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Exclusive: Blackfield, Featuring Steven Wilson and Aviv Geffen, Premiere "Jupiter" Music Video

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Today, GuitarWorld.com presents the exclusive premiere of "Jupiter," the new music video by Blackfield, a duo featuring Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) and Aviv Geffen.

The song is from Blackfield's new album, Blackfield IV, which will be released August 27 on CD and LP.

Blackfield IV follows Blackfield (2004), Blackfield II (2007) and 2011’s Welcome to My DNA. Since Welcome to My DNA's release, Geffen's profile has continued to rise; he’s worked with producers Tony Visconti and Trevor Horn, performed with U2 and Placebo and has even been a judge on the Israeli version of The Voice.

Geffen contributed the writing and vocals on Blackfield IV. Wilson, who mixed the album into stereo and 5.1 Surround Sound, added guitar and vocal parts. The new album includes guest vocal performances from Brett Anderson (Suede), Jonathan Donahue (Mercury Rev) and Vincent Cavanagh (Anathema).

For more about Blackfield, visit them on Facebook, Twitter and at kscopemusic.com.

Blackfield IV Track Listing

01. Pills
02. Springtime
03. XRay (featuring Vincent Cavanagh - Anathema)
04. Sense of Insanity
05. Firefly (featuring Brett Anderson - Suede)
06. The Only Fool is Me (featuring Jonathan Donahue - Mercury Rev)
07. Jupiter
08. Kissed by the Devil
09. Lost Souls
10. Faking
11. After the Rain

Photo (above): Chiko Ashkenazi

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Video: Peavey Electronics Vypyr VIP Amplifier Demo

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Here's a just-posted demo video from the guys at Peavey Electronics. The video, which was published July 19, shows off the company's new Vypyr VIP guitar amp. The guitarist in the video is Steve Blaze of Lillian Axe.

From Peavey:

Once again Peavey Electronics revolutionizes the modeling amp industry. Introducing the world's first Variable Instrument Performance amplifier, the VYPYR V.I.P. The world's first amp that contains Bass guitar, Acoustic guitar and Electric guitar amplifier models. Now for the first time ever using our Variable Instrument Input a single amp can provide amplification for a variety of instrument types.

Not only does the amplifier morph from a bass amp, to an acoustic amp, to an electric amp, it also allows the electric guitar player access to instrument models as well — another Peavey first! The Vypyr VIP's astonishingly realistic instrument simulations allow users to manipulate the sound of their electric guitar to mimic an acoustic guitar, a bass, a 12-string guitar, and more!

Using the combination of a powerful 32-bit, floating-point SHARC processor and patented TransTube analog circuitry, the Vypyr VIP series contains innovative technology to create the most diverse and best sounding modeling amplifiers available. The Vypyr VIPs feature new acoustically ported semi-closed back enclosures, which create an extremely full sound. Guitarists also have access to over 70 amp, instrument, stompbox models and rack style effects, allowing for endless creative options and a completely new range of tonal possibilities.

For more information, head on over to peavey.com.

'Skydog: The Duane Allman Story' is Newly Revised and Expanded

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Now in paperback, Randy Poe's Skydog: The Duane Allman Story (Backbeat Books) is revised and expanded, with a new afterword by the author, plus a foreword by Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top. It's the definitive biography of Duane Allman, one of the most revered guitarists of his generation.

Skydog reveals the complete story of the legendary guitarist: his childhood and musical awakening; his struggling first bands; his hard-won mastery of the slide guitar; his emergence as a successful session musician; his creation of the Allman Brothers Band; his tragic death at age 24; and his thriving musical legacy.

The book is available now at the Guitar World Online Store for $18.99.

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Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time Readers Poll: Round 2 — "Crazy Train" (Randy Rhoads) Vs. "Brighton Rock" (Brian May)

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A few years ago, the editors of Guitar World magazine compiled what we feel is the ultimate guide to the 100 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time.

The list, which has been quoted by countless artists, websites and publications around the world, starts with Richie Sambora's work on Bon Jovi's “Wanted Dead or Alive” (100) and builds to a truly epic finish with Jimmy Page's solo on "Stairway to Heaven" (01).

To quote our "Stairway to Heaven" story that ran with the list, "If Jimmy Page is the Steven Spielberg of guitarists, then 'Stairway' is his Close Encounters."

In June, we kicked off a summer blockbuster of our own — a no-holds-barred six-string shootout. We pitted Guitar World's top 64 guitar solos against each other in an NCAA-style, 64-team single-elimination tournament. Every day, we asked you to cast your vote in a different guitar-solo matchup as dictated by the 64-team-style bracket. Now Round 1 has come and gone, leaving us with 32 guitar solo and 16 (sweet) matchups.

You can vote only once per matchup, and the voting ends as soon as the next matchup is posted (Basically, that's one poll per day).

In some cases, genre will clash against genre; a thrash solo might compete against a Southern rock solo, for instance. But let's get real: They're all guitar solos, played on guitars, by guitarists, most of them in some subset of the umbrella genre of rock. When choosing, it might have to come down to, "Which solo is more original and creative? Which is more iconic? or Which one kicks a larger, more impressive assemblage of asses?"

Yesterday's Results

Winner:"Comfortably Numb" (67.34 percent)
Loser:"For the Love of God" (32.66 percent)


Today's Round 2 Matchup (11 of 16)
"Crazy Train" Vs. "Brighton Rock"

Today, it's Randy Rhoads' guitar solo on Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train" (09) against Brian May's solo on Queen's "Brighton Rock" (41). "Crazy Train" bumped off Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" to earn a spot in Round 2. Meanwhile, "Brighton Rock" got here by defeating Metallica's "Fade to Black." Get busy! You'll find the poll at the very bottom of the story.

09. “Crazy Train”
Soloist: Randy Rhoads
Album: Ozzy Osbourne—Blizzard of Ozz (Epic, 1981)

Randy Rhoads employed a two-part process when recording his solos for Blizzard of Ozz. First, the classically trained young shredder would take his customized Jackson guitars to a stone room downstairs at England’s Ridge Farm Studios where he would work out each of his solos, among them “Crazy Train.”

“This was after we did the backing tracks,” says Blizzard of Ozz engineer Max Norman. “Randy had a Marshall and a couple of 4x12s, and we had him set up in this room with the cabinets facing up out into the main studio. They were miked at various points: close, at three feet and again at about 12 feet. I would make Randy a loop of the solo section and we’d just let that play into these big monitors downstairs, where he would just sit and jam away for hours and hours until he had composed his completed solo.”

With the solos arranged to his liking, Rhoads would then report upstairs to the control room to record them. “We’d plug the guitar directly into the console,” recalls Norman. “We’d preamp it in the console and send it down to the amp from there. That way we could control the amount of gain that hit the amp, which is always a problem when running a remote amplifier and trying to get a good enough signal to it."




41. "Brighton Rock”
Soloist: Brian May
Album: Queen—Sheer Heart Attack (Elektra, 1974)

Universally venerated for his lavish guitar orchestrations and tasteful British restraint, Brian May kicked over the traces on this high energy rocker that leads off Queen’s third album, Sheer Heart Attack. One of May’s most blues-based excursions ever, the song’s extended solo section grew out of the guitarist’s experiments with an Echoplex tape delay unit. His original goal was to reproduce his multi-part guitar harmonies live onstage with Queen, back in the days before harmonizers were invented.

“I started messing around with the Echoplex, the delay that was available at the time,” May recalls. “I turned up the regeneration until it was giving me multiple repeats. I discovered you could do a lot with this—you could set up rhythms and play against them, or you could play a line and then play a harmony to it.

"But I decided that the delay [times] I wanted weren’t available on the Echoplex. So I modified it and made a new rail, which meant I could slide the head along and make the delay any length I wanted, because the physical distance between the two heads is what gave you the delay. Eventually, I had two home-adapted Echoplexes. And I discovered that if you put each echo through its own amp, you wouldn’t have any nasty interference between the two signals. Each amp would be like a full-blown, sustaining, overdriven guitar which didn’t have anything to do with the other one.

“So, ‘Brighton Rock’ was the first time that got onto a record. I’d already been trying it live onstage in the middle of ‘Son and Daughter’ [from Queen’s self-titled ’73 debut album], when Queen first toured with Mott the Hoople. It was rather crude at first. But I certainly had a lot of fun with it.”

[[ When you're done voting, start learning every guitar solo in this poll — and more! Check out a new TAB book from Guitar World and Hal Leonard: 'The 100 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time: A Treasure Trove of Guitar Leads Transcribed Note-for-Note, Plus Song Notes for More Than 40 of the Best Solos.' It's available now at the Guitar World Online Store for $29.99. ]]

Cast Your Vote!

Head HERE to see today's matchup and all the matchups that have taken place so far!

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Summer NAMM 2013 Video: TC Electronic Ditto Looper

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The Guitar World video crew visited the TC Electronic booth at the 2013 Summer NAMM Show in Nashville earlier this month.

While we were there, we caught up with TC Electronic's Russell Gray, who showed us some of the company's newest products, including the Ditto Looper.

Looping pedals are great for rehearsing alone, working out solos over your rhythm parts and even composing. Onstage, they can make you a show-stopping one-man band, building complex loops that can impress your fans. But loopers can be fidgety to use, and the more features they pack in, the more difficult they are to use intuitively and on the fly.

The Ditto Looper simplifies the process by offering a no-nonsense feature set in a pedal about the size of a humbucking pickup. With five minutes of recording time, unlimited overdubs and uncompromised audio quality, the Ditto Looper has everything you need for fast, fun and fuss-free looping.

Check out the video below!

For more about TC Electronic, visit tcelectronic.com.

Summer NAMM 2013 Video: Eventide H9 Harmonizer Effects Processor

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The Guitar World video crew visited the Eventide booth at the 2013 Summer NAMM Show in Nashville earlier this month.

While we were there, we caught up with Eventide's Alan Chaput, who showed us some of the company's newest products, including the H9 Harmonizer.

The H9 delivers Eventide's acclaimed sound and can run all of Eventide's stompbox effects.

It features a simple, one-knob user interface and also connects wirelessly via Bluetooth to iPods, iPhones and iPads for creating and managing presets, live control and in-app algorithm purchases.

While the H9 is fully controllable via its front panel, a free iOS app, H9 Control, can be downloaded to your iPhone or iPad for live editing, creating and managing presets and changing system settings wirelessly via Bluetooth. H9 Control will also be available for your PC or Mac via USB.

The H9 features stereo audio I/O, MIDI I/O, Expression Pedal, and Auxiliary Switch inputs. All of Eventide's stompbox algorithms and their associated presets are available for in-app purchase.

For more information, check out eventide.com.

What in the World: Two-Note-Per-String Scale Sequences and Indian-Style Phrasing

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Today, we will continue to work with a scale we covered in my June 2013 column.

We will explore that same scale, the Phrygian dominant, in a two-note-per-string sequence. We'll also add a sitar-style bending phrase. The notes of the scale are as follows:

E – F - G# - A – B – C – D – E

Learning a scale on one or two strings can be a great way to explore different sounds of the scale and phrases, since you are limited to fewer notes. This is a good way to get out of a rut with your playing, especially if you often find yourself relying on what you know and are comfortable with.

The Phrygian dominant is a great scale to use for this exercise. It has a cool, exotic sound and a challenging stretch.

In Example 1, we will simply ascend the scale (in descending order) using only the G and D strings. This is a great pentatonic-type workout, since the scale has some unusual stretches involved.

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For Example 2, we will add a bend. The bend is reminiscent of a sitar-style bend, whereas the note is very quickly bent to pitch, followed by a pull-off and then descending the phrase for the final two notes on the D string.

This is a great exercise for a couple of reasons. It will help with your accuracy in bending up whole and half steps. It also will build up your hand strength as you quickly go from the bend-reverse bend-pull off to the picked notes on the lower string. Try repeating each section a few times slowly and then faster. You will start to see that the bend part becomes more challenging the more you do it.

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After you get the hang of these exercises, try them with other scales you know. Jumping around the neck, as in Example 2, is a good way to break up patterns so that it doesn’t sound like you're just running up a scale. You're creating a cool melodic sequence that can follow a chord progression, or imply one if you are playing over a melodically static groove.

Steve Booke is a composer for film and TV from the New York area. His compositions range from orchestral to metal to world styles from every corner of the earth. A graduate of Berklee College of Music, Steve has played guitar for more than 27 years. He has recorded 10 albums of his own and has played on countless others. He plays gigs in the NY area and tours the East Coast with a variety of bands. He has performed with Ben E. King and members of Mahavishnu Orchestra. He endorses D'Addario/Planet Waves, Larrivee Guitars, Levy's Leathers, Peavey, Stylus Pick, Finale PrintMusic, Pigtronix, Tech 21, Toontrack, Graph Tech, Seymour Duncan, Waves, Studio Devil and L.R. Baggs. His music is available on iTunes and Amazon. He can be contacted at info@stevebooke.com. Visit stevebooke.com.

Interview: Michael Nesmith, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork Talk Monkees Summer Tour, 'Headquarters' and What They Learned from Jimi Hendrix

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A mid-2013 Monkees concert is a powerful reminder of why these guys were major pop icons in the mid-'60s.

The band's three surviving members — Michael Nesmith, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork — dole out the hits like a vintage jukebox at a family-style restaurant.

But a modern Monkees show serves up a good deal more, including a pinch of the banter that made the Monkees everyone's favorite wise-cracking, prefab pop band — and, perhaps best of all — a generous serving of Nesmith's music. Since the band resumed touring in the late '80s, a Nesmith-infused Monkees performance had been as rare as a Sasquatch sighting.

Until last year, that is.

Before Davy Jones died in February 2012, all four Monkees had been discussing a tour. Eight months after Jones' passing, Nesmith, Dolenz and Tork followed through, kicking off a brief US trek that paid homage to Jones and his legacy. This summer, however, the band's itinerary is expanded, as is their emphasis on what is considered their finest stretch of albums, the four releases from 1967's Headquarters through 1968's Head.

From Tork's impressive multi-instrumental prowess to Nesmith's mesmerizing country charm and Dolenz's science-defying vocals (The 68-year-old Dolenz is the Paul Rodgers of the former-teen-idol set), a Monkees show is a first-rate ode to a quickly fading era of American pop culture.

I recently spoke to all three Monkees about their current tour, distant past, roots, gear, Headquarters and more.

GUITAR WORLD: A lot of artists, including some of the hard rock and metal guys we speak to on a regular basis, love the Monkees. Yet it's not a stretch to say some people still take a condescending attitude toward the band. Did you guys ever look down on your legacy? Did you ever feel condescended to?

NESMITH: No, I never thought of the Monkees negatively. The public rejection of the show and the band was hard to take but understandable. People were confused in those early days of TV, especially about what constituted authenticity, and there was a fear that corporate interests were at work and somehow manufacturing a hit. Everyone in the arts knows this is impossible, but it was an easy sell and an easy scandal to create by the press of the times. So a few journalists led the charge of "condescension."

But as you point out, that charge fell on many deaf ears, especially among the kids at the time who not only got a good taste of well-made music but also understood TV and where it fit in their life. Many very accomplished players started their musical careers based on those Monkees shows and records, and I feel most gratified to have been a part of that. It is a nice legacy, and I'm proud of it and happy to see it finally get the recognition.

Given that you didn't know each other and came together at random when you auditioned for roles on the TV show, were you surprised by how beautifully your voices blended on the records? Was that a happy accident?

DOLENZ: One of the producers once said, "They caught lightning in a bottle." They cast four guys that had different talents and different voices but could all sing and act, to some degree. When we started singing together and blending, we weren't starting from square one. We had fundamental skills; then it came down to arrangement and harmonizing, and then we sort of got lucky, especially in terms of the blend Mike and I had. I always thought that was really kind of cool.

TORK: The producers [of the TV show] were Beatles fans themselves. They weren't just old, cigar-chomping TV producers going, "Kids will love this." They didn't want professional kids, really. Well, Davy was professional, but he had a lot of spark and Micky was a funny guy from the start, so they knew they were getting something interesting. But I refute any claims that any four guys could've done what we did. There was a magic to that collection. We couldn't have chosen each other. It wouldn't have flown. But under the circumstances, they got the right guys.

NESMITH: Happy accident.

Mike was already a songwriter while the show was in production, yet the band was being handed songs — by other composers — to record. Did any of you resent that at any point?

NESMITH: I liked the Monkees songs quite a bit. I wasn't much of a pop writer. I tended, and still do, toward country blues and lyrics with little moments in them — all pretty far off the pop songs of the '60s. No resentment at all.

DOLENZ: Not from me. I was hired to play a wacky drummer on a TV show. That's how I approached it, and to some degree, I still do. The Monkees, the way I looked at it, wasn't a band, it was a television show about a band. An imaginary band that existed only on that television show at that beach house, which was a set, and the adventures we had were imaginary, obviously.

TORK: I wasn't resentful because we had songs by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, Carole King and Neil Diamond. "Shades of Gray" was written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil — masters. We would play these songs and say, "Yeah, that's a good song. Let's do it." And that's all we cared about, really. Having great songs.

That said, I wish we didn't have to go through the hassles we did to get to be musicians on the records. I didn't have any desire to get rid of Don Kirshner. Don had the magic touch. "By all means, bring us songs, Donny! We just want to be the musicians. And we can bring something extra to these records and make them more fun for the audience. You bring the songs, we bring the fun. Let's work together!" But Donny took it personally and went off in a huff. A huff, at the time, was like a Smart Car now [laughs].

How did the Monkees decide who'd sing which song?

NESMITH: We didn't at first. When we started producing our own ideas, we all would more or less agree. It was easy to arrive at who sang what song best.

DOLENZ: We had much more control on the set, when we were acting. We improvised and made a lot of contributions. But in the studio, Mike and Peter certainly wanted to. Peter might tell you the story of going into one of the early sessions with his bass and they said, "What are you doing here?" Mike has horror stories about submitting songs. One of the first songs he submitted was "Different Drum," and they said, "That's not a Monkees tune" [laughs]. Eventually we had that big battle with Kirshner and the producers. We basically wanted to get some sort of control.

Peter, not to stick with the resentment theme, but were you frustrated over the fact that the other three guys sang most of the songs?

TORK: There's some frustration there, but in retrospect, I can see I wasn't the guy for most of those things. I did do the one song, "Your Auntie Grizelda," during the first two albums. On the second album, I had a few lines here and there, and I shared a lead vocal with Micky on "Words." I think there's a song or two I might've done as well or better than the other guys because of the dramatic meaning of the song. There's a song on Headquarters called "Early Morning Blues and Greens." I look back and I think, "I should've fought to do that song." It has me written all over it, and I should've been the guy who sang it.

Did you know in advance that the creators of the TV show wanted you to be the ...

TORK: The dummy?

Well, yeah.

TORK: They actually chose me and then said, "Do you mind playing the dummy?" They didn't say, "We're choosing you if you'll play the dummy." They said, "Do you mind?" I had developed that character on the Greenwich Village stages when I was a basket-passing, coffee house folk singer in the early '20s [laughs]. One of the reasons I was able to play that character so well was that I'd been working on it for quite a while.

Did the song arrangements come pre-fab, including the harmonies?

NESMITH: The first two albums were a mix of New York publishing demos and our own studio arrangements and vocal stuff. From Headquarters on, we called all the musical shots.

TORK: We arranged Headquarters ourselves in the studio, pretty much. I think I'm not over-blowing my own horn when I say I had the broadest view of what a good arrangement is. If a song fell into a traditional format, if it came to us that way, we didn't have any arranging to do, except maybe what's going to be the opening lick. But "Do we have an instrumental hook?" or "Do we skip a hook and make the hook a vocal tagline?" Those kinds of questions, we solved amongst ourselves.

How were the songs picked? Also, were they ever written around the shows, or was it the other way around?

NESMITH: We all wrote, or had friends who did, and we listened to a lot of demos from various publishers. The songs in the show weren't critical to the story lines, such as they were, and so almost any song would work in any show. And by the time we were producing the music ourselves, we were just using songs we liked.

Mike, what impact did the success of the show have on you as a songwriter? Also, what impact did the success of "Mary, Mary" (which was recorded by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band before the Monkees recorded it) and "Different Drum," a hit for Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys, have on you as a songwriter?

NESMITH: My primary craft is writing, and song writing was always what moved me along. I fell into the folk scene early on because of the importance of the song and lyrics there and then followed that with some rock and roll and country efforts.

When I got on the show, the pop community was strange to me and, by and large, didn't respond well to my songwriting or singing. The show didn't do anything to help that. I was always outside the main effort of the show's music. I would've liked to have been more accepted as a pop song writer, but there was little I could do about it since I didn't know how to write a pop song. I love hearing other people sing my songs. "Different Drum" and Butterfield's and Run-DMC's "Mary, Mary" were and are real high points for me as a writer.

Did you feel ignored or passed over when the Byrds, Dillards and other bands got credit for leading popular music in a country direction in 1968, even though you'd already been writing and singing that sort of music with the Monkees?

NESMITH: I don't worry about those kinds of things. I'm very comfortable with the music I made and when I made it.

Micky, even though you're seen as the drummer in the Monkees, you started off as a guitarist. How did you get started?

DOLENZ: When I was 9 or 10, my father got me a Goya guitar, and I started learning Spanish guitar. My first public appearance was at Kennywood Park in Pittsburgh. I was on a press junket for a TV series, Circus Boy, which was about a little kid in a circus who had a pet elephant. They put the elephant and me on a train, and we went across the country, doing press stops and public appearances.

I'd come out on stage with my little guitar and sing my songs, and the elephant would come on stage and do a bunch of tricks. So my first gig was opening up for an elephant [laughs]. But I started to get serious about classical guitar. I was learning Segovia stuff — I was only 12, but I was into it. I'd take my guitar to parties in high school, and I quickly discovered girls liked the Kingston Trio better than Segovia [laughs]. So I started learning folk music and some Peter, Paul and Mary.

I went on the road with a couple of cover bands before the Monkees, mainly singing, but I'd pick up a guitar and play along. My Monkees audition piece was "Johnny B. Goode" by Chuck Berry, which I still do in my show.

Peter, you once said the live version of the band, based on the skills of each member, could have — and maybe even should have — been composed differently. Can you explain that?

TORK: Mike and Davy had splendid timing. They should've been the rhythm section. I'm a better guitar player than Mike; he should've been the drummer or the bass player and Davy the drummer. His time was fabulous, and he learned anything you wanted him to do. There were times we said, "Geez, I want to play keyboard. Mike's on guitar, Micky's ... we need a bass player! Davy, put your fingers here, pluck now." Boom! He'd play bass that night. Micky should've been down in front — and he can play guitar. He should've been the rhythm guitar player.

But it worked out. If you listen to the 1967 tour CD, it's not that bad. We were a bunch of, you know, young kids. But we were playing. When we were making a pilot, there was a lull in the activity and we were on the bandstand with instruments in our hands, and there were amps, and they were real, and we fired them up, and we played some covers. And people got up and danced. We had never played a note together previously.

Present, one of the albums you recorded after Peter left the band, will be reissued in August as an expanded, remastered box set. How involved were you with the reissue process, and what do you remember about recording Present?

DOLENZ: We're not very involved. Occasionally, they'll ask me if I have any comments about it. But they just do a repackaging of the original stuff, and I think they do a great job.

As far as memories, I don't have many. I recall recording Headquarters for obvious reasons. But for the most part, we would just have studio time booked and we'd go in and do tracks and vocals. It was a movable feast. We were in the studio all the time. And then at some point we would decide which tracks were finished and were gonna go on the next album. So it wasn't like we started Monday and three months later, we said, "This is the album and we're all done." It was sort of a continuous process. The songs that are on that album might've been recorded earlier or over a longer period of time.

Mike, what happened to the original Monkees 12-string Gretsch you played in the TV series? Also, I saw you on the 2012 tour (and last weekend in Philadelphia), and I notice you're playing a newer Gretsch 12-string. Do you have any ties with the company, or do you just consider it a "Monkees guitar"?

NESMITH: The show Gretsch was stolen and is at large somewhere in the hands of a thief or a thief's customer. Gretsch has been supportive and very helpful, although the Monkees' television status has always kept the interest of instrument makers down regarding me. I also am not a very good player, so I don't get the same attention as more accomplished players.

Considering all that, Gretsch has been very helpful and built me this new guitar. It is getting nicely tweaked — I call it my "Blonde Beauty"— and up to speed for the shows. It sounds great. Also a great new string set from GHS has really made a difference; they're vibrant and have lots of ring. I have a new (used) Fender amp I got from the company at an artist's price, and I'm using that on this tour, and it really sounds terrific. However, I'm not willing to so easily trade on my audience, so I took off the Fender logo and replaced it with a "Kirkland Signature" logo — just for the fun of it.

But Fender and Gretsch have been pretty generous given the fact that I can't play worth a flip.

Peter, I've always considered you the most natural musician of the bunch. Is that accurate?

TORK: No. The best natural musician in the bunch was Davy. He never hit a bad note. My pitch is not as certain, Micky's isn't as secure. Mike's is, but he doesn't have the emotional range Davy had. Davy could sing Broadway, ballads and rock. He could do anything. What I am, among these guys, is the best trained, the only one who could read and write music. Michael wrote the horn and cello part to "Shades of Gray." He wrote it in his head, he sang it to me, and I notated it, and I notated it for the French horn. I'm the only one of the four of us who was in possession of that body of information. I took piano for six years and French horn for a couple, plus music theory in college.

And Micky is one of the better pop singers of all time. Not too long ago, I told him, "You must be one of the top 20 pop singers of all time." He said, "20?" I said, "OK, 15." He said, "15?" I said, "OK, 10, but that's my best offer." And Mike Nesmith is extraordinarily rigorous in pitch and time. And he's got imagination, and he's a very hard worker. I'm not. The only thing I have going for me is that I'm trained.

DOLENZ: Peter also plays more instruments. I only play guitar and, of course, drums when I'm doing a Monkees show. Peter would be the most proficient or knowledgeable about music and playing. He plays guitar, piano, French horn. He plays just about any instrument he picks up. But I'd say Mike is probably the most prolific, in terms of song writing. He is very proficient on guitar, especially that big 12-string he plays all the time.

Which Monkees album was the most fun to make and why?

NESMITH: Headquarters— because the kids got to drive the big car. Fun.

TORK: Actually, it's a toss-up for me. You understand, the first two albums don't count. We weren't there, by and large. Headquarters was very satisfying from that point of view. And then we cut to three decades later, and there's this album called Justus [released in 1996]. Micky's drum work was spectacular on that. I don't know if you've listened to that CD, but it's not bad. There are things I would've done differently if I had a bigger voice in the proceedings. You've got four egos, and one guy can't sway things too much. But it had some good fresh sounds — modern, contemporary sounds in the guitar, bass and keyboards.

Is any new Monkees music in the works or planning stages?

NESMITH: Not now.

What are the main differences between the 2012 and 2013 Monkees tours?

NESMITH: The show is getting better in terms of the video, song selection and more. The performances are all up an order of magnitude.

Speaking of tours, the Monkees toured with Jimi Hendrix in the '60s. Did anyone pick up any pointers from him?

DOLENZ: I didn't, but then again, I was playing drums at the time. But all of us were blown away by his talent. I was in New York at a press junket for the Monkees, and somebody said, "You've gotta come down to this club and see this guy play guitar with his teeth." And sure enough, we go down to this small club, and he's there playing the guitar with his teeth.

Fast forward to the Monterey Pop Festival, and I'm there watching all the acts: Ravi Shankar, the Who and everything. All of a sudden, these three guys come on stage dressed in psychedelic outfits, and the guitar player started playing guitar with his teeth. I said, "Hey, that's the guy I saw in New York months ago, playing guitar with his teeth!" [laughs] We happened to be looking for an opening act, and I suggested Jimi because he was incredibly talented but also very theatrical.

TORK: I was talking to Jimi while I was just learning vibrato on the guitar. I had learned to "pull" vibrato, but you can't pull on the first string, so you have to learn to "push" vibrato. I was saying to Jimi, "I'm just beginning to get that push vibrato." He said, "Yeah, you push against the weight of the guitar." And my eyes lit up. "Mother of God, that's how he does it!"

So you have to push and be conscious of the weight of what you're pushing against, not just pushing the string. There's nothing more annoying than somebody who has "panic vibrato," when they shake their fingers as hard as they can. Panic vibrato is the most annoying, unmusical thing you can think of. Hendrix's vibrato was so engaging, and it involved you and it was earth-shaking. When he said, "You work against the weight of the guitar," suddenly I was pushing stuff around in a big way. That was a wonderful clue.

I also met Stevie Ray Vaughan by chance on the road in Australia or something. I said, "Where do you get that tone?" And he said, "It comes from the heart, man." That's all he would say. And I'm saying, "What effects do you use? How loud do you turn up?" But all he said was it comes from the heart.

I'm reminded me of a story about Jascha Heifetz, the violinist. He was talking to the press, and they said something about his Stradivarius. He said, "You think it's about the Stradivarius? Go down to the local music shop and get me a $75 violin." He played the $75 violin, and they were astounded that it had the same tone. Of course, he did say the $75 violin had some bad spots. But the tone is not in the instrument. The tone is in your heart, in your hands.

The Monkees are touring as a 10-piece band featuring Wayne Avers (musical director/lead guitar), David Alexander (keyboards/acoustic guitar/backing vocals), John Billings (bass), Micky's sister Coco Dolenz (backing vocals/percussion), Aviva Maloney (keyboards/reeds/wind), Rich Dart (drums) and Mike's son Christian Nesmith (acoustic guitar).

For more information about the Monkees and their 2013 summer tour, visit monkees.net. For more about the new deluxe edition of Present, visit monkeesstore.warnermusic.com.

Photo: Monkees.net

Damian Fanelli, online managing editor at Guitar World, is the B-Bender-playing lead guitarist in the Blue Meanies, a New York City-based Monkees/Beatles/Kinks/'60s cover band. He performed with Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz at the latest Monkees convention in March 2013 and is in the market for a vintage pedal steel guitar, preferably by Fender or Sho-Bud.


Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time Readers Poll: Round 2 — "One" (Kirk Hammett) Vs. "Cortez the Killer" (Neil Young)

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A few years ago, the editors of Guitar World magazine compiled what we feel is the ultimate guide to the 100 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time.

The list, which has been quoted by countless artists, websites and publications around the world, starts with Richie Sambora's work on Bon Jovi's “Wanted Dead or Alive” (100) and builds to a truly epic finish with Jimmy Page's solo on "Stairway to Heaven" (01).

To quote our "Stairway to Heaven" story that ran with the list, "If Jimmy Page is the Steven Spielberg of guitarists, then 'Stairway' is his Close Encounters."

In June, we kicked off a summer blockbuster of our own — a no-holds-barred six-string shootout. We pitted Guitar World's top 64 guitar solos against each other in an NCAA-style, 64-team single-elimination tournament. Every day, we asked you to cast your vote in a different guitar-solo matchup as dictated by the 64-team-style bracket. Now Round 1 has come and gone, leaving us with 32 guitar solo and 16 (sweet) matchups.

You can vote only once per matchup, and the voting ends as soon as the next matchup is posted (Basically, that's one poll per day).

In some cases, genre will clash against genre; a thrash solo might compete against a Southern rock solo, for instance. But let's get real: They're all guitar solos, played on guitars, by guitarists, most of them in some subset of the umbrella genre of rock. When choosing, it might have to come down to, "Which solo is more original and creative? Which is more iconic? or Which one kicks a larger, more impressive assemblage of asses?"

Yesterday's Results

Winner:"Brighton Rock" (54.45 percent)
Loser:"Crazy Train" (45.55 percent)


Today's Round 2 Matchup (12 of 16)
"One" Vs. "Cortez the Killer"

Today, it's Kirk Hammett's guitar solo on Metallica's "One" (07) against Neil Young's often-overlooked solo on "Cortez the Killer" (39). Get busy! You'll find the poll at the very bottom of the story.

07. “One”
Soloist: Kirk Hammett
Album: Metallica—…And Justice for All (Elektra, 1988)

“I had a very clear idea of where I wanted to go with my guitar playing on …And Justice for All,” recalls Kirk Hammett. “Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time for me to fully execute my ideas.

“We worked on basic tracks for six or seven months, and then I only had eight or nine days to record all my leads because we were heading out on the Monsters of Rock tour [with Van Halen, Scorpions, Dokken and Kingdom Come]. To get that done, I had to do incredibly long, grueling days—like 20 hours at a pop—and it took so much out of me. As soon as I finished one solo, I had to do the next one. There was no time to breathe, as the whole vibe was to do it the best you could and keep moving. It was a pretty frustrating experience, to be honest.”

Despite these frustrations, Hammett was immediately pleased with most of his work on “One,” which featured three very different solos. “The first solo and the last solo were completely worked out in advance because I had been playing them for months,” recalls Hammett. “So in those cases it was just a matter of fitting in tone-wise. I elected to use a clean sound in the intro solo, which was the first time we used that kind of sound. I dialed it up on an ADA preamp and, once we found the right sound, it just flowed.

"For the final solo, I used my conventional lead sound of the time. That one flowed quickly, too—once I worked out the intro right-hand tapping technique, a process I really enjoyed. I wanted a high energy intro that would be different from anything I had done in the past. So I got those two solos done quickly and was pleased with them. But the middle one just wasn’t happening.”

Ultimately, Hammett was so displeased with the results of his second solo that he returned to the studio in the midst of the Monsters of Rock tour—spending a day at New York’s Hit Factory with producer Ed Stasium. “I redid the entire second half of the second solo and worked to make it all fit in,” Hammett recalls. “It was better, although I was never totally satisfied with it. I guess I did a good enough job.”

Apparently so. The song would soon become Metallica’s first legitimate radio and MTV hit, its solos firmly established as Hammett signature licks.




39. "Cortez the Killer"
Soloist: Neil Young
Album: Zuma (Reprise, 1975)

“Cortez the Killer” hails from Zuma, one of Neil Young’s most overlooked albums, often lost in the shuffle of its predecessor, the much-praised Tonight’s the Night, which came out just five months prior. But there’s really a very simple explanation for the song’s high rating. Just take it from Young himself, who once proclaimed that, “ ‘Cortez’ is some of my best guitar playing ever!”

Remarkably, the song’s structure was largely shaped by an accident—a power failure which occurred in the midst of recording a perfect, transcendent take of the song. Rather than recut the tune, Young just plowed forward and later he and producer David Briggs went back and did some creative editing, which required the lopping off of several verses. “They missed a whole verse, a whole section!” Young says. “You can hear the splice on the recording where we stop and start again. It’s a messy edit…incredible! It was a total accident. But that’s how I see my best art, as one magical accident after another. That’s what is so incredible.”

“Cortez the Killer,” about the Spanish explorer who conquered Mexico with bloody success, is also a prime example of Young’s physical style of lead playing.

“I am a naturally very destructive person,” he says. “And that really comes out in my guitar playing. Man, if you think of guitar playing in terms of boxing…well, let’s just say I’m not the kind of guitarist you’d want to play against. I’m just scarred by life. Nothing in particular. No more scarred than anyone else. Only other people often don’t let themselves know how damaged they are, like I do, and deal with it.”

[[ When you're done voting, start learning every guitar solo in this poll — and more! Check out a new TAB book from Guitar World and Hal Leonard: 'The 100 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time: A Treasure Trove of Guitar Leads Transcribed Note-for-Note, Plus Song Notes for More Than 40 of the Best Solos.' It's available now at the Guitar World Online Store for $29.99. ]]

Cast Your Vote!

Head HERE to see today's matchup and all the matchups that have taken place so far!

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Video: Black Sabbath Perform "Iron Man" and "Into the Void" on Opening Night of North American Tour

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Black Sabbath, whose new album, 13, has been available for more than a month, kicked off their North American tour Thursday, July 25, at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion near Houston, Texas.

Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and drummer Tommy Clufetos were in fine form as they ripped through their 17-song set.

Check out two fan-filmed videos — featuring "Iron Man" and "Into the Void"— below. Be sure to tell us what you think in the comments!

By the way, here's the complete set list:

01. War Pigs
02. Into The Void
03. Under The Sun
04. Snowblind
05. Age Of Reason
06. Black Sabbath
07. Behind The Wall Of Sleep
08. N.I.B.
09. End Of The Beginning
10. Fairies Wear Boots
11. Methademic
12. Rat Salad/Drum Solo
13. Iron Man
14. God Is Dead?
15. Dirty Women
16. Children Of The Grave
17. Paranoid

Additional Content

Three Steps to Shred: Fundamental Daily Practice Techniques in About 15 Minutes

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No matter your level of experience, being a guitarist involves pushing your personal boundaries with the instrument.

Many players find themselves struggling to develop the physical abilities needed to play like their heroes, and, crucially, they never settle on a consistent set of exercises because they find themselves drowning in so many different suggestions.

In this column and video, I discuss some straightforward, essential practice techniques you can work into a simple, short daily routine to improve your dexterity, speed, strength and stamina to help you overcome obstacles and become a better guitar player.

These practice techniques are broken into three sections: 01. Picking hand: two three-minute exercises; 02. Fretting hand: a series of 15- or 20-second strength exercises; and 03. Both hands: a symmetrical exercise emphasizing synchronization between the left and right hands.

All in all, these exercises should take about 15 minutes. My students have found that, when done faithfully and properly, they yield significant positive results. Please note that it's a good idea to stretch out your hands, wrists and arms for a few minutes before doing these exercises.

01. Picking Hand: Three-Minute Picking Technique

This straightforward exercise is broken into two sections: First, perform a series of eighth-note downstrokes in rhythm, at a speed that is comfortable to you, for a period of three straight minutes. Follow this by performing a series of eighth-notes in rhythm using alternate picking — a downstroke followed by an upstroke — at the same speed for the full three minutes. Performing these simple exercises each for the full three minutes allows you to develop your stamina and rhythm abilities, meanwhile developing valuable muscle memory in your picking hand.

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While it seems simple, this exercise can be conceptually difficult in that it often tries the patience of guitarists eager to move on to faster speeds. Just remember: Using a metronome is not a contest. It is important to be honest with yourself about what speed is comfortable for the full three minutes, and resist any urges to rush on to a higher speed you cannot maintain.

And remember there is no reason to feel bad about starting with what may seem like a slow speed. Don't let your ego interfere with your practice routine. Sure, there are higher speeds that may be comfortable for a matter of 20 seconds, but you should stick to the speed where you can “lock in," that you can comfortably maintain for the full three minutes, and use that speed with this exercise each day.

The alternate-picked section of this exercise initially should be done at the same speed as your downstrokes, which may seem slow to you at first. I advise students to start slow with the alternate picking portion to ensure their upstrokes are highly similar to their downstrokes in dynamic and attack, allowing your alternate picking to sound as identical as possible to your repeated downstrokes.

Move the metronome speed up as higher speeds become comfortable to you for the full three minutes. It may take time (weeks or months) to move up the speed, but give yourself that time. Taking an honest approach to this exercise can truly develop your picking hand technique.

02. Fretting Hand: Strength Exercises

The next step is a set of legato exercises in which you are utilizing all of the finger combinations in a few groups. These exercises require no picking at all, and are purely legato. They involve a series of hammer-ons and pull-offs performed as hard and fast as you can maintain for 15 seconds at a time. If done correctly, you will really feel this exercise in your fretting hand, wrist and forearm. Once again, it is advisable stretch your hands, wrists and arms before beginning these exercises.

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Take your first (index) finger on your fretting hand and hold it at the fifth fret on the third string. Then hammer on your second (middle) finger one fret up as hard as you can (at the sixth fret on the third string) and immediately pull it off as hard as you can. Do this over and over for 15 seconds.

After 15 seconds, without stopping, perform similar hammer-ons and pull-offs with your third (ring) finger one fret up (at the seventh fret) for 15 seconds. Without stopping, follow this with a similar 15-second set of hammer-ons and pull-offs using your fourth (pinky) finger at the eighth fret. Throughout these sets of exercises, your first finger should be held at the fifth fret on the third string.

Without stopping, place and hold your second finger down at the sixth fret on the third string and hammer on and pull off your third finger one fret up at the seventh fret for 15 seconds. Then, without stopping, follow this with a similar 15 seconds of hammer-ons and pull-offs of your fourth finger at the eighth fret. Throughout these sets of exercises, your second finger should be held at the sixth fret on the third string.

From there, hold your third finger at the seventh fret, and hammer on and pull off your fourth finger at the eighth fret for 15 seconds.

Once you can comfortably maintain these exercises for a period of 15 seconds, feel free to increase the times for each exercise to 20 seconds. Additionally, feel free to focus on the sections that give you the most trouble — e.g., many guitarists need extra work holding the position with their second or third fingers and performing hammer-ons and pull-offs with their third and fourth fingers. Indeed, you may want to start with these more difficult ones and move backwards toward the easier ones.

03. Both Hands: Symmetrical Exercise

Finally, I recommend closing with a straightforward synchronization exercise that is fairly common, but is important to do it correctly and do it consistently. This dexterity exercise uses your hands together to play each fretting finger across four frets to ascend and descend the strings across the neck.

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The goal is effective synchronization between the two hands and to learn to transfer smoothly in each fretted interval and when switching strings across the neck. It is a good idea to use a metronome and to always go as slow as your slowest transfer, to effectively allow you to increase speed over time.

Steve Stine is a longtime and sought-after guitar teacher who is professor of Modern Guitar Studies at North Dakota State University. Over the last 27 years, he has taught thousands of students, including established touring musicians, and released numerous video guitar lesson courses via established publishers. A resident of Fargo, North Dakota, today he is more accessible than ever before through the convenience of live online guitar lessons at LessonFace.com.

LessonFace.com offers live online music lessons via videoconference, allowing you to access top teachers in a wide variety of instruments from anywhere with a broadband connection. Steve is offering a live online group class for intermediate players this summer called “The Players Series” via the LessonFace.com platform. More information about live online lessons with Steve is available at lessonface.com/player.

Mass Effect: The Top 50 Stomp Boxes, Devices and Processors of All Time

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Has any piece of musical equipment proliferated more, or more rapidly, than the humble electric guitar effect unit?

Though there is no official tally, suffice it to say that thousands of stomp boxes, effect devices and processors have been created for the electric guitar over the past 60 years (and that’s not including rackmount effects). Conceivably, more than half of those devices are distortion, fuzz and overdrive effects.

So how did we come up with a list of the top 50 electric guitar effects of all time? Actually, it was easy, as most of these stomp boxes and devices turn up in the pages of this magazine on a regular basis every time we ask artists what they use in the studio and onstage.

Other effects got the nod for being the first of their kind (like the DeArmond Tremolo Control, which dates back to the Forties and was the first optional effect device) while a few passed muster for being undeniably cool or influential — even if they’re so rare that it will cost you a few thousand bucks to score one on eBay.

Popularity also was a critical factor in our choices, although we generally passed over a few best-selling reissues or boutique clones in favor of the real deal. So even though the Bubba Bob Buttcrack Tube Overdrive may sound more soulful than an original Tube Screamer, if it’s little more than a copy with slightly upgraded components, it didn’t make the cut.

If you love effects like we do, we hope you'll find this top-50 list a useful guide to discovering the classic effect boxes that have shaped the guitar sounds of rock, metal, blues, punk and many other styles. And if you're like us, it will undoubtedly compel you to plunk down a chunk of cash for a collectible pedal or two on eBay. Don't say you weren't warned.

Video: The Winery Dogs Perform "Elevate,""Criminal" and "Desire" in Rio de Janeiro

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The Winery Dogs — Richie Kotzen, Billy Sheehan and Mike Portnoy — released their self-titled debut album earlier this week through Loud & Proud Records.

On the heels of the release, the band are touring heavily. Below, check out some fan-filmed clips of the band performing three tracks from the new album — "Elevate,""Criminal" and "Desire"— at Teatro Rival Petrobrás in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, July 24.

"The three of us got together at my studio and started throwing around some ideas," Kotzen told Guitar World. "Then we ended up demoing a few of those arrangements, and after Mike and Billy left, I sat down with what we had recorded and came up with some lyrics and melodies and sent it back to them. The guys really liked them, so we decided to try a few more. We did that a few times and ended up developing those ideas into finished songs."

Check out the rest of that interview here.

The Winery Dogs will be featured on the Rockline radio show 8:30 p.m. PT/11:30 p.m. ET August 14. Fans are encouraged to speak with the band by calling 1-800-344-ROCK (7625). The show will be streamed on Rockline's website for two weeks beginning the afternoon after the live broadcast.

The Winery Dogs also will take part in a performance and signing session August 6 at Vintage Vinyl in Fords, New Jersey, where I bought the Magical Mystery Tour DVD last month. I dig it.

Additional Content

Hole Notes: The Hybrid-Picked, Drop-D Delights of Richard Thompson

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The following content is related to the September 2013 issue of Guitar World. For the full range of interviews, features, tabs and more, pick up the new issue on newsstands now, or in our online store.

For an artist with such a vast body of work, Richard Thompson has spent much of his musical life under the radar. A founding member of Fairport Convention (he penned their anthem “Meet on the Ledge”) and the folk-rock duo Richard and Linda Thompson, he is also a critically acclaimed solo artist whose songs have been covered by numerous artists, including Robert Plant, Elvis Costello, David Byrne and R.E.M.

Thompson plays Martin, Lowden and Farrington acoustic guitars, and as we’ll see in this lesson, he favors hybrid picking (“pick-and-fingers” technique) and often opts for drop-D tuning (lower your sixth string’s pitch one whole step, to D). Today, with a career spanning almost 50 years, Thompson is still recording and touring, and is busier than ever. Let’s examine some of the things that make this picker tick.

Tesla Guitarist Dave Rude Discusses 'The Key,' the Diverse New Dave Rude Band Album

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As half of the guitar duo in Tesla, Dave Rude is a busy man.

It seems hardly a month goes by without Tesla shuttling their blues-driven rock to concert venues around the world. Somehow, amid the demands of Tesla, Rude has managed to keep the Dave Rude Band intact — and producing new material.

The Key marks the band’s first full-length album and displays Rude’s vast array of influences.

GUITAR WORLD: The first thing I notice listening to The Key is that it's a little different than what we're used to hearing from you with Tesla. There are elements of modern rock, punk, metal and even country. Was your intent to take the music in directions other than Tesla and flex your muscles a bit?

My goal was to put out a really original rock record. Most of my favorite records have peaks and valleys and stylistic departures but still retain the sound of the band. All of my favorite bands have their own unmistakable sound, which is almost more important than anything else to me.

That said, I didn't have any particular stylistic goal when I started the album, but I do think it came out pretty diverse, while still pretty firmly planted in a rock vein. I was really just writing because I always write and we'd throw new songs into the live set as they became ready. In the end, we had enough new material to do an album, which was nice because the two previous DRB releases were EPs and I really wanted to do a full-length.

Also, some of the stuff was written at rehearsal with the guys just by jamming. We'd always end up going off on 15-minute tangential jams in between songs, and sometimes new songs developed out of those improvisations. The guys input definitely took things in a different direction because they're such unique players; we'd always wind up in a different place than I'd expected, and it would almost always be better than I had envisioned.

Do enjoy being the frontman in the band?

I do. It's an entirely different mindset, but it also gives you freedom to do whatever you feel like. You really have to think differently than when you're just playing an instrument because you're the face and the mouthpiece of the band when you're the singer. People relate everything about the band to you, so you really have to be present and attuned to the mood of the crowd.

Do you have to alter your playing because of the demands of singing?

Yes and no. I usually write the music first with DRB and then start singing a melody over what I'm playing on the guitar. I'll let the interplay between the two guide me on what works. Usually the melody that works best is the one that fits naturally with what the guitar is doing, so it's not that tough to play. That said, sometimes you'll have a really great riff that might be kinda hard to sing and play at the same time, but when you listen back, it's the right part so you know you have to make it work.

But I've got a quick and foolproof fix for those times: Remember James Hetfield! If any guitar-playing singer ever complains about having trouble getting a part down on the guitar while also doing the vocals, just show them Live Shit: Binge and Purge and have them watch "Battery." That's one of the hardest (and best) riffs of all time, and he's playing that shit perfectly at 100 mph, not missing a beat, while screaming out some seriously badass vocals and putting on a great show for 20,000 people!

So whenever I feel like I'm having too much trouble playing and singing at the same time with a complicated riff or vocal, I just slow it down and practice the hell out of it until it's perfect. If James Hetfield can be as badass as he is, none of the rest of us have any excuse!

Do you write as a trio or do you stockpile riffs and work them into songs as a band?

I write a lot of songs and have a lot of riff ideas so sometimes I'd bring in a full song (or almost full) to rehearsal, and we'd just kinda jam it out and everybody would find their part to fit the song. Other times we'd just jam in between songs and stumble across something really cool and turn it into a song on the spot. Lots of times I'll come up with a riff while not paying attention, like when I'm messing with the PA or sending a text with one hand and I've got my guitar in the other.

My left hand will inevitably start fretting notes while I'm not paying full attention and every now and then it'll sound really cool. "Afterlife" started that way. I was just fiddling with my volume knob in a rhythm for no apparent reason, and I slid my fingers down and up the neck a few times and instantly heard this really cool riff. It was essentially the riff the bass starts off the song with on the album version. I actually used to play the verses in that song with my volume knob and hammer-ons exclusively. Live, it was too involved and unpredictable, so I started changing my part around until I got it how it is on the record.

What led you to pick "Sledge Hammer" in particular to cover?

I've always loved that song, and it seems like something that everyone else loves too. Even people who don't know they love that song love that song! It's an instant smile on people's faces when it comes on a jukebox or a DJ spins it. One night at rehearsal we decided to give it a shot and instantly realized we were on to something.

I've never been into doing covers with my solo band because I figure if we're gonna spend time in the studio learning a song, I'd rather spend that time writing our own instead. But once in a while a cool cover comes along that you can make your own and get excited about. The original Peter Gabriel version is very produced and lush sounding, but we were a trio so we had to strip it all down to its bare essentials, which gave it a different feel right away. Also, the end solo is a big, improvised, freak-out jam between the three of us that was different every time we played it. I think of it as a heavy blues version of Peter Gabriel.

Do you use different gear with the DRB?

I started using Krank Amps last summer on the Scorpions tour with Tesla, which I absolutely love. Before that, I was using a Marshall JCM 900 with Tesla and a Marshall Slash Signature head (which is an exact replica of the old Silver Jubilee head from the '80s) at home with DRB. So they were similar rigs but not exact.

I have a separate pedalboard at home that I used in DRB as well. There's some crossover with the effects between Tesla and DRB, but there are a few pedals on my home rig that are different. I use a Dunlop Kirk Hammett wah pedal, which is absolutely fantastic. I got that killer harmonic overtone sound at the end of "Afterlife" with that pedal. It's got a really great mid-range and a nice overall sweep.

Also I've got an MXR EVH Flanger pedal, which I used a lot on "Sledgehammer" when we'd do it live. And for guitars with DRB I used my Number 1 Les Paul which is probably about a 2003 Standard that switched Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pros into with coil taps. It's in Tesla's live DVD from 2008. Also I used my Gibson Explorer with the dark, natural-wood finish. That guitar sounds monstrous and plays like a dream.

Also I used my Epiphone Sheraton II live and in the studio. That guitar actually proved to be the secret weapon for the tone on the song "The Key." I had already recorded a track with my Explorer, but it needed another texture so I plugged in the Sheraton. It sounded so thick and creamy through the distorted Marshall that I ended up using that as the main rhythm track and then doubling it again. The semi-hollow howl!

I've got a killer Gibson AFD Slash Signature Les Paul, which is one of the best Les Pauls I've ever played. Sound, tone, feel, look — it's got the whole package. It comes with Seymour Duncan Alnico II Slash Signature pickups, which are slightly hotter versions of the regular Alnicos. They are the clearest, most biting but still warm pickups I've ever played and I had them installed in my Epiphone Explorer Pro that I use with Tesla too.

"On My Own Again" sounds autobiographical. Is that the case?

Actually, no. That song was written to pitch to a country artist. I've been going out to Nashville every few months for the past few years to write with country songwriters with the intent of getting a song cut by a mainstream country artist. It's something I do separate from my solo stuff and Tesla, and I really enjoy it a lot. Writing for other people and staying within the parameters of what gets on the radio is really exhilarating and challenging.

It's so much fun to walk into a room with another writer or two at 11 a.m. with nothing but your guitar and a notepad and walk out at 2 p.m. with a full song. Anyway, "On My Own Again" was one of those songs. I wrote it with my buddy, Doc Holladay, who's one of my favorite writers in Nashville.

We cut most of the music and my vocals at his studio, and Troy Luccketta from Tesla ended up playing drums on it as well because he lives in Nashville and really dug the song. There are other versions with country guys singing it that are really cool, but I thought it worked well as a rock ballad with my vocals so I decided to include it on The Key to keep the album more diverse and interesting to listen to.

A lot of new bands stick to one sound and just do it on every song because they're trying to establish their brand. I get that mentality, but I could never do it myself. y the fourth song of most of those bands' albums, I'm bored. All of my favorite bands put out albums with all sorts of styles and dynamics, so I wanted to do the same. If it's all done with heart and played and sung by the same people, it will still sound like the same band to me, so having some variance in the song styles can really work.

Do you plan on doing any DRB touring with this record?

I don't have any plans to tour The Key at the moment. The band isn't together anymore, but I could still do dates if something cool came up. Right now I'm really busy playing shows and writing with Tesla, working on a new solo instrumental guitar album for Rat Pak Records and doing my pop/country songwriting stuff, so there's really not any time to devote to doing DRB shows.

I have to ask: Does Tesla have any firm plans to follow up Forevermore?

We are writing new songs on tour and working on them at sound check and in between dates at home. We've already finished recording a new one called "Taste My Pain," and we've been playing it live every night for the past couple weeks. It's a real heavy rock freight train of a song. A lot of the new stuff is coming out in that heavy, in-your-face direction too, which we're all super stoked about. We plan to release a new Tesla studio album in early 2014 and start touring behind it then.

You can catch Rude on tour with Tesla all summer long. Visit teslatheband.com for dates. Visit facebook.com/DRudeBand for more information on the Dave Rude Band.

John Katic is a writer and podcaster who founded the Iron City Rocks Podcast in 2009. It features interviews with countless rock, hard rock, metal and blues artists. In 2013, he started Heavy Metal Bookclub, a podcast and website devoted to hard rock and metal books.


First Listen: Matt Nathanson’s 'Last of the Great Pretenders'

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Did I say first listen? I meant first, second, third and maybe even fourth.

Nathanson, a veteran of folk-laced rock, sings a path to my heart with this latest amalgam of longing mixed with bouncy fun. His many references to San Francisco also hit close to my part of the globe and bring the album a fresh, sincere vibe. Last of the Great Pretenders is a window into what it’s like to be inside Nathanson’s head.

Nathanson broke through the noise in 2007 with his platinum-selling single, “Come on Get Higher,” off his release, Some Mad Hope. Modern Love followed in 2011 and featured the hits “Faster” and “Run” as well as the infectious title track.

Many cuts list among my favorites on Last of the Great Pretenders, but perhaps the most memorable is “Kinks Shirt,” which delivers a flippant beat with clever lyrics and vivid details that grab you and pull you along for a head-bobbing ride. My 17-year-old daughter walked in while this cut was playing and asked, “Is he saying pink shirt?” When I told her no, he said Kinks shirt. She replied, “What’s that?” Sigh.

Nathanson has a knack for writing toe-tapping grooves and bouncy syllabic vocal riffs. “Heart Starts” is a prime example. Like most of the cuts off Last of the Great Pretenders, “Heart Starts” covers yearning, achy subject matter but has a free-feeling vibe that is very endearing.

The arrangements on the album are rife with hand-claps, lively beats and jangly guitars, all solidly recorded and mixed to back Nathanson’s penetrating vocals. The performance is consistently good with just enough variation. When I got to the end, I thought, too bad it’s over.

But perhaps even better than the excellent performance are the lyrics. Ooo la la. A veritable smorgasbord of detail-ridden references, unique hooks and visual-inducing stunners. Nathanson goes two steps beyond his past writing with a selection of songs that grab and hold on fast. In the end, I just want to give Nathanson a hug and say, nice job, hope your heart heals soon.

For more info, check out mattnathanson.com.

Laura B. Whitmore is a singer/songwriter based in the San Francisco bay area. A veteran music industry marketer, she has spent over two decades doing marketing, PR and artist relations for several guitar-related brands including Marshall and VOX. Her company, Mad Sun Marketing, represents Dean Markley, Agile Partners, Peavey, Jammit, Notion Music, Guitar World and many more. Laura was instrumental in the launch of the Guitar World Lick of the Day app. She is the founder of the Women's International Music Network at thewimn.com, producer of the Women's Music Summit and the lead singer for the rock band Summer Music Project. More at mad-sun.com.

Something Beautiful: Oleander's Ric Ivanisevich and Rich Mouser Talk New Album

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For Something Beautiful, the first Oleander album in eight years, guitarist Rich Mouser wanted an aggressive combination of hard-edged guitars and layered vocals.

Judging by the evidence presented, his idea of a dense production meets both requirements — and more.

Mouser has worked on the production end of Oleander projects from the very beginning. But it wasn’t until the band returned from an extended hiatus that Mouser was asked to become a full-time member. Together with guitarist and founding member Ric Ivanisevich, Oleander now possesses a powerful one-two guitar attack.

The band is gearing up for a Midwestern tour with Three Doors Down and Daughtry before returning to the West Coast to do some shows of their own. I spoke with Ivanisevich and Mouser about the new album.

GUITAR WORLD: Why did the band decide to take an extended hiatus?

IVANISEVICH: We had spent a lot of time on the road and just decided it was time for a break. Some of the guys in the band have families and wanted to spend time to raise them. Then a few years ago, Tom called us up and asked about doing another record. By then it was just me, Doug [Eldridge, bass[ and Tom [Flowers, vocals].

MOUSER: I wasn't originally in the band at the time; I produced the band up until they took time off to be with their families. When they decided to come back together to start writing, they asked if I'd like to get more involved and become a full on member.

IVANISEVICH: Rich had always been a silent member of the band. He produced all of our albums (except the first one) and is such a great guitar player. It made perfect sense.

What was the writing process like for Something Beautiful?

IVANISEVICH: What's great is that everyone in the band co-writes, so there are always volumes of ideas. What happens is someone will have an idea and bring it to the rest of the guys. Since Tom and Rich live in Southern California and the rest of us live in Northern California, we'll schedule time to get together in Rich's studio.

How did you approach recording the guitars for the album?

MOUSER: I've always liked blending Marshalls and Boogies. I have a Marshall JMP from 1979, and that was a big part of this record. I put it through an old Echoplex EP4 I used as a front-end gain. It gives what I like to call the "motorcycle effect." For the clean sounds, I used a 1964 Vox AC30.

How did the title track originate?

MOUSER: That’s an interesting story. We were getting toward the end of recording but had this feeling there was still one more song out there. So the guys started sending ideas down from Sacramento, but nothing was really lining up. That's when I pulled out the demo. It was originally a song I had co-written several years ago. I showed it to Scott Stevens, who ran with it and wrote new lyrics and melody.

What about the concept for the song's video?

IVANISEVICH: Doug was the one who came up with the concept. He had this idea of us making fun of ourselves. We rented a bunch of costumes and shot the video in LA. The guy who is our "producer" in the video is actually a friend who recently started acting. We gave him a rough idea of what we wanted and he improvised. It worked out so well that when the record was released, we actually had him come up on stage and introduce us while in character [laughs].

How did Oleander come together?

IVANISEVICH: I was working on several different projects at the time when Tom and Doug approached me about forming a new band together. Once I started playing with them, I quickly realized how much I liked working with them, so I dumped the other projects.

What's your set up like for touring?

MOUSER: For this tour with Daughtry, I'll be bringing my '79 JMP, which is totally stock and my ES 347 Gibson. My pedal board consists of a few basic things — a Vox wah that I like, a Boss Overdrive (DS1), which works with my amp as well as a compressor and delay. I'd love to bring the Echoplex, but I don't trust it on the road. There's too much charm in that thing to be hauling it around. The first thing I like to run through is a 10-band EQ. It lets you boost the frequencies you want before the signal gets to pedal or head.

Does it make a difference?

It really does. A friend of mine was the guitar tech for Tom Scholtz (Boston). One night, the band was playing in town and he brought me in during the day to see the setup. I remember walking over to Scholtz's area and seeing that he had the exact same MXR Blue 10 band first in line and I'm thinking, "Yeah, he's got the tone!” It just works.

For more about Oleander, visit the band's official website and Facebook page.

James Wood is a writer, musician and self-proclaimed metalhead who maintains his own website, GoJimmyGo.net. His articles and interviews are written on a variety of topics with passion and humor. You can follow him on Twitter @JimEWood.

Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time Readers Poll: Round 2 — "November Rain" (Slash) Vs. "Whole Lotta Love" (Jimmy Page)

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A few years ago, the editors of Guitar World magazine compiled what we feel is the ultimate guide to the 100 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time.

The list, which has been quoted by countless artists, websites and publications around the world, starts with Richie Sambora's work on Bon Jovi's “Wanted Dead or Alive” (100) and builds to a truly epic finish with Jimmy Page's solo on "Stairway to Heaven" (01).

To quote our "Stairway to Heaven" story that ran with the list, "If Jimmy Page is the Steven Spielberg of guitarists, then 'Stairway' is his Close Encounters."

In June, we kicked off a summer blockbuster of our own — a no-holds-barred six-string shootout. We pitted Guitar World's top 64 guitar solos against each other in an NCAA-style, 64-team single-elimination tournament. Every day, we asked you to cast your vote in a different guitar-solo matchup as dictated by the 64-team-style bracket. Now Round 1 has come and gone, leaving us with 32 guitar solo and 16 (sweet) matchups.

You can vote only once per matchup, and the voting ends as soon as the next matchup is posted (Basically, that's one poll per day).

In some cases, genre will clash against genre; a thrash solo might compete against a Southern rock solo, for instance. But let's get real: They're all guitar solos, played on guitars, by guitarists, most of them in some subset of the umbrella genre of rock. When choosing, it might have to come down to, "Which solo is more original and creative? Which is more iconic? or Which one kicks a larger, more impressive assemblage of asses?"

Yesterday's Results

Winner:"One" (70.92 percent)
Loser:"Cortez the Killer" (29.58 percent)


Today's Round 2 Matchup (13 of 16)
"November Rain" Vs. "Whole Lotta Love"

Today, it's Slash's guitar solo on Guns N' Roses'"November Rain" (06) against Jimmy Page's solo on Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" (38). Get busy! You'll find the poll at the very bottom of the story.

06. “November Rain”
Soloist: Slash
Album: Guns N’ Roses—Use Your Illusion I (Geffen, 1991)

Long before the world embraced Guns N’ Roses as the quintessential Eighties rock band, the L.A.-based outfit recorded in one day a demo tape that featured many of what would become the band’s best-known songs, including “Welcome to the Jungle,” “Paradise City” and “Mr. Browstone,” all of which would wind up on the band’s 1987 breakthrough album, Appetite for Destruction.

Also on the tape was a song called “November Rain,” a sprawling, grandiose piano-driven ballad that would lie dormant for the remainder of the decade, eventually resurfacing in 1991 on the band’s two-record set, Use Your Illusion.

“I think that demo session was the first time we played ‘November Rain’ together as a band,” says Guns guitarist Slash. “We actually did it on piano and acoustic guitar. As far as the guitar solo, it was so natural from the first time I ever played it on the demo that I don’t even know if I made any changes to it when we did the electric version on Use Your Illusion. I never even went back and listened to the old tapes. One of the best things about a melody for a guitar solo is when it comes to you the same way every time, and that was definitely the case with ‘November Rain.’ When it came time to do the record, I just went into the studio, played the solo through a Les Paul Standard and a Marshall [2555, Jubilee head] and said, ‘I think that sounds right,’ ” he laughs. “It was as simple as that.”




38. "Whole Lotta Love”
Soloist: Jimmy Page
Album: Led Zeppelin—Led Zeppelin II (Atlantic, 1969)

“I used distant miking to get that rhythm guitar tone,” says Jimmy Page. “Miking used to be a science, and I’d heard that distance makes depth, which in turn gives you a fatter guitar sound. The amp was turned up very high. It was distorting, just controlled to the point where it had some balls to it. I also used a depressed wah-wah pedal on the solo, as I did on ‘Communication Breakdown.’ It gets you a really raucous sound. The descending riff that answers the line ‘whole lotta love’ was created using slide and backward echo. Backward echo has been used a lot now, but I think I was the first to use it.”

[[ When you're done voting, start learning every guitar solo in this poll — and more! Check out a new TAB book from Guitar World and Hal Leonard: 'The 100 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time: A Treasure Trove of Guitar Leads Transcribed Note-for-Note, Plus Song Notes for More Than 40 of the Best Solos.' It's available now at the Guitar World Online Store for $29.99. ]]

Cast Your Vote!

Head HERE to see today's matchup and all the matchups that have taken place so far!

Additional Content

Monster Licks: Building Toward Complete Fretboard Domination

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In this Monster Lick, I'm using the A minor pentatonic scale.

When I was a kid, this was exactly what I wanted to be able to do with the pentatonic scale — total domination over the fretboard while remaining in the tonal rock core of the pentatonic. I envisioned this so clearly, but it took me years of hard work to even get close to where this lick is at.

I'm not telling you this to big-note myself, rather as something to motivate you — even beginners. No one just picks up a guitar and shreds their ass off; it just doesn’t work like that. It takes an incredible amount of hard work. I'm still constantly searching for ways to push myself technically and musically. It's what makes me feel alive!

This is a great example of how you can quickly transition with the pentatonic and move it all over the neck at speed. This is done with a combination of arpeggios, slides and legato.

What makes this a little more difficult than usual are the stretches. They require a lot of practice and getting used to. The techniques in this lick are nothing unusual (apart from the over-the-top section) but the techniques, in conjunction with the stretches, become very difficult. So like anything else, be patient and work on it slowly.

The Lick

I start this lick in the first and second positions of the A pentatonic scale. You will notice how I combine two of the patterns at once. This is how I create the arpeggio shapes. It's very important that you recognize the shapes of the pentatonic while moving through this lick. This will help you immensely when it comes time to pull these licks out while soloing.

You will notice some repeating transitions in this lick. When I'm moving up the neck, I use slides to transition to the next two boxes of the pentatonic. When I'm moving down the scale or (back on myself), I use pull-offs. These little subtleties are the secret ingredients to being able to master these licks.

There is so much information in this one lick; it is not necessary to be able to play the whole thing. What is important is that you understand the basis of it and how it is created. Then you can apply these techniques and ideas to your own style.

I'm influenced and inspired by so many guitarists/musicians. It is never my goal to play like them but rather to apply some of the things they do into my own style. You should take the same approach with these licks. Use what you like and apply it to your own style.

I hope you enjoy it! Please join me on YouTube right here! Or just contact me at glennproudfoot.com.

monster_0.jpg

Australia's Glenn Proudfoot has played and toured with major signed bands and artists in Europe and Australia, including progressive rockers Prazsky Vyber. Glenn released his first instrumental solo album, Lick Em, in 2010. It is available on iTunes and at glennproudfoot.com.

Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time Readers Poll: Round 2 — "Eruption" (Eddie Van Halen) Vs. "Stranglehold" (Ted Nugent)

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A few years ago, the editors of Guitar World magazine compiled what we feel is the ultimate guide to the 100 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time.

The list, which has been quoted by countless artists, websites and publications around the world, starts with Richie Sambora's work on Bon Jovi's “Wanted Dead or Alive” (100) and builds to a truly epic finish with Jimmy Page's solo on "Stairway to Heaven" (01).

To quote our "Stairway to Heaven" story that ran with the list, "If Jimmy Page is the Steven Spielberg of guitarists, then 'Stairway' is his Close Encounters."

In June, we kicked off a summer blockbuster of our own — a no-holds-barred six-string shootout. We pitted Guitar World's top 64 guitar solos against each other in an NCAA-style, 64-team single-elimination tournament. Every day, we asked you to cast your vote in a different guitar-solo matchup as dictated by the 64-team-style bracket. Now Round 1 has come and gone, leaving us with 32 guitar solo and 16 (sweet) matchups.

You can vote only once per matchup, and the voting ends as soon as the next matchup is posted (Basically, that's one poll per day).

In some cases, genre will clash against genre; a thrash solo might compete against a Southern rock solo, for instance. But let's get real: They're all guitar solos, played on guitars, by guitarists, most of them in some subset of the umbrella genre of rock. When choosing, it might have to come down to, "Which solo is more original and creative? Which is more iconic? or Which one kicks a larger, more impressive assemblage of asses?"

Yesterday's Results

Winner:"Stairway to Heaven" (73.6 percent)
Loser:"Machine Gun" (26.4 percent)


Today — The Final Round 2 Matchup (16 of 16)
"Eruption" Vs. "Stranglehold"

Today, in our final Round 2 matchup of Guitar World's Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time Readers Poll, "Eruption" (02) — the song with the No. 2-ranked guitar solo in this 64-solo tournament — makes its first appearance since easily defeating Red Hot Chili Peppers'"Scar Tissue" in Round 1 last month. This time, "Eruption" faces Ted Nugent's only appearance on the 64-solo bracket — "Stranglehold" (31). This classic tune by Nugent got to Round 2 by defeating Radiohead's "Paranoid Android" in late June. Get busy! You'll find the poll at the very bottom of the story.

NOTE: When Round 2 ends tomorrow morning, the poll will take a breather and return Monday, August 5, with the Sweet 16 Round! We'll thank you again tomorrow, but thank you to everyone who has voted and/or commented since we kicked off the poll on June 10!

02. “Eruption”
Soloist: Eddie Van Halen
Album: Van Halen—Van Halen (Warner Bros., 1978)

It is hard to imagine a more appropriately titled piece of music than Edward Van Halen’s solo guitar showcase, “Eruption.” When the wildly innovative instrumental was released in 1978, it hit the rock guitar community like a hydrogen bomb. Two-handed tapping, gonzo whammy bar dips, artificial harmonics—with Van Halen’s masterly application of these and other techniques, “Eruption” made every other six-stringer look like a third-stringer.

But the most remarkable thing, perhaps, about the unaccompanied solo is that it almost didn’t make it on to Van Halen’s debut album.

“The story behind ‘Eruption’ is strange,” says Van Halen. “While we were recording the album, I showed up at the studio early one day and started to warm up because I had a gig on the weekend and I wanted to practice my solo-guitar spot. Our producer, Ted Templeman, happened to walk by and he asked, ‘What’s that? Let’s put it on tape!’

“I played it two times for the record, and we kept the one that seemed to flow. Ted liked it, and everyone else agreed that we should throw it on the album. I didn’t even play it right—there’s a mistake at the top end of it. Whenever I hear it, I always think, Man, I could’ve played it better.”

As for the distinctive echo effect on the track, Eddie recalls that he used a relatively obscure unit—a Univox echo chamber. “It had a miniature 8-track cassette in it, and the way it would adjust the rate of repeat was by the speed of the motor, not by tape heads. So, if you recorded something on tape, the faster you played the motor back, the faster it would repeat and vice versa. I liked some of the noises I got out of it, but its motor would always burn out.

“I like the way ‘Eruption’ sounds. I’d never heard a guitar sound like that before.”




31. “Stranglehold”
Soloist: Ted Nugent
Album: Ted Nugent (Epic, 1975)

“ ‘Stranglehold’ is a masterpiece of jamology,” proclaims Ted Nugent. “We were in the Sound Pit in Atlanta, Georgia, and I was showing my rhythm section of Cliff Davies [drums] and Rob DeLaGrange [bass] the right groove for the song. I was playing my all-stock 1964 blonde Byrdland through four Fender Twin Reverbs and four Dual Showman bottoms on my rhythm settings—we were going to leave a hole there so that I could overdub a solo later.

"Then I started playing lead work, just kind of filling in and though I had never played those licks before in my life, they all just came to me. And because I got so inspired and because they followed me so perfectly, that demo is exactly what you hear on the record today. Take one, rhythm track is the song—it made such organic sense with the flow of music that I said, ‘I’m not gonna fuck with that! That’s it, baby.’ And that is the essence of why people love it—because it is so spontaneous and uninhibited.

"The only thing we went back and overdubbed was Derek St. Holmes’ vocals and my two tracks of harmonized feedback, which come in and out of the entire song. All the engineers and everyone kept saying, ‘You can’t do that, Ted.’ And I said, ‘Shut the fuck up!’ Because I had the vision; I saw what the song could be, and I realized it.”

[[ When you're done voting, start learning every guitar solo in this poll — and more! Check out a new TAB book from Guitar World and Hal Leonard: 'The 100 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time: A Treasure Trove of Guitar Leads Transcribed Note-for-Note, Plus Song Notes for More Than 40 of the Best Solos.' It's available now at the Guitar World Online Store for $29.99. ]]

Cast Your Vote!

Head HERE to see today's matchup and all the matchups that have taken place so far!

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