its instruments demand they should be taken seriously. Give a Classic Rock subscriber a VSA500 and a 1962 Marshall Bluesbreaker combo and you might never see them again.…

CHRIS BIRD TG’s tuition editor recruited longtime contributor and prog genius Charlie Griffiths to assist with the music and technique lessons in this month’s frankly massive cover feature. It’s fair to say the pair have covered a fair bit of ground, looking at rhythm and lead skills, essential scale shapes, timing, feel, changes… And that’s only about half of the feature! MICHAEL ASTLEY-BROWN Mike was in Rig Tour heaven this month as he sat down with Death Cab For Cutie’s triple-headed guitar force to get the lowdown on the lustrous gear that makes their sound tick. Then he only went and fell in love with this issue’s cover star, D’Angelico’s delectable Premier Brighton – what is he like? PHIL CAPONE “That’s my favourite Elton song,” TG contributor Phil Capone exclaimed…

1. Deutschland Rammstein Exactly the kind of comeback we’d expect – with added hammer-ons and pull-offs. 2. Lo/Hi The Black Keys A catchy ZZ Top-shaped fuzzy blues return for Auerbach and Carney. 3. Stairway To Heaven Mastodon This surprise and faithful rendition with Brann Dailor on vocals is a tribute to late manager Nick John. 4. 2 Late The Cure The 30th anniversary of Disintegration is not just a reminder of the album’s greatness, but also their excellent b-sides. 5. Fear Of Flying Feeder A promising first cut from the band’s tenth album Tallulah (released 9 August) recalling Grant Nicholas’ band’s earlier days. 6. Here Comes Your Man Pixies It’s Doolittle’s 30th anniversary too – and the TG team’s covers band are currently rehearsing this one for their next gig!…

1 “When I started playing with Walking Papers in 2012, they had recorded part of their first record in Seattle with [singer] Jeff Angell, who is a Seattle treasure and deserves international attention. I came in and played, and there were a lot of songs in drop-D tuning. I brought my Fender Jazz Special, which is my first signature model – an amazing recording bass – and I was dropping the E string down to D. One thing led to another and we went out to do a tour. At the time I was taking lessons with [legendary session bassist] Reggie Hamilton.” 2 “I wanted to know more about the neck [with my lessons]. My playing was fine: I felt comfortable, and whenever I play live I play in anger…

Adam Jones is a Gibson Les Paul devotee, so a guitar equipped with a bridge position humbucker is a must to obtain the song’s weighty drive tone. Live, Jones uses a multi-amp setup, and, as the recording features multi-tracked guitars, emulating the tone involves a bit of trial and error. If you have a digital modeller, opt for a modern high-gain amp such as a MESA (Jones uses Diezel, Marshall and MESA amps). A low mixed chorus or delay effect will help give an impression of double tracking.…

Key signatures help musicians by telling us which notes we’ll be using in the songs we play. Of course, music is infinitely complex, and many, perhaps most, songs use notes from outside their keys. So ‘why bother at all?’ you might ask! Well, though rarely painting a full picture, a key signature keeps you focused on things like the song’s root note and the chords you might encounter. Think of a key signature as a safe, predictable sound. Then it’s up to you to decide how to introduce other more colourful notes from outside the key. Read on and we’ll explain more. 1 C MAJOR SCALE NOTES With no tricky sharp or flat notes to worry about, C major is the easiest place to start – all the notes…

“The thing I’m most proud of right now is the pedal I designed with J. Rockett Audio called The Melody. That comes out with me all the time and remains on all the time. It’s an overdrive with a six-band EQ, so I can tailor it to any guitar, amp or room. It’s not quite my do-it-all overdrive; it certainly can do most of it. I also have the Keeley Monterey, which is like a multi-effects unit but not in a crazy digital way. It has rotary, uni-vibe, envelope, octave and fuzz all in one box – it’s really flexible; you can get all sorts of sounds of it. I’ve been playing the Pigtronix Octava quite a lot recently. It’s an octave up, so if you listen to the new…

Brian let us play this Custom Shop model and we quickly understood why he fell in love with it… though it cost him a few guitars. “It speaks,” he says with understandable enthusiasm, “You can make it really sing. It’s the first guitar that I’ve ever had that is like a piano. Meaning, if you bang it it’s loud and if you are quiet, it responds. My friend owns a guitar shop in Ashbury Park called Russo’s Music. He bought this in and it had all the trimmings. I didn’t [spec] it, he did and so it has everything you would want on a guitar. And he’s like, ‘Do you want to try it?’… ‘Well, not really. How much is it?’ And he told me and it was absurd. So…

21 ONE SHAPE, TWO SCALES, JAM WITH ANY MUSIC YOU LIKE! TRACK 21 The C major and A minor pentatonic scales are essentially the same – they just start on different root notes (black dots). Our short U2-style progression alternates between C and Am chords. Not exactly classic improv material we admit, but it shows you how one easy shape is all you need in the event of an impromptu live jam. Here are your options… 1 The easy choice: Use the A minor pentatonic scale throughout. 2 The alternative choice: Use the C major pentatonic scale throughout. 3 The logical choice: C major pentatonic scale over C; A minor pentatonic over Am. 4 The bigger picture: Both scales work over any chord in the key of C major…

Born into a musical family, Billy Gibbons was playing in bands by age 14, first with The Saints, then Billy G And The Blueflames, The Coachmen, and The Moving Sidewalks – who were signed and recording before Gibbons even reached 18. Of course, ZZ Top brought Gibbons major success. With a unique brand of down ’n’ dirty blues-rock, the Texan trio’s early hits included La Grange and Tush, and, in 1983, the Eliminator album sent the band to the stratosphere. As for tone, Billy’s ’59 ‘Pearly Gates’ Les Paul and white-fur covered Explorer are the stuff of legend, but, with a huge collection to draw from, you’ll see various guitars in his hands – a humbucker-equipped instrument (though he plays single coils too!) and a rich, valve drive tone are…

Released in 1972 at the height of the space race, Elton John’s now classic single captured the zeitgeist of the era. And, with EJ biopic Rocketman landing in cinemas right about now, it’s a great song to add to your repertoire. Rocket Man is primarily a piano song, but the chorus is lifted by a great acoustic guitar part, and, in open-mic busking spirit, it’s fun to experiment with the rest of the tune too. We’ve given you all the chords you need to play along. The original recording is played with a capo on the 3rd fret; this b makes the guitar-unfriendly key of B a doddle to negotiate using easy open shapes. Guitarist Davey Johnstone’s strumming pattern is quite complex, using a mix of 16th-note rhythms and occasional…

“THE SO2 BRINGS MORE BOTTOM END TO THE PARTY” Back at the end of January, TG was huddled together outsider the Anaheim Convention centre at NAMM lamenting the lack of any surprise big product launches at the show. A couple of hours later a whopper of a hoodwink duly landed in the form of Ed Sheeran and a range of eight models courtesy of a collaboration with Lowden Guitars. Whether you care for his music or not, Ed is the biggest guitar player on the planet right now in terms of recognition and commercial success. So this was big news. The new ‘Sheeran By Lowden’ name on the headstock was also a surprise and a new spin on the idea of signature guitars. Now they’re ready for their full curtain…

MARTIN LX1E LITTLE MARTIN It’s easy to see why this was a huge seller after Ed’s fame. This non signature version offers Fishman Sonitone T system and a fan-friendly price. TAYLOR GS MINI-E WALNUT With rosewood not currently available, this laminate walnut b&s and Sitka spruce top is a serious competitor with an Expression System ES-B system and swish gigbag. YAMAHA CSF3M An all solid spruce/ mahogany build with a passive system, the 600mm scale compact folk design offers a tone that punches above its size, with its 105mm body depth and 16" fretboard radius.…

1 SPEAKER  Lurking behind the grille cloth is a specially-designed 12" loudspeaker that helps the HT-20R punch well above its weight, with ample volume for smaller gigs 2 VERSATILITY  There’s a choice of 20 watts or 2 watts output; combined with the balanced DI, this makes the HT-20R ideal for home, studio and stage use 3 CLEAN CHANNEL This deceptively simple section of the control panel opens the door to some truly stunning clean and mildoverdrivesounds, helped by a superb digital reverb It’s no easy thing to take your bestselling amp range and completely revamp it, but that’s what Blackstar has recently done with its HT series of heads and combos. Of course, the improved Mark 2 HT range has been a resounding success, and now there’s…

Analogue delays occupy an interesting middle ground. Introduced originally as an alternative to expensive and failure-prone mechanical tape delays, they quickly developed a following of their own that endured after they were made obsolete, from a technical perspective at least, by the advent of the digital delay. Partly due to wanting to sound similar to the tone of a tape delay, and partly due to the inherent character of the BBD delay chips used, they have a dark, warm-sounding delay tone. The delay times available from a BBD device are dwarfed by digital devices, and additional features are harder to come by as the BBD is a one-trick pony, unlike the embedded computers used in most digital delays. But what a trick it is… Maxon AD9 Pro £235 PRO TREATMENT…

Atune I’d play to someone new to our band… War – Brutus “Normally I would say All Along, from our first record because we felt at the time that’s the song that we tried to put everything that we do into it, but now I would say War. The intro is something I just played, and Stefanie [Mannaerts, Brutus drummer/vocalist] started singing and we didn’t even work on it; it’s just something that happened. I really like the dynamics and there’s that stupid hardcore riff in the middle, we were just making fun of ourselves. It’s got a mixture of everything we love, and we don’t take ourselves too seriously, it has so many things in one song that shouldn’t be in one song.” My favourite song to play live……

When we arrive at indie-rock titans Death Cab For Cutie’s sold-out show at Bristol’s O2 Academy, we’re told not to photograph any of the Fender Deluxe combos that line the stage. Why? Turns out they’re dummies, and the band – which includes Mustang-toting frontman Ben Gibbard, gearhead six-stringer Dave Depper and multi-instrumentalist Zac Rae – have made the leap to Fractal Audio’s Axe-Fx. Although the trio wax lyrical about the benefits of their new setups and the integration of their existing analogue gear, they apologise for the lack of visual appeal. “Whether it’s Fractal or Kemper, the one thing they do not have going for them is they are not sexy-looking,” Ben laughs. “We could bring a bunch of cool-looking and unique collectable amps on tour with us, but that…

26 PRACTISE TRICKY CHANGES TRACK 25 Before you even think about your strumming hand, take a moment to check you’ve got any tricky chords or changes down. Remember this for any rhythm part you play. And, if you’re in the mood for a finger-twisting challenge, try cycling through these four shapes to see improvements right away. Don’t worry about the complicated names. Just play the chords. 27 FIVE CHORDS TO CROSS THE FRETBOARD Yep, we’re still talking about chords! These five shapes will help you traverse the whole fretboard with your riffs and rhythms – the secret lies in how they link up. Each chord shares at least one note with its predecessor. So what? Well, armed with five shapes of the same chord, you can start to…

46 PRO TIP PAN YOUR PARTS You don’t have to use different guitars for rhythms, overdubs or leads, but consider how your tones can be panned and separated in the mix. That could mean a different pickup position, amp model or overdrive pedal. Even veteran players have to consider it when they find themselves as the only guitar player in the studio – as Slash did with his World On Fire album with Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators… “I really wanted to go in and do a proper recording where you have harmonies and rhythms maintained throughout and the guitars go on the top,” Slash tells us. “Like pretty much every record I’ve done, up to Apocalyptic Love. What I did was I treated the speaker right guitar…

OZZY OSBOURNE MR CROWLEY Verse 1 This section features a memorable riff and gets played three times in total. Guitarist Randy Rhoads develops the verse each time by varying the fill in bar 12. We’ve tabbed out each one and labelled them for you. Just make sure you don’t accidentally play all three bars in one verse! OZZY OSBOURNE MR CROWLEY Solo 1 OZZY OSBOURNE MR CROWLEY Solo 1 (cont’d) This first solo features the D minor pentatonic scale (D F G A C), with a few moments in the blues (D F G A b A C) and natural minor (D E F G A B b C) scales. The trickiest parts are the pentatonic run in bar 2 and the sextuplets in bars 9 and 10. Practise both…

Funk-metal combines the attitude and hard-hitting distorted guitar tones of heavy metal with the syncopated, swinging grooves and rhythms of funk. The style was at its peak in the early 90s with Extreme, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Primus, Living Colour and Faith No More blazing a trail. Primus’ Tommy The Cat and Extreme’s Get The Funk Out are great examples of how heavy and funky coexist. Lead guitar styles are often rooted in blues-rock and of course metal, with lots of legato and tapping – as demonstrated by Nuno Bettencourt throughout the entire Pornograffitti album. You can also take the more jazzy, progressive approach of Primus’ Larry LaLonde or Living Colour’s Vernon Reid. This month’s jam track is a medium-paced, heavy tune that provides a perfect canvas for funky rhythms…

For perhaps the first time ever, at least in her professional life, Lucy Spraggan is feeling some sense of contentment. After her appearance on X Factor in 2012 the Buxton-born songwriter found a reputation built playing five nights a week was quickly erased by the Cinderella-seeking publicity juggernaut surrounding the show. Now residing away from the majors, on Cooking Vinyl, her new record Today Was A Good Day is imbued with a palpable sense of celebration and liberation. The twist, however, is that having worked so hard to reestablish her authenticity, Lucy has chosen this point to make a record of hyper-infectious pop bangers – albeit guitar-centric ones. “It’s funny,” she tells TG. “I could have gone down that ‘internal music’ rabbit hole and I really didn’t want to do…

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…

1 SHAPE  The W series is the S’s little brother – 40mm narrower and 5mm shallower. The Wee Lowden actually originated because of Sheeran when Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody asked if George would make his musician friend a guitar; he came up with a whole new model in response! 2 RANGE  Like the S series, there are three other models; the cedar/walnut non-electro W01 (£595), cedar/ rosewood W03 (£805) and spruce/ walnut W04 (£840) 3 BRACING  Both guitars feature Lowden’s A-frame bracing – it dates back to 1976 when he produced his first builds with the design. Alongside the wood choice here it helps to aid bass response as much as possible to avoid the boxy traits of compact acoustics TOP: Solid Sitka Spruce BACK AND SIDES:…

In addition to Ed’s aim to bring high-quality guitars to his fans and promote the instrument for future generations with this series, another positive element is that the Sheeran series uses sustainably-sourced woods including reclaimed material as well as naturally fallen trees. “One of the things that really pleases me is when we can use wood that’s reclaimed in some way,” says George, “or wood that comes from trees that have fallen down naturally, such as the cedar and spruce used in these guitars.”…

TYPE: Hybrid valve/ solid-state preamp, valve power amp OUTPUT: 20W, switchable to 2W SPEAKER:1 x 12" VALVES: 2x 12AX7, 2x EL84 CONTROLS:Clean volume, clean tone, clean voice switch, overdrive voice switch, gain bass, mid, treble, ISF, volume. Master volume, reverb level, effects loop level switch, cabinet emulation voice switch SOCKETS: Guitar in, MP3 line in, effects loop send/return, stereo headphones/ direct out, balanced XLR DI, speaker jack x 3, USB audio out, footswitch jack (changes channels and voices) WEIGHT:16.1kg DIMENSIONS: [HxWxD] 487 x 513 x 270mm CONTACT: Blackstar Amplification blackstaramps.com…