These videos and audio files are bonus content related to the October 2014 issue of Guitar World. For the full range of interviews, features, tabs and more, pick up the new issue on newsstands now or at the Guitar World Online Store.
Digital delay has been around for quite a while, as has realistic digital modeling of vintage analog and tape delays. But as great as those effects are, it’s still hard to beat the inherent musicality of a genuine analog delay.
With the new Vapor Trail Analog Delay, Seymour Duncan has created a true analog delay pedal that combines the best attributes of genuine BBD (bucket brigade device) integrated circuits with modern low-noise analog electronics.
The result is a pedal that delivers the fat, warm tone of genuine analog echo, with crystal-clean signal quality and definition similar to state-of-the-art digital technology.
Ever want to know what an early Led Zeppelin concert experience was like? We've got you covered.
Below, you can check out some vintage, high-quality video from a March 17, 1969, Led Zeppelin TV appearance.
In the US, Led Zeppelin's self-titled debut album was only three months old — and it wouldn't be released in the UK for another two weeks.
The band — Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham — was on a tour of the UK and Scandinavia when they visited TV-Byen studios in Gladsaxe, Denmark, to play four tracks from the new album, all of which you can hear below: “Communication Breakdown,” “Dazed and Confused,” “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” and “How Many More Times.”
Page is playing his 1959 Fender Telecaster, a gift from Jeff Beck and a holdover from Page's Yardbirds days. Page fans are in luck, because there's lots of close-up camera work during his guitar solos, including his enjoyable “Communication Breakdown” Tele-shred workout. Enjoy!
This is an excerpt from the October 2014 issue of Guitar World. For the rest of this story, plus features on Stevie Ray Vaughan (a 60th-birthday bash!), Yes, the 60th anniversary of the Fender Strat, columns, tabs and reviews of new gear from TC Electronic, PureSalem Guitars, Martin, Seymour Duncan, Prestige Guitars and more, check out the October 2014 issue at the Guitar World Online Store.
“It all starts when you get your first guitar for Christmas or your birthday,” John 5 explains. “You never know what that guitar is going to bring you. Is it going to bring you happiness or sadness, fortune or poverty?”
In John’s case, that first guitar, acquired at the tender age of seven, has led to a stellar career as one of recent rock’s most admired and sought-after guitarslingers. He’s enjoyed high-profile stints with everyone from Marilyn Manson to David Lee Roth to k.d. lang to Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Since 2005, he’s been guitarist-in-chief for Rob Zombie and is currently working on the score for Zombie’s newest horror flick, 31. In the past decade, the man born John William Lowery has also emerged as a solo artist and all-around virtuoso guitar hero in his own right. He pioneered the now-popular, if unlikely, hybrid of shred guitar and wild country pickin’, and serves it up with his own twisted sense of campy goth panache.
John’s newest solo album, his eighth to date, is called Careful with That Axe and features bassist Matt Bissonette (Joe Satriani, David Lee Roth, Elton John) and drummer Rodger Carter (Lita Ford, Gene Simmons, Glen Campbell). The album is packed with all the speed-demon riffology and feats of fretboard acrobatics that his fans have come to expect. “I wanted to make this record so intense,” he says. “You know, it’s a guitar record. It’s not like anything else. So I just wanted to make it absolutely insane. Really crazy playing.”
The album’s title is a nod to Pink Floyd’s 1968 tour de force psychedelic jam “Careful with that Axe, Eugene.” But given the macabre side of John’s persona, he feels that the name has a special resonance in his case. “An axe is a guitar, obviously,” he says. “But the phrase ‘careful with that axe’ could also be about ax murders, and some of the song titles revolve around ax murders.”
While his over-the-top playing style is always reckless and daring, John has indeed been careful with his ax, steering it from triumph to triumph amid the meltdown vicissitudes of the music business. And he’s especially careful with the axes in his legendary collection of mint-condition vintage Telecasters.
“I’m a Telecaster connoisseur, and I love my Teles,” he says. “I have one from almost every year since the very beginning, in 1950. I’m so obsessed with them. I just really enjoy the history of Fender—the story of Fender and how it all came about. I have a collector’s soul.”
For Careful with That Axe, John mainly stuck with his favorite contemporary Fender, a gold John 5 signature model Tele. “I’ve had that guitar for about six years now, and it’s just worn in beautifully,” he says. “I play it all the time. I didn’t use a lot of other guitars on the album just because we were playing everything live in the studio and just this one guitar gave me pretty much everything I needed.
"I only used one Marshall JVM combo amp with a Boss Super Overdrive, Boss Noise Supressor and Boss Chorus. That’s pretty much what I use live too, when I’m playing with Zombie, and I wanted to have that vibe in the studio. I didn’t use a lot of gear this time because I just wanted to do everything with my hands. I went into this kind of like a boxer. I trained and trained, and I rehearsed quite a bit with Rodger and Matt. I think they both did a phenomenal job with this, just sounding out of control at times, but then pulling back on the songs that called for that.”
The album reflects on John’s formative years as a guitar monster in training, starting with the opening track, “We Need to Have a Talk About John.” A chaotic collage of wild sounds and spoken-voice snippets, it sets the mood for what’s to come. “When my parents gave me that first guitar, I became totally obsessed,” John says.
Photo: Sean Murphy
This is an excerpt from the October 2014 issue of Guitar World. For the rest of this story, plus features on Stevie Ray Vaughan (a 60th-birthday bash!), Yes, the 60th anniversary of the Fender Strat, columns, tabs and reviews of new gear from TC Electronic, PureSalem Guitars, Martin, Seymour Duncan, Prestige Guitars and more, check out the October 2014 issue at the Guitar World Online Store.
Today, Guitar World.com presents an exclusive clip of Cage The Elephant on the Season 8 finale of Guitar Center Sessions.
In the clip, which you can check out below, the band chats with host Nic Harcourt about living abroad in London and how that experience influenced them as musicians.
In this brand-new edition of Betcha Can't Play This, metal guitarist Ethan Brosh demonstrates what he calls a very simple E dominant-seventh-sus4 arpeggiated lick that everyone can play.
He’s a former Kiss guitarist from their makeup-free era in the late Eighties and early Nineties. But what Guitar World readers really want to know is…
What is the story behind your new Rock N’ Roll Relics guitar? — Michael Steadman
I was first introduced to Billy Rowe, the owner of Rock N’ Roll Relics, at the NAMM show, and I saw that he was very talented at taking vintage Gibson-style guitars and reliquing them.
And it made me think immediately of my Les Paul Junior from the [1992] Revenge/Alive III tour. It was one of the most beat-up Les Paul Juniors ever. I got it at Guitars R Us on Sunset Boulevard, and we recorded with it a lot. Gene [Simmons] loved it. Kiss even rented it for [1998’s] Psycho Circus, because they wanted that sound. It had a humbucker in it—a Seymour Duncan JB—but there was just something about the mahogany body.
It had “that sound.” So Billy from Rock N’ Roll Relics was the perfect person to make a copy of it. The new model has all the elements: a mahogany flat body and rosewood neck and a humbucker—an Antiquity JB, because obviously a new JB wouldn’t look really good in a reliqued guitar. Because this is a small company, we’re just doing this limited run of 25, and it’s available online [rocknrollrelics.net]. We’ve sold half of them already.
What do you consider your proudest guitar moment on record? — Chris
With Kiss, I think the solo in “Tears Are Falling” [from Asylum, 1985], which is melodic and tricky, and the acoustic solo on “Forever” [from Hot in the Shade, 1989], which shows another side of my style. And then something like “Unholy” [from Revenge, 1992], where I’m really balls to the wall in your face, using a wah-wah and distortion. I really got a chance to show the range of my playing during my Kiss years.
Do you think you, Vinnie [Vincent], Tommy [Thayer], Mark [St. John], Eric [Carr] and Eric [Singer] were cheated by not being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? — SFC Damion Thompson, U.S. Army
I’m totally unhappy with how the Hall of Fame handled this. We deserved to be inducted, and I know Gene and Paul’s intention was to present that argument to them, which according to Paul was a non-starter. I’m still extremely flattered that I’m related to a band that’s been inducted, and I certainly don’t have any issue with the fact that without the original four there would be no Kiss. But Kiss survived successfully for 40 years, and I know at least seven million records were sold with my name on them. So for the Hall to ignore that, I think that’s a travesty.
I saw you were recently married. Congratulations! I also saw that Gene and Paul were at your wedding. What do Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley give as wedding presents? — Henry McGee
I didn’t get an envelope or any gift from them that night, but technically, you have up to a year to give a gift. I kind of feel like there is something coming up that’s going to be a gift to me. Lisa and I, we’ve talked about it a few times, and them being there was a huge gift to me, and she felt the same way.
Our history is very unusual: We fell in love four and a half years ago, but I did actually meet her backstage in 1986. She was there for a meet and greet, to see Paul Stanley, you know? I wasn’t involved with anybody, but I wasn’t necessarily looking to hit on any girl in a meet and greet that day. I find it kind of ironic that things have always centered around this Kiss connection, even with Lisa. So I’m just looking at the big picture of things. Gene and Paul’s gift is related to the respect that they show me. You can’t put a price tag on that.
What was it like getting shot? — Billy Sing
One of the songs on BK3, the last solo record I put out four years ago, is called “I’ll Survive,” and it’s about that event. It was surreal. I was leaving the Key Club on Sunset Boulevard after seeing my buddy Brent Fitz, the drummer with Slash, who is playing with Vince Neil. It was about 1:20 in the morning.
The shots came from a block and a half away, in front of the Rainbow Club. I couldn’t tell if it was a car backfiring or a gun shot. And then I got hit in the leg. It was as if someone was taking a hot poker and sticking it through your leg, but it happens so fast that you don’t know what the hell happened. My knee buckled, and I went down. What was weirder was that a ricochet bullet whizzed right by my ear and actually grazed my head. I heard the whistle from it as it went past. That was even more bizarre than having a bullet pass through my leg.
But I was lucky. The bullet could have shattered my kneecap; instead, it went completely through muscle. The paramedics showed up über fast, and the guy asked me to move my toes, which I did. And he says to me, “You’re going to be fine.”
I read that your brother Bob tried out for Kiss before Ace got the gig. Did he help advise you on your audition process? — Chip Douglas
My brother’s acquaintance with the guys was a good thing, but I think it also took other people to mention my name to Gene and Paul. I actually wound up doing a little ghost guitar work for Kiss on Animalize, but I’m not credited. At the time, Mark St. John was playing lead. Paul asked me to play a solo, and he happened to say, “Don’t cut your hair.”
I wasn’t aware that Mark was not going to be able to tour. [St. John was diagnosed with the arthritic condition Reiter’s Syndrome.] Then they asked me to kind of fill in on the tour, and that wound up becoming a 12-year stint in the band. Those people who go back and think, “Well, the first time I saw Kiss was in 1985”—if they’re not sure who it was, now it’s a matter of record: they saw me. Yay!
When did you become aware that Ace and Peter would be rejoining the band? Were you nervous when they guested on Unplugged? — Lazlo Kovacs
I actually was happily ignorant to any behind-the-scenes talk of a reunion. I certainly didn’t think that Kiss Unplugged [1996] would be the catalyst to make it happen. We had recorded probably 75 to 80 percent of Carnival of Souls [released in 1997], and that’s when Gene and Paul had a meeting with Eric and me explaining that it was time for them to try this reunion and that it would only be for a year, but that they were going to take care of us—which they did. Kiss had to lose the makeup in the Eighties, because it just didn’t seem cool anymore. When they brought it back in 1996, it was the right time for it. But I didn’t really think anything like that was brewing behind the scenes.
Was the period after you left Kiss difficult for you, or were you ready to move on? — Phil Leech
It was difficult. To see the hoopla surrounding them putting the makeup on, and then hearing, “First concert, sold out, stadium in Detroit…” I was like, That’s it, no more Kiss for me! That reality was hard, and then it got even worse. Because by the time Carnival of Souls came out, it had already been bootlegged, and the copies were terrible. I was doing a clinic tour in Europe, and some friends of mine from the Kiss world were like, “Check it out, I got a bootleg of Carnival of Souls”—which obviously hurt.
I had nine co-writes on it, so I didn’t want to hear about bootlegs. I think having Carnival of Souls kind of raped was more painful even than not being in Kiss. But from tough things in life, you hopefully really strap up your boots tightly and get going. And that’s what I did. I had my own band with John Corabi called Union, and I just forged on and never looked back really.
How did you get the gig in Grand Funk? You’ve been in the band for, like, 14 years now. — Dennis Maloney
I met [Grand Funk drummer] Don Brewer back in the days when I worked with Michael Bolton. Michael had just put out his first solo record [1983’s self-titled release], and we opened for Bob Seger. [At the time, Brewer was drumming for Seger’s Silver Bullet Band.] We got to party with the Seger guys and hang out with everybody. And I was always a Grand Funk fan, so it was like, Oh, my god, Don Brewer! So when Grand Funk went through its changes again after 1998, after the last time [guitarist] Mark Farner was involved, I was on the short list. You never know who you’re working with that even 20 years down the line could be relevant to your career.
These videos and audio files are bonus content related to the October 2014 issue of Guitar World. For the full range of interviews, features, tabs and more, pick up the new issue on newsstands now or at the Guitar World Online Store.
It’s a common practice these days for guitarists to use two overdrive pedals—one for an “always on” slight clean boost to sweeten the overall tone and dynamics, and a second as a midrange and output level boost for solos.
The good folks at Radial have built their company around producing ingenious all-in-one utility solutions for musicians’ and recording engineers’ common applications.
Now they have introduced a stomp box that combines clean and midboost functions along with several useful features that let guitarists dial in tonal perfection with optimum, professional-quality signal levels.
In the new issue, we celebrate blues giants Stevie Ray Vaughan with an in-depth examination of his 30 greatest recordings — from “Texas Flood” to “Riviera Paradise,” from “Couldn’t Stand the Weather” to “The Sky is Crying." Read about how Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble (bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton) didn’t walk into Jackson Browne’s Down Town Studio in Los Angeles in late 1982 with highfalutin plans about recording their monster debut album. In fact, their sites were set much lower.
Also, Metallica’s Kirk Hammett teaches you how to play like the great bluesman SRV. Then blues legend Buddy Guy pays tribute to his late friend. We go up close and personal with Stevie’s favorite Strat, which is now on display at the Grammy Museum in L.A.
Then, Guitar World features John 5, the prophet of the Telecaster who shows us some rare mint-condition Teles from his collection and talks about his latest album, Careful with That Axe.
Next, as the prog legends take their classic Fragile and Close to the Edge albums on the road, guitar virtuoso Steve Howe sits down for a talk about the making of those groundbreaking productions.
Finally, as the curvaceous Fender Stratocaster marks six decades of innovation and influence, Guitar World celebrates its legacy via 60 players, songs, solos and historical moments.
PLUS: An ode to the late Johnny Winter, a PureSalem guitar review, Satchel's Man of Steel column returns and much more!
Five Songs with Tabs for Guitar and Bass
• Stevie Ray Vaughan - "Look at Little Sister" • Stevie Ray Vaughan - "Testify" • Scorpions - "Rock You Like a Hurricane" • Within The Ruins - "Gods Amongst Men" • Magic - "Rude"
When the Beatles took the stage at New York City's Shea Stadium in August 1965, they didn't sound like an all-over-the-map extreme metal band.
However, because some people really do have too much time on their hands, that's exactly what they sound like in the video below. The clip features footage from the Fab Four's August 15, 1965, Shea Stadium show, with some sort of music-type thing dubbed over it, courtesy of the guy who posted the video, Pierre Héroux.
It sorta starts out like Weezer trying to do death metal ... or maybe a slower version of Thy Art is Murder posing as a stoner metal band. Or not.
In this exclusive Guitar World video, In Flames guitarists Bjorn Gelotte and Niclas Engelin divulge some of their gear secrets. Check out the clip below and tell us what you think in the comments or on Facebook.
The band's new album, Siren Charms, will be released September 5 (worldwide) and September 9 in the U.S. via Sony/RED.
With so many scales, arpeggios, licks, chords and patterns to learn in the practice room, sometimes we can overlook rhythm when working on our jazz guitar soloing concepts.
Keeping a focus on rhythms and rhythmic motives in your solos can help take your playing to the next level, without having to learn any new concepts, just new approaches to the concepts you already have under your fingers.
In this lesson, you’ll learn a fun and essential jazz guitar rhythm exercise you can apply to your practice routine and take your playing to the next level of interest and creativity today.
Rhythmic Soloing Exercise
Here is the exercise in a nutshell so you can get the idea into your head before taking it to the fretboard.
01. Pick a short, one-bar rhythm to focus on in your solo
02. Pick a chord progression or tune to solo over with a backing track
03. Solo over the tune, using any notes you want, but every bar has the same rhythm
04. Practice these exercises at various tempos and with tunes of various lengths such as 8, 12, 16, 24 and 32 bars each
Now that you know how to build the exercise, here's a sample motive that you can begin using, as well as a sample solo using that motive to give you an idea of how the exercise could sound in the woodshed.
Sample Rhythmic Motive
Here's a sample rhythm I might use in my practicing that you can start with when first exploring these concepts in the practice room. The rhythm relies on three up beats, 1&, 2&, 3&, as well as a downbeat, 4, to build the one-bar long phrase.
As an example, here is this rhythmic motive applied to a ii V I VI chord progression in the key of C major.
Once you have learned the sample lick above, try soloing over the same chord progression but make up your own notes to use with that static rhythm in order to take this motive further in the practice room.
Rhythmic Motive Blues Solo
To finish off our rhythmic motive study, here is a sample solo over an F blues progression that uses the same rhythm from the previous section.
When you have this short solo under your fingers, try improvising over an F blues using the same rhythm, but changing the notes as you work this idea into your own improvisational studies.
As you can see, focusing on rhythms when soloing can bring a new dimension to your soloing ideas. While you won’t play a single rhythm for an entire chorus in a real-life situation, focusing on one rhythm in the woodshed will allow you to keep rhythms in the forefront of your lines and improvised solos.
Do you have a questions or comments about this lesson? Share your thoughts in the COMMENTS section below.
Matt Warnock is the owner of mattwarnockguitar.com, a free website that provides hundreds of lessons and resources designed to help guitarists of all experience levels meet their practice and performance goals. Matt lives in the UK, where he is a lecturer in Popular Music Performance at the University of Chester and an examiner for the London College of Music (Registry of Guitar Tutors).
Before anything else, I am a songwriter, performer and guitarist.
But it's my role as a producer that this three-headed hydra is fed in a way the artist's path could never.
The role of producer removes me from the soft cocoon of the self-absorbed singer songwriter. This is simply because, for lack of a better word, I'm dealing with other people’s shit.
Though the schedule is a lot to juggle, I couldn't imagine removing it from my routine. In quarterbacking a recording project, I’m consistently and constantly engaged in the process. Always learning. Yet it has been my career as an artist that has informed my production style the most.
Here are five important lessons about production I have learned while being the artist:
1. Just Make a Decision:
In the studio, if all is being done right, there are thousands of these choices being made in a minute -- technical ones, soulful ones and even whimsical ones. I've made countless recordings with producer and mix engineer Tom Polce. Through all these musical efforts with Tom at the helm, not once did I feel like the process was out of control or unfocused. Tom is a machine. He doesn’t sit down, never mind leave the control room. It took me a while to understand why.
There is a world of difference when there is someone - a single person - making determined and educated decisions consistently and decisively. These choices are happening in every single second of recording music. They're coming from multiple angles that require immediate attention. Someone has to be the end-all decision-maker while remaining mindful of the overall objective. It all has to lead to a killer track. Bottom line.
I suppose this all sounds simple. Though I know we've all been in that void of no decision making and it's terrible. It's important to recognize the need and value of that role of making immediate, intelligent decisions while being confident. By going with your gut, being honest and taking responsibility for the session, the song is being served.
2. Let Your Players Play:
I've been fortunate enough to do a couple of sessions led by legendary producer, T-Bone Burnett. As you can imagine, these are stacked with players. Much like with the coach of a great team everyone present is inspired to play and make their best choices. The players have been asked there for a reason. They are each serving a crucial role.
When I'm in with a band it's because, collectively, they are a team that together make one whole. When it's a solo artist, it's likely you'll bring in additional people to elevate the session to a whole new level. Finding ways to inspire your players to express themselves freely is the key. Burnett is superb at leading an amazing team of performers to tape. That's is why it feels so good.
Now more than ever the goal should be to capture a performance on tape. In relying on assembling the take later you’ve lost the magic, the spontaneity, the reason that particular player was asked to be there in the first place. Again, this might sound simple but too often we are assembling songs instead of seeking out the best players to give performances. Capture performances with musicians that rise to the occasion and a recording will be timeless.
3. The Magic Lies in the Extra Mile:
I was doing vocals for producer Ted Hutt. I had just done a dozen passes. I killed it on pass 4, or so I thought. Ted said, "Okay, you just sang it correctly, but now I need you to sing it incorrectly." For the next thirty minutes, I hit wall after wall that I had in no way met before. Walls I never thought I could get through were soon being kicked over and before I could look back in celebration at their wonderful ruin, I was instead being pushed towards another even more imposing one before me. Take after take took form and finally served as my own personal reawakening.
An hour later the walls were in a pile of rubble and we had a triumphant vocal take after 30 or so behind me that was from another world. On my own, I would have stopped. I would not have known I could have pushed further. I would have broken like a marathoner with nobody cheering or no pack to run along with.
We are capable of far more than we think we are. Have a coach. Push harder. Pass through the breaking point and go the extra mile. You never know what lies ahead.
4. Who Are You?
Eddie Vedder is Eddie Vedder. Adele already does Adele. I recorded my first song in my friends’ basement when I was 17. I was beyond hooked. I enthusiastically gave the recording to a family friend who made records for a living expecting my life to change - this was it. He was my only connection to the reality of being a professional musician. This individual shared that the track was “nice” and “a great start.” I was told, "You need to find your voice so that you can eventually find your own real-estate.”
Since then, I've done vocal sessions for singers who have told me that I don't need to hear each word because, “You can't understand what Eddie Vedder says and he's done well.” Or that pronouncing vowel sounds the way Adele does is a sound that is popular. I now make the argument similar to the one that family friend did years ago.
Latching on to a sound can be comfortable and safe, but these sounds have been spoken for. To stand out you need to find your own voice, your individual and unique sound, and your own market. The only way to find it is to strip away all those safe tricks you’ve adopted and return to the discomfort of a truly honest and vulnerable space. That’s where you find your sound. I'd argue that it is where you find freedom. That’s where you’ll discover, artistically, who you are.
5. Always Be Learning:
Have a mentor. As I have had in those mentioned above. I am seeking it at all times. I want to get in the room with as many people as possible. Remaining open and flexible to change creates room for development. This will ultimately make me a better artist. Always be looking up and all around. Always be learning. Always listen. Sometimes the simple answers are the most paramount.
Will Dailey's National Throat comes out on 8/26
Sunken Ship Embed Code
Album Trailer: http://youtu.be/6BCgjCe2Zns
Embed Code:
Will Dailey is an independent, Boston-based recording and performing artist. He is the 3 time winner of the Boston Music Award for Best Male Singer-Songwriter in 2006 and again on December 2, 2009 and December 2, 2012. He has released albums with Universal, CBS Records, Wheelkick Records and JS Music Group. Dailey is releasing his new album National Throat in 2014 on Wheelkick Records. The first single, "Sunken Ship," is a finalist in the 2013 International Songwriting Competition. On June 9, the album was released exclusively on vinyl for three months prior to official release date. Find out more at www.willdailey.com
Ani DiFranco has never been afraid to take chances.
DiFranco's new disc, Allergic To Water, is another bold accomplishment and its music is her most subtle.
Set for an October 14 release on DiFranco's groundbreaking Righteous Babe Records label, Allergic To Water was recorded at her Victorian home in New Orleans and at a larger studio in an old church.
Throughout the disc, DiFranco, her small group and a couple prominent guests create melodies that are lilting and funky, imaginative and personal: so personal that she also took the lead in producing and mixing the record.
Below DiFranco discusses Allergic To Water:
”Hello world, Ani here. Got a new wreckord and I don't hate it.
We recorded it in two 4-day sessions, one while I was six and a half months pregnant (I swear I can hear how my voice sounds different in those tracks), and one a year later while I was nursing a six month old. The songs come very much up-out of that inward cocoon that a new baby creates and reflect the gifts and the strains of the journey. Because the new babe is so high-maintenance (‘welcome to parenting a boy!,’ say my knowing friends) I pretty much mixed and produced this one myself, after years of working very closely with my ace record-producing husband, Mike Napolitano.
Watch the lyric video for “Woe Be Gone”:
Mostly I worked alone in headphones, in the wee hours, while my family slept. It was empowering but terrifying to have the buck stop with me again in terms of the mixes. The recordings are documents of my current touring band (recorded by Mike in our old victorian house in the Marigny neighborhood of New Orleans and also by Andy Taub at a nearby church in the Treme) just laying down the songs.
Many also feature a couple of very choice special guests. My killer band these days consists of bassist and composer Todd Sickafoose, who not only brings an always wonderful and unexpected counterpoint to my guitar with his bass playing, but is also my secret weapon in terms of production- overdubbing atmospherics and embellishments that add depth and color to the stories I tell.
My drummer is Terence Higgins, a New Orleans native, who brings that deeply funky pocket that makes me smile so wide, yet all-the-while listening through to the whole picture and really making music with his instrument, not just rhythms. Though most of Terence's musical incarnations have him playing drum kit, this record really features his hand-percussion prowess- like the congas on "see see see see", the Mardi Gras Indian style tambourine on "genie" - he nailed it every time.
And speaking of new orleans, the incredible Ivan Neville joins the band on a good number of these tunes and, like Todd, has a way of elevating and deepening (does that make sense?) the proceedings every time. Ivan sunk his funky footprint into the mud of "Dithering" and brought a steamy shimmer to "Tr’w.” He provides the perfect soulful response in "Happy All The Time" and rides shotgun to my guitar in the drag race of "Careless Words.” I'm also quite psyched and fortunate that Ivan is going to join my band on tour this fall and help bring these songs to life on stage.
The other prominent and very special guest is violinist Jenny Scheinman, a long-time cohort of Todd's and a more recent friend of mine. Jenny opened a bunch of shows for me last spring and we had such a blast hanging out and jamming together that I just had to get her on this new record. She joins the greek chorus of my bullet-mic choir and also steps out and takes the lead in a few songs with her vivid and magical playing.
Beyond them, there is my friend and sometimes band member Mike Dillon playing triangle on one track and Matt Perrine, a New Orleans sousaphonist at-large, plays a dang tuba solo on "Harder Than It Needs To Be,” cuz every country song needs a tuba (technically sousaphone) solo! Am I right?
Ok, that's really about it. i hope you enjoy this record. Thank you for listening."
Whether you’re a bona fide bassist or a guitar player who dabbles in bass, I won’t tell.
What I will say is, here are three new books from Hal Leonard that will fine tune your way around the low end.
Essential Bass Guitar Techniques: Chris Kringel pieced together 21 separate lessons into one book that will help define your playing style as a bassist. The book starts off with simple right-hand plucking concepts and ends with complex two-handed tapping techniques.
Packed in between are lessons on picking, fretting, slapping, muting and harmonics. Each lesson includes pictures, TAB, musical notation and recorded audio examples to get you the right track. $19.99
Best Bass Lines Ever: This is volume 46 of Hal Leonard’s "Bass Play-Along" series. It contains TAB and musical notation for eight songs; “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson, “Hysteria” by Muse, “Longview” by Green Day, “Roundabout” by Yes, “Sweet Child O' Mine” by Guns N’ Roses, “Taxman” by the Beatles, “Under Pressure” by Queen and “YYZ” by Rush.
The book comes with a link and access code to Hal Leonard’s My Library, where you’ll be able to download or stream a play-along track with or without bass accompaniment for each song. $17.99
Paul McCartney: Also from Hal Leonard’s "Bass Play-Along" series, this book offers TAB and notation following Sir Paul’s career with the Beatles and as a solo artist. The nine songs featured in this book are “Band on the Run,"“Hey Bulldog,"“I Want You (She’s So Heavy),"“Live and Let Die,"“Maybe I’m Amazed,"“Penny Lane,"“Rain,"“Silly Love Songs” and “With a Little Help from My Friends.”
Not only does the "Play-Along" CD have backing tracks with and without bass, it also works with Hal Leonard’s "Amazing Slow Downer" software. The free software allows you to slow down or speed up audio examples as you get them under your fingers. You also can modify the pitch to avoid tuning down or playing in uncomfortable keys. $17.99
You can't believe everything you read on the Internet, but Billy Voight is a gear reviewer, bassist and guitarist from Pennsylvania. He has Hartke bass amps and Walden acoustic guitars to thank for supplying some of the finest gear on his musical journey. Need Billy's help in creating noise for your next project? Drop him a line at thisguyonbass@gmail.com.
Below, check out a new guitar-playthrough video featuring Crucified Barbara guitarists Mia and Klara.
The song in the clip, "I Sell My Kids for Rock’N’Roll," is the opening track from Crucified Barbara's new album, In the Red, which will be released September 10 via Despotz Recs.
Taking cues from the Donnas and the Runaways, the ladies truly know how to demonstrate their chops, as you can see! Also, it seems that while they might sell their kids, that dog isn't going anywhere.
Pro Tone Pedals has launched its new Mark Holcomb Limited Edition Signature Delay Pedal.
The Periphery guitarist's signature pedal, the Haunted Delay, was designed to be an ambient-style delay like your favorite vintage tape echo, with gig-ready durability to last you decades without a $1,000 price tag. In the U.S., the price is $283 including shipping.
The Delay control offers a sweep of delay times ranging from 25 milliseconds to 450 milliseconds. The Repeat control runs from a single regeneration to infinite feedback. The longer settings introduces some slight note crunching similar to the vintage tape delay systems from past decades.
Mix sets the level of delayed signal mixed with straight guitar tone. The Volume knob adjusts the overall output from unity gain to a 20db boost, enough volume to drive your amp to the edge. The Haunted delay was intentionally designed to work well with modern high-gain amps as well as classics, offering the widest range of usability, no matter what style you play.
"I’m extremely happy with how unique and versatile this pedal turned out, and it’s been an inspiration merely jamming on it as of late," Holcomb said.
"The intention here was to create something truly trippy, a pedal versatile enough to handle the soundscape-y material I’m drawn to, while at the same time having a very streamlined interface, making it easy to use as a songwriting tool, which is its main use for me."
Additional features:
• The first 50 off the production line will be autographed by Mark • True Hardwire Bypass for noise free operation • Stomp switch built to withstand years of hard stomping shows • Durable aluminum housing • Operates on a standard 9 volt negative tip BOSS style adapter • Limited run of 150 • Shipping begins September 15th • Proudly built by hand in the USA • Buy now within the USA $283 (price includes shipping)
Unless you've been living under a rock — or an ice bucket — you've probably heard about the ALS Association's Ice Bucket Challenge.
I'm sure 7 to 13 percent of your Facebook friends have posted their own Ice Bucket Challenge videos, but they probably weren't as inspired as this one, which was created by Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters.
After Grohl nominates Stephen King, Jack Black and John Travolta to take the challenge after him, the camera reveals that Grohl is wearing a prom dress and his date is Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins.
It is, of course, a spoof of the classic 1976 Stephen King horror film Carrie. But enough of my yappin'! Check out the clip and tell us what you think in the comments or on Facebook!
For more about the ALS Association's Ice Bucket Challenge, visit alsa.org. For more about the 1976 version of Carrie, head here. For more about shoes, head here.
The busy people over at MetallicaTV have posted official, pro-shot footage from Metallica's August 9 performance at Heavy Montreal.
The 15-minute clip, which you can check out below, features "fly on the wall" footage shot by the MetOnTour reporters.
It includes bits of the band's rehearsal, plus "Battery" and "The Four Horsemen" from the actual show — which was their final show of the summer. It also was their only North American show of 2014.
Watch the video and let us know what you think in the comments or on Facebook!
In the new video below, guitarist Steve Booke demos L.R. Baggs' DI Acoustic Guitar Preamp.
From the company:
"We created the Venue DI so you can travel light, set up fast and sound incredible anywhere you plug in. The Venue DI gives you complete control by combining a full-isolation DI output, 5-band EQ with adjustable low and hi-mid bands, variable clean boost and chromatic tuner all in one acoustic pedal.
"With its all-discrete signal path, hi-graded semiconductors and exclusive use of audiophile grade film capacitors, the Venue DI is on par with the world’s elite preamps and provides a studio quality sound for the stage."
For more information about the L.R. Baggs DI Acoustic Guitar Preamp, visit its page at lrbaggs.com.
P.S.: If Steve Booke looks (or sounds) familiar, you might recognize him from his "What in the World" lessons on GuitarWorld.com. You can dig into a whole batch of them RIGHT HERE.
NOTE: The incorrect tabs appear in the Metal for Life column in the October 2014 issue of Guitar World. We've included the correct tabs below, just below the lesson video.
As a working metal guitarist, I’m always faced with different challenges, whether I’m working with an artist like Rob Halford from Judas Priest or fronting my own band and performing my own music.
In both situations, I’m required to come up with inspired, heavy metal–approved guitar parts that will fuel the music in an ideal way. Whether a specific guitar part is comprised of single-note lines against a pedal tone or fast-shifting chord voicings against different root notes, it’s essential that I have my rhythm/riff chops together for whatever situation I find myself in.
In this month’s column, I’d like to detail a handful of riffs designed to sharpen up very specific and different aspects of proper heavy-metal guitar technique.
FIGURE 1 presents an eight-bar rhythm part built using a few different techniques. I begin in bar 1 with an A5 power chord, followed by open-A-string pedal tones that alternate against two-note chords on the D and G strings. There is an inherent melodic line played on the G string through this bar. In bar 2, I move to two-note voicings of G and Am, played against the A pedal, after which I wrap up the initial two-bar idea with a single-note line.
Now that a theme has been established, in bar 3 I restate the riff from bar 1, and in bar 4, I wrap up this two-bar figure with a very unusual line that moves between the third and fifth frets on the D and G strings.
To me, this line has a Randy Rhoads–like quality. Bars 5 and 6 are very similar to bars 1 and 2, except I end this phrase with an alternative melody. Bars 7 and 8 complete the idea, wrapping with a very specific idea.
A three-note phrase, played in straight 16th notes, ends with a pull-off to the open D string. This three-note phrase moves up to each higher interval within the scale structure of the A Aeolian mode (A B C D E F G) until I finish on a two-note G major chord. Play through this eight-bar phrase slowly and carefully, striving for crystal-clear articulation as well as a rock-solid rhythmic feel.
One of my favorite things to do is devise metal riffs played in odd meters, such as 7/8 and 9/8. FIGURE 2 offers a riff in 9/8 that is performed almost entirely on the low E string. I begin with an index-finger pull-off from the third fret to the open low-E pedal note, and after riding on the low-E pedal in straight, palm-muted 16th notes for four more notes, I pull off from Bf at the sixth fret.
The phrase in bar 1 ends with an ascending line that comes in at an unusual place, on the second 16th note of beat four. Notice that there are two extra 16th notes in the bar, which results in a phrase played in 9/8. As the riff progresses, these pull-offs are moved to different locations, and the riff ends with repeated pull-offs on the bottom two strings.
FIGURE 3 is a little more straight-ahead, in terms of Maiden/Priest-type metal. Based primarily on A minor pentatonic (A B C D E), repeated pull-offs on the D and A strings are followed with three-note chord accents. Each two-bar phrase ends with a different descending line.
Now that you have the idea, try putting these techniques to use in your own metal riffs.
