learlany

Tab the who video AC/DC, Aerosmith, Queen,

I can’t expLain riffs ZZ-Top, Lynyrd Skynyrd

to p
play better now! #269
august 2015
£5.50

Martin
Dreadnought JR
The best
affordable
Martin yet?

50
years of
the stack
Can it survive
in 2015?

Learn To Play
Bullet for
my valentine
No Way Out Video riff online   interviewed 

John Matt Skiba

Newman Joe Satriani
Love Me Again Mike Vennart
the who august 2015 PRINTED IN THE UK £5.50

I Can’t Explain
 editor’s letter

Welcome…
Future Publishing
Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA
Tel: 01225 442244 Fax: 01225 822763
Email: totalguitar@futurenet.com
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Editorial
Editor Stuart Williams
Content Editor Rob Laing
Reviews Editor Dave Burrluck
Deputy Reviews Editor Michael Brown
Managing Editor Lucy Rice
Production Editor Josh Gardner
Art Editor Leanne O’Hara
We’re a funny bunch, us guitar
Senior Music Editor Jason Sidwell
Music Editor Chris Bird
twangers. We know what we like, yet we’re
Music Co-ordinator Polly Beauchamp
Editor At Large Neville Marten constantly striving for the latest variation
Contributors
Steve Allsworth, Owen Bailey, Simon Bradley, Phil Capone, Rich Chamberlain, on a familiar theme. Classic meets future
this month, as we take a look back at the
Charlie Griffiths, Nick Guppy, David Hands, Jamie Hunt, Andy McGregor,
Carl Milligan, Matthew Parker, Adam Rees, Amit Sharma, Mick Taylor,
Bill Weaving, Henry Yates

Music Engraver Simon Troup

Audio Mastering Duncan Jordan
broadest of guitar churches: classic rock,
Video Production Martin Holmes
Photography Joe Branston, Adam Gasson, Neil Godwin, Kevin Nixon,
along with all of the core techniques, gear
Gavin Roberts, Joby Sessions, Jesse Wild, Will Ireland, Neil Zlozower,
Jonny Gawler and players you need to know about. We
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Group Marketing Manager Laura Driffield find our conclusion – drawn with the help
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Production
Production Controller Frances Twentyman
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On to the future bit: an acoustic guitar that makes no noise,
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International Licensing Director Regina Erak, regina.erak@futurenet.com
yet sounds like a high-end studio-recorded strummer in your
Tel: +44 (0)1225 442244 Fax: +44 (0)1225 732275 headphones? A pedal that listens to the chords you’re playing
Management
Content & Marketing Director Nial Ferguson
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making this month’s mag:
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Chris Michael Rob
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control. We are not responsible for their contents or any changes or updates to them.
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If you submit unsolicited material to us, you automatically grant Future a licence to publish your submission
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preparing this time on TG with looking back at
issue’s classic-rock video lessons a chat with Mike Vennart, Michael rock this issue, we’re also asking
We are committed to only using magazine paper
which is derived from well managed, certified
and digesting the wonderful is being digitised and transported where a classic is heading. It’s the
forestry and chlorine-free manufacture. Future playing of Bumblefoot in TG’s via a high-speed fibre-optic link to 50th anniversary of the Marshall
Publishing and its paper suppliers have been guest lesson, Chris has been MusicRadar, where he’ll become stack and our very own Nick Fury,
independently certified in accordance with the
rules of the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council). honing his shred skills courtesy of Content Manager, Guitars. His Rob, has assembled a group of
former Evile axe wielder Ol Drake. words of wisdom will still crop up, avengers from the industry (p54)
Check out tab of our favourite riffs but he’s moving out of the box on to discuss whether high-powered
on Ol’s new album on p64… this page he calls home. Farewell! heads are still a vital part of rock.

august 2015  3
 contents
monitor
Riff Of The Month Bullet For My Valentine –  
No Way Out����������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 008
On The Up Mylets, Klone, Stoneghost������������������������������ 010
On The Road Joe Satriani������������������������������������������������������ 012
In The Studio Don Broco������������������������������������������������������� 014
Five Minutes With… Warren Haynes����������������������������� 016
Me And My Guitar Lzzy Hale���������������������������������������������� 018
In Praise Of Fender Telecaster��������������������������������������������� 020
Splurge, Save, Steal ES-335 semi-hollows������������������� 022
Scale Of The Month Dorian mode������������������������������������ 024
Win! A Blackstar HT Stage 100 and HTV-412 cab��������� 026
Albums This month’s best guitar releases������������������������ 028
Feedback Your letters, tweets and pics����������������������������� 030

features
Matt Skiba Fronting Blink-182 and Alkaline Trio, plus

Contents: Chelsea Lauren/WireImage  Will Ireland  AtlasIcons.com/Neil Zlozower  Bruno Marzi/Splash News/Corbis
resurrecting a side project – Skiba’s a busy man �������������� 032
Mike Vennart The ex-Oceansize frontman and Biffy  
sideman has his own solo album, and tells TG all������������ 034
COVER FEATURE: THE A-Z OF CLASSIC ROCK 
The players, gear and essential techniques to learn  
from the classic era that made the guitar rock������������������ 038

A-z of classic Rock Stack To The Future The Marshall Stack is 50.  
TG asks experts and players to predict its future������������� 054
Learn the techniques of the players
and bands who shook guitar music 038 Ol Drake Following his departure from Evile, Ol Drake  
064
lifts the lid on his debut solo album, Old Rake��������������������

Cover: Joby Sessions  Peter Sanders/REX  Adam Gasson

Yamaha SLG200S ME ANd My guitar:

032 matt skiba 077 Silent Guitar 018 lzzy hale

4   august 2015
 issue 269 august 2015

054 stack to the future

Gear
Martin Dreadnought Junior���������������������������������������������� 072
PRS SE Ace Signature model��������������������������������������������� 076
Yamaha SLG200S Silent Guitar�������������������������������������� 077
Round-up Danelectro 2015 models���������������������������������� 078
Juketone Royal Blood 10����������������������������������������������������� 084
DigiTech Trio������������������������������������������������������������������������ 085
Round-up Mr Black Pedals��������������������������������������������������� 086
Martin
Dreadnought Junior 072 ol drake 064 TC Electronic Viscous Vibe and Sonuus Voluum������ 088
Accessories Bare Knuckle/Heistercamp,  
Jeds Peds, Snark and Fretfunk������������������������������������������� 089

techniques
Classic Track The Who – I Can’t Explain��������������������������� 092
Open-Mic Songbook  
John Newman – Love Me Again���������������������������������������������� 098
Guest Lesson Ron Thal���������������������������������������������������������� 102
john newman
098 ‘love me again’ Get Your Grades! Rockschool������������������������������������������� 108
Get Your Grades! RGT��������������������������������������������������������� 109

the who 092 Subscribe now & Save!

‘I can’t Explain’ Choose from print, digital or bundled subscriptions on p62!

august 2015  5
 first look…
Silver
Scream
Marshall reissues the
Silver Jubilee 2555
head as the 2555X

B
ack in 1987, Marshall
launched the Silver Jubilee
2555 100-watt head,
celebrating 25 years since the
founding of the company, and 50
years of Jim Marshall in the music
business. Now, after 28 years of
requests, Marshall has dug out the
silver vinyl once more for the
2555X reissue, which, like the
originals, is based on the JCM800
2203 and 2204 Master Volume.
The head itself costs £1,199,
while the 2551AV and 2551BV
are £899 apiece, but as we’ll
explain, Marshall’s bods have
certainly done their homework…

Photography: Jonny Gawler

6   August 2015
first look monitor

1 Channels
Beside its looks, the
Jubilee is known for its
unusual preamp: the input
gain control activates the
rhythm clip circuit for more
aggression, while the
output master switches to
the high-gain lead channel

2 Output
This switch lowers the
2555X’s output from 100
watts (high) to 50 watts
(low) – the original Silver
Jubilee was the first
Marshall amp to feature
this kind of pentode/triode
power switching

3 Looks
It’s not only the tones that
made the Jubilee famous,
but also the classy silver
vinyl and chrome-plated
control panel. Over the
years, it’s shone in the
backline of players such as
Slash, John Frusciante and
Joe Bonamassa

August 2015  7
 moNitor sectioN

riff of the month video

lesson
w w w.b it .l
y/tg269 v
id e o
Photo by Jessi Ramone

tracks 07-08

Bullet For My
Valentine NoWayout:0:00
T
his month, we learn how CHANNEL Distortion
one great phrase can be
repeated to build an
exciting riff, as Bullet For My
Valentine demonstrate in their
latest single. The song is in drop gain bass mid treble reverb
C, so tune to CGCFAD to play
Excalibur Surfreter Special played by along. The riff uses four fretted
Guthrie Govan (The Aristocrats/Steven Wilson Band) notes (at the 10th, 12th, 14th, A bridge-posiTion
15th frets) on the sixth string humbucker should give you
Vigier Artist since 2009 pulled off to the open string. the necessary aggression
for this track. if your guitar
The tricky part is keeping picked has single-coil pickups
notes and pull-offs the same boost the bass and gain on
volume. Pull the sixth string your amp to beef things up.
slightly downwards with your Don’t overdo the gain or
you’ll lose clarity. set your
fretting finger so the pull-offs amp with the treble and
are loud enough and try to bass frequencies slightly
mirror your pull-off level on the raised and the midrange
vigier.co.uk picked notes. Pay attention to reduced. Don’t go too
the picking pattern – it’s crucial extreme with these
settings, as you’ll end up
for the right feel. Most of the riff with a thin, fizzy sound
/htduk /VigierGuitars
Guitars and backing: Jamie Hunt

follows a ‘downstroke, pull-off, that gets lost in the mix.

htd-uk.com upstroke’ sequence but this
changes towards the end
HEAR GUTHRIE ON to ‘downstroke, pull-off, All our Video Lessons are available to watch online at
downstroke, pull-off’ to create a
THE ARISTOCRATS’ variation on the rhythm at the
totalguitar.co.uk/video. to go to this specific lesson, type
www.bit.ly/tg269video into your browser.
NEW ALBUM end of each repeating phrase.
“CULTURE CLASH”
IN STORES JULY 16!
 monitor section


o
n
t
h
e
Mylets
u T One-man post-rock? Henry Kohen does it My(lets) way…
hink of the one-man band and you’ll
conjure up images of Dick Van Dyke
massacring a cockney accent in
“I can easily envisage myself being
difficult to work with,” reckons Henry.
“Luckily, with Sonny DiPerri, he sat down

p
Mary Poppins. Mylets, aka Indiana singer/ beforehand and really got to know how my
songwriter Henry Kohen, has a little more brain works, so it was so organic and quick.
to offer: a huge pedalboard and amp stack, There was no separation between what we
for a start… were thinking.”
“There are no samples or triggers,” says Back in the live arena, Henry’s still going
Henry of his live show. “My guitar and the solo, but at least he has plenty of gear for
drum machine are running through two company. “I’ve got two Orange half-stacks
separate looping pedals, which are then that I’m running the guitar through, but
synced up on a MIDI clock, so all of the panned left and right. Then I’m running the
guitar and the drums are looped live every drum machine through an Orange bass cab
single night.” 8x10 and a DI. I’ve also got a ridiculous
It’s impressive stuff, but then Henry’s pedalboard. It makes it into a weird dance,
signed to much-respected post-rock label where I know I’ll have to click four buttons
Sargent House, so we’d expect nothing less. in the next second!”
Photography: Jose Ruiz  Will Ireland 

“I’d say my style is pretty rigid,” he Of course, when you’re a one-man

continues. “A lot of songs I write are born operation, you do everything. The work
out of finger exercises that I make up. ethic that goes into Mylets show is as
There’s a lot of emotion and feeling that astounding as the compositions. “I’ve
goes into the songs with the writing, rehearsed enough that the performance is
production and the vocals, but a lot of the pretty tight,” Henry says. “But it was a
guitar work is born out of discipline and full-time thing and it’s incredibly stressful
making mistakes.” playing live shows, so I appreciate that
Henry’s ‘discipline’ doesn’t starve the people come out to see it. It makes it worth
Words: Matthew Parker

performance, though: recent second album putting the hours in!”

Arizona is a brilliantly emotive collection
of dynamic riffing, effects wrangling and For fans of: Tera Melos, Adebisi Shank
masterful loop manipulation. Was it tough Hear: Honeypot
working with an outside producer?

10   august 2015
 on the up monitor

Stoneghost
Prepare for a pummelling from the poltergeist

I
f you enjoy the sensation, Andrew credits much of his
musically speaking, of having tone to his Orange Rockerverb 50
your face driven into hot head, which is paired with a
tarmac by a roller truck, you’ll Schecter C-1 Hellraiser refitted
really like Stoneghost. The with passive Bare Knuckle Cold
London metallers’ debut album, Sweat pickups – a far cry from the
New Age Of Old Ways, is vicious in ‘always-on’ roar of metal’s usual
all the best ways: think suspects, the Peavey 6505 amp
pummelling, riff-driven classic and EMG 81 pickups.
metal, with Dimebag-esque Another essential ingredient
rhythmic sensibility and the was a healthy dose of desperation.
on-the-record vitality of Slipknot. “The band had existed for a
“In Stoneghost, it’s coming back while,” explains Andrew. “We
to that thing about the riffs being hadn’t had a lot of progress and
the lynchpin of the entire sound,” our singer Jason, found out he
says guitarist Andrew Matthews. had a kid on the way. We thought,
“It’s uncommon in metal these ‘Let’s make this a final throw of
days, but I like having a few rough the dice and just absolutely go for
edges in there. Like the first it.’ Fortunately, it’s seems to have
Black Sabbath albums, where opened a few doors…”
Tony Iommi has doubled the
guitars. There are parts where For fans of: Pantera, Clutch
they’re not entirely in-sync and Hear: Faceless Ghost
it sounds amazing.”

Klone
French heavies clean up their act

P
rogressive rock and metal “The bravest thing we did was
can be somewhat derided not to use distortion on this
forms of music-making –  album,” says Guillaume. “We took
all style, no substance, goes the a risk because our fans are metal
criticism. Well, France’s Klone heads and really attached to
have spent 12 years in pursuit of distortion, but we wanted to try
metal’s artistic core. new things, look for new sounds.”
“At the beginning, we were Klone’s new tone world brings
really influenced by bands like an innovative feel: at times Steven
Pantera and Meshuggah, but also Wilson with more harmonies, at
Opeth and Porcupine Tree,” others (Gone Up In Flames)
explains guitarist Guillaume it’s The Police, in full riot gear.
Bernard. “These days, we really Tonal nirvana was not without its
want to focus on the songwriting price, though… “I had big
and the arrangements. The songs problems in the studio recording
are still powerful, but they’re the album,” Guillaume recalls.
more emotional.” “I used an old guitar, a 1972
Lots of bands promise this kind Greco, and we had a lot of noise
of thing, but Klone have put their during the recording session. It
metal where their mouth is, drove me really crazy because we
recording their superb sixth needed a perfect signal!”
album, Here Comes The Sun, sans
distortion – driving clean amps For fans of: Opeth, Steven Wilson
and an EHX Holy Stain pedal for Hear: Nebulous
tonal embellishments.

august 2015   11
 monitor section

on the road…
1
nov
“Ifoundmyselfonstageplaying
withmyteethandhavingagreat
timeandIwonderedwhowas
makingmedothis,whatdo
10
nov
IbecomewhenI’monstage?”
© Stephen Fourie Laurence Harvey

12 august 2015
 LEGENDARY
MUSIC STRINGS
Joe Satriani
SINCE 1958

Satchintroduceshisdentist-pleasingonstagealterego…

I
f he hadn’t already released an album Beller and Mike Keneally, the same group
titled Surfing With The Alien, a DVD that recorded the bulk of the album and
named Satchurated and been in a band also toured together on the Unstoppable
called Chickenfoot, we might have thought Momentum jaunt.
Shockwave Supernova was a slightly odd “It was an obvious choice,” he says.
name for an album and tour, but for Joe “When we hit the road last time we were
Satriani it’s business as usual. Then we new to each other. It took me over a year of
heard the concept behind the whole thing... touring to scratch the surface of the talents
“The idea is that my alter ego that allows that Marco, Bryan and Mike have at their
me to conquer stage fright is this person disposal, and how I might be able to take
called Shockwave Supernova,” Satch advantage of that in the studio.”
explains. “During this record he realises Choosing his bandmates may have
his run is over. On the very last song he been a no-brainer, but it would seem that
realises he is saying goodbye to himself pinpointing the gear to bring out on the
and he has to become something better. tour is a trickier decision.
That’s my lofty explanation!” “On stage, I’m often representing five

MICHAEL AMOTT
If that wasn’t quite brilliantly bizarre guitar parts in one performance. The title
enough for you, wait until you hear that track of the new album features two electric
Satriani’s dental bill was one reason for the 12-strings being played with a slide as well
rise of Shockwave. as six-string guitars playing melodies and
“I was telling myself, ‘Don’t play with solos – how am I gonna do that, right? I’ve ROTOSOUND PLAYER
your teeth anymore, your dentist is going to found this cool [DigiTech] box called
kill you.’ Then I found myself on stage in Mosaic that emulates the sound of the
Singapore playing with my teeth and 12-string being played through a Marshall. NEW MOISTURE PROOF, PAPER FREE
having a great time and I stopped and I jumped on that. FOIL POUCHES KEEPING
wondered who was making me do this, “As for guitars, I’ll bring the orange OUR STRINGS FACTORY FRESH
what do I become when I’m on stage? I’m [Ibanez JS2410] and the purple [JS2450]
usually a very mellow guitar player but and one of my JS25ART guitars. They’re so
once I’m on stage, I become someone else.” precious to me that I’m almost afraid to take
Of course, Satch has the technical them out of storage, but I get a perverse
prowess and songwriting skill to be able to thrill of looking down and seeing those
pull off such a bonkers concept. The record crazy drawings.” [RC]
has been rapturously received, and the
chrome-domed shredder heads to the UK Joe Satriani’s Shockwave Supernova tour starts in
this November, where he’ll be joined by Manchester Apollo on 1 November and finishes at
some familiar friends. The 2015 Satriani the London Hammersmith Apollo on 10 November.
band features Marco Minnemann, Bryan For full dates and tickets visit www.satriani.com

WORLD FAMOUS MUSIC STRINGS

WWW.ROTOSOUND.COM
FACEBOOK.COM/ROTOSOUND
TWITTER.COM/ROTOSOUND_UK
South African blues rocker Dan
Patlanksy will be supporting PROUDLY MADE IN ENGLAND
Satch; we highly recommend you
get there early enough to see him
 monitor section

In the Studio
Simon Delaney favours his
PRS for dirtier sounds, and
supplements it with a Strat
and Tele for clean tones

The band shacked up with

producer Jason Perry (cen
tre)
for two months during reco
rdin g

Artist:
Don Broco
Their second album may be ‘Automatic’, but it’s certainly not machine-like
Bedford Brit-rockers Don Broco the new record still felt organic, and set for years,” he says. “I did loads of the last
penned their debut album, 2013’s Priorities, about pushing his proteges. record on it and it feels like the right guitar
on the road in their tour van, with guitarist “The big thing that Jason taught us is that to play for so many parts. I also have an S2
Simon Delaney jamming through a practice a listener doesn’t care about meticulous Custom 24, which goes really well with my
amp that he’d wedged under his seat. New tightness on a record,” says Simon. “The EHX POG. Then, for the cleans, if I wasn’t
album, Automatic, is a more considered things that provoke an emotional connection using my PRS, I’d be using my Tele or my
affair, with most of the songs Pawn Shop Strat.”
first finding life on an acoustic,
before being quickly recorded
and shared with the group.
“A listener doesn’t care The amp selections were
also suitably wholemeal,
with a tasty selection of valve
“It resulted in hundreds and
hundreds of riffs getting cut,
but then one would stick,”
about meticulous tightness” heads and combos including a
Marshall JCM800/Vox AC30
pairing for the overdriven
explains Simon of the process. “It was a bit tend to be playing slightly behind the beat. sounds and a Bluesbreaker or a Swart
more calculated and a bit less scattergun in I’d never thought about that and I found it Atomic Space Tone for the cleans. “One
approach, but I think the songs got honed really quite testing.” of my favourites tones was on Superlove,”
a lot more. Though you never know whether Picking guitar tones to match the epic reckons Simon. “The chorus part is a
that’s for better or worse!” funked-up rock riffery and whopping JCM800 with a Tube Screamer and the
Words: Matthew Parker

Perhaps sensing that danger, producer choruses of new tracks such as Fire and POG doing both an octave below and two
Jason Perry – who they lived with for two Nerve was less of a challenge, however, octaves below. Then we doubled it up with a
months at Angelic Residential Recording with Simon’s long-favoured PRS Custom 22 RAT, and it sounds like this awesome, hellish
Studio in Oxford – was keen to ensure that leading the charge. “It’s just been my go-to synth – but it’s all done on guitar!”

14   august 2015
 monitor section

myself with acoustic instruments,

but throughout my life I’ve
written more songs like this than
probably any other direction. I’ve
always been attracted to story
songs, that’s such a big part of folk
music. Company Man is about my
father. I didn’t know if I would
ever record it. The whole record
seems to be full of those kind of
tunes that have a lot of personal
memory value for me.”

Guitar town…
“The acoustic guitars that
I played on this record were
predominantly different
Rockbridge guitars and I played
my Washburn signature model
and an old Guild. I really like
warm-sounding instruments,
especially that will take a lot of
attack. Gibsons and Guilds and
Martins tend to do that very well.
The slide guitar on Glory Road is
on an early 70s Guild, but then
there’s a lot of stuff with a
combination of me playing slide
guitar juxtaposed against Andy
Goessling’s acoustic.”

5 minutes alone Grateful for The Dead…

Warren Haynes
“We did [Grateful Dead bassist]
Phil Lesh’s birthday shows for his
75th birthday and it’s amazing the
stamina and energy that he has
right now. His passion for playing
With bluegrass-style solo album Ashes And Dust settling, the Allman music is tremendous. It’s the
most important thing in his life.
Brothers/Gov’t Mule man talks SGs, story songs and sacrifices Phil and I wrote Spots Of Time
together, the song on my solo
Got my first real six-string… Break on through to the band in 1989, I watched myself record, and I’m very proud of that
“All of my first guitars were other side… get better and better… It was tune. I think it turned out great.”
SG-shaped. My very first guitar “When I started playing with very emotional [playing the final
was a Norma Guitar, $49 at the David Allan Coe when I was 19, show last year]. That whole year It’s no sacrifice, just a
hardware store, but my second that was a big break for me, and was very emotional. I thought simple word…
guitar was a $99 copy of a Gibson I met Dickey Betts and Gregg everyone rose to the occasion and “I remember when I moved to
SG, then my third guitar was an Allman through him. But from the played and sang great and that Nashville in the 80s, there was a
SG Junior and my fourth guitar time I was 14 and started playing show was very representative of time when we had six people
was an SG Custom, so I was really in clubs, that process never what that band does. It was living in a three-bedroom house
enamoured with that shape in the stopped. I always knew that was probably the best show we’d done and we still couldn’t pay our rent.
beginning. I didn’t gravitate what I wanted to do, so I was very in some time – everybody’s heart Thankfully, we had a landlord
toward the Les Paul until many fortunate, but also very driven.” was in the right place and the that understood we would pay
© Joseph Branston  C Brandon/Redferns via Getty Images 

years later.” music really benefited.” when we got the money. But
Under pressure… there were a lot of years of not
“Being in The Allman Brothers Dust in the wind… knowing when the next pay
put a lot of pressure on me to “Ashes And Dust is so different cheque would come. I feel like
bring the best out of myself and from anything I’ve ever done… I’ve been so fortunate and I’m very
I think from the time I joined the it’s the first time I’ve surrounded grateful for the success that I’ve
had, but with it has come a lot of
“Being in The Allman Brothers years of sacrifice.”

put a lot of pressure on me to Warren Haynes’ Ashes And Dust

(featuring Railroad Earth) is out on
bring the best out of myself” 24 July via Mascot/Provogue

16   august 2015
 monitor section

“Gibson guitars are beautiful as they

are. They are the perfect blend of classy and

video
raucous. I was not about to mess with a
good thing by making my signature Gibson
id e o
y/tg 269 v Explorer overly fancy. I’m a simple gal. I plug
w w w.bit .l in and play, what you see is what you get.”

“Gold hardware; it’s got to

look good, you’ve got to be able to
see it from the back of the venue.”

Me and my guitar
Lzzy Hale “It was very important to me to keep that
chunky, classic inlay. Go big or go home!”

Halestorm “I’ve always been attracted to

white-and-gold guitars. So, in a way,
yes, the Gretsch White Falcon has
Why Lzzy’s signature Gibson always been one of my favourites to
Explorer has been inspiring ogle at. I wanted my signature Gibson
Explorer to have that same regal
more than just her own music presence, but with my own spin.”

“I’ve always been drawn

to the classic ‘metal’ shape
of the Explorers, there’s
something about jagged “It’s a classy hunk of wood, we ended up
edges that make you feel with binding on it for a little aesthetic.”
like a rock star. The biggest
Explorer player that
influenced me was James
Hetfield. What a bad ass!”
“The only thing I really did differently is
added some ’57 Classics for the pickups. It’s
just got a real nice bite to it. A bright tone.”

“The coolest thing that’s happened since owning this

guitar is I’ve had so many amazing letters from little girls
who’ve seen me playing and their parents ended up getting
Photography: Will Ireland

them [Explorers] for Christmas. They’re starting bands,

they’re going to rock schools. It’s so incredibly fulfilling to
be in a position to be able to inspire that.”

18   august 2015
 monitor section
Photography: Neil Godwin

in praise of…
Fender
Telecaster
We honour the
ingenious solidbody
that started it all

W
hen the Tele first
arrived, its solid body
was a huge innovation
– it limited feedback and enabled
higher-volume playing, while the
no-nonsense construction made
for easy mass production. Leo
Fender had already brought the
single-pickup Esquire to market
in 1950, but he quickly found he
needed to compete with two- and
three-pickup electrics. Fender
soon began producing two-pickup
Esquires – now with truss rods –
dubbing them Broadcasters.
The name only lasted three
months, after Gretsch politely
pointed out its similarity to its
Broadkaster drum line. In
response, Fender simply cut the
headstock decals short, leaving
only the Fender name – these
valuable models are known as
‘Nocasters’, and were only
produced for half of 1951.
Drawing on the television age,
manager Don Randall thought up
Telecaster, and it wasn’t long
before the model became the
blueprint for the modern electric.
The humble Tele has appeared
in numerous guises over the years
– including the semi-hollow
Thinline, neck-humbucker
Custom and double-humbucker
Deluxe – and fuelled genres from
country (Brad Paisley) to rock
(Keith Richards) and metal
(Jim Root), proving there’s plenty
of life in the ol’ plank yet. [MB]

Fender launches the Broadcaster, adding a

1950 truss rod and extra pickup to the Esquire
Fender is forced to drop the Broadcaster name
1951 due to Gretsch’s Broadkaster drum range
The company officially renames the
1951 Broadcaster as the Telecaster
The Telecaster Thinline is introduced,
1968 followed by Custom and Deluxe variations

20   august 2015
 monitor section

ES-335 semi-hollows Gibson’s classic is the definitive semi, so

here’s how to buy, whatever your budget…

22   august 2015
 monitor section

Dorian mode OF THE MONTH

A
The second mode of the major scale
TGR269.mon_scale.fig01.musx Dorian (A B C D E F# G) is the the Dorian mode a sweet Dorian 3NPS
but moody
second mode of G major (G A B sound that’s perfect for anything from
is the brightest, coolest sound on
File Date: 08:34 27/05/2015
C D E F#), which means that
Scale of the Month
rock and pop to folk or jazz. Hidden
the minor menu. HerePage 1 of 1at it
we look both scales have the same notes but a
Contributor: Charlie Griffiths
within the Dorian is the ever-useful
Notes:
in three-note-per-string format different sound. By treating the second Engraved
minor pentatonic scale (1 b3 4 5 b7);
by DigitalMusicArt.Com
note of the scale as the root the sequence the added major 2nd and major 6th
of tones and semitones changes, giving intervals are vital to the Dorian sound.

Hairba nd 3
tracks 09-10
q q =q q
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ
This riff is in the style of q = 100

& 44 ‰ . r .. ..
Play 4 times
bands such as Poison and Steel

œ œ œ # œ œ œ œ œ # œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œœœœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
Panther and mainly uses the
lower octave of the scale. The
riff is played with a swung 16th
TGR269.mon_scale.fig02.musx Dorian 3NPS
T Date: 09:24 .08/06/2015 .
note feel, so keep your pick PM PM PM PM

. .
hand moving down and up File Scale of the Month
[7 ] 9
throughout and make sure A 7
7 [7 ] 9
7
7
5 7 5 5
5 7 5 7 5 7 9 7 5 7 5
down-picked notes last twice Page
B 1 of 1 5 5 7 9 7 5 Contributor:
7 7 9 7 Charlie
5 7 5 Griffiths
7
as long as the upstrokes. 5 7 5 8 5 5 5 5 5 7 5
Notes: Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com

Fol kin g It Up tracks 11-12

œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ
q.= 180
This high-tempo melody is

œ œ œ œ œ œj Œ
1. 2.

12 œ œ
& 8 .. œ ..
inspired by the folk mandolin
style of Nickel Creek’s Chris
Thile and uses alternate
picking on the high strings to TGR269.mon_scale.fig03.musx Dorian 3NPS
create a fast, continuous

. 101 8 10 7 8 10 8 10 8 7 7 8 7 .
stream of notes. The part is File Date: 08:44 27/05/2015 8 7 7 7
Scale of the Month
T 1 of
. . Contributor:9 Charlie
10 10 8 7 10 8 7
played with triplet feel, which Page Griffiths
means that there are three A 9 7 5 7 9 7 5
9 5 7
eighth-notes per beat. B
Notes: Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com

Tak ing The Gam bal e tracks 13-14

œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ ~~~~~~~
q =120

& 44 .. ‰ œ ..
Dorian is a common sound
in jazz and fusion music, and
œ œ œ #œ œ œ
#œ œ œ œ œ œ
this lick is inspired by players
œ œ œ
Guitars and backing: Charlie Griffiths

like Frank Gambale and Brett

Garsed. Use all four fretting
~~~~~~~
. .
fingers to play the notes as
T
. .
economically as possible so 8 7
you don’t have to move your A 5 9 7
5 9 7 5
9
5 7 9 5
7 5
hand up and down the neck B 5
7
8
5 9 9 7 5 9 5
8
too much.

24   august 2015
 WIN!
A Blackstar HT Stage 100
head & HTV-412 cab
Get amped with
a road-ready
half-stack
Nothing says “I mean
business”
like a formidable 4x12 cab with an almighty
head perched upon it. And now, thanks to the
fine folk at Blackstar Amplification, you could
snag yourself a beastly HT Stage 100 head
and HTV-412 cab to match. With four EL34
power valves providing a 100-watt output,
there’s no venue the Stage 100 can’t demolish,
especially combined with the HTV-412 cab’s
quartet of 80-watt Celestion drivers. The Stage
100’s three footswitchable channels plus voice
switches provide a gargantuan range of sounds,
further enhanced by a built-in digital reverb,
speaker-emulated output and Blackstar’s
Infinite Shape Feature, which allows you to
transition between British and American tones.
To be in with a chance of wowing the audience
at your next gig with this behemoth of backline,
simply answer the following question correctly:

Which of these guitarists is a signature

Blackstar artist?

a Zakk Wylde
b Gus G
c Tony Iommi
Head over to www.futurecomps.co.uk/
tg269blackstar to enter.

T&Cs: The competition is open to UK entrants only. Under 18s

must obtain parental consent to enter this competition and be
able to demonstrate this to Total Guitar’s reasonable satisfaction.
Answers must be received between 27/06/2015 and 30/07/2015.
The winners will be selected at random from all correct entries
received between the relevant dates and will be sent the prize
free of charge. Each winner will be notified within 28 days of
the closing date and will be required to give details of a delivery
address in the UK to which the prize should be sent. By entering
this competition, you consent to us using your personal details
to send you information about products and services of Future
and Blackstar Amplification which may be of interest to you.
For full terms and conditions, please go to: www.futurenet.com/
futureonline/competitionrules.asp

26 august 2015
 monitor section

Albums

Wolf Alice
My Love Is Cool

These North Londoners

have built anticipation for their
debut album through relentless
touring, and that old-school work
ethic is reflected in the 90s vibe
that dominates My Love Is Cool.
Although the band’s early singles
dealt primarily in scuzzy grunge-
lite, Joff Oddie’s crystalline Jaguar
cleans and shoegaze-worthy
effects textures add plenty of
dynamic contrast. The band
display a knack for marrying the
power of early Pumpkins and
Pixies with frontwoman Ellie
Rowsell’s Haim-esque hooks on
Your Love’s Whore, while Giant
Peach is Godzilla-proportioned

Lamb Of God
riffage. Expect big things.
Michael Brown
Download: Your Love’s Whore

VII: Sturm und Drang

A fter their well-publicised difficulties, it’s a relief to see
Lamb Of God return to the fray harder and stronger,
Mark Morton, distilling all their strengths into these 10 songs, while
Lamb Of God edging forward into new ground. The Virginians have been
impressively consistent on VII: Sturm und Drang, their eighth
the last studio effort, but there’s always been the sense that 2003’s
furious yet intricate As The Palaces Burn and 2004’s politically-
Teenage Time Killers
album charged masterpiece Ashes Of The Wake were defining
Greatest Hits Vol. 1

i bought… moments. They’ve added groove and big choruses to their

armoury since, and now they seem to have balanced all these Dave Grohl, Nick Oliveri,
Matt Skiba, Corey Taylor, Randy
elements into what feels like a new benchmark.
Kendrick Blythe… With such an exhaustive
Lamar
The Boogie tones here are the finest blend of muscle and line-up of guest stars, you might
To Pimp A clarity they’ve dialled in, and closer collaboration between expect TTK’s debut to be all over
Butterfly Willie Adler and Mark Morton has resulted in an even greater the place, but it’s punk to the
sense of detailed musicianship and engaging hooks. It defines core: think Bad Religion meets
“I’ve been listening to it quite a bit, the At The Gates’ DNA of Engage The Fear Machine and 512, Corrosion Of Conformity. My
and I don’t know if the Total Guitar while it expertly melds the gap between the slow stoner
guitar readers will be into it but it’s
Ruin/Birds Of Satan man Mick
a really, really ambitious record. groove and clean vocals of Overlord (yes, Randy Blythe is Murphy lays down the bulk of the
It’s got my attention. The album singing) with the explosive thrash of its second half. From furious guitar work, but players
before, Good Kid, M.A.A.D City was Morton’s feelsome solo breaks, to the intrinsic use of guest including Bad Religion’s Brian
more of a traditional hip-hop Baker and Foo Fighters’ Pat Smear
record, but I think this one singers Chino Moreno and Greg Puciato on Embers and
transcends genres a little. There’s Torches, this is a new landmark in contemporary heavy metal. make their presence known. At 24
a lot of funk influence, but there’s Rob Laing tracks (none of them over three
still hop-hop.”
Download: Erase This minutes long), Greatest Hits is a
fitting homage to early punk and
post-hardcore.
exceptional   |  excellent   |  good   |  for fans of   |  poor Michael Brown
Download: Barrio

28   august 2015
 albums monitor

dvd: 

Joe Satriani Heyrocco Cradle Of Filth Slash Featuring Myles

Shockwave Supernova Teenage Movie Hammer Of The Witches Kennedy And The
Soundtrack Conspirators
While playing guitar with his The kings of British extreme Live At The Roxy 25.9.14
teeth on his recent tour, Satch felt Is the influence of 90s alt- metal seem to be getting better
as though he was being “driven rock coming back around to with age, with this 11th album a Slash and the boys played
to it” by “something else, or a new generation? It is in this pristine distillation of their savage four intimate club gigs to
somebody else”. He decided to South Carolina trio’s practice roots and gothic grandeur. Opener celebrate the release of the
channel this extrovert side into room. There’s no slathering of Yours Immortally sets the tone, World On Fire album, and
an alter ego called ‘Shockwave programmed sheen here; this bursting with a flurry of opulence recorded this at the guitarist’s
Supernova’, and this 15th solo is the tried-and-true tradition led by new duo Richard Shaw and old stomping ground in
album is the result. There’s sci-fi of guitar, bass and drums, with Marek Šmerda’s majestic leads. Hollywood: Slash seems more
bombast aplenty with the title Fender-y strum, fuzzy bursts and Deflowering The Maidenhead… in his element with this band
track and the album’s excellent lethargic delivery from Nathan plunges deep into melancholy than with Velvet Revolver.
closing pair of tunes, which mess Jake Merli, recalling Lemonheads, before Onward Christian Soldiers At 13 tracks (and four extra
with time signatures to bring out Weezer, and even Nirvana on peaks with chilling black-metal as a bonus but no further
the anthemic streak in his soloing. Virgin. Melt, Mom Jeans and riffs, proggy twists and Dani Filth’s extras), it might feel light for a
As ever, Satch’s super-slick lead- the nostalgically addictive trademark shriek. Few can carry DVD release, but behold the
playing trickbag – all dextrous 80s chorus tones of Happy are off such macabre bombast with 17-minute Rocket Queen, for it
legato and octaves, mean riffery slacker anthems-in-waiting, and as much style or skill. finds Slash lost in the moment,
and soaring hooks – never fails to Jake Miller’s House Party has an Adam Rees busting out legato chops
impress. unimpeachable catchy riff. Download: Deflowering The and sleazy blues in a manner
Bill Weaving Rob Laing Maidenhead, Displeasuring completely fitting of a hero.
Download: Goodbye Supernova Download: Melt The Goddess Rob Laing

Wilson Jason Isbell Symphony X Wearing Scars

Right To Rise Something More Underworld A Thousand Wars
Than Free
Unsurprisingly, for a band Since forming Symphony X in Though the dissolution of
who titled their debut Full Blast Looking for some top drawer 1994, Michael Romeo has entered Andy James’ previous outfit
Fuckery, the Michigan maniacs’ Americana? Isbell delivers. the higher echelons of guitar Sacred Mother Tongue was
second offering is a more mature Reuniting with his live backing mastery – one of metal’s finest unfortunate, three quarters of the
affair. Bringing in producer/writer band, The 500 Unit, on record and fastest since Malmsteen, Vai band should see their fortunes
Johnny Andrews (Halestorm) after 2013’s excellent Southeastern and Petrucci proved there was turn now they’ve teamed up with
has paid dividends in terms of has resulted in classy electric plenty more to be accomplished former Mutiny Within frontman
the hard rock ’n’ rollers’ focus, but slide work (check out Children Of with the instrument. Ninth album Chris Clancy. His powerful vocals
it’s also ironed out a few of their Children’s majestic outro), but the Underworld is everything you’d push the heavier songs home,
more characterful wrinkles. So main draw here is the songwriting. expect and more: musicianship with guitars touching on modern
while Right To Rise is formulaic Isbell has a talent for penning unrelenting in its quest to bend the In Flames twin-harmony metal
in places, the bruising riffery and poignant lyrics – Speed Trap Town’s rules of space and time. But it’s in (Waiting For The End), Killswitch
debauched soloing excites and it’s intimate tale of escape is worthy the song where the prog metallers metalcore (Letters) and even Mark
imbibed with an utterly relentless of Springsteen – and understands excel, with Nevermore, Without Tremonti (Become Numb). The few
energy. If you can say one thing the power of a singalong chorus, You and In My Darkest Hour power ballads aren’t so hot, but
for Detroit bands, it’s that they and allowing melodies to shine exhibiting sky-scraping melodies sweep supremo Andy’s fluid and
stay hungry – and Wilson are just against sensitive arrangements. and soaring choruses. A must- melodic solos elevate proceedings
about starving on this. David Hands have for all metal fans this year. sky high with considered phrasing.
Matt Parker Download: Something More Amit Sharma David Hands
Download: I Am The Fly Than Free Download: Without You Download: Letters

august 2015   29
 Feed ack
Choo
yourse
sta r p r i z e !
TC Electronic TonePrint pedal
prize

Take your pick from TC’s TonePrint series, including

the Corona Chorus, Flashback Delay, Hall Of Fame
Reverb and more! www.tcelectronic.com

totalguitar@futurenet.com letters emails pics etc…

  letter 4. Spend the cash you’ve saved cables, more if some are mini.
on more pedals! It would be great for a suite of
Ledgendary mini ’board The resulting board is on an mini-pedals, as it’s the perfect
I thought you might be ergonomic angle (coincidentally height for the TC Ditto. It’s no
interested in this discovery the same angle as a Laney Pedaltrain, but it does the job
I made when a leftover shelf footswitch fascia), and there’s on a budget! I hope this proves
made it into the same room as a handy gap underneath made useful for other effects addicts.
Tim, via email
my guitar gear. There are plenty by the shelf. At 55cm wide, it
of pedalboard makes out there, fits six standard-size pedals Thanks for the great suggestion, Tim, it’s a good-
loooking ’board. Are you sure you don’t work for
but here’s one that you need no using pancake-style patch Ikea? Other shelving units are available…

tools to make and potentially

costs only £4.90, for an Ikea
Ribba picture ledge, plus some
Velcro tape…
1. Turn the shelf upside down
and apply Velcro tape along its
flat side. 2. Put the tape on your
pedals, then the pedals on your
shelf. 3. Repeat for power supply
(the Diago happens to be the For under a fiver, Tim’s
Ikea-hack pedalboard
perfect size for the back edge). is a bona fide bargain

Pa p e r - f r e e f u t u r e ? browser for your PC, but we’re unable Mags as medicine

Why don’t you scan your pages
to add audio and video links to these
editions due to the platform. However,
People may bitch about you, but hot shots
into jpegs and zip the files along the accompanying videos are always I love the way that you open your “I haven’t got an Orange
with the music so I don’t have to available on the TG YouTube channel. magazine up to everyone, be it the amp so I tried the next
buy the magazine? You have it in occasional strummer to the more best thing – a satsuma”
digital form when you send it to Team TG seasoned lick-kicker. You, as an
the printer to print. I pay $16.75 I’ve subscribed for a while now entity, have enlivened many of us
here in Canada, along with the CD and I want to say how great your who have seen our six- (perhaps
that comes with it, then I file it into magazines are. These magazines seven-) stringed beasts lie
a box when I am done with it. A are brilliant [compared with] what gathering dust for years.
total waste of paper. I don’t have I was subscribed to about two I have sat there staring at my
an iPad or Apple device other than years ago. Yours have really useful axe for a very long time after a
iTunes on my PC. After all, [the tips for a developing guitarist like disastrous series of guitar lessons.
fact that] you took away the tab me. I find the pages on the artists’ My salvation was when I was in a
issues for a while and now they are gear and styles really interesting. hospital bed and a friend brought
This
back shows that you do listen to The tips in scales, tab and notation me a copy TG – that changed month’s John Wood
readers and adapt. are really useful all the time, giving everything. I now have more winner Norfolk
John, via email that extra help when I need it. And knowledge of music, playing and
Send us your pics and win
the range of ads has given me a style. My three months of bed rest
an Orange amp worth £199!
Hi John, our digital edition for Google better choice of where to buy gear. have become the making of me.
Email your shots to us with your full
Play works on Google’s Chrome Luke Strong, via email Philip Hawthorne, Belfast name and address. The best wins an
Orange Crush 35RT amp.
facebook.com/totalguitar twitter.com/totalguitar youtube.com/totalguitar www.orangeamps.com

30   august 2015
 interview matt skiba

Catching Fire
Tours with Alkaline Trio, a new solo album and fronting pop-punk giants
Blink-182. It’s been a busy year for Matt Skiba, but the fun is just beginning
Words: Richard Chamberlain

W
“ hen I agreed to do the Blink shows, “It was very different to what I’m used Alkaline Trio fans expecting a dose of
I said that I’d do it as long as they to,” says Skiba. “It was surreal. [The Roxy] goth punk might just be surprised, however,
were willing to practise every day,” is a small venue, especially for Blink. In this as the Sekrets sees Skiba reaching beyond
Matt Skiba tells TG of his recent fill-in stint day and age, though, no matter how many the immediately recognisable roll call of
with the biggest pop-punk band on the planet. people you play for, if you’re playing with a influences that litter his back catalogue.
“It was quite the stunt we were about to pull band like Blink, millions of people will see it While single She Wolf does have a flowing,
and we had to do it really well.” thanks to YouTube and everything recording Trio-esque chorus, tracks like Krazy and I Just
Skiba went into the three-show foray with it. I wouldn’t say it was nerve-wracking, but Killed To Say I Love You hark back to the 70s
nothing but commitment, where others may there was a lot of adrenaline involved.” and 80s for their cues, touching on everything
have had an eye on a big payday. His near The hard work paid off: the Skiba-led Blink from Bowie to Gary Numan via Skiba’s in-built
20-year career has been built on the back of was met with an overwhelmingly positive punk filter.
hard graft, the legacy of which is two decades response, with many fans pleased to see him “With Alkaline Trio, we are who we are,” he
as leader of cult heroes Alkaline Trio. But this smash such a huge gig out of the park. says. “We never really feel too confined, but
was a mighty leap forward over anything “If the reaction had been negative that when we get together, there is an Alkaline Trio
the softly-spoken 39 year old had ever would have been terrible,” he admits. “Having sound and when I go off and do something on
experienced before. the support of both Blink and Alkaline Trio my own, there is an element of freedom that
When Blink-182 played out a I don’t have with the Trio. I went
messy split with Tom DeLonge,
social media exploded as
remaining band members Mark
“Having the support of both in with very stark, raw ideas. I did
that intentionally; I wanted to
build the record in the studio and
Hoppus and Travis Barker sniped
at the ousted frontman through Blink and Alkaline Trio fans see what happened. The Cure is
one of the more obvious influences

has been massive for me.

interviews. DeLonge has changed on this record.”
beyond recognition artistically While 2015 has been jam-
in the last decade from pop- packed so far for Skiba, this is just
punk dork to an effects-loving,
thoughtful Edge-lite, so the fact
that he no longer shared the
It means everything” the beginning. With the Sekrets
album out now, he tells TG that
he will bring the band to the UK,
band’s ethos came as little surprise. Neither fans has been massive for me. It means it’s just a matter of finding a slither of time
did Skiba’s reaction when he was asked to everything to me.” in his packed schedule. His diary is also full
fill in for a pair of Blink club shows and a Fronting a pop-punk behemoth certainly of Alkaline Trio dates thanks to the band’s
bill-topping slot at the Musink festival. wasn’t on Skiba’s radar in the spring of 2014 co-headlining tour with NOFX (which hits the
“It was an easy decision,” he recalls. when he made the decision to resurrect his UK late June), and he hasn’t ruled out more
“I agreed to do it before I really could process Matt Skiba And The Sekrets side project. The activity with Hoppus and Barker.
what was happening.” band released their debut album, Babylon, in “I have a lot of stuff to do before we can
After two months of relentlessly running 2012, and it was time for a follow-up. carry on with anything else Blink-related, but
through the band’s set so he could nail “I was working on the record while Alkaline there certainly has been talk of it,” Skiba says
© Chelsea Lauren/WireImage

DeLonge’s open string-heavy style, Skiba Trio were on tour in Europe,” he explains. of Blink’s future plans. “Travis has expressed
joined Hoppus and Barker on stage for their “I started writing then we had a bit of time off in the press that he would love to do some
debut at LA’s famed Roxy Theater on Sunset from the road. I wanted to use that time to get recording together and that’s something the
Strip. The chasm of jumping from a band with into the studio. It had been a couple of years three of us have discussed. The hope is that we
a solid fanbase to one with tens of millions of since the last one and I was itching to get in will do more stuff together. We’ll just have to
albums sold quickly came into focus. there and do something new.” see what happens.”

32   august 2015
 matt skiba interview

Feline This
Matt talks Jags
and changing backline 
Matt’s played Les Pauls and
Strats over the years, and even has
his own Fender Malibu signature
acoustic for unplugged gigs, but
he’s firmly a Jag man. “I think the
JagStangs that Kurt played are
what turned me onto the look
of the Jag,” he explains to TG.
“I played Gibson Customs for ages
and discovered the HH Jags just
as Fender approached [Alkaline
Trio] about playing their guitars.”
His custom HH Jag models
have stock humbuckers, but
we couldn’t help noticing his
favoured black model with Blink
has a nod to Matt’s love of the
Italian motorcycles.
“All of my HH Jags have Ducati
stickers on ‘em,” reveals Matt.
“I have several... every single one
is repping Ducati!”
While he’s been settled on
the guitar front for a while, his
traditional Bogner and Fender
backline is facing serious
competition from Kemper’s amp
profiler. “I use it when I play with
Blink, but so far I still have my
amps for Trio gigs. It’s fucking
great for what it is; I’ll be using
it with Blink for sure. I’m hoping
to eventually be using it for
everything live.”

august 2015   33
 interview Mike Vennart

34   august 2015
 Mike Vennart interview

Don’t forget
the joker
As the leading light behind cult prog heroes Oceansize and sideman
for arena-rockers Biffy Clyro, Mike Vennart has plenty to smile about.
Now, as he releases his debut solo album, The Demon Joke,
he gives TG the lowdown on his multiple roles
Words: Michael Brown Photography: Joby Sessions

O
ceansize remain one of 21st Where did the solo album come from? “When I went to see Pavement when they
century prog’s best-kept “I’d wanted to do something for years, even reformed on the 2010 tour, I saw them about
secrets, and frontman Mike before the old band broke up – I’d had a four times, and every night I was like, ‘What is
Vennart’s playing as part of the band’s hankering to do something a little more that fucking amp? It’s the best guitar sound
triple-horned guitar assault displayed egocentric, I suppose, because Oceansize was I’ve ever heard!’ It was an Orange Retro 50,
a masterful command of tone, time very much a collaborative, painfully fucking and I got in touch with Orange, and I was like,
signatures and filthy, filthy riffage. democratic collective. It was a lot of fun in that ‘Look, I want that amp. Can I have it… for
respect: a very, very creative environment, but free?’ And they were like, ‘No, we can do you
Although the Manchester alt-rock
there were some things that were absolutely any other amp for free, but that one you have
outfit met its demise back in 2011, out of the question and certain guitar sounds to pay for. If you want it, there’s only one in the
Mr Vennart has kept himself rather that I liked – really horrible, fuzzy, broken-up country right now, and after that, we’re not
busy since then, providing live guitar Velcro shitty-sounding things. The Demon making any more.’ And I was like, ‘Fucking
and pedalboard muscle for old mates Joke’s an optimistic-sounding record in places, take my money. Give me it now.’”
Biffy Clyro on tour the world over. and I wouldn’t have gotten away with that in
It’s a pretty sweet gig, but Vennart miserable old Oceansize. How did your signature Green Carrot
hasn’t given up pursuing his own “I got a lot more confident, as well; it wasn’t Infatuator pedal come about?
ideas – far from it. really prudent to be as virtuosic in Oceansize. “Andy [Green] from Green Carrot Pedals just
I’m from a real trained metal, prog-rock hit me up with, ‘Hey, do you want to try some
This year sees him resume his
background, and I wanted to fling a bit of that pedals?’ and he sent me over a Big Muff clone
formidable full-length songwriting in, so there’s quite a lot of shredding in it, but – two different Big Muffs in one pedal. It was
mantle, with the debut album from it’s in a very, very ridiculous, shitty-sounding called Pumpkin Pie, and it was an IC Muff and
electronic-leaning project British way. The solo in Retaliate is just the fucking
Theatre on the way, and his first solo stupidest thing I’ve ever done. It took me about
album, The Demon Joke, now released 10 minutes, and I was really happy with it.”
via Pledge Music, which is available
with an optional signature effects Did you have any particular influences when
pedal, no less. making The Demon Joke?
“I’m a big, big Pavement fan; I never quite got
In his chat with TG, Mike tells us all
over listening to Pavement. I keep waiting to
about his current tonal pursuits, the grow out of it, but I get so much out of their
perils of touring with Biffy and why music, and the strange thing is, it’s actually Vennart’s Orange Retro 50 is
he just can’t part with his trusty old incredibly simple, but Steve Malkmus’s guitar so good, he forked out for
the last one in the country
Squier Strat… sounds are just incredible.

august 2015   35
 interview Mike Vennart

Jazzmasters are
Mike’s preference
for clean tones

Mike’s been Biffy

Clyro’s live guitarist
since back in 2010

a Green Russian Muff. I said, ‘My Big Cheese is “I actually did it all through a Mesa

Iffy Solo broken – can you build me one?’ And he goes,

‘Yeah! We could make it into your signature
pedal.’ I went, ‘If you could put me the IC Muff
CabClone; I didn’t mic anything up at all. It
sounds fucking all right. I was quite happy
with it! On a couple of tiny bits, I used a
Mike’s contribution to and the Big Cheese on the other side, that Kemper Profiler, as well. They gave me one of
Biffy’s Opposites that would do everything. That’d be phenomenal.’
And he was like, ‘No problem.’
them, and I actually got the guys who
produced Biffy’s stuff – they had the notes of
didn’t quite make the cut “When we put them on sale, we were like, every single sound that Simon had used on the
“When I got there, I was at the very end of the ‘How many are we gonna put out?’ because last three albums, so they recreated all those
Opposites sessions, and they had fucking I’m not a superstar, and they weren’t cheap to sounds, took profiles of them, and gave them
marching bands on there, and all kinds of buy from the [Pledge Music] site, and literally to me! So, I used them on quite a few things,
stuff. I threw quite a lot of shit at the wall on
that album, but it’s all buried so deep in the five minutes before I pressed go and launched just here and there. I have to say it sounded
mix. As a point of interest, on one song, they it, I shat myself and went, ‘We can’t do this! better than the real amp. I mean, you wouldn’t
asked me to do a standard, big, blazing This is not gonna work!’ And they all sold go, ‘Oh, that sounds like Simon Neil!’ but it’s
fucking rock guitar solo on The Thaw. out: we sold 30 of ’em in two hours. People like, ‘Fucking hell, that’s actually really good!’”
“I knew it was fucking wrong; I felt really want to sound like me! [laughs] How fucking
dirty doing it. I said, ‘I’ll do it, but you will not
ridiculous is that?” Was your Squier Strat the mainstay again?
© Photo by Andy Sheppard/Redferns

like it.’ And I got right into it; I spent an hour or

so just putting all these things down and “It was the Squier Strat pretty much all the
cutting it together, and I was like, ‘That’s pretty What amps did you use for the recording? way. On two songs, I used the Jazzmaster,
good.’ Completely over the top. It was very “I used my Orange pretty much religiously, because clean-wise, it’s just the fucking
Gilmour, whereas they were hoping it would
be a bit more Slash – which I found out in
and a Mesa Mini Rectifier. That’s my Biffy amp: greatest. And then I got an SG – I used that on
hindsight. It’s like, ‘Well, you should have for Biffy, I use the Mesa as my main distortion, Amends. What happens is if I write a song on a
fucking said! I can do Slash, I’m sure!’” and the Orange takes the pedal and is clean particular guitar, then that song is the sound of
the rest of the time. that guitar, and Amends is that kind of thing.

36   AUGUST 2015
 Mike Vennart interview

Venn(art) diagram Mike shows you round his dirt-heavy touring pedalboard

Boss DD-7 Boss DD-3 Death By Audio Echo Dream 2 Electro- Dunlop DC-Brick
“This is set up for backwards “Just a standard “That’s my main delay; it’s an Harmonix POG 2 power supply
delay. Everything is mainly digital delay.” analogue delay that’s got loads of
backwards delay, but it’s subtly weird modulation in it as well. You get “That’s just to fill the
done so you can’t tell. Infatuate a lot of crazy oscillation and distortion space. It’s not even
has that sort of delay.” out of it. It’s really, really ugly and doing anything!”
beautiful at the same time.”

Electro-Harmonix
Pitch Fork
“I’m using it in place of a
Whammy; the Whammy was
taking up too much space. That’s
the main sound on Infatuate.”

Dwarfcraft Green Carrot

Shiva Fuzz Pedals Infatuator Boss TU-2
Danelectro “This is real volatile, “You’ve got the Big Cheese on one side
Green Carrot
Fab Tone
horrible; it’s not
nice. It’s just for
with four different settings of fuzz. I use
that a lot for broken-up, Velcro-y shitty- Pedals Cornstar Green Carrot
“For when
really sick, My
Bloody Valentine
sounding stuff. And then the other side
is the IC Big Muff; it’s got a switch on it “It’s just fucking deadly.
Pedals Dirty Radish
I just want to atonal nonsense – that takes the tone control out so it just That’s a really clear, “That’s a really nice boost, so
kill everyone.” it’s really good fun.” gets more woolly but really, really fat.” amp-style distortion.” I use that for a bit of overdrive.”

“I’ve had the Squier Strat since I was 11, and What’s next for Mike Vennart?
the only original thing is the wood. Everything “As soon as I get off tour, every day is British
else has been changed: the frets, the tuners, Theatre [Mike’s project with Oceansize
the pickups – fucking everything. And I keep bandmate Richard Ingram] day; I really want
retiring it, because something devastatingly to get that record out. If I can get two records
scary will happen, where that guitar is going out in a year, I’ll be a very happy man, because
to perish. It’s happened a few times: we played the Pledge Music thing has been a joy.
in India, or rather, we Vennart’s infatuated

“50,000 people went apes**t.

didn’t play in India with his signature fuzz

because Metallica

I was being driven out, petrified my

cancelled the fucking the guitar for 30 years now,
show at the last minute and I’m still consumed by it.
– just as we were about to When I’m on tour with Biffy,

guitar was going to get burned”

go on stage, the show got if I’ve got a night in a hotel
cancelled, literally – and room, and I’ve not got a
fucking 50,000 people guitar, it’s like going through
that were there just went fucking smack withdrawal or something. I just
absolutely apeshit and burned the place to the “I feel tremendously lucky that it’s been a start climbing the walls! It’s like a comfort
fucking ground. And I was being driven out, fucking screaming success. I can’t tell you how blanket to me, and I’ve always felt really lucky
just petrified that my guitar was gonna get much fun it’s been just getting a lot of love. I’ve that I can get this thing out of a guitar. I know
burned. Biffy were like, ‘Well, you know, we’ve been in the shadows for five years, so having there are people in my life who don’t have
got insurance. We’ll buy more gear.’ I was like, people who remember who you are and are anything like that – they just haven’t got that
‘That guitar – I don’t have any other bit of gear still interested means an awful lot. The thing direction, they don’t have that security. I feel
where I’m like, ‘Without that, I’m nothing.’’ is, I feel really grateful that I’ve been welded to tremendously lucky.”

august 2015   37
38   August 2015
 Words: Chris Bird, Simon Bradley, Rob Laing, Stuart Williams, Henry Yates Photography: Joby Sessions

Music styles don’t come much wider, cooler

or more inspirational than the behemoth that
is classic rock. Join us as we chart the biggest
players, the most important techniques and
landmark gear in the electric guitar’s most
important genre. You’ll even learn some
classic riffs along the way!
august 2015 XXXXX 2015   39
 collaboration, Walk This Way. But
all of that came after the band’s
second coming.

A
Back in the 1970s Joe Perry and the

  
consistently underrated Brad Whitford
were blues-rockin’ barnstomers with

 
the added edge of embracing English
rock influences; tickling a young Saul
Hudson’s ears with their greasy licks
before he became the Slash we love
today. As Perry told our sister magazine
She told me to rawk this way... Guitarist in 2004, “We appreciate our
We can’t think of many other iconic roots – even though they wove their
rock bands who have managed to be way from the Delta to Chicago, to
even more successful with their second London and Liverpool and back here
crack of the whip after splitting up and to America.” By 1975 and third
going their seperate ways. But then, album Toys In The Attic they were
Aerosmith are just a little bit special. refining the blend, and 1976’s Rocks
You may know them as arena-stomping remains their classic album;
rock titans with tongue-in-cheek helmed by the primal howl of
anthems such as Dude (Looks Like A Perry’s one-time Toxic Twin Steven
Lady) and Love In An Elevator, or even Tyler with the band’s raw
as trailblazers of the rap/rock groove and interplay backing
movement with their Run-DMC him every step of the way.

VIDEO
LESSOUNR Aerosmith ‘Eat The Rich’ Cheat Sheet
ON YO
TGCD After the opening
chord stabs, the main
with all speed-related
techniques, the best
part of this classic plan of attack is to Joe Perry’s Transatlantic
Appears at 0:15-0:34 Aerosmith riff comes practise slowly and influences have served him
Tempo 123bpm in. Played on the gradually raise your well for over four decades
Key/scale E minor fourth, fifth and sixth tempo as you improve.

“Our roots wove their way from

/ E blues scale strings, it is based on Joe Perry often varies
Main techniques the E blues scale, so the minor details in
Alternate picking on if you know the scale, live performances,

the Delta to Chicago, to London,

the bass strings you should be able mixing up hammer-
TG Tip to anticipate some of ons and pull-offs with
Practise slowly! The the notes. The run of the picked notes.

Liverpool and back” Joe Perry

alternate-picked run 16th notes on the sixth None of this is crucial,
down the sixth string string requires a turn though, so feel free
is surprisingly rapid of picking speed. As to experiment.

B
noting that his studio approach
was to crank an amp “as loud
BB King and the Delta dons The Delta roots as it would go until it was about
squeezed their emotion
into the blues then classic
of rock ’n’ roll to burst”.
rock took it for a wild ride Throw a stick in a 60s Rocket-fuelled blues covers
record shop and you’d have hit were everywhere, from Zeppelin’s
a future guitar god as he rifled thunderous take on Willie Dixon’s
through imported Blind Lemon I Can’t Quit You Baby to Cream’s
Jefferson 45s. In a pre-X Factor spin through Skip James’ I’m
world, Britain’s pubescent rock So Glad. Even when the rockers
hopefuls were all in thrall to the branched out into originals, it
dusty, scratchy, haunted laments didn’t take a musicologist to
of the Delta dons, from Robert spot the genre’s impact in the
Johnson to Elmore James. The pentatonic-based soloing and
critical difference – exemplified 12-bar structures. “I owe it to
by albums such as the Beano all of them,” reflected Jimmy
album (1966), Cream’s Disraeli Page this year. “The blues was an
Gears (1967) and Led Zeppelin undeniable element of everything
I (1969) – was that this new that was going on in Led Zeppelin.
generation played it harder, But when Led Zeppelin do a blues,
heavier and hairier, with Clapton it’s not like anybody else.”

40   XXXXX 2015
 A-z of classic rock guitar

C
Talk about swamp music
Whatever John Fogerty was
 
revivalist who bucked the ‘cool’
psychedelia of his time to channel
his own roots heroes from Elvis
guitarist and rock ’n’ roll pioneer
Scotty Moore, to Delta bluesmen
having for breakfast in 1969, like Lead Belly and folk hero Pete
we’d like some, please. Creedence Seeger. The resulting lean but
Clearwater Revival’s 22-year-old soulful Southern rock sounded
songwriter, guitarist, producer like it had boogied straight out
and manager wrote three albums of a Louisiana swamp (even
of songs for the band that year though the Fogertys were actually
(Bayou County, Green River and Californian). They could be
Willy And The Poor Boys), just vitriolically political (Fortunate
part of a four-year, seven-album Son), poetically melancholic
run for the remarkable American (Lodi, Long As I Can See The Light)
band. There’s a wealth of great and go toe-to-toe with any hard
music to be found in CCR’s legacy. blues rockers on the planet.
© Walter Iooss Jr./Getty Images

You don’t have to look far beyond They could also play a mean
their titanic hits Bad Moon Rising cover: check out the band’s
and Proud Mary to discover that mesmerising 11-minute take on
John and brother Tom were Heard It Through The Grapevine to
really onto something good; the hear John’s innate sense of lead
songwriter was an Americana expression in full force.

“Whatever John Fogerty

was having for breakfast Fogerty and co’s stellar output

in 1969, we’d like some”

secured CCR’s place in the
analls of classic rock history

D Blackmore than a feeling

Before he embraced the double-
neck lute and its associated
minstrellian action, Ritchie Blackmore was
a bona fide guitar god, who made smashing
his Strat into a Marshall stack often the
only logical conclusion that could follow
his incendiary live performances with Deep
Purple. Weston-super-Mare’s most famous
son may have looked to Hendrix as his hero,
but he brought plenty of his own chops to the
feasting table with his band after time playing
as a session man. His work with Purple would
have huge impact on heavy rock, metal and
even neoclassical instrumental virtuosos (Mr
Malmsteen, please stand up).
Blackmore was writing meaner riffs than
© Laurens Van Houten / Frank White Photo Agency

anyone else by the dawn of the 70s, but the

kind of dynamism he forged with fellow
maverick, organist Jon Lord – all the way
through Purple’s tenures with three different
frontmen – had never been witnessed in rock
before. They’d break out of their rhythmic and
In the days before Blackmore’s
riff work for dogfighting solos that equally
Night, Ritchie lit up the stage demonstrated their classical leanings and rock
with his inecndiary Strat licks abandon to lift songs such as Burn, Speed King
and Highway Star up onto a higher plain.

August 2015   41
 F  

E
Three key
guitarists of the Mac
Six Underrated Gems Acid trips, religious cults Peter Green
Great songs, sublime harmonies and and affairs – there have been
a singing drummer – blah blah blah. Okay, woes and misfortune as nine
Danny Kirwan
if you’re still not sold on the Californian players have passed through the varying
Lindsey Buckingham
band from their hits, check out these line-ups of Fleetwood Mac over the years, as and powerful vibrato
lesser‑known gems... they moved from British bluesers to stadium- reflected an emotional connection
straddling American favourites. But here are with guitar and he would share writing
Tryin’ three of the key players in their lineage. and vocal duties for 1969’s Then Play On.
Album Eagles (1972) He soldiered on with Spencer after Green
This three-minute pop- (1967–1970) retired from music, helping take the band
rocker could have been a The Bluesbreaker beyond the blues to a more commercial rock,
Boston song with different Green founded the band with drummer but was acrimoniously fired on a US tour.
production, and bucks the idea the early Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Jeremy
Eagles were a country rock proposition. Spencer, after initially replacing Eric Clapton  

Laurens Van Houten / Frank White Photo Agency MARC CANTER/ATLASICONS.COM

in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. A prodigious (1975–1987, 1997–present)
Bitter Creek blues talent with soulful vibrato, the Les Paul The Fingerstyler
Album Desperado (1973) player (his famous ’59 ’Burst from the time, The band became a very different
Think the Eagles are all ‘Greeny’, is now owned by Kirk Hammett) proposition when Californian guitarist/

© Michael Putland / Contributor Fin Costello / Staff/ Getty Images

about slick studio sheen? expanded his songwriting horizons beyond vocalist Buckingham and then girlfriend,
This is them stripped down the genre during his tenure with Mac. Stevie Nicks, joined the ranks. Within two
acoustically to a vulnerable core, letting the He penned undisputed classics Oh Well, years, they’d help create the multi-million
vocal harmonies shine even brighter. Albatross, Man Of The World and Black seller Rumours and Mac became a global
Magic Woman, later covered by Santana. arena band. The fact that the writer of
Out Of Control stone-cold classic Go Your Own Way is a
Album Desperado (1973) (1968–1972) self-taught fingerstyle player goes some way
There’s a surprising British The Underrated to explain his unique approach; he took his
glam strut to the heavy Peter Green was so impressed with a song literally. There are elements of folk,
12‑bar boogie here. teenage Kirwan’s playing and vocals that he bluesgrass banjo and flamenco technique
convinced the band to bring him into the fold with an interesting approach to blending in
Visions to become a five-piece with three guitarists. a piezo tone in with his sound, and huge feel
Album One Of Kirwan’s precise, strong bending technique in those wailing fingerpicked lead lines.
These Nights (1975)
Don Felder sings his only
Eagles lead vocal here, but
the two solos are the biggest draw, featuring
the twin-harmony work that would later
immortalise Hotel California’s closing section
the following year.

Journey Of The Sorcerer

Album One Of
These Nights (1975)
This symphonic banjo
instrumental barely sounds
like them at all, and more Jimmy Page’s
vision than Gram Parsons. The TV, radio and
film adaptions of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To
The Galaxy would later use it for its theme.

Teenage Jail
Album The Long Run (1979)
The Black Eagles? Certainly
the heaviest they’ve ever
been. The doomy riff from
Teenage Jail could easily have been an Iommi
creation, and coupled with Frey and Henley’s Slash was just 21 years old
harmonies, it adds up to a fascinating, eerie when he rebirthed the
guitar hero on ‘Appetite…’
oddity with an excellent Frey synth solo
before Felder lets rip, big time.

42   August 2015
 a-z of classic rock

H Sometimes, it takes two to rock

Harmony lead guitar was pioneered by bands such as Thin
Lizzy and the Eagles in solos from The Boys Are Back In Town and
Hotel California. Other key players are Iron Maiden, Wishbone Ash
and The Allman Brothers Band. To start harmonising your own
solos, you just need to know the notes of the key signature you’re
playing in (we’ve used A minor). Oh, and a second guitarist…

Play a note from the A B C D E F G

key of A minor...

Harmonise with
7*5FRYHUIHDWXUHÀJPXV[
C D E F G A B $=RI&ODVVLF5RFN
these notes
File Date: 11:29 08/06/2015 &RYHU)HDWXUH
Page
The notes 1 of
ofA1minor are A B C D E F G. When you play an A note in your solo, &RQWULEXWRU&KULV%LUG
1RWHVguitar should play C; when you play a B, harmonise with D; C harmonises
the second (QJUDYHGE\'LJLWDO0XVLF$UW&RP
with E, and so on. It is called ‘3rd harmony’ because the first note of the scale
harmonises with the third, but 4th, 5th and 6th harmonies can sound great, too.

tracks 15-16
œœ~~~~~~~ œœ œœ~~~~~~~ œ
œœ œœ œœ
q = 90

œ œ œ
& 43 œœ œ œ
†

~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~

I
T 8 8 13 8
A 5
7
7
9
9
10
9 9
10
9
10
10
12
9 12 9

B
† gtr.1 = black / gtr.2 = red

The black notes are the main melody line. We’ve shown the harmony notes in
red. Notice the last note but one is a 4th harmony, but all the others are 3rds.
Five steps to becoming the Master Of Heavy
You know about the synthetic
fingertips and the down-tuning,
but here are five pearls of wisdom
3 A great riff is
often a simple riff
“Well, a riff doesn’t have to be
from the man himself on the extremely technical to be great.

G
creation of the heavy-rock Iron Man was a very basic thing.
guitar sound. Something you can hum or
Wanna rock? Better call Saul… whistle – memorable. You can get
Just listen to Appetite For Destruction. As soon as
Slash’s opening delayed line starts, you know
you’re in for something special. What follows is 51 minutes
1 Hank Marvin
inspired his darkness
“Hank Marvin – I like the sounds
very complicated ones, but I don’t
tend to go for them. I like the
simpler ones you can remember.”
of life-changing rock that delivered one of the genre’s he was getting, the darkness in
great guitar partnerships in Izzy Stradlin and Slash. Then
consider that Slash – reviving the guitar hero image with
his low-slung Les Paul, top hat and half-smoked Marlboro
some of it. With Apache and Man
Of Mystery, it created a dark
image and I liked the sound.
4 You need some
light to be heavy
“I’ve always looked at it a bit like
– was only 21 when he recorded it in 1985. Much has been It was very important for me.” the calm before the storm.
made of the album’s guitar tone, with Slash rumoured to Certainly on the early albums, I’d
have used a non-Gibson clone of a ’59 Les Paul through
modded Marshall JCM800, hired from SIR Studios. Both
pieces of gear have since been replicated with the Gibson
2 Being the only
guitarist forced
him to play ‘big’
do a little passage of something
and then when the riff comes in it
sticks out more. It just gives a bit
Appetite Les Paul and Marshall AFD100. “Because I was the only guitarist, of light and shade.”
By the time 1991’s Use Your Illusion I and II rolled round, and there was previously always
the dynamic had shifted as much as the excess. Izzy left
during the world tour, followed by Slash three years later.
It’d be easy to dismiss GN’R after that, given the 15-year
a rhythm guitarist in the different
bands then. Everybody had to
have a rhythm guitar then. But
5 It has to be an SG
“I like the shape, I like the
size of it and I like the fact that you
wait for Chinese Democracy, but let’s just think about the with us because we only had two can get up to the top frets. With
guitarists who have taken a desk at Rose Industries since guitars [including bass guitar] Les Pauls and stuff – I’ve got some
then: Robin Finck, Buckethead, Paul Tobias and the current I was trying to get a bigger sound Les Pauls – for me they’re not…
line-up of Richard Fortus, Bumblefoot and DJ Ashba. by making the bottom E ring by especially as I took the ends of my
Slash also continues to rock, and his solo career’s taken playing a chord, then Geezer fingers off, I can’t reach the top
off since Slash in 2010. The smokes are gone, but the top hat would do the same to make that notes very easily. So the SG was
and LP remain, and we wouldn’t want it any other way. sound as big as it could be.” ideal for me, as was the Strat.”

august 2015   43
 J Same name, three very
different careers

The former drum teacher from London Such was Jimi’s influence that his Led Zeppelin are among the biggest rock
had a lasting influence on rock music. He unmistakeable technique and style can be bands of all time, and their impact is largely
designed his first amp in 1962, but it was three heard everywhere. His influence is more down to a certain James Patrick Page. He’s
years later when, aided by The Who’s Pete obvious with the likes of SRV and John Mayer, written more timeless rock riffs than just
Townshend, Jim came up with the idea of the but the chord voicings and phrasing Hendrix about anyone else and it’s still difficult to
stack. It comprised the first Super 100 head used are common throughout much of today’s comprehend that he came up with Whole
and a gargantuan 8x12 cabinet, the latter guitar music. His effortless control of a wailing Lotta Love, arguably the greatest of them all,
soon sawn in half to make a pair of 4x12 cabs. Stratocaster still beggars belief, and his use in 1969. Even the merest glimpse of a Gibson
It sounded and looked great, and it still does. of both feedback and lighter fluid captivated EDS-1275 double-neck, let alone a late-50s
Jim sadly died in 2012. millions. We wish he were still playing today. Les Paul, evokes Pagey. A true living legend.

“Even today, KISS

provide the ultimate
live rock experience”
We’ll leave that one with you, but rock
anthems don’t come much bigger than
Rock And Roll All Nite.

3
The guitars
Each of Paul Stanley’s axes are
swathed in mirrors, be they
cracked or part of the scratchplate,
while Ace Frehley had a light-guitar
that flashed on and off from within.
He also worked out how to get his © James Andanson/Apis/Sygma/Corbis Ed Finnell / Frank White Photo Agency
three-pickup Les Paul to not only
spontaneously combust, but also fire
rockets from the headstock. When the

K
band launches into Shock Me, you know
it’s coming, but you’ll scream like a kid
when the first rocket smashes into the
lighting rig. We did.
You should love KISS, and here’s five reasons why

1 2 4
it out loud. Still not convinced? The stage show
They’re your The songs From the very beginning of
favourite guitarists’ You can’t get three cooler guitar players KISS could mix three-chord
than Dave Grohl, Dimebag Darrell and their career, it was all about the
favourite band punk ideals with melodic hooks live show. Even today, KISS provide
For American kids growing up in the Slash, and each of them would chat sufficiently weighty to snag a whale,
at length about the first time they the ultimate live rock experience that
70s, it was all about KISS. They were and adding four distinct personas into includes levitating drum risers, flying
massive on a truly global scale and saw KISS live, the first time they met mix meant they just couldn’t fail. The
guitarist Ace Frehley and how much the band members and a lighting truss
millions took the KISS mantra to their lyrics were great fun, with barely- shaped like a spider. Add in more pyro
juvenile hearts: having a good time, music means to them. And remember: concealed double entendres littering
what Slash says goes. than Bonfire Night and you’re certain to
women, blowing things up and shouting every couplet and chorus. Love Gun? have a good time.

44   August 2015
 a-z of classic rock

Star ’Bursts
Three ’59 Les Pauls that have
done the rock ’n’ roll rounds
Bernie Marsden’s
‘The Beast’
Former Whitesnake man Bernie has
owned The Beast since 1974, after
gig-goer Mark Henderson presented
the guitar to him to use for the encore
of a gig at The Marquee. Bernie played
The Beast in Wild Turkey, during his
tenure with Cozy Powell, every
Whitesnake recording, as well as using
it to pen Here I Go Again. Years after
buying it, Bernie met Mark and learned
more about the guitar’s history. The
story goes that The Beast originally
belonged to Eric Clapton, was sold to
Free’s Paul Kossoff, who later gave it to
Free bassist Andy Fraser, who then
later sold it to Henderson. The Beast
remains in Bernie’s possession today.

peter green’s ‘Greeny’

This ’59 has inspired more pickup
wiring mods than any other guitar, and
it all happened by accident. The result
of an anomaly with one magnet of the
neck pickup being reversed during
manufacturing, Greeny produces a
characteristic out-of-phase sound
when both pickups are selected. As
well as this, Greeny has gone through

L
multiple owners. It started off in the
hands of Peter Green, who used it
when he replaced Eric Clapton in John
Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, and again
during his time with Fleetwood Mac.
  brought Seth Lover’s
PAF humbucking
From here, the guitar was passed on to
the late, great Gary Moore, who used it
throughout his solo and Thin Lizzy
pickups, and in 1958 career, perhaps most famously on
the first Sunburst Parisienne Walkways, before selling it to
Les Paul Standards a collector in the early Noughties.In
The guitar legend that lives on were released. A year 2014, Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett
Few things scream ‘classic rock!’ louder than a Les later, these revisions took ownership of Greeny, reportedly
for a cool two million dollars. Here’s
Paul and a Marshall, and it’s easy to forget that converged with a hoping Greeny makes an appearance
the most iconic rock guitar is actually a signature thinner neck profile on the forthcoming Metallica album!
model. In 1950, the Fender Esquire had created and jumbo frets to
a brand-new market for players who wanted to create what has become the Holy Grail of rock Richie Sambora/
perform loudly. By way of a reaction, Gibson – guitars: the ’59 Les Paul Standard. Gibson is John Squire’s ’59
You wouldn’t imagine a link between
who had previously rejected Les Paul’s ‘The Log’ thought to have produced anything between 650 the ex-Jovi axeman and Madchester
solid design in the 40s – enlisted Les to work with and 1,900 Sunburst Standards in 1959, and this groove merchant, but here it is. Squire’s
Gibson’s Ted McCarty to create a solidbody guitar. critical mass of design has made a ’59 ’Burst one of Stone Roses Second Coming ’59 Les
The ‘Les Paul’ model was born. the most sought-after guitars on the planet. Paul was bought and owned by the
band. When John left, the guitar was
Luxurious by comparison to Leo Fender’s As well as giving us the guitar that bears his sold to New King’s Road Vintage Guitar
design, the Les Paul feature a trapeze tailpiece name, Les contributed hugely to the progression Emporium before eventually finding its
and McCarty’s P-90 pickups, offering a thicker of music technology. His experiments with ‘sound- way into the hands of Richie Sambora.
sound than Fender’s standard single coils, while on-sound’ recording via disc-cutting lathes in his Sambora played and kept the guitar
the top was adorned with a gold finish. The Les garage helped give birth to multitrack recording, until parting with it in 2014. TG got
face-time with another of Richie’s ’59s
Paul went through a few changes over the next plus he invented tape echo by modifying magnetic (pictured) at Download 2014. What
six years, before becoming what we know as the tape machines along the way! Les sadly left us in was he using to carry one of the most
classic-rock machine today. 1954 saw the addition 2009, but the legacy of Lester William Polsfuss desirable guitars ever made around the
of the tune-o-matic bridge and tailpiece, 1957 will resonate throughout music forever. backstage area? A ruddy gigbag!

august 2015   45
 legends Thin Lizzy, eventually recording
on the band’s acclaimed 1979 album
Black Rose: A Rock Legend. Blues-rock,
modal fusion or melodic twin lead… Paul Gilbert, Gus G and Kirk
M
Gary could do it all.

Total Guitar has still got

With this high-profile leg up into the
mainstream, Gary pursued his solo Hammett have all cited
Gary Moore as an influence
the blues about losing a career and in 1978, breakthrough single
true guitar hero Parisienne Walkways hit the streets – a
By the time of his Les-Paul-and live favourite famous for Gary’s ‘infinite’
Marshall-driven high-octane sustain (he’d locate the feedback sweet
reinvention of the blues on 1990’s Still spot during soundchecks). In the 80s, a
Got The Blues, virtuoso Irish guitarist commercial rock and heavy metal turn Bands such as Rival
Gary Moore had already accrued 20 showcased Gary’s technical skills at new Sons are keeping
years of thoroughbred rock pedigree. levels. He’ll likely be remembered for the flame alive
Following stints with Irish blues-rockers his later work as the consummate blues
Skid Row in the early 70s, Gary joined guitarist, but with technical whizzes
fusion act Colosseum II (he always had Paul Gilbert, Gus G, Zakk Wylde, Kirk
the lead chops to cut it Hammett and Randy Rhoads all citing
with the jazzers) his influence, Gary’s impact
and toured with and legacy reach farther
harmony-lead than pure blues.

N Let’s push things forward

The last decade has seen a resurgence of new
bands influenced by classic rock carrying the torch
into the 21st century. Here are three of our favourites.

Rival Sons
One of the best in the ‘new breed’ is Rival Sons.
Sounding like an audio equivalent of the retro filter
on Instagram, Scott Holiday’s riffing, chord pushes
and wah-tinged solos are matched with a taste for
classic hardware, from Firebirds to Jazzmasters and
NOS-looking Fano guitars.

The Temperance Movement

UK blues-rockers The Temperance Movement – with
guitarists Luke Potashnick and Paul Sayer – fuse
everything that’s good in classic-rock guitar, from
bluesy melodies to groove-laden country picking and
Hendrix’s chordal rhythm style. Their self-titled
debut is a masterclass in tone and tasteful technique.

Royal Blood
2014’s biggest new rock band, Royal Blood, came
from outta nowhere (Brighton, actually), and
out-riffed the world with a bass. Mike Kerr’s pitch-
shifted low-end riffs earned them critical praise, a
No 1 album and heavyweight celebrity fans like Dave
Grohl, Lars Ulrich and Jimmy Page.

46   August 2015
 A-Z OF CLASSIC ROCK GUITAR

O
You can count on us to beat a meter
From the 7/4 vamp of Pink Floyd’s Money to
the deceptively tricky 11/8 part in Here Comes
the 4/4 march is not as hard as you might
think. It’s just a case of knowing how many
beat subdivisions there are in a bar of music.
For example, 4/4 means four crotchets
(quarter notes) to every bar. A bar of 3/4 only
The Sun, to the fluid timings in Led Zep’s Black lasts for three quarter-note counts, while a bar
Dog, classic rock – and its modern derivatives of 5/4 lasts for one extra. Not all music is
– is steeped in odd time signatures. Far from evenly divided by crotchets; some tracks have
the contrived bean-counting of prog, though, additional or fewer crotchets, quavers or
these odd meters are often implemented with semi-quavers, which is why you end up with
a groovy looseness that seamlessly catches the complicated-sounding time signatures like
listener unaware. Thankfully, stepping out of 11/8. Here’s the easy way to work one out…

1 Listen
If you’re stuck trying to work out
what time signature you’re in, the
2 Tap Now, you need to find out the
note value that each bar is divisible
3 Count
Sounds silly, but that’s all there
is to it. Once you’re locked in with
first thing to do is listen out for the by (4, 8, 16, etc). Try tapping to the the loop points of your phrase, it’s
start and end of a repeating phrase. natural pulse of the song from the just a matter of figuring out how

Try it for yourself!

trackS 17-22 It’s fine to go by feel at this point;
listen to notes and accents that
start to the end of the phrase. Does
the phrase repeat on a down-beat?
many taps of the division you’re
using it takes before the loop starts
Listen to the odd-time drum tracks on your stick out to help you. Once you If so, move on. If not, try tapping a again. So, if you’re tapping eighth
know where the passage starts and smaller division (twice as fast) until notes and the phrase repeats after
CD, and try to figure out the timings. ends, it’s on to the next step. the phrase repeats on a ‘tap’. seven of them, you’re in 7/8.
Answers at the bottom of the page!

P Minor in name, but a major

part of classic rock’s appeal
We don’t think we’re exaggerating when we
say that rock guitar might not even be a thing
close relative, the blues scale. Whether you’re
playing ballsy, low string ear-worm riffs or
blazing solos that melt faces, some
combination of minor pentatonic scale notes
is bound to fit your needs. Need evidence to
support these claims? How about riffs from
Black? Seriously, don’t get us started on lead
– Tony Iommi, Eric Clapton, Angus Young,
Jimmy Page, Joe Perry and Slash have all spent
most of their careers soloing with this scale.
If you need a shortcut, use the first shape
shown here as a framework for riffing and the
without the minor pentatonic scale and its Layla, Black Dog, Purple Haze and Back In second shape for lead playing.

Riffin g with the E mino r pentatonic scale

o 1 3 4
o 1 3 4
o 1 2 4
This set of notes is ideal for low-string riffs in E minor. Move the whole shape over to the fourth and fifth strings and you’re in another guitar-friendly key of A minor.

Soloi ng with the E mino r pentatonic scale

1 4
1 4
1 3
1 3
1 3
1 4
the main shape is the well known E minor pentatonic scale in 12th position. Use your first, third and fourth fingers to play it (remember, black dots are root notes). Make
up your own lead ideas with this shape and use the blank dots as a pool of extra notes (also from the E minor pentatonic scale) to extend your licks across the fretboard.
* 3/4, 5/4, 7/8

august 2015   47
 Q Over 100 million albums and counting. Bismillah!
Queen are one of England’s most successful and revered bands,
and while the focus has often been on the flamboyant Freddie Mercury, it’s
Brian May who’s the cornerstone of the band’s unique sound. He forged his
way to the top using a guitar he and his father designed and made, from
scratch, in 1963/’64. Using a treble booster to send a Vox AC30 into overdrive
heaven, he utilises a sixpence as a pick to add colour to what would otherwise
be a rather indistinct tone. He also came up with the idea of using delays to
play three-part harmonies with himself on stage, something that no other
guitarist has done. However, it’s his technique that demands the most

R
attention. His clever use of emotive vibrato, unusual scales and different
pickup selections sets him apart – and his iconic guitar solo in Bohemian
TGR269.coverfeature.fig02.musx A-Z of Class
Rhapsody? “I could just hear it in my head,” he says. Clever clogs…
File Date: 11:38 08/06/2015 Cover
Page 1 of 1harmony
Delay-pedal trackS 23-24 Contributor: Ch
If Notes:
you love Queen’s rich chord-like eighth or 16th notes. As you reach On a roll for 50 years Engraved by DigitalMusicA
lead lines but you don’t own a beat 2, the notes played on beat 1 delay It’s hard to imagine any rock band, at any point in
harmoniser pedal, then why not try are repeated over the notes you Delay time:
history, having more mojo than The Rolling Stones
Brian May’s delay-pedal harmony play now, creating lush chordal 857 m/s

method, as heard in Brighton Rock? melodies. Stick with steady

Feedback:
2-3 repeats
circa ’68. Having got the early R&B covers out of their
Set your delay pedal to repeat on rhythms and predictable scale and Mix: system, this was the moment when British rock’s
50 %
each quarter note and play a run of arpeggio sequences for best effect. deathless national treasures hit an imperious run of

œ œ~~~~~~
form. During a four-year hot streak, Mick Jagger and
# # # # 4 ~~~~ ~~~~œ~~~~œ~~~~ œœœœ œ œ œ
q =70 Keith Richards’ songwriting partnership spat out
& 4 œ œ œœœœ
Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and the
splendidly seedy Exile On Main Street, giving us the

~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~~~

w/delay 857m/s songs that punters sing in stadiums to this day.
Granted, founding guitarist Brian Jones’s tragic 1969
T 12 14 drowning wasn’t in the script. Yet Keef rose to the
A 6 9
9
6 7 9 11
8 9 11 13 14
challenge, introducing the open tunings that drive
B 7 7 9
classics such as Honky Tonk Women and Brown Sugar,
Thanks to the quarter-note delay, each note in bar 1 harmonises with the preceding note. In ditching the sixth string, layering and capo-ing like a
bar 2, the four notes in beat 1 harmonise as you play the four notes of beat 2. bastard, and hooking up with the eternally underrated
Mick Taylor to perfect the push-pull twin-guitar
interplay that he dubs “the ancient art of weaving”.
VIDEO Not bad for a man who was dosed up to the eyeballs

LESSOUNR Queen ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ Cheat Sheet

on heroin at the time. “I did Exile… when I was heaviest
into smack,” the Human Riff once reminded us. “And
ON YO
TGCD
that was a fucking double album…”
Thanks to its mixture of To make things easier, we’ve
different rhythms (including played through each phrase

“I could just hear the solo

Appears at 4:07-4:15 quarter-note triplets, dotted slowly in our video lesson to
Tempo 145bpm eighths and 16ths) it can be give you the chance to
Key/scale hard to nail the timing of develop your ear and get
Eb major / F major this riff solely by listening to the tricky timing down.

in my head” Brian May

Main techniques Mixed Queen’s original recording. Generally, the riff is best
rhythms (triplets, dotted Particularly given that this played using your first,
eighths, 16ths) part of the track is played at second and fourth fingers.

on Bohemian Rhapsody
TG Tip Use first, second a brisk 145 bpm – those The arrangement we’ve
and third fingers to make unusual rhythms seem to used should make the
the movements easier rush by in a bit of a blur. position shifts easier.

48   August 2015
 A-z OF CLASSIC ROCK GUITAR

S
explanation is actually very simple: a slash chord
Chords that wear a different bass hat is a chord that has a different bass note instead of
Slash chords are all over many a the root. So, D/F# is a D chord over an F# bass
classic-rock belter, and they probably note. A5/G is an A5 chord over a G bass note. It’s
cause more confusion among guitarists than any easy to experiment and come up with your own
other type of chord, most likely because the way slash chords and you may just find those
they are written suggests two possible chord ordinary open shapes gain new life once you’ve
names (try D/F# or A5/G, for example). The slashed them up over new bass notes.

x x x o o x o o x x x o x x
1 1
5 1 1 1
5
2
2 1 2 1 1
3
4 3 3 3

D G D G B D

F/C G/B D/F# C/E A5/G

This staple Keith Play this between This works just This shape can A5/G opens The
Richards shape is open C and Am like the G/B chord be heard in both Jimi Who’s My Generation
3 Steps To Stones Tone heard on Brown
Sugar and Start Me
chords as a common
passing chord. Find it
if you place it
between open G
Hendrix’s and Stevie
Ray Vaughan’s
(although Pete
Townshend tuned to
Up. Swap between in capo’d form in and Em chords. It’s recordings of Little DGCFAD), and Van
the F/C and a first Fleetwood Mac’s used in a different Wing. The fifth string Halen adapted it for
finger C barre chord classic fingerstyle context in AC/DC’s note is often You Really Got Me in
at the 5th fret. track, Landslide. Highway To Hell. hammered on. Eb tuning.

1 Remove Your Low E

© NEIL ZLOZOWER/ATLASICONS.COM

By getting your sixth string out of

the way, your fifth string will form your
root note in open G. If you don’t want to
take it off, tune it down to D to provide
the fifth interval in your chords.

2 Open G
Tuning the guitar to open G makes
fretting Richards-style chord voicings

T
a one-finger doddle. From the lowest
to the highest string, open G tuning he simply turned his 1967 100W 3 steps to
goes: DGDGBD. Two classic sounds for Marshall head up all the way. He woman tone
you to try also hooked up a Variax, a device
In the days before technology
allowed musicians to get into
every single nook and cranny of a
that lowered the voltage that was
going to the amp, thus causing it to
go into a fat power-tube overdrive
1 You can attempt the
‘woman’ tone on any
guitar, but Clapton used
recording, players had to be on the rarely attained previously. Check the neck (and sometimes
button in the studio. That included out the whole of Van Halen I or bridge) pickup of his SG.
getting their sound and equipment Mean Streets from 1981’s Fair

3 Get A Fuzz
Keef used a Gibson Maestro Fuzz
together and, as such, many
classic-rock songs owe their fame
Warning for aural proof.
Eric Clapton used a specific
2 Roll your guitar’s
tone control off
so you achieve a dark,
Tone to try and emulate the sound of a to the tone of the guitarist in setting on his Gibson SG to woolly sound.
horn section on Stones’ hit Satisfaction. question. Here are just two for create his famous ‘woman’ tone.
you to try… Most famously heard on Cream’s
3
It was originally recorded with a view to Crank your amp to
being replaced by actual horns, but the Van Halen’s ‘brown sound’ is Sunshine Of Your Love, Eric
band loved it so much, it stayed! You produce a smooth
can bag the Maestro-style sound for responsible for turning many a manipulates the guitar’s pickups overdrive, hit those big
about £40 in the shape of the guitarist’s head and, in the days and controls to create his thick, bends and soak up the
Electro-Harmonix Satisfaction Fuzz. before dual-cascading preamps, wailing overdrive sound. blissful creamy sustain!

august 2015   49
 V
Hendrix, Clapton, Page and Beck as “five
The fingers that sparked a unique mothers”).
guitar revolution If Eddie’s chops tore up the rulebook,
One minute and 43 seconds. then jaws dropped a further few inches at
That’s how long it took for Eddie Van Halen the anarchy of his gear. In a world of vintage
to change rock’s trajectory and put the old Les Pauls, the Van Halen sleeve introduced
guard against the wall. As the second track the Frankenstrat that kick-started the DIY
on the California band’s self-titled 1978 craze. From there came the Kramer 5150
debut, Eddie’s belief-beggering solo spot that powered 1984, the Peavey amp of the
Eruption was short but earth-shattering: a same name (that lives on under EVH’s own
technical showcase that announced the brand) and the effects that together created
next evolutionary step for the the near-mythical ‘brown sound’.
human finger. The revolution had repercussions. Soon,
Divebombs, warp-speed tapping triads EVH clones were everywhere, leading
and quicksilver legato made the 60s gods directly to the overblown pomp-rock scene
sound like tortoises (even if EVH was an that fully deserved to be punctured by
unabashed disciple, admitting that he got grunge. Even so, Eddie Van Halen gave us
the tapping concept from Led Zeppelin’s the most thrilling ground zero for the
Don’t fear the Dharma:
Heartbreaker solo and citing Townshend, electric guitar since Hendrix.
Blue Oyster Cult’s guitarist
deserves his dues

U Five underrated classic rock guitar

players that you need to hear

1 Terry Kath, Chicago

Hear Chicago II (1970)
Why? Hendrix once told Chicago’s sax player,
“You guitar player is better than me.” Kath
tragically died in 1978, aged just 31, but in his
time he had serious chops that incorporated
jazz, bebop and funk into his rock.

2 Buck Dharma, Blue öyster Cult

Hear Secret Treaties (1974)
Why? Buck could shred through a Fender Twin
before shredding was even a description for
guitar playing, and he’s been doing it with taste
for years now.

3 Frank Marino, Mahogany Rush

Hear Frank Marino And Mahogany
Rush – Live (1978)
Why? A true players’ player. Marino burns
blues-rock pentatonics fast, but without ever
losing feeling; the results are powerful.

4 Vito Bratta, White Lion

Hear Big Game (1989)
Why? White Lion didn’t change the world
with their hair-rock, but before he retired
unexpectedly from music, Vito was capable
of recording rhythm and solos together in one
© Michael Putland / Contributor/ Getty Images

single take. And how those solos sang.

5 Audley Freed, Cry Of Love

Hear Brother (1993)
Why? A former member of the Black Crowes,
Freed has played with Joe Perry and Peter
Frampton, but his own 90s band channeled
Skynyrd and Free. His slinky licks really deserve
to be enjoyed by more guitar fans.

50   August 2015
 a-z of classic rock guitar

W
Because ‘show-off’ is part of the
 
 
 

rock-guitar job description…

If you’re an indie thumbsucker, it’s probably
sufficient to stare at your Converse while
joylessly fretting a barre chord. Classic rock
has always demanded a little more
razzmatazz, with a slew of showboaters
pushing beyond the mere application of
finger to fret. Chuck Berry’s duck walk and
The Shadows shuffle set a genteel standard
in the 50s, but it was the posers of the 60s
and 70s who patented the best stage moves,
with Hendrix chowing on his Strat, Pete
Townshend slithering across the stage on his
knees and Angus Young spasming like a
swatted bluebottle.
If you’re too wary of knocking out the front
row’s teeth to attempt the whirligig (that is,
spinning your guitar around your body on the
strap) then make like Townshend and try the
windmill, revving your strumming arm like
Tyson on tartrazine, and clanking a chord on
each cycle. That said, you might want to take it
a bit easier than the Who man, who managed
to impale his hand on the whammy bar at a
1989 show in Washington, and admits it’s a
painful ritual at the best of times: “Flesh flies
off. Blood runs under my fingernails. When
I windmill, I fucking windmill, right…?”

“Flesh flies off. Blood runs under

my nails” Pete Townshend

X Classic rock’s
open-door policy
Yeah, we know it’s cheating but VIDEO
we don’t want to talk about LESSOUNR Lynyrd Skynyrd ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ Cheat Sheet
xylophones. From the earliest of ON YO
days, classic rock has always TGCD It doesn’t take long to
spot that this riff is
hits on the root note to
get the right feel. If you
been a huge melting pot of written around a prefer to the more
styles, sometimes for better, Appears at simple chord authentic approach,
sometimes for worse. Clapton, Run-DMC and Aerosmith:
0:03-0:22 progression (D, Cadd9, you’ll find the melodic
© Jeffrey Mayer / Contributor/ Getty Images

Hendrix and pretty much every keeping it real in 1986

Tempo 98bpm G). And, although we lines in bars 2 and 4
Key/scale take you note by note most challenging. For
guitarist ever since incorporated
D Mixolydian / through the intro in our the first of these, try
blues, GN’R punked it up at times, G major pentatonic video lesson, you can keeping your third
while Journey added jazz. for Kid Rock’s Skynyrd (and Main techniques easily busk your way finger on the second
Skynyrd brought country to the Warren Zevon-sampling) All Tight arpeggios and through these chords string to keep your fret
mix, and Aerosmith proved rock Summer Long. This leads us pentatonic phrases if you want to take a hand steady. On the
TG Tip Get those easy simpler approach. second run, break out
can rap with their joint reprisal of seamlessly into a video lesson on chord changes 100 per Simply begin each of the chord shape to
Walk This Way with Run-DMC, playing the original killer cent together first chord with a couple of move up the fretboard.
some would say paving the way country-rock riff!

august 2015   51
 Y
All hail rock’s ultimate yin/yang
On a fateful day in 1973, Malcolm
 
Young decided that his lead-guitar
duties w ere interfering with his fun, and
relinquished the role to his kid brother,
Angus. So was born the greatest guitar
tag-team in rock history – albeit one
built on an unlikely chemistry.
Shunning the spotlight to punch out
airtight rhythm on his Gretsch Jet
Firebird, Mal was the engine-room who
brought inimitable swing and muscle to
deceptively simple riffs like Back In
Black and Shoot To Thrill (“He’s got the
best right hand in the world,” noted
Angus of his older brother. “I’ve never
seen anyone handle the instrument like
that, not even Keith Richards”). With
that bedrock in place, meanwhile,
Angus was free to go batshit crazy,
spitting out hyperactive blues-based
leads on his 1968 Gibson SG and
VIDEO skedaddling across the stage like there
LESSOUNR AC/DC ‘Hells Bells’ Cheat Sheet was a hornet in his school shorts.
Last year’s announcement of
ON YO
TGCD There’s always a risk
when playing
against the bridge (not
‘floating’ in free space).
Malcolm’s retirement due to dementia
was the cruellest of ends to a
© NBC / Contributor/ Getty Images
arpeggios that you Ideally, your pick
Appears at 0:19–1:18 might unintentionally should come to rest on partnership that pumped a million fists,
Tempo 95–105bpm strike the wrong string. the fourth string when and though AC/DC roll on with the
Key/scale A minor However, Angus you stop playing. This excellent Stevie Young replacing his
Main techniques Young’s arpeggios in keeps the third and uncle, there won’t be a fan in the house
Ringing arpeggios Hells Bells are played fifth strings within who doesn’t feel the absence of the
TG Tip Rest your pick on just three adjacent reach and the other
hand on the bridge so strings, and this makes strings out of the line band’s lynchpin and de facto leader. We
that your pick falls things a bit easier. For of fire. Keep your chord salute him.
comfortably on the maximum picking changes quick and you

“He’s got the best right

fourth string accuracy, rest your should soon be playing
pick hand gently this riff cleanly.

hand in the world”

Z Rev Billy F Gibbons;
tonemeister, icon, dude
Although the Texan trio had been peddling
their unique brand of down ’n’ dirty blues
Angus on Malcolm
since 1969, it was 1983’s Eliminator album
VIDEO
LESSOUNR
and videos that sent them stratospheric.
As well as the songs, the beards and the fact ZZ Top ‘Sharp Dressed Man’ Cheat Sheet
that drummer Frank Beard had a naked chin ON YO
(oh, our sides…), it was the sheer tone TGCD This riff was originally
recorded as two
style. It’s possible to
use a standard fretting
emanating from the impossibly cool guitars separate lines, one technique, but, as long
of Billy Gibbons that caught our ears. Appears at panned left and the as you’ve got enough
Strangely, it’s a little tricky to get into the ins 0:00-0:24 other panned right. reach, thumb over the
Tempo 125bpm However, in live neck is more fluent.
and outs of Billy’s gear, but things such as his Key/scale performances Gibbons You’ll need to shift
now retired ’59 Gibson Les Paul, named Pearly C minor pentatonic tends to combine the quickly to open
Gates, a Gibson Explorer covered in white fur, Main techniques two parts into one position for the riff’s
and the Lap-Dog Of Distortion, featuring six ‘Thumb over the single riff and that’s second half and quickly
neck’ fretting how we’ve presented back to 8th position
Bixonic Expandora pedals for extra juice,
TG Tip Practise those our video lesson. again; there’s no real
© Sipa Press/REX

are the stuff of legend. He also uses skinny position changes, Gibbons plays the 8th shortcut, so make a
gauge-seven strings, plus a Mexican peso for a where you are most position half of the riff point of practising
pick, and the resulting wonderfully harmonic- likely to go out of time ‘thumb over the neck’ those shifts.
laden, fat tone comes from God himself.

52   August 2015
 Words
: Rob Lain
g

The Marshall Stack is 50. As we celebrate a rock ’n’

roll icon, it’s time to look at where things stand for
high‑powered heads and cabs, and also where they
might be heading. We’ve assembled a panel of experts
from the gear, playing and retail worlds to see how
things are stacking up for them – and for us

54   august 2015
 feature stack to the future

F
The Marshall stack’s impact
irst things first: what is a stack?
Traditionally, it’s an amp head of
50 or 100 watts running through
two 4x12 cabs (usually stacked on
top of each other). A half-stack is
an amp head running through one
on the sound and image of
4x12 cab. Often, one speaker will
be mic’d through the PA.
A stack onstage is an iconic sight,
rock can’t be underestimated
and after Marshall trailblazed the underestimated. It’s the stuff dreams are made
use of cabinets with its heads, many other of… even if the reality for some of us is the
companies, such as Orange, Mesa/Boogie, Dog & Duck on a Tuesday night.
Blackstar and Peavey followed. The company’s But even if it’s just a 4x12 or two, anyone
fortunes are synonymous with the rise of rock who’s used and lugged a stack around will
to some degree, and the image of Hendrix, know they’re heavy, even if the payoff is
Blackmore, Young and Clapton channelling serious onstage grunt for your sound. Is
electric voodoo and sonic chaos in front of the stack still the desirable entity it was?
their Marshalls remains the dream many, Is practicality and technology tipping the
many players have aspired to. Its impact on scales towards alternatives? 50 years in
the sound and image of rock cannot be seems a good time to take stock of the stack.

who’s who
Meet TG’s panel of experts from around the guitar world
Mike Cahill Adrian Haselhuber
Marketing and new product, Director of product
Marshall management,
Line 6

Joel Richardson Misha Mansoor

Head of marketing, Guitarist,
Blackstar Amplification Periphery

Matt Picone Lee Anderton

Director of corporate Managing partner,
development, Andertons Music Company
Fractal Audio Systems

Shane Nicholas Gus G

Director of product Guitarist,
development: Amplifiers, Ozzy Osbourne, Firewind
Fender and solo

Julian Ward Mikael Åkerfeldt

International guitar Singer/guitarist,
marketing and product Opeth
planning manager,
Yamaha Corporation

christoph kemper Joe Satriani

Founder, Guitarist,
Kemper Amps solo and Chickenfoot

August 2015   55
 feature stack to the future

Is the stack
under threat?
As we reach this milestone in amp history,
companies are still producing high-powered
heads and cabs, alongside the rest of
their expansive product lines, and many
players are using them, including plenty
of guitar heroes. But it’s impossible for
TG to ignore the number of modelling
units such as Fractal’s Axe-Fx or Kemper’s
amp profiler that we’re seeing on our rig
tours and interviews with artists. Rising
freight costs and practicality play a part,
but for all players, the rise of mini heads
is also worth noting. If players are using
in-ears, the benefits of loud onstage cabs
seem negligible to anyone beyond the first
two rows of a crowd. But there’s no doubt
digital modelling has made huge leaps, too.
Are tastes veering away from the high-
powered heads?

Joel Richardson: “Sales data shows us that

head-and-cab sales are down, but I don’t
think that means that guitarists don’t want to
play stacks any more, or don’t aspire to use
them. In the current climate, guitar players
have to look for economical solutions to get
their tone. If you look at the second-hand
market, head-and-cab sales are vibrant,
which shows a lot of players still want that
stack look and sound.”
Will the stack become
extinct in favour of smaller,
Mikael Åkerfeldt: “They’re developed to be more portable amps?
played loud. For big stages and big rooms.
You can’t escape that fact. But with more and to large-format amps, be it lower-wattage more popular these days. Why? I think it’s
more people moving to in-ear monitors – and tube amps or digital modelling solutions. a mix of things. The biggest driver is simply
we use those, too – I guess the need for that Modelling solutions seem to have gained a lot that people don’t need super-loud amps any
power is waning but again… we still do it the of popularity due to the advantages of digital more, but I do think manufacturers, stores
way it’s meant to be done.” devices. Weight and size is much smaller; one and magazines need to do a better job of
can plug straight into the PA system and hear informing guitarists about the differences in
Shane Nicholas: “At Fender, we’ve seen exactly what the audience will hear. Total tone between low- and high-powered heads.
the popularity of small and medium-sized recall makes configuring sounds for the next Amp-buying decisions shouldn’t just be about
combos increase, while the larger rigs have gig a breeze, and lastly, one has the choice volume – it always amazes me how little
trended downward. I don’t see that changing of ear-splitting volume on stage or a totally actual volume difference there is between a
any time soon… you can point to the silent stage with in-ear monitoring.” 25-watt a 100-watt valve amp. We need to
desceasing number of big rock venues, and move the decision-making process away from
the proliferation of in-ear monitors. Lee Anderton: “Small is beautiful! Sales of just power, and get it focused around tone.”
100-watt heads and 4x12s are about as low
Adrian Haselhuber: “We see more and as I can remember. People still want valves, Julian Ward: “Our icons are all pictured in
more customers looking for alternatives but the sub 30-watt heads/combos are much front of an 8x12 Marshall stack or a tread-

1923 1960 1962

Loud Lineage The Father Of After teaching drums, Jim opens Jim and technician Ken Bran begin a
Loud, Jim Marshall, his first musical instrument partnership that would last 40 years by
A brief history of is born In Acton, shop in Hanwell. Starts building making their first amp – the JTM45, styled on
landmark developments West London speaker cabs for the limited Fender’s Bassman combo and tested in the
supply of valve amps available shop by players including Pete Townshend,
in stack sound and in the UK at the time, effectively who were looking for something loud enough
modelling technology inventing the 4x12 cabinet to be heard over rock drums

56   august 2015
 Paul Reed Smith’s Archon is
a powerful modern behemoth
upholding the spirit of the stack

plate Rectifier, that’s still going to be the

Holy Grail of amps. But we can see a new
generation coming up where their dream
Ben Wells of Black Stone Cherry,
amp is a rack-based modelling rig, mostly making himself heard with a pair of
driven by artist association.  Peavey 6505+ heads and 4x12 cabs
“We’ve seen it before with the rack
movement in the 80s, so there could be
an element of cyclical change in it, but it’s
impossible to argue that things haven’t
changed. How people play is very different
“We just have to figure out how to make
and, when they do gig, the expectations
at those gigs are totally different – largely
around less and less onstage volume. We
the stack relevant to today’s player”
just have to figure out how to make the stack place, but then you always have to be able Three very different options
for the
modern rock player to pond
relevant to today’s player. I think we have a to deliver a lot of different flavours of your er – the
TH 100, the Axe-Fx II and the
JMD:1
duty to do it, though – stacks are just cool.” tone, especially if you are playing in tribute
bands, [playing] support [to] artists, and
Christoph Kemper: “Versatility is ultra- so on. Not too many players can get away
important. Of course, the very tone that with just that one amp tone any more.”
defines you as a player is crucial in the first
Matt Piccone: “Another change has been
powered by the revolution in recording
Blackstar’s HT-5 is designed technology, where a viable guitar recording
to mimic a 100-watt stack’s
character at lower volume can come out of a bedroom or a bus –
spaces where you can’t crank or properly
mic an amp – so killer sound at low levels
is the demand. This plays into respected
front-of-house guys all calling for the death
of ‘stage volume’ to bring better sound to
audiences. Or even the many customers
who tell me they want to sound great
practising while the baby sleeps in the
room above.”

1965 1968 1971 1989

The Marshall 100 head is born. The amp, Peter Green and Fleetwood Mac After hot-rodding Fender amps in Mesa/Boogie
created by Ken Bran, now working with Dudley become Orange’s first endorsees, his shop, Randall Smith produces launches the Dual
Craven in Marshall’s development team, is taking six 100-watt amps branded the Mesa/Boogie MK 1 100-watt Rectifier; heavy
a response to Townshend’s request for 100- Orange Matamp and 16 speaker combo with an extra tube gain metal loves it
watt power. Coupled with a set of 4x12 cabs cabs (a mix of rectangular 4x12s stage at the preamp, the first
provided for him, the stack was born and 2x12s) on tour high-gain amp. Carlos Santana is
its first high-profile fan
continued over…
august 2015   57
 feature stack to the future

Joe Satriani: “The bigger the

venue, the further you are from
your sound source – you really
are listening to your monitors”

Matt Bellamy combines profiled

More than tone through a stack, among

other advanced technology

a feeling? result, but hopefully, the first few rows and

the people watching side stage do.”
laid that stage out in a straight line, it was
a quarter of a mile. It was ridiculous. There
were ramps and wings – so I never had that
You may sometimes hear the phrase Chistoph Kemper: “Well this is a big subject, feeling like I was near my amp.
‘pushing air’ from stack users. It’s not a term because ‘pushing air’ on stage efficiently does “Now, I have the good fortune to be able to
you can take literally, more the physical not happen any more. Because amps and do a lot of shows where I’m kind of close, I’m
feeling of a tube, or indeed solid-state, cabs live somewhere behind or even under just 15-to-20 feet away from my two 4x12
head pushing 12-inch speakers behind you the stage so the player, his fellow musicians cabinets, so I can still feel it. I can still walk
onstage. What is this strange relationship on stage and the audience do hear ‘just the back to my amps and feel like a 14-year-old
between amp and player? Can the sensation mics’, essentially. We are convinced that with kid standing by his amps with his guitar,
even be modelled? our profiling technology we have captured which is still very exciting. But most of the
the amp-mic combination very well. time for performers, the bigger the venue,
Adrian Haselhuber: “Absolutely. The quality “For the ones who can enjoy the ‘pushing the further away you are from the source
of digital modelling has greatly improved air’ feel because they play small clubs or in of your sound and you really are listening
over the past few years, and arguably has the rehearsal room or in the studio, we have to monitors. I’d say more than a half now
reached a level where, with certain products, the 600-watt stack available already. The are listening to their guitars through in-ear
one can no longer reliably identify the amp or Profilers come with optional 600-watt power monitors. That seems like a bit of a sin to me.
the model. If a lot of ‘pushing air’ is required, amps, which our users use to drive regular I still don’t do that. I prefer to just use some
there is no shortage of incredibly powerful guitar cabs for personal monitoring. So the foam earplugs to take the edge off the sound,
full-range amp and speaker systems on the solutions for serious ‘pushing air’ based but I like the localised sound of your guitar
market today.”   around digital technology are already here.” coming out of an amp behind you.”

Misha Mansoor: “If I plug my Axe-Fx Joe Satriani: “The way that we feel the music Gus G: “It is the source of my tone, my
through a tube power amp and to a cab, onstage is often based on how close we are to church. That’s why I call it ‘the church of
yes, absolutely. Through a [Full Range Flat the sound source. When I was playing with distortion’. I personally have an issue – I like
Response monitor], not so much. We actually Mick Jagger back in ’88, I had a Marshall to play LOUD on stage. While I’ve played
have our Axe-Fx units going through a power stack: I was running Randall amps, through with guys that are louder than me, I do like
amp and cab live just for stage sound; the Marshall power amps, through a Marshall the headroom from a real cabinet, the way
direct signal goes to front-of-house. We all stack that was tucked away under the stage, it sounds. I never rely on monitors – I barely
use in-ears live, so we aren’t hearing the cabs, but I never heard the damn thing! I relied use them on stage. So, it’s important for me
or getting the ‘pushed air’ vibe on stage as a entirely on these monitors, because if you to have my amps. When I play with Ozzy,

1989 1992 1998 2007

Loud Lineage Tech 21’s flagship MP-1: Marshall innovates again Line 6 releases The age of the
continued… SansAmp introduces with the first tube-driven MIDI its first POD mini-stack begins
the concept of an preamp. Gibbons, Schon and multi-effects and with Orange’s Tiny
amp modelling unit Corgan were adopters of the amp modeller Terror, an EL-34
programmable unit packed 15-watter

58   august 2015
 feature stack to the future

Tesseract guitarists Acle Kahney The Micro Terror:

(pictured) and James Monteith 20 watts, under 1kg,
control Axe-Fx via a laptop impressively loud

“The idea of
I use the four bottom cabs at the same time. Matt Piccone: “I’m glad you put that in air
It covers a massive stage space; it’s my wall quotes, because we all know pressure waves
of sound. On huge arena and stadium stages, don’t actually blow like wind from a fan,
you take a step to the left or right, and the
sound is different, so I need to have that
frontline covered.”
but sound energy interacts with the guitar
and performer and can be a very important
component of a performance. I’d even say
‘pushing air’ is
Julian Ward: “This is a complicated question,
but yes. The idea of ‘pushing air’ is really
it’s intrinsic to many players, and even
whole genres.
“The use of digital modelling amps has
really important”
important – and it depends on who’s nothing to do with this, however. In the case Mike Cahill: “There are guitarists who like
getting the air pushed at them. If you’re in of the Axe-Fx, you can send front-of-house the safety and convenience of technology,
the audience at an arena show or a festival a direct line with speaker simulation while of being able to bring their whole amplifier
and you’re getting 250,000 watts of a great simultaneously feeding a signal without collection to the stage, being able to recall
modelled guitar tone DI’d into the PA and cab sims to a real guitar speaker on stage. their preset sounds with the push of a button.
thrown at you through a couple of hundred Perhaps another question to ask is, why are And there are those who like the wind at their
drivers, you won’t notice – or care – if it’s from some players able to make the switch from back, the voodoo of valves and stompboxes;
EL34s and 12-inch speakers or silicone chips a performance with this kind of ‘stage level’ the corporeal experience – the playing
and a DI box. But it might feel different to the to one without? Here, it all depends on the sensitivity and unpredictability of a loud,
guitarist on-stage, which might change the need of the player to interact with that zone live performance.”
performance – which you would notice. of sound energy, and in many modern styles,
“However, if the guitarist is banned from I believe that this has become less important,
having their amp on stage and the whole especially with the advent of high-quality
band use in-ear monitors, provided the tone in-ear monitoring. Also, it is true that stage
is good it won’t make any difference to them, monitors and a house PA do also interact with
either. But if the guitarist – or audience– can the guitar, etc. I can think of cases where this
hear, or is dependent on their backline for question was marginalised a long time ago,
monitoring, then it’s important that they get with large stages where performers move
that sense of power and interaction, as it’s a around well away from their amp and its
big part of what will drive their playing and energised zone – or lack thereof, as in the
that makes a big difference to everyone. ‘unloaded stack’ scenario! The question of
“The interesting point here is that there isn’t an intimate interactive relationship between
actually a whole lot of difference between guitarist and amp is ultimately not related to
the tone of tube and digital preamps. the choice of digital or analogue equipment.”
Rather, it’s the power section that generates
that feeling of pushing air that players want.
The question, then, is whether we can get a
solid-state power amp to really work and feel
Photography: Adam Gasson  Jesse Wild  Joby Sessions

like a tube amp – and the short answer is yes.

It’s not quite there yet, but it’s probably closer
than you’d think.”

2007 2011
Fractal Audio System Kemper launches
launches its its Profiling
preamp and Amplifier at the Kemper’s Profiling Amplifier Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat
effect-processing NAMM show enables players to capture World is a combo convert,
and reproduce any amp tone even on the big stage
unit, Axe-Fx Ultra

august 2015   59
 feature stack to the future

Stacking up
So, where now? We have players using
modelling and tube technology, and for
various purposes, too. Here’s our panel’s
hopes and predictions for the future…

Misha Mansoor: “In my opinion, the biggest

mistake people are making is treating this
industry like there isn’t enough space for
both. I am proof that there is. I absolutely
would be lost without my Axe-Fx, and yet Marshall isn’t all about the
stack, of course, and has an
I still have a lot of amps and more pedals amp for every musical scenario
than I can count. This isn’t a ‘one size fits
all’ industry, so there will always be options Joel Richardson: “In the guitar-amplification
available to fit everyone’s tastes. I think the market, both can sit side by side. For the pub
smart companies are developing with that in gig, a feature-laden 1x12 combo is perfect,
mind, just doing what they believe in, and I but when you play the local Corn Exchange
would love the MI industry to keep doing so!” or the equivalent larger venue, you want to
stand in front of the half-stack, or better still,
Christoph Kemper: “The true amp sound the full stack. It’s iconic and makes you play
combined with state-of-the art effects should better – apparently.”
be available to players in every situation.
Today, what you can achieve in the studio in Shane Nicholas: “I think it’s a rite of passage. Deftones’ Stef Carpenter has
terms of guitar sound is difficult to translate Guitar players that are young and energetic used Marshalls throughout his
entire career, and is an endorsee
to the rehearsal room, club and pub gigs, and want to assert themselves by playing loud.
the big stage with traditional equipment.” Standing in front of a big rig on stage
reinforces the image of strength and power.
Mikael Åkerfeldt: “To be honest, I think there
will probably be technology one day that
Maybe that’s why Ryan Adams performs with
a refrigerator-sized Princeton Reverb behind tg says…
can do anything you require. But I maintain him! He’s playing through a small 12-watt
Like the Strat and Les Paul, the stack is
the idea of: if it worked for Blackmore, Page, amp, but the stage presence is pure rock ’n’
simply too synonymous with the imagery
Iommi, Hendrix and Jeff Beck, it works for roll… awesome.”
and mythology of rock to be going away.
me. I don’t need much of a change, and I
And anyone who has ever stood in front
don’t want much of a change either.” Julian Ward: “The big, loud backline thing is
of a high-powered head and cab will know
done – but there are tons of questions for us
it’s a thrilling sound to behold in the right
Gus G: “What guitar player doesn’t wish they to answer about how to make an amp that
hands. Yet clearly, things are changing in
could have six full stacks on stage or more? really works for how people are playing now.
some quarters – both in the backline of
We all grew up seeing Angus Young’s wall of Digital’s going to be the future, although it
big stages and with players on your local
Marshalls and thought that was cool as fuck.” might not look like it does now, and we’ve got
gigging circuit. There are more options now
to figure out how to make the sound – and
than ever, and technology is constant in its
Matt Piccone: “Tech shouldn’t require maybe more importantly, the experience –
drive towards evolution and refinement.
technicians. We’re all pushing the envelope in of using a digital amp surpass tubes, and I
Many amp companies that produce high-
terms of ‘nailing the sound’, but there awaits don’t think we’re there yet for stage amps. I’d
powered stacks are acutely aware of that,
a world of new ways for people to interact like to see us finding ways to leverage digital
and are continuing to develop a range of
with gear. Bring the elegant simplicity of the technology to make incredible-sounding,
products to suit different players’ needs,
Marshall stack to the unbridled potential real-world usable amps that don’t require a
many with digital features.
of future tech and you’ll have something to huge behaviour modification if you grew up
The need to hear yourself on stage and
watch. We’re also in an age of touch screens. playing JCM800s!”
connect with the experience of playing
Watch for that to become bigger in guitar.”
through a speaker certainly provokes
Mike Cahill: “I don’t think that guitarists using
debate. And even some players using
Lee Anderton: “I don’t think we’ll see the technology to find new ways to perform
modelling units will still want to use cabs.
stack disappear – it might become less means the end of the stack, any more than
One thing seems clear to us at least,
common in the local pub, but it’s never going the synthesiser was the end of rock ’n’ roll, or
co‑existence is the key for traditional,
to become extinct on the big stage.” television meant the end of cinema.
proven values and the cutting edge of
“In fact, one could argue that guitarists
modelling. With the practical challenges

“If it worked for

could have it both ways. With the advent of
presented by venue size, noise restrictions,
profiling, semi-pro and pro players can, of
recording environment and portability,
course, take all of their amp sounds on the
it’s not always a case of either/or, but

Hendrix and Page, road in electronic form and still crank it on

stage – a profiled sound smashing it out of a
wall of Marshall stacks? Why the hell not?
each advancing the other. Because, even
though we’re celebrating anniversaries,

it works for me ”
the electric guitar is still a relatively young
There are Marshall artists who are already
instrument with a lot more history to write.
doing this: Matt Bellamy, for example.”

60   august 2015
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august 2015 63
 interview ol drake

64   august 2015
 ol drake interview

Arise, Sir Drake

Former Evile man Ol Drake is taking thrash to the limits with his new solo project Old Rake, and
bringing some guests along for the ride, too. Hold on to your fretboards as Ol talks you through
five riff highlights from the record – complete with tab for you to play along
Words: Amit Sharma

T
hey say what doesn’t kill you makes “It wasn’t planned at all,” continues Ol. “As record that was mixed by death-metal legend
you stronger, but the reality is that soon as I left Evile, I become fully committed James Murphy and featured the likes of Gary
it’s never been more difficult to be a to not doing music again, so I emailed Holt (Slayer/Exodus), Josh Middleton
musician. Even bands that most of Earache Records to thank them for all their (Sylosis) and myself – I met Oli through my
us would consider successful in their support. They replied, saying, ‘It’s been great work for a metal magazine, where I jammed
own right face the financial and but we really want to keep working with some Richie Kotzen and Greg Howe licks to
logistical nightmare that is touring you!’ I had to explain I was done with music him, and happily enough, this ended up with
in the modern age. It’s something that Ol for the time being. Eventually, the idea of me guesting on lead single Guitarists Playing
Drake – co-founder and ex-lead guitarist of the solo album came up and I figured if I Guitars. With hindsight, for Oli, it seemed as
British thrash mob Evile – knew all too well, was being given the opportunity, then why if all the pieces had just fallen into place.
having decided to quit the band he built with the hell not?” “I knew of James Murphy just from
his brother Matt in August 2013. And the rest, as they say, was history. The growing up on metal,” he explains of the
“We’d tour for ages and come home, then first instalment in Ol’s career as a solo artist is Exodus, Death and Testament guitarist.
my priority would be writing the next mind-boggling in ambition, with plenty of “Strangely enough, he commented on a story
album,” says Ol. “So I was either on tour or tongue-in-cheek humour – often a tough about me leaving Evile, saying that these
writing music. Eventually, it took its toll and balance to get right. For a musician who’s kinds of things will happen more if people
I realised I just couldn’t do it any more. There been synonymous with thrash metal for his don’t support music. So we got talking and he
were no hard feelings and everyone totally entire career, Ol admits it was incredibly ended up mixing it! As for Gary, we toured
understood. I loved the playing bit, but all liberating to cast a wider net over the musical together in 2008. I mentioned I was working
the time before and after…” landscapes that make up his DNA. on this crazy solo album and it might even
Almost two years later, the bearded “If you’re in a thrash band, you can end up have been his idea to shred on it… I thought,
gunslinger has returned with his debut solo just being limited to that style,” says Ol. “And ‘Well, you can’t say no to Gary Holt!’ Josh is
album, mischievously titled Old Rake. It’d I mean no disrespect to Evile by saying that. a great player, quite proggy in his own way,
be fair to say the news came as a surprise, It felt good to play in major keys and sound a so I’m glad he said yes.”
since Ol had decided to take a bit cheesy! I didn’t consciously want to make Having recently been announced for this
break from music. an instrumental album, though. The year’s Bloodstock (the festival that
intention was originally to have vocals, but coincidentally played a vital part in launching
they weren’t really working, so I ended up Evile’s career), it’s great to see the BC
making it 100 per cent guitar. I found Rich-loving shred aficionado right back
my feet and it started taking off where he belongs.
from there.” Now, it’s over to you – time to grab your
In time, Ol found guitar and see if you can get to grips with five
himself sat on riffs from his record, in our guest lesson
a finished hosted by Oli himself…

august 2015   65
 interview ol drake

New riffing
for OlD rake
Set your metronome
to stun, get ready
for a challenge Ol Drake tunes
and try out TG’s down to E b standard
(E b A bD b G b B b E b) but we’ve
transcriptions of transcribed for standard
five of our favourite tuning (EADGBE). Tune
down a semitone to play
riffs and shreddy along with the audio

moments from
Old Rake, complete Raking Bad: Ol about

with Ol’s own to embark on the 2015

Gardeners’ World Tour

audio excerpts

Han Valen (0:47-0:58)

TGR269.oldrake.fig01.musx
TGR269.oldrake.fig01.musx
File Date: 17:43 11/06/2015 Han Valen
Ol Drake Riffs
track 30
Han Valen

File Date:
1 of 17:43
“Basically,
Page 11/06/2015
1this was originally a bluesy part, but it sounded a are a lot of pull-offs and hammer-ons and I think my Riffs
Ol Drake
Contributor: Ol Drake
Page 1 of 1
bit crap. So I used another riff that worked a lot better. There
Notes: influences here were quiteEngraved byContributor:
Paul Gilberty… so rockyOl Drake
and fun!”
DigitalMusicArt.Com
Notes: Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com

œœ~~~~
q =127 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

4 # œ n œ œ # œ n œ œ # œ n œ œ
422
3 3

& 44 #
q =127
œ n œ 3 3
œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ #œ nœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ
3
# œ3
n œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ # œ n œ œ œ œ œ œ œ~~~~
3 3 3 # œ n œ
3
œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ #œ nœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
3 3 3

4 œ #œ nœ œ œ œ œ
&0:47 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ #œ nœ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ
œ œœœœ œ
œ ~~~~ œ
œ #œ nœ œ œ œ
œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ
œ œ 4
œ
T
0:47
5~~~~
A
T
6 5 0 8 7 5 7 5 0
7 5 0
5 4 0 6 5 0
7 5 0
8 7 5 7 5 0
7
5
4 0
6 5 0 8 7 5 7 5 0
7 5 0
5 4 0
7 5 0 5 7 5 0 7 5 0 7 4 0
B
A
0 6 5 0 8 7 5 7 5 0 5 4 0 0 6 5 0 8 7 5 7 5 0 5 0 6 5 0 8 7 5 7 5 0 5 4 0
7 5 0 7 5 0 7 4 0 7 5 0 7 5 0 7 5 0 7 5 0 7 4 0
B1 0 0 0
1
·· .. ‚‚ ..
‚‚ ·· .. J‚‚ ..
3 3 3 3 3 3 3

& 422 # œ n œ3 œ œ œ3 # œ n œ3 œ 44 # œ n œ3 œ œ œ3 œ œ œ3 œ œ œ3 œ — œ3 œ œ œ3 œ 3
3 3
Transcription: Ol Drake & Chris Locke

3 3

˙. ‚‚
&4 œ # œ n œ œ œ œ œ # œ n œ œ 44 # œ n œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ — œ œ œ œ # œ œ œ œ œ # œ œ ˙˙ .. J
3

œ # œ œ œ œ #œ œ ˙.
œ PH NH

NH
T PH

A
T
6 5 0
7 5 0
8 7 5 8 7 5 7 5 4 5 4 2 4 2 0 5 2 0 2 0
4
0
4 2 0 1 2
0
0
12
12
24
24
B
A
0 6 5 0 8 7 5 8 7 5 7 5 4 5 4 2 4 2 0 5 2 0 2 0 0 0 12 24
7 5 0 4 4 2 0 1 2 0 12 24
B4 0
4

This riff is awesomely quick but surprisingly achievable thanks to a pull-off pattern that only uses two or three shapes. If you can get to grips with the basic three-note shapes, then it’s just a matter of
moving around the fretboard. Only in bar 5 do these patterns change, so practise slowly here.

66   august 2015
 ol drake interview

TGR269.oldrake.fig02.musx Onions

Onions (0:13-0:27)
File Date: 13:47 16/06/2015 Ol Drake Riffs track 31
Page 1 of 1 Contributor: Ol Drake
“There
Notes: are a few instances on this album where I’m almost and this was the first thing that cameby
Engraved out. And the more
DigitalMusicArt.Com
making fun of classic guitar parts like Sweet Child O’ Mine. I played it, the more I couldn’t stop playing it, because it
I tried to write the epitome of tongue in cheek, cheesy rock was really catchy! It’s just straight-up rock pentatonics.”

#4
q =140 1/4
~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~
& 4 ‰ .. j j
3

j
†

œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~
4 2 4
0:13 2 2 1 2 1 1
PM

.
PM

T
.
1/4

A 5
B 5 7 7 5 4

⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥
0 0 5 7 5 0 3 5 3 2 3 2 3 5 7
1
† play quarter-note E on rpt.

# ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#œ. œ œ nœ ..
1/4

& œ œ bœ œ œ œ #œ nœ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
PM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.
.
BU BD
T
1/4
1/4
BU 6 (7) (6) 4
A 5 7 (8) 7 5 7 6 5
B 0 5 7
5 7 7 5
33

The trickiest part comes at the end of bar 2, where you’re likely to fall off the neck if you don’t use the best fingering. The numbers next to the notes in the traditional notation tell you which fingers to use.
Get this fretting mastered before turning your attention to the ‘down up’-style alternate picking.

I’ll Be Bach (Get It?) (0:00-0:11)

TGR269.oldrake.fig03.musx
TGR269.oldrake.fig03.musx
track
I’ll
I’ll Be
32
Be Bach
Bach
File
File Date:
Date: 13:52
13:52 16/06/2015
16/06/2015 Ol
Ol Drake
Drake Riffs
Riffs
“This
Page was
1 of
Page 1 of 1something
1 I wrote when I was a teenager. In the end, I just sped it up and made it this kinda Yngwie
Contributor:
Contributor: Ol
Ol Drake
Drake
actually wrote it on this keyboard that could record what
INotes:
Notes:
Malmsteen thing! I guess heEngraved
would bebythe main influence
DigitalMusicArt.Com
Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com
I was playing. So, years later, I found it on my recordings on this piece here, as he’s the king of neoclassical. No-one
and tried to transcribe it for guitar… but it was too slow. else can do it like him.”
q = 126
q = 126

⇤
⇤
Gm G/B C G/B

œ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ bb œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ nn œœ œœ ˙˙~~~~~~~~~~~~
bb b 44 œ œœ œœ ## œœ œœ œœ œ
Gm G/B C G/B

~~~~~~~~~~~~ nn œ œœ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ
b
& 44
& œ œ
œ nn œ œ œ œœ œ œ œœ œ œ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
0:00
0:00
18 17 15 14 15
~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~
T
T
18 17 15 14 15 15
15
A
A
15
15
14
14
12
12
15
15
14
14
12
12
11
11
14
14
12
12
11
11
10 13 12 10
10 13 12 10
7
7
10
10
9
9
7
7
9
9
5
5
9
9
7
7
5
5 5
9
9
7
7
5
5
4
4
7
7
5
5
4
4 5
7
7
5
5
4
4
B 5 5

≤≤ ⇥⇥ ≤≤ ⇥⇥ ≤≤ ≤≤ ≤≤ ⇥⇥ ⇥⇥ ≤≤ ⇥⇥ ≤≤ ⇥⇥ ≤≤ ⇥⇥ ≤≤ ⇥⇥ ≤≤ ⇥⇥ ≤≤ ⇥⇥ ≤≤ ⇥⇥ ≤≤ ⇥⇥ ⇥⇥ ≤≤ ⇥⇥ ≤≤ cont.
B
1 sim.
1 cont. sim.

# 77 b #
C # dim Bb A/C #
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Am E 7 C Dm B A/C D 5
Am E7 dim Dm D5

œ œ
& œœ œ œœ œœ œœ œ œœ œœ ## œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
& ## œœ
bb œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ œ œ
œœ œ œœ œ œœ œ œœ œ bb œœ
bb œœ œœ œœ œ œ
œ œ œ # œ
œ #œ ˙˙
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
T
T
A
A
2
2
5
5
4
4
2
2 2
5
5
4
4
2
2
1
1
4
4
2
2
1
1 0 8 7 8 5 8 7 8 7 5 7 3 7 5 7 8 7 5
B
B
2 0 4
4
8 7 8 5 8 7 8 5
5
7 5 7 3 7 5 7
6
8 7 5 8
8
7
7
5
5
4
4
5
5
4 6
4

This intro isn’t so much a riff as a super-short study piece in neoclassical shred and it is a great way to get into this notoriously difficult style of music. Ol Drake plays at lightning pace, but it’s great fun to
play at any speed. Practise four-note phrases until you start to remember the longer lines.

august 2015   67
 interview ol drake

Guitarists Playing Guitars (0:00-0:09)

TGR269.oldrake.fig04.musx Guitarists Playing Guitars track 33
File Date: 17:50 11/06/2015 Ol Drake Riffs
Page
“Like 1Onions,
of 1 I was kinda taking the piss out of classic Contributor:
“All of the parts [on the open D string] are actually Ol Drake
down-
rock stuff and ended up coming up with a really cool riff.
Notes: picked and the rest are up-picked,
Engravedsoby
there’s definitely still
DigitalMusicArt.Com
I wanted to catch people’s ears so they’d think, ‘What the a thrash thing going on there. It’s quite difficult to keep up
hell is going on there?’ at that speed!”

œœ n œœ œœ n œœ ~~~~~
# 4 œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
œœ
q
q==113

& #4 ⇤ œ œ œ
j j j j
œœ
n œœ n œœ œœ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
0:00
0:00 PM
PM
PM
PM PM
PM PM
PM PM
PM PM
PM PM
PM PM
PM PM
PM PM
PM
PM
PM
~~~~~ PM
PM

T 15
15 13
13 12
12 5 7
5 7 8
8 7
7 5
5 15
15 13
13 12
12 5 7
5 7 5
5 7
7 5
5
A 0
0 0
0 0
0
14
14
0
0 0
0
12
12
0
0 0
0
12
12
0
0 0
0
5 7
5 7
0
0
7
7
0
0
7
7 5
5
0
0 0
0
14
14
0
0 0
0
12
12
0
0 0
0
12
12
0
0 0
0
5 7
5 7
0
0
5
5 7
7 5
5
0
0 0
0
B
⇥ ⇥ ⇥ 1
1
⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ cont.
cont. sim.
sim.

œ n œœ œœ œœ n œœ œœ œœ # œœ
## œ j œœ œœ œ
j
œœ n œœ
& œ œ œ œ œ œ
n œœ
œ œ
œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
PM
PM PM
PM PM
PM PM
PM PM
PM PM
PM PM
PM PM
PM PM
PM PM
PM PM
PM

T 15
15 13
13 12
12 5 7
5 7 8
8 7
7 5
5 15
15 13
13 12
12 12
12 12
12 13
13
A 14
14
0
0 0
0
12
12
0
0 0
0
12
12
0
0 0
0
5 7
5 7
0
0
7
7
0
0
7
7 5
5
0
0 0
0
14
14
0
0 0
0
12
12
0
0 0
0
12
12
0
0 0
0
10
10
0
0
10
10 11
11
0
0 0
0
B
3
3

Ol’s method of down-picking the open strings means you’ll be picking in the right direction when you come to play the diads. Similarly, up-picking the diads puts you in the right direction as you change
back to the open string. Try practising without playing the grace notes (the small notes) if you find the timing tricky. Just leave them out all together until you’ve got a feel for the rest of the riff.

track 34
The Rake Waltz (0:16-0:42)
TGR269.oldrake.fig05.musx
TGR269.oldrake.fig05.musx
File Date:
File Date: 17:51
17:51 11/06/2015
11/06/2015
The
The Rake
Rake Waltz
Ol Drake
Ol
Waltz
Drake Riffs
Riffs
Page
“The 1
1 of
of 1
Page idea 1for this came from The Toxic Waltz by Exodus… Contributor:
So I wrote it in 3/4 on purpose but wanted Ol
Ol Drake
a laid-back
Contributor: Drake
Notes:
but that’s in 4/4, so not technically a waltz. So I wanted to
Notes: groove. I absolutely love theEngraved by
by DigitalMusicArt.Com
Lydian scale,
Engraved it’s my favourite
DigitalMusicArt.Com
write something in 3/4 but still not be a true waltz, just so scale. But I’ve never had many chances to play it, so this
I could say, ‘Well, it’s more of a waltz than The Toxic Waltz!’ was it. You can play over this for weeks, it’s just so fun.”

~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ Play ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~

# ## 3
q
q== 82
82 Play
Play 4
4 times

& # 4 .. # œ . .. .. # œ . .. .. # œ . ..
times

œ ‰ œ œ œ œœœ œ œ
Play 4
4 times

œ œ œ œ
times

œ œ
œ. œ œ œ. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
0:16
0:16
~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
. . . . . .
let
let ring
ring PM
PM PM PM PM
PM
PM PM
T
T
A
A
B
. 13 . . 13 . . 13 .
B 13
1
0
0
14
14
0
0
11
11 13
0
0
13 11
11 7
7 13 0
0
14
14 11
11 13
13 11
11 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 12
12 0
0 0
0
13 0
0
14
14 11
11 13
13 11
0
0
11 0
0 0
0 0
0 12
12 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0
1

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~

#### œ œ
& #œ. œ œ œ œ #œ. œ œ œ œ
3
3

œ. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ. œ œ œ œ
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PM
PM ~~~~~~~~~ PM
PM ~~~~~~~~~~~~ PM
PM
T
T
A
A
B
B 13
13
0
14
14
0 0 0
11
11
0
13
13 11
11 12 0 0 0
13
13
0
14
14
0 0 0
11
11
0
13
13 11
11 12
4
0 0 0 0 0 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12
4

Essentially, all five bars are the same, but with small variations. Bar 1 shows the riff in its simplest form, so try this first. The next three bars add in a number of open sixth-string notes played with a
slightly different rhythm each time, so practise each bar separately.

68   august 2015
 GET
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076

Martin Dreadnought Junior

The dread gets diddier�������������������������������������� 72
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august 2015 71
72 august 2015
 Martin Dreadnought Junior gear

Martin
Dreadnought Junior £599
Slightly smaller but perfectly formed, the Junior has ‘electro-acoustic
of the year’ written all over it. Can it really be that good?
Neck

Today’s
Solid wood is used throughout
acoustic the full-size model being 397mm Top: Solid spruce with the exception of the Richlite
(a hard synthetic ‘ebony’
guitar (15.6 inches) and 124mm Back & sides: Solid sapele substitute) fingerboard and
market is flooded with a few body (4.88 inches) deep. Factor in the bridge. Godin also uses it, not least
Neck: Select hardwood because it’s stiffer than ebony
shapes at lots of different price scale length, which is reduced
points. It makes choosing your from Martin’s long scale of 645mm Scale: 610mm (24”)
fit more difficult than ever – is (25.4 inches) down to 610mm Fingerboard: Richlite
that dreadnought really better (24 inches), and the Junior. looks Frets: 20 body
than that one, or that one? These like a perfectly proportioned, Electrics: Fishman Sonitone Classed as a 15/16ths
similarities are no doubt why more slightly diminished Martin. system w/ soundhole-placed preamp down-sided dreadnought,
the slightly smaller dimensions
and more brands are offering Unlike Martin’s own X Series,
something a little different: for or indeed, the minimalist cool of w/ volume and tone controls actually make for a much more
comfortable guitar compared
example, smaller guitars for Taylor’s Big Baby, the Dread Junior Hardware: Black Richlite w/ with the full-size version

‘travel’, or even bigger guitars, like might be downsized, but it’s very compensated Tusq saddle, chrome
baritones. In a crowded market, grown-up in build, with all-solid enclosed tuners
you have to be different. wood construction, proper mortise Left-handed: Yes
But it’s small that’s becoming the and tenon neck joint, a bound top controls
new big in acoustic terms. There’s edge and simple soundhole rings. Finish: Hand-applied natural oil There’s no side-mounted
Ed Sheeran and his lil’ Martin, Internally, the X bracing and struts Contact: Westside Distribution preamp, but it’s still an electro.
Powered by Fishman, there are
Taylor Swift with her Baby Taylor. are finely done in classic style. 0141 248 4812 www.martinguitar.com discrete volume and tone controls
placed inside the soundhole
Don’t get us started on ukuleles… Then there’s that headstock, again

The Junior fits in between a Little

Martin and a full-size model
So, where does this new Martin slightly downsized with regular
Dreadnought Junior fit into all small-button tuners and the all-
of this? Well, exactly midway important, and full-size, logo. The
between Ed’s Little Martin and only nod to modernism, or indeed
a full-size Martin dreadnought. cost, in terms of the materials
But it’s not just size at play here. are the synthetic ebony Richlite
Martin’s entry-level ranges, like fingerboard and bridge, which
the X Series, are made in Mexico. you’ll find on the more costly
And to keep prices low, those X DRS2, and the generic ‘select
Series guitars, for example, use hardwood’ specification for the
high pressure laminate (HPL) back neck, which looks like one-piece
and sides, multi-piece necks and mahogany. But we have a full-size
Richlite synthetic fingerboards. nut width and string spacing, also
Now, that might suit you, but if you at the bridge, and a subtly V’d C
hanker for a ‘proper’ Martin-style shape to the profile, along with
solid-wood dreadnought, you’ll be vintage-style small frets.
looking at a DRS2 and a sizeable Last, but far from least, is the
wad of cash at £799. Enter the hand-rubbed natural oil finish,
Dread Junior. which doesn’t protect the guitar
Like Taylor’s Big Baby, the in the same way as a more robust
Dreadnought Junior is 15/16ths modern gloss or satin finish, and
Photography: Neil Godwin

of the size of that DRS2 or any will require regular maintenance,

other contemporary Martin but while it’s a quick finish to apply,
dreadnought. In reality, it’s not the sanding of all the parts needs to
much of a down-size: 360mm be perfect and it certainly is.
(14.2 inches) wide and 112mm The only giveaway to the
(4.41 inches) deep as opposed to Junior’s electro status are the

august 2015 73
 Size matters!
This downsized Martin
shouldn’t be confused
with ‘mini’ travel guitars
The Junior may be a
As many of you know, the good ol’ bit smaller than a
dreadnought is a big bird. Strapped Dreadnought, but it has
on and struttin’ your stuff on stage is full-size string spacing
cool enough, but if you like the looks
yet want something a little smaller
for seated playing, not to mention
practice, the Dreadnought Junior fits
the bill. Taylor’s Big Baby is a similar also try…
15/16th dreadnought size but uses
a longer 648mm (25.5-inch) scale Big Baby Taylor-e
length. So what? It means there’s £514
more distance from the top nut to A similar size,
the saddle and, for the same gauge longer-scale electro
of strings, it has a slightly higher
tension compared with a shorter
upgraded this
scale, like the Dreadnought Junior’s year with new
610mm (24 inches). ES-B pickup system,
A shorter scale also means which packs a small side
that the frets are proportionally preamp with onboard tuner
closer together, too, but it’s not that and tone control
different, for example, to Martin’s
bigger ‘short’ scale of 633mm
(24.9 inches), or PRS’s 622mm Seagull Excursion
(24.5 inches) used on numerous Natural Grand SG 
‘vintage-style’ electrics. And it’s still £299
longer than the 584mm (23 inches) The Fishman Sonitone This is a well-made,
of Ed Sheeran’s Little Martin models. system’s controls are
hidden in the soundhole affordable parlour-
sized Grand shape
with full 631mm
discreet soundhole-placed volume hands but older, bigger ones Put simply, it’s a cracking guitar, (24.85”) scale.
and tone controls – you can also adapted surprisingly easy with far from a Guitar Shaped Object. Made in Canada,
see a battery bag by the neck lower-position chording slightly For serious younger players, it’s a it’s all-laminate
block – but it’s a Fishman Sonitone less of a stretch. great entry into Martin’s heritage, wild cherry;
system and should be stage-ready. It might not have the huge depth but the more compact size means the electro version
Swapping between a full-size or width, harmonically speaking, that many a more mature player costs £369
Martin dreadnought and the of the full-size dreadnought, but will enjoy it, too. Faultless in both
Junior, you notice the downsizing there’s a punchy midrange and concept and execution. Taylor GS-Mini
but in a quite positive way – played a slightly textured edge, less Dave Burrluck from £503
seated, it’s much less cumbersome smoothness (that is probably This downsized acoustic
and a really comfortable strum. down to the finish), but it retains a Features  from Taylor is well
The more compact fret positions Martin stamp: classic, old-school made and sounds
SUMMARY

sound quality 
are noticeable the higher up the and a fine picker’s choice, too. Value for money  great. It has a 597mm
’board you go, but along with a Plugged in, we get a slight treble
Build Quality 
(23.5”) scale
slightly lower string tension, we lift over the acoustic sound, but and a choice of
playability 
soon get used to the feel. It might that’s easily tamed with some solid tops and
be aimed at smaller, younger outboard EQ. Overall rating 

74 august 2015
 REVIEw
PRS SE Ace Signature

PRS SE Ace
Signature Model £749
Skunk Anansie’s guitar-slinger, Ace, gets a Neck
Everyone talks about
Europe-only SE signature. It rocks! those birds, but it’s the
playability, tuning stability
and intonation that’s the
reason so many people play

ace of Skunk Anansie has from the full depth body, perfect PRS – including Ace
at a glance
been playing PRS for intonation and lively resonant
Body: Mahogany w/ maple top
the past 15 years, so he’s a perfect ring… and that’s before we plug in.
candidate for a signature guitar, Control-wise, it’s a classic drive – Neck: Mahogany
which has just been released as shoulder-placed three-way toggle, Scale: 635mm (25”)
a Europe-only SE model, limited volume and tone for each of the Fingerboard: Rosewood
to 180 instruments. The Korean- humbuckers, and proper metal w/ old-school bird inlays
made SE line is where most PRS ‘football’-shaped plate to hold the Frets: 22
signatures appear, and Ace’s output jack.
model is closest to the current The action is dangerously low Pickups: 2x SE 245
Tremonti Custom (he calls his USA and super-fast. If you hit hard uncovered humbuckers Pickups
Tremonti, retro-fitted with 57/08 you’ll need to raise it a bit, but the Controls: 1x volume, 1x tone, Good enough for Tremonti,
’buckers, his “ultimate guitar for combination of that and the slinky 3-way toggle pickup Santana and Zach Myers,
touring and playing”) and has the but not stupidly thin-depthed neck selector switch these SE 245 humbuckers
offer old-school vintage vibe
same vibrato and SE 245 ’buckers. means either thumb-around or Hardware: PRS SE vibrato, with some serious punch
While the Tremonti Custom has thumb-behind left-hand positions
enclosed tuners
a solid maple top with a flame- are equally comfortable. Sonically,
maple veneer facing, Ace’s model, the classic hot SE 245 humbucker Left-handed: No
Finish: Black Vibrato

The SE 245 humbuckers spit

A feature of PRS
Contact: PRS Europe guitars for 30 years, this
01223 874301 Korean-made version works
superbly. Just don’t forget to
www.prsguitars.com

juicy classic-rock-style voices

stretch your strings before
you hit the bar

in its opaque black-only finish, mixes well with the vibrato’s edge
doesn’t need that decorative for juicy classic rock-style voices;
veneer. We get single-line white there are plenty of crisp highs
body binding, mirrored on the that you can tame with either
fingerboard edges. The nickel volume or tone control reduction,
hardware plating adds to the while heaping on the gain there’s
classic biker vibe, and there’s a still clarity. There’s good pickup
white swallow sticker to add to balance, and they’re wired so
the body. Along with the old-style turning one volume off doesn’t
pearloid bird inlays, it gives the mute the output, making for easy
Ace a very avian aesthetic. kill-switch techniques. Once the
Snobs out there will tell you strings are stretched and settled in,
Korean-made SEs, or the USA- the vibrato has a two-tone up bend
made S2s, aren’t real PRS guitars on the G and goes down to floppy,
compared with the high-ticket but still comes back in tune.
‘core’ USA models. Well, they’re On this evidence, you can trust
wrong. Yes, the parts are PRS- in Ace. We always said he was a
designed and made in Korea, but class act: so is his guitar.
the original design, for example, of Dave Burrluck
the vibrato, means that it functions
perfectly: likewise, the pickups , Features 
which are close cousins of the USA
SUMMARY

sound quality 
models. Then there’s the perfectly Value for money 
fretted fingerboard with slightly
Build Quality 
lower medium-gauge frets than
you’ll find on the USA models, playability 
a good weight (3.87kg/8.5lb) Overall rating 

76 august 2015
 Yamaha SLG200S Silent Guitar gear

Yamaha SLG200S
at a glance
Body centre: Solid mahogany

Silent Guitar £515

Sides: Rosewood-faced
maple laminate
Neck: Mahogany Neck/fingerboard
What’s the point of a Silent Guitar? Scale: 634mm (24.96”)
Fingerboard: Rosewood
This is the most
conventional part of
the guitar: it looks, feels
Practice, that’s what… and you need one Frets: 22
and plays like a good
electro-acoustic should
Electrics: Yamaha SRT system

It’s a home truth that we

all need to practise to
get better. So check this out – an
Under the compensated saddle of
the pin bridge is an SRT (Studio
Response Technology) piezo
w/ volume, aux volume, bass,
treble, effects rotary (reverb 1,
reverb 2, chorus), tuner,
electro-acoustic guitar that barely pickup. On its own, it gives a pretty
has any acoustic volume, so you good modern piezo-acoustic-like
SRT/piezo blend. Battery or mains
won’t disturb anyone with your sound, but turn up the SRT blend adaptor powering Frame
ham-fisted strumming or picking. control, and it overlays a digital Connections: Mini-jack aux in, For easy storage in the
Put a set of headphones on and SRT ‘sample’, like convolution standard jack out; mini-jack included compact gigbag,
you undo the two strap
you’ll hear your playing with a processing, which simulates the headphones out buttons and pull the
studio-quality acoustic sound and sound of a real acoustic guitar bass-side frame out.
Hardware: Rosewood w/ A cool trick!
posh effects. Oh, and you can plug recorded in a posh studio with a
in your mp3 player, too. You might high-end microphone – it’s actually compensated saddle, chrome
never leave the couch… a Yamaha LS26 mic’d with a Royer enclosed tuners
What’s more, plug this so-called R-122 and recorded in East-West Left-handed: No
Silent Guitar into a PA or acoustic Studios, LA. Finish: Natural, Tobacco Brown
amp and you have a highly realistic To add some ambience, there Sunburst, Translucent Black
electro-acoustic sound without are two reverbs and a decent Controls
any feedback. How? rock-ready chorus, plus we have (as reviewed)
Packed in here, we have a
Contact: Yamaha hi-tech SRT preamp that

Plug the Silent Guitar in for a 01908 366700 ‘samples’ a real acoustic, plus
digital effects, tuner, EQ and
uk.yamaha.com aux in for your mp3 player

realistic electro-acoustic tone

Well, Yamaha has been hard at treble and bass EQ if you want to
work. Although the Silent Guitar tweak things. The onboard tuner
– part of a range of Silent practice mutes the output, too.
instruments that Yamaha offers – So, when you’ve done your
originally surfaced in 2003, it’s practice, you can head for the
been upgraded for 2015. The stage, and not only does the
concept is the same: a solid SLG200S look cool/daft
mahogany centre-block like you’ll depending on your style, it sounds
get in the middle of an ES-335 and, remarkably good into a decent PA
to form the outline of the cutaway or acoustic amp: expect to see jaws
body, we have a maple laminate drop, because your audience won’t
frame. The treble side is believe what they’re hearing from
permanently fixed, but the bass such an infeasible-looking
side slots in and out so you can instrument. And just smile when
pack it up into the supplied gigbag, your mates are having feedback
which looks more like you’re problems with their antiquated
carrying a high-powered rifle than electros. The future’s here…
an electro-acoustic guitar. Not and it’s Silent.
quite a ‘travel guitar’, but certainly Dave Burrluck
easier if you’re on the bus.
The neck is quite normal: a Features 
mainstream-feeling handful that
SUMMARY

sound quality 
typically is beautifully fretting and Value for money 
plays really well – like any other
Build Quality 
Yamaha acoustic, really. But the
real secret lies in the electronics playability 
crammed into that centre block. Overall rating 

august 2015 77
 round-up
Danelectro 2015 models

78 august 2015
 GEAR Round-up

Words: Simon Bradley Photography: Joe Branston

Danelectro
2015 models
A trio of vintage-flavoured instruments that
each offer their own unique appeal: be it
a swathe of 60s jangle, a touch of retro
chic, or a dollop of Madras sauce

august 2015 79
 round-up
Danelectro 2015 models

PART of the guitar landscape

since the late 40s, Danelectro DBS68
Baby Sitar £599
Danelectro made its reputation
manufacturing musical instruments for the
American department stores of the day.
They proved eminently popular, and Jimmy
Page, who wielded a black Shorthorn 3021 Sit’ back and enjoy yourself…
both in the studio and onstage during the

The
60s and 70s, is probably the brand’s most sitar is among the most right height to ever so slightly touch
famous user, although Jimi Hendrix himself evocative of all stringed when played, which then produces a
also learned his trade on a Silvertone- instruments, and simply hearing its surprisingly authentic sitar sound. The
branded Dano. unmistakable drone and resonance downside of the system is that the guitar
Here, we have three new additions to the transports you straight to the Indian has just about no sustain, and although
contemporary Dano range and, before we sub-continent. A traditional sitar bears the bridge can be raised or lowered via
get into the nitty-gritty, here are a few facets very little resemblance to a six-string two screws, it can be a chore to get the
of the construction that are common to all. guitar in both specification and the height just right. It’s worth persevering,
The majority of Dano guitars past and technique required to get a tune out of though, and you can drift off into the
present feature a material called Masonite it, yet diverse artists have striven to use Himalayas on a raft of Indian flavours at
as part of their bodies. It’s a type of the sitar in their music. Arguably the the merest chord, while single-note runs
hardboard, and makes up the front and back most famous electric sitar is the Coral, – provided you learn the right scales –
panels of the hollow bodies that are held introduced by Danelectro in the late 60s, sound similarly exotic.
together by a laminated wooden frame. which has been used by everyone from Although the thermometer-style body
Each has a maple neck with a rosewood Rory Gallagher and Pearl Jam to Steve shape makes the Baby Sitar nigh-on
board fitted with 21 frets, an aluminium nut Vai and Metallica. impossible to play sitting down, the
and, arguably the best-known feature, The feature responsible for producing authenticity of the sounds may be the
lipstick pickups, which employ Alnico VI just the right sound on the new DBS68 clincher. £599 is certainly not a bargain
magnets fitted within a metal tube. Danos Baby Sitar is the Gotoh Buzz Bridge, price, but with the vintage market
can be a bit rough around the edges, but which you’ll also find on high-end Jerry pricing Corals well into four figures, the
any flaws in the construction are easily Jones Master Electric Sitars. The strings DBS68 represents good value if only a
overlooked in favour of the cool old-school go over the black plastic base at just the sitar will do.
vibe each model possesses. New for 2015
are an electric sitar, electro-acoustic and an
electric 12-string – let’s dig in.

Hendrix learned on a
Silvertone-branded
Danelectro model

80 august 2015
 GEAR Round-up

danelectro
DC59TSB-12 £499
12 steps to tonal heaven
12-string
be familiar to all, as should the
guitars
should
Dano Shorthorn style, although
here there’s an f-hole, too. A pair of
lipstick pickups add to the jangle, and
wonderful tones they provide. Be a three-way toggle and volume and
they acoustic or, as in the case of this tone pots give you all the control you
Dano, wholly electric, they can inspire need. It won’t be long before that cream
you and your playing to greater binding starts to peel, but otherwise, the
heights simply by injecting a unique construction is fine.
feel and texture into tired licks. The Acoustically, the guitar is loud and,
DC59TSB-12 is strung traditionally, upon plugging in, you soon discover
that is with the octave strings set above what the fuss is all about: put simply, this
the conventional sextet, and secured may well be one of the best electric 12s
by a fully adjustable bridge at one end we’ve played. Full open chords possess
and a brace of chrome tuners at the just the right jangle-to-body mix and
other. The maple neck is customarily you can either opt for a nicely metallic
finished in black and sufficiently wide character from the bridge pickup, or
to accommodate the strings without more mellow tones from the remaining
straying into ironing-board territory, two selections. Rush, Alice In Chains,
and we found the guitar very easy to Queen, Bob Dylan and even Pantera
play for both chords and single notes. have used 12-strings to great effect and,
As mentioned, the body is made from at £499, there’s really no excuse not to
Masonite and follows the established join the club with this great guitar.

Danelectro DCV56CR
Convertible £599
Roof down, surf’s up

The Convertible is Dano’s take

on an electro-acoustic,
and revisits an original design that
Projection certainly isn’t a problem
when playing the Convertible
acoustically, and the guitar would
was first introduced way back in 1959. surely be suitable for those campfire
It features a hollow Shorthorn body, moments. We’d suggest that it’s more of
one that’s thicker than that of the a strummer than a fingerpicker, owing
12-string DC59TSB, and our example to the electric-style string spacing, but
is finished in a suitably vintage white. it stays in tune, makes for a nice player
The neck maple is unfinished, save for and it’s serviceable unamplified.
a thin satin coating, which results in a Plugged in, the lipstick is a tad
slick playing feel, while the long heel warmer in tone when compared
has been reinforced with an internal to those fitted to the 12-string, and
multi-laminate maple block. Electrics possesses a solid vintage-style sound,
comprise a ’56 lipstick pickup and a especially with a touch of amp drive.
piezo strip set under the single saddle The piezo does its job adequately
in the rosewood bridge; the lipstick’s without really excelling, and we find
height can be adjusted via two spring- it works best when used to add extra
loaded screws set into the body’s rear, zing to the electric tone, rather than to
while the bridge is fitted with three provide a realistic acoustic voice. We like
micro-screws for the same purpose. the Convertible but, at £599, we can’t
Controls comprise a volume, tone and really get too excited – it’s a lot to pay for
centrally notched blend pot. a relatively niche sound.

august 2015 81
 round-up
Danelectro 2015 models

Verdict
Out of these three very different instruments, we tonally, and although hardly a steal, is certainly more
believe that the 12-string will probably have the widest affordable than a Coral or Jerry Jones sitar. We’re a little
appeal: it plays well, has a lovely sound and, best of all, nonplussed by the performance of the Convertible, but
it’s the cheapest to boot. For those Indian-influenced the right player could find a home with its niche tones
moments, the Baby Sitar is similarly convincing, at least and retro looks.

Danelectro DBS68 Danelectro Danelectro

Baby Sitar £599 DC59TSB-12 £499 DCV56CR
At a glance At a glance Convertible £599
Body: Masonite Body: Masonite At a glance
Neck: Maple Neck: Maple Body: Masonite
Scale: 635mm (25”) Scale: 635mm (25”) Neck: Maple
Fingerboard: Rosewood Fingerboard: Scale: 635mm (25”)
Frets: 21 Rosewood Fingerboard:
Pickups: 1x lipstick Frets: 21 Rosewood
single coil Pickups: 2x lipstick Frets: 21
Controls: 1x volume, single coils Pickups: 1x ’56 lipstick
1x tone Controls: 1x volume, single coil, piezo element
Hardware: Gotoh Buzz 1x tone in bridge
Bridge, vintage-style tuners Hardware: Fixed Controls: 1x volume,
Left-handed: No 12-string bridge, 1x tone, 1x blend
Finish: Tobacco Burst only Schaller-style tuners w/ centre notch
Contact: Left-handed: No Hardware: Fixed
JHS 0113 286 5381 Finish: Black, Sunburst, 12-string bridge,
www.danelectro.com Tobacco Burst (shown) vintage-style tuners
Left-handed: No
Finish: Black, Tobacco
Burst, Vintage White
(shown)

Features  Features  Features 

SUMMARY

SUMMARY

SUMMARY

sound quality  sound quality  sound quality 

Value for money  Value for money  Value for money 
Build Quality  Build Quality  Build Quality 
Playability Playability Playability
Overall rating  Overall rating  Overall rating 

82 august 2015
 REVIEw
Juketone Royal Blood 10

Controls
Like original tweed amps, Cabinet
the controls are simple: one
volume and one tone. 11 is A smartly finished
not enough; these go to 12! ply cabinet covered in
real vintage tweed cloth
– the Juketone looks the
business and should
handle the knocks

Speaker
A single Celestion G10
loudspeaker cajoles every
last decibel out of the Royal
Blood’s five watts; it’s plenty at a glance
loud enough for live practice
and small gigs
Type: All-valve combo
with valve rectifier
Output: 5W
Speaker: 1x Celestion 10”
Valves: 1x 12AX7, 1x 6V6,
1x 6Z4 (Chinese)
Controls: Volume, tone
Sockets: Input
Juketone Weight: 6kg
Dimensions: [HxWxD]

Royal Blood 10 £279 395 x 365 x 235mm

Contact: Juketone
0843 289 8090
Point-to-point tweed tone – at an old-school price! www.juketone.co.uk

The most coveted small

combos of all are the
tweed amps made by Fender in the
– Chinese and American – and
while they do the same job, the
pin-outs are different, so they can’t
including a ’72 Les Paul Custom
and a Fender Custom Shop 1960
Strat. The Juketone’s warm,
ZZ Top, Dominos-era Clapton,
The Royal Scam-era Carlton and
many more.
1950s – particularly the Champ, be swapped. throaty voice suits both guitars The Juketone sounds great,
Princeton and Deluxe, secret Behind the nicely covered tweed equally well – although we feel and while it doesn’t have the
weapons for legions of top players cabinet and brown grille is a very it could do with a touch more finesse some original Princetons
and used for some of the most solid welded-steel chassis with presence in the upper frequencies. and boutique replicas offer, the
iconic guitar tracks ever recorded. the electronic components hand The tone control still works, but bottom line is this: £279. There
Not surprisingly, the simple circuits wired to a tag board, and chassis- for guitars with darker, warm- aren’t many hand-wired pure
of these amps have made them mounted valve bases. No PCBs sounding pickups, the Juketone valve tweed replicas for that price,
favourites for DIY builders, while and you’d be hard pressed to buy
many boutique amp companies
started with tweed replicas, many
of them superbly-built, but high-
The Juketone sounds great, a DIY kit of this quality for less. For
the money, it’s amazing value. If
you want to improve the high-end
priced. Now, along comes a brand
that could challenge that.
Juketone Amplifiers hails from
and for the money, it’s amazing performance, a decent alnico
speaker like Jensen’s popular
P10R will get you most of the way,
the UK, with manufacturing in here; it’s a simple circuit with needs a dash of extra zing to lift as well as being more historically
China to keep the costs down. around 20 resistors and capacitors, the highs. For guitars with brighter correct. Go tweed, go Juketone!
The company’s Royal Blood 10 and the quality of wiring is very pickups, such as those on our Nick Guppy
model is inspired by the late-50s good. With power delivery coming ’60 Strat replica, the response is
narrow panel tweed Princeton, from a single Celestion G10, the more or less perfect. Setting the Features 
using a single 12AX7 preamp valve Royal Blood 10 is good-looking, if amp up couldn’t be simpler: turn
SUMMARY

sound quality 
driving a 6V6 for around five watts’ a little chunky, and robust enough up the volume and adjust tone to Value for money 
output power, with a 6Z4 rectifier to stand up to any abuse. taste. The Juketone stays clean
Build Quality 
valve instead of the original 5Y3. We break out some of the best up to roughly halfway – after, it
It’s worth pointing out here that tone machines we can lay our doesn’t really get louder, just more usability 
the 6Z4 comes in two flavours hands on to test the Royal Blood, overdriven: it’s instant early Overall rating 

84 august 2015
 gear DigiTech Trio

Style
If you’re looking to hone your chops across
the big wide world of genres, the Trio’s a great
way to start – blues, pop, alt-rock, rock,
country, R&B and jazz are all at your disposal

Footswitch
This is how you teach the Trio
what to play: press and start
strumming to activate its
‘learning’ state, then press
again to stop learning and
start the backing. Simple!

at a glance
Type: Bass & drums backing pedal
Controls: Genre, style, bass,
Outputs tempo, drums; Guitar FX button,
You can run your guitar and backing
through an amp only with specially EQ’d
3x part buttons, alt time button,
drum and bass, a mixer only with cab
emulation on your guitar, send your
headphone level
backing to a mixer and your guitar to an Sockets: Input, control input,
amp, or just plug in some headphones
amp output, mixer output,
headphone output
Bypass: True-bypass
Power: 9V power supply

DigiTech Trio £149 only (included)

Contact: Sound Technology
01462 480000
Ditch your band! There’s a power Trio in town www.digitech.com

Imagine a band
where
the bassist never hit a duff note
play with, each of which has 12
variations; you can go from jazz
(complete with smooth double
where the pedal starts acting like
your old bandmates, too. Although
DigiTech reckons the Trio
even easier with DigiTech’s FS3X
footswitch (£24.99), which can
enable the ‘learning’ state and
and the drummer always stuck to bass) and blues through to rock automatically chooses the best cycle through styles and parts.
the beat – and neither of them and alt-rock… although bafflingly, pattern for what you’re playing, However, although the pedal
questioned your ideas. The Trio the latter is half made up of reggae half the time, we found options retains the three parts when it’s
is here to put a stop to intra-band and jazz-funk jams. Press the that were better suited to what we powered off, that’s your lot, so you
politics by providing the backing Guitar FX button and you get a had in mind on the style knob, can’t save an entire set.
itself – it ‘listens’ to what you play, genre-specific effect, too: while the basslines can get a little, There’s huge potential in the
then creates drum and bass compression and reverb on jazz, er, busy, shall we say… Trio concept. Although the pedal’s
patterns to match. This, ladies and not quite cut out for live use
gentlemen, is the future.
You start by selecting a part via
the onboard buttons – the Trio can
The Trio’s sounds work (fingers crossed DigiTech lets us
use that USB port to back up our
backing), as a practising and
learn up to three – then press the
footswitch to enable the pedal’s
‘listening’ state. As soon as you
nicely behind a guitar part songwriting tool, it’s astonishingly
quick and easy to use. It may not
have your bandmates packing
strum your first chord, the Trio and varying levels of overdrives for Still, there’s tweakage aplenty: their bags just yet, but it’s enough
starts learning and stops when you blues and rock. the Alt Time button gives you to make ’em sweat.
hit the switch once more. In come There are caveats to the Trio’s instant access to half- or double- Michael Brown
the bass and drums, matching the learning capabilities. For starters, time, while the pedal’s three parts
key and tempo of your chord it’s for chord progressions not riffs, are set up so that one is verse, two Features 
progression, and you can start or and you’ll have more success with is chorus and three is bridge, and
SUMMARY

sound quality 
stop it with the footswitch. strumming than arpeggiating. the Trio adjusts the intensity of the Value for money 
The Trio’s actual sounds may not It also pays to simplify extended backing to match. Holding the
Build Quality 
be hugely dynamic, but they work chords: the Trio can get confused footswitch during playback
nicely behind a guitar part. You get if it starts focusing on the wrong transitions to the next part at the usability 
seven different genres of groove to intervals. There are moments end of the current part’s cycle – it’s Overall rating 

august 2015 85
 round-up
mr black pedals

Mr Black pedal round-up £139

Strap yourself in as we delve into the domain of Mr Black, where no delay,
reverb, phaser or distortion is what it seems
Mr Black does not deal
in ordinary
pedals. Mr Black specialises in sounds you
can’t get anywhere else. Originally started as a
‘special division’ of Deville Electronics back in
2012, Mr. Black’s handmade, Oregon-born
creations are now arguably more widely
known than Mr Deville’s. Readers with
elephantine memory banks may remember
the post-rock round table of issue 260, where
Maybeshewill and This Will Destroy You sung
the praises – and shamelessly sought
endorsements – of Mr Black’s noisemakers,
and that gives you an idea of what these
pedals are aiming for: angelic reverbs,
off-kilter delays and modulation that’s
anything but vintage. The company has 15
effect pedals in its ranks, and we’ve aimed to
give a brief overview of the range in this
round-up, with delay, reverb, phaser and
distortion in our sights. Let’s get out of the blue
and into the Black…

Mr Black Mr Black
Downward Spiral £139 GilaMondo £139
Nine Inch Trails Going through an eight-stage phase
Imagine a delay where every repeat The GilaMondo is not your average
gradually descends in pitch – it sounds phaser: for starters, it has eight stages
like a nightmare, and that’s the point. of sweep, which offers a thicker,
The Downward Spiral’s pitch descent smoother tone than your old Phase 90.
increases as you up the regen (aka It’s a funky swirl, which gets hollow at
feedback) control, right up to minutes of the bottom and almost flange-like with
trails until the notes become a garbled judicious use of the bonus (ie, regen)
mess. Lower regen settings sound like control. However, take the width
heavily vibrato’d delays across the knob to its minimum and the phase
20ms–800ms range, with the descent frequency freezes, leaving the bonus
only apparent when you stop playing. knob to tweak the freq. It’s like using a
It’s not the easiest to use creatively, but Q filter, and running it after distortion
for adding a sense of derangement to creates honky tones that are perfect for
any passage, it’s a tortured treat. recording. Bonus, indeed!

86 august 2015
 GEAR Round-up

Mr Black Eterna
Mr Black Gold Modified £139
Hope springs Eterna

specialises The original Eterna reverb has

become a cult classic thanks to its divine

in off-kilter shimmer (ie, one-octave up) ’verbs, and

the Gold Modified edition refines the
format with mammoth 60-second tails,

sounds plus four-octave processing and more

mid-focus. The Eterna sounds heavenly,
with dead-on tracking and a keyboard-
like pad texture that doesn’t sound
synthetic like some shimmer ’verbs,
plus you can dial out the shimmer for a
massive cave-like reverb. This is one of
the best ambient pedals we’ve heard.

Mr Black
ThunderClaw £139
Thunder, thunder, ThunderClaw!
The most conventional of the pedals
on test, the ThunderClaw shoots for big,
amp-like high-gain distortion, and boy,
does it score. There’s an alt/stoner vibe
here that’s ace for Mastodon with a
bridge humbucker, while flicking over to
the neck is instant Kyuss. There’s plenty
of versatility, too, thanks to an active EQ
circuit: pushing the bass and treble gives
the TC a fuzzy RAT-like edge. A silicon
fuzz-like palm-muting response means
it’s not our first pick for classic metal,
but for alt, stoner and doom, we urge
you to plug in.
At A Glance
Type: Pitch-shifting
delay, phaser,
pitch-shifting reverb &
distortion pedals
Controls: Downward
Spiral: level, regen, time;
GilaMondo: width, Mr Black Downward Spiral Mr Black GilaMondo
bonus, rate; Eterna Gold Features  Features 
SUMMARY

SUMMARY

Modified: mix, shimmer, sound quality  sound quality 

decay; ThunderClaw: Value for money  Value for money 
output, distort, Build Quality  Build Quality 
bass, treble USability  USability 
Sockets: Input, Overall rating  Overall rating 
output, power
Bypass: True bypass
Mr Black Eterna Gold Modified  Mr Black ThunderClaw
Power: 9V battery,
Features  Features 
9V power supply
SUMMARY

SUMMARY

sound quality  sound quality 

(not included) Value for money  Value for money 
Contact: Andertons Build Quality  Build Quality 
Music 01483 456777 USability  USability 
www.mrblackpedals.com Overall rating  Overall rating 

august 2015 87
 REVIEw
TC ELECTRONIC / SoNUus

TC Electronic
Viscous Vibe £95
It’s got that Shin-Ei (uni-)vibe
In addition to last month’s
Helix Phaser, the Viscous
Vibe aims to fill a mod-shaped hole
captures that unmistakable throb
to a tee; it’s a seriously impressive
reincarnation that’s up there with
in the TonePrint line-up. TC spent the best we’ve heard. It sounds
hours with an original 60s Shin-Ei killer with an overdriven amp, and
Uni-Vibe to replicate its thick, lush the volume control allows you dial
swirls, while adding modern in how hard the vibe hits the front
functionality. TC has thought of end. Switching to vibrato provides
everything: there’s a big ol’ speed proper pitch wobbles, moving
knob, which you can adjust with from subtle chord sways to Type: Uni-vibe pedal
your foot, and the speed gradually Leslie-style warbles at higher rates. Controls: Speed, intensity,
ramps up and down between the There’s a lot of TonePrint trickery, volume, mode, switch
old and new rates. The same goes too: Devin Townsend’s ’Print opts
for bypassing: the speed ramps up for enhanced pitch variation, while
Sockets: 2x inputs, 2x outputs,
when you switch it on, and slows TC’s offerings can give you hollow, power, USB
Features 
down when you bypass. What’s flangier characters. There’s very Bypass: True- or buffered bypass

SUMMARY
sound quality 
more, holding the footswitch also little to fault here. With the VV, TC Power: 9V battery, 9V power supply Value for money 
induces ramping, and the LED Electronic may have just made the (not included) Build Quality 
flashes in time with the rate. perfect compact Uni-Vibe – and
Contact: TC Electronic 0800 917 8926 usability 
Most classic Uni-Vibe tones can that will make guitarists VV happy.
be found on chorus mode, which Michael Brown www.tcelectronic.com Overall rating 

Sonuus Voluum £179

The most voluminous of volume pedals
Volume has
never
been the sexiest effect, but the
swells using envelope control, gate
cuts your decay short for synth-like
blips, plus you get full treadle or
genius Brits at Sonuus might just envelope control of tremolo rate
change all that with the Voluum. It and rhythmic stutters. There’s no
packs five analogue effects – noise faulting the ‘normal’ sounds,
gate, compressor, LFO (tremolo), either: the compressor is as
volume and limiter – all of which transparent and smooth as any
can run at once and offer a optical unit we’ve heard, while the
staggering amount of flexibility volume pedal itself is hugely
thanks to digital control. Effects customisable, and can even be
are tweaked using the minimal used as a boost. The amount of Type: Volume/compressor/limiter/
control layout and LED display – potential here is stupefying, so the noise gate/tremolo pedal
initially, we were a little factory presets make a solid Controls: Effect knob, up/down buttons,
flummoxed, but 15 minutes with launchpad for your own patches save button, active button, hi/lo button,
the well-written manual explained – and while we would have liked a
all: press the effects knob to select bigger screen on the pedal itself,
control button
the effect, the active button to Sonuus’s Editor for Mac/PC makes Sockets: Input, output, MIDI in/out, Features 
activate it, then use the up/down creating and saving presets a USB, power
SUMMARY

sound quality 
buttons to scroll through whole lot easier. Provided you Bypass: True- or buffered bypass Value for money 
parameters and twist the effects have time to spare, the flexibility Power: 9V power supply (not included), Build Quality 
knob to adjust ’em. and quality of tones make the
4x AA batteries, USB usability 
Every effect defies expectations: Voluum well worth getting lost in.
volume can give you string-like Michael Brown Contact: Sonuus www.sonuus.com Overall rating 

88 august 2015
 gear accessories

Bare
Knuckle/
Heistercamp
Guitar Strap
Foot in both ’camps
With its straps already slung
around the shoulders of the
likes of Royal Blood’s Mike Kerr,
Heistercamp is rapidly garnering
a mighty reputation. Its products
have also found favour with Bare
Knuckle founder Tim Mills, who
took it upon himself to share
his ideas for the perfect guitar
strap with the Heistercamp
team, resulting in this finally
crafted piece of leather. It’s
ready for onstage action, too,
with a three-slot pick pocket,
positioned for easy access,
mid-performance, plus a
cable-tidy loop. Straps don’t Jeds Peds kits
get better – or much more Pedal kit and caboodle
expensive – than this.
(from £99, Want to try your hand at putting a pedal board and all components, an enclosure
bareknucklepickups.co.uk) together? Point your browser to Jeds Peds, (with drilling an optional extra), nine-volt
which now offers full PCB kits of certain, clips, 3DPT footswitch and jacks, plus LED
ahem, famous designs, starting at £20 for a and wire to piece it all together. If soldering
simple A/B channel selector up to £45.50 irons make you nervous, though, never fear
for the mammoth Thrice Wreck distortion – Jed sells the pedals fully built, too!
build. Each kit includes a printed circuit (from £20, www.jedspeds.co.uk)

Snark SM-1
Touch Screen
Metronome
In touch and in time
We’re not sure if the world’s
been crying out for a touchscreen
metronome, but Snark has
put together a great package
Fretfunk here. Powered by a pair of
Strap-Mounted AAA batteries, the SM-1
is designed to tick with six
Guitar Pick Holders TG reader sounds – wood block, hand
clap, cowbell, snare, cricket
Uptown Fretfunk
Excellently monikered
exclusive!
Get 10% off any Fre
chirp and, brilliantly, dog
bark – and serious volume.
tfunk
Portsmouth accessory mogul Fretfunk products available Controlling it is intuitive
from
has a wealth of useful guitar-related www.fretfunk.co.uk thanks to tap tempo,
using
doohickies to its name, but none more so the code total while you also get a range
than these strap-mountable pick holders. expires of tempos from 40 to
The Classic Edition is crafted from plastic, 3 August 250bpm, 15 rhythms
fits most regular (ie, non-padded) straps and and a headphone jack.
holds up to six picks. For our money, however, it’s worth shelling out Good thing, too: this
for the Deluxe Edition (£5.49), which features a grippy silicone rubber thing is loud, and well
construction that’s easier to mount and pack with picks. Either way, it’s worth a go if your
a≈handy solution to onstage dropped-pick panics. Top stuff! phone isn’t cutting it.
(from £3.49, www.fretfunk.co.uk) (£24.99, www.snarktuners.com)

august 2015   89
 lass
C ackic
tr

The Who
I Can’t
Explain
The Who’s first hit single remains the power-pop gem
AtlasIcons.com © Neil Zlozower

that it was 50 years ago… and it’s only got five chords!

92 august 2015
 classic track the who |
SOUND ADVICE
The Who’s first hit single burst into
the UK charts in 1965, a pounding tune
marking the beginning of a string of
high-octane hits that preceded punk in Everything you need to know before playing ‘I Can’t Explain’
the UK by over a decade. I Can’t Explain
contains only five chords, but don’t
dismiss it as a doddle…
The rhythm playing is tight, punchy Get the sound CHANNEL overdrive
and delivered with the force of a
speeding steam train. Guitarist Pete For an authentic ‘original’
sound, you’ll need an electric
Townshend reputedly used heavy 12-string guitar such as the
gauge strings on his Rickenbacker 360, Rickenbacker 360 used on the
recording. It doesn’t matter if
which, putting debatable suggestions of
‘better’ tone to one side, would allow
you haven’t got one, though – gain bass mid treble reverb
Townshend himself has used
him to strum harder without snapping Fender Stratocasters and
Gibson Les Pauls and SGs for
strings or sending them out of tune. live performances. He tends to
But all that aggression needs to be dial in a higher-gain tone than
tempered with control. There’s space you’ll hear on the original track
too, so the Fender Bassman
between those chord stabs and you’ll used on the recording is by
need tidy fret-hand muting and a steady no means essential. Basically,
strumming arm to bring it out. it’s open season as far as your
tone goes!
The solos are played typically loosely;
technically, anyway. But those two short
lead breaks pack a punch. Feel free to
improvise – Townshend improvises all
the time – just keep in mind that it’s all
about the delivery, not the details.

Chords
x x o o o x x x
I Can’t Explain is
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
simple in terms of 7 5 7 4 5
chords used. The
main riff uses E, D, A 2 3 2 2 2
and B barre chords.
The bridge sections 3 3 3 3 4 3 4 3 4 3 3 3
introduce the open E
shape and the C#m.
Use open chords if
you find barre chords E E A B C#m D
a challenge.

Scales o o o o o o
The first shape is
the most common
1 1 1
guitar scale of them
all, the E minor 2
pentatonic scale
(E G A B D) played
in open position.
2 2 2 2 2 2
The second shape
is also the E minor
pentatonic because
it contains the same
3 3 3 3
notes; it’s just played
slightly higher up the
fretboard. Townshend 4 4 4 4 4
takes notes from both
shapes in Solo 2.

E minor pentatonic scale E minor pentatonic scale

august 2015 93
 classic track the who | Full track + backing (tracks 35-36)
this song comes with a full demo track and a backing track
(minus guitar) on your CD. Simply insert the disc in your player,
press play and jam along, guitaraoke style!
I Can’t explain
Words and Music by Peter Townshend
© 1965 Fabulous Music Limited
Worldwide reproduced by kind permission of Essex
Music Group/Fabulous Music Limited.

the who
All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured.

full
TGR269.thewho.fig01.musx
File Date: 18:50 15/06/2015
I Can’t Explain tab The Who
I Can’t Explain

Page 1 of 1 Contributor: Phil Capone

Notes: Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com

Intro
q =139

j j
E D A E D A E

## œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
& # # 44 œœ ‰ Œ n œœœ œœ Œ
œ œœ ‰ Œ œœ œ Œ .. œ ‰ Œ n œœœ œœ Œ
œ œœ ‰ Œ œœ œ Œ ..
nœ œ œ œ œ nœ œ œ œ
J œ J œ
T
5
. 5
.
. .
9 7 7 5 9 9 9 7 7 5 9 9
A 9
9
7
7
7
7
6
7
9
9
9
9
9
9
7
7
7
7
6
7
9
9
9
9
B 7 5 5 7
5
7 7 7 5 5 7
5
7 7
1
cont. sim.
TGR269.thewho.fig02.musx I Can’t Explain
File Date: 17:27 15/06/2015 The Who
This intro sets out the rhythm for much of the track. In live performances Townshend mixes in open shapes, but closed-position barre chords are better suited to the crisp, clean sound of the original
Page 1 Use
recording. of 1
aggressive down-picking and keep the idle strings muted with your fret hand. Contributor: Phil Capone
Notes: Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com

Chorus 1
1. 2. 3. 4.

j j
E D A E B E D A E

# # # # 4 . œœœ ‰ Œ n œœ œœ Œ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œœ œœ œœ
& 4 . œ œ œœ œœ ‰ Œ œœ œœ Œ .. œœ ‰ Œ
œ œœ œœ Œ .. œœ ‰ Œ n œœœ œœ Œ
œœ œœ ‰ Œ œœ œœ Œ ..
nœ œ œ œ nœ œ
J œ J œ
0:10 J
T . 99 5
. 7
. 5
.
. . . .
7 7 5 9 9 7 9 9 9 7 7 5 9 9
A 9
7 7
7 7
6
7
9
9
9
9
8
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
7
7
7
7
6
7
9
9
9
9
B
TGR269.thewho.fig03.musx
7 5 5 7
5
7 7 9
7
7 7 7 5 5 7
5 I Can’t
7 7 Explain
1
File Date: 18:50 15/06/2015 The Who
Page 1 of 1 Contributor: Phil Capone
Notes: Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com
This is essentially the same as the intro, but with the addition of a B chord in bar 3. Keep the aggressive downstrokes going – you should be getting a feel for it by now!

Verse 1 & 2
j j >œ
E D A E D B

## œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ ww
n œœœ œœ Œ œ # œœœ
& # # 44 .. œœ ‰ Œ n œ
œœ œœ ‰ Œ œ œœ Œ .. œœ ‰ ‰ œ Œ
Play 3 times
ww
nœ œ œ nœ œ w
0:31 J œ J œ w
. .
1:06
5 7
T
. .
9 7 7 5 9 9 9 7 7
Guitars and backing: Phil Capone

A 9
9
7
7
7
7
6
7
9
9
9
9
9
9
7
7
8
9
B 7 5 5 7
5
7 7 7 5 9
7
1

The down-picked chord stabs continue here, ending on the long, ringing B chord (in bars 3 and 4) that leads into the first bridge. Keep track of the pulse in here so that you come back in on time.

94 august 2015
TGR269.thewho.fig04.musx I Can’t Explain
File Date: 17:36 15/06/2015
Page 1 of 1
Notes:
classic track
Contributor:
Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com
the who
Phil Capone
The Who
|
Bridge 1
C#m
œ œ œ œ
E A B

## œœ ˙˙ œ œ œ œ
& # # 44
œœ ..
œœ ..
œœ œœ œ .
œ œ ‰ n œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ ‰ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
œ. J J œ
0:47
œ.
let ring throughout
0 0 4 5 5 5 5 7 7 7 7
T 0 0 0 5 5 5 5 5 7 7 7 7
A 1
2 6
6 7 6 6
7
7 6 6
7
9 8 8
9
9 8 8
9
B 2
0
4
1

TGR269.thewho.fig05.musx I Can’t Explain

File
Bars Date: 17:36
1 and 2 are loosely15/06/2015 The
picked in a ‘half strummed, half picked’ manner, so treat the notation as more of a guide here; fret the E and C#m chords and follow an eighth-note picking/strumming Who
pattern
Page 1 ofcome
and it should 1 together. Bars 3 and 4 are played more rigidly, so follow the tab more closely. Contributor: Phil Capone
Notes: Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com

Chorus 2 & 3
j
E D A E

## œœ œœ œœ œœ
n œœœ œœ
& # # 44 .. œœ ‰ Œ
nœ œœ Œ œœ
œ ‰ Œ œœ œœ Œ ..
0:51 J œ
. .
1:26
5
T
. .
9 7 7 5 9 9
A 9
9
7
7
7
7
6
7
9
9
9
9
B 7 5 5 7
5
7 7
1

TGR269.thewho.fig06.musx I Can’t Explain

TGR269.thewho.fig06.musx I Can’t Explain
File Date: 10:29 15/06/2015 The Who
File
ThisDate:
chorus10:29
is half the15/06/2015
length and simpler than chorus 1, but notice that it crops up twice – after the two bridge sections. The Who
Page 1 of 1 Contributor: Phil Capone
Page 1 of 1 Contributor: Phil Capone
Notes: Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com
Notes: Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com

Solo 1

## # ## # 4 E œœ œœ œœ
E D A E

œœ œœ nn œœœ œœ œœ œœ
D A E

& # # 44 œœ
& œœ œœ
œ œœ œœ œœ œœ nn œœ œœ œœ
0:58
0:58 let ring
let ring
4 4 2
T 4 4 2 0 2 2 2
T
A 2 4 4 2 0 2 2 2 2
A
B
2 4 4 2 0 2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2 2
0
0 4 2
B1 2 4 2
1

## # ## #
D A E

nn œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
D A E

œœ
& ## œ
& œœ. œœ. œœ œœ œœ. œœ. œœ nn œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
œ . . . .
j
# œj
#œ

T 3 3 3 3 2 3 3
T
A 3
2 3
2 3
2 3
2 2 3
2 3
2
A
B
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 0 0 2 0

⇥⇥ ⇥⇥ ⇥⇥ ≤≤ ⇥⇥ ⇥⇥
0 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 0 2 0 1 2 0 2 2 0 2
B3 0 2 0 1 2 2 2
3

This solo is an explosion of chord ideas with only very short scale lines; rhythm often drives Townshend’s solos, so aim to deliver a fierce performance and don’t worry about the odd mistake. Note
that the chord names over the notation outline the progression implied by the backing, not the actual chords played.

august 2015 95
 TGR269.thewho.fig07.musx I Can’t Explain
File Date: 10:29 15/06/2015 The Who
Page 1 of 1
classic track the who
Notes:
| Contributor: Phil Capone
Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com

Bridge 2
C#m
j
E E6 N.C. A B

## œœ .. œœ œœ œœ œœœ œœ œœœ œœ
& # # 44 œœ .. œœ œœ œœ œ
œ œœ œœœ œ œ œœ n n œœœ
œ œ œ œ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œœ . œœ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
1:19 .
0 0 0 4 4 4
T 0 0 2 5 5 5 0
A 1
2
1
2
1
2
6
6 6
6
6 6
6
6
0
0
B 2
0
2
0
4 4 4 4 4 0 7
5
7
5
9
5
7
5
7
5
7
5
9
5
7
5
9
7
9
7
11
7
9
7
12
7
12
7
11
7
1

TGR269.thewho.fig08.musx I Can’t Explain

TGR269.thewho.fig08.musx
File Date: 17:34 15/06/2015 I Can’t
Similarly to Bridge 1, this part starts off loosely and ends with a straighter, more rigid feel. The rock ‘n’ roll style groove in bars 3 and 4 can be a bit of a stretch, so make sure you practise Explain
this.The
We Who
File Date:
Page 1 of 17:34
1 15/06/2015
recommend using first, second and fourth fingers (although some players prefer to use their third finger instead of the second).
Contributor: PhilThe Who
Capone
Page 1 of 1
Notes: EngravedContributor: Phil Capone
by DigitalMusicArt.Com
Notes: Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com
Solo 2

## n œEœ œœ . œ. œœ. n œœ. 3œœ. œœ. Dœœ. 3œœ. œœ. n œœ.

E D A E D A E

& # # # ## 444 n œœ
œœœ
n œ œ nn œœœ. 3œ œ nœ œ E œ
3 3 3

œ œ œ œ nœ
1/4

œœ œ œœ. œœ. n œœ. œœ. œœ. œœ. œœ. œœ. n œœ.

D A E A

# 4
& 1:33 œ nœ nœ œ œ œ nœ œ nœ œ œ œ nœ
1/4

œ nœ œ œ nœ
0 0
T 1:33 3 3 3 0 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
A 0 0
2 0 0 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 2 0 1/4
T
B 3 3 3 0
0 2 2
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
2 0 2 0
0
A1 2 0
0 2
0
2
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 2 0
2 0 2 0
31/4
B 0
3
1

# ## n œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œj œœ œœ œœ n œ œ œ œ j Dœœ œ
D A E D A E

& #### œœ œœ œœ œœ # œœ
j

œœ n œ œ œ œ œ œj œœ œ n œœ œ n n œœ œœ œœ œœ
œ D j j

œœ
j A j nœ E nœ
n œœ œœ œœ œœ œj œœ œœ
A E

& # œ
œ œ
œœ œœ œœ. œœ œœ # œœ
j
œ œ œ nœ œ nœ œœ œœ
œ j j
j j nœ nœ
nœ
œ œ
.
T
œ 0
3 5
0
7
0
5 0 0 3
0
5
0
5 3
0
5
0
5 3
0
5
3 0
3 0 0 0
A 0 0 0
2 4 2 4
0 0 0 0 0 3 0
2 2 4 2 0 0 2 2 4 4 4 2
T
B 3 5 7 5 0 0 3 5 5 3 5 5 3 5 3 0 0 0
2 0 2 2 4 4 6 2

A5 0 2 4 2 4 2 2 4 2 0
2
0
0
2
2
2
2
4
4
4
4
4
6
2
2
B 0
5

TGR269.thewho.fig09.musx I Can’t Explain

File Date: 17:34 15/06/2015 The Who
The E minor pentatonic scale forms the basis of this solo, which is delivered with Townshend’s typical relentless energy. He usually improvises both solos, so you can either take the authentic approach
and learn it note-for-note or alternatively, use a few select phrases in your own improv.
Page 1 of 1 Contributor: Phil Capone
Notes: Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com

Outro chorus
1. 2. 3. 4.

j j U
E D A E A E

œœ œœ j
## œœ n œœœ œœ œœ œœ œœ ˙˙
& # # 44 .. œœ ‰ Œ nœ œœ Œ œœ ‰ Œ
œ œœ œœ Œ .. œœ ‰
œ ‰ œœ ˙˙
J œ œ œœ ˙˙
1:46

T . 5
. 5 0

. .
9 7 7 5 9 9 5 0
A 9
9
7
7
7
7
6
7
9
9
9
9
6
7
1
2
B 7 5 5 7
5
7 7 7
5
2
0
1

There are no big surprises here as the main chord riff comes back in to close out the track. Notice that the track ends on an open E shape, rather than the barre chords used elsewhere.

96 august 2015
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Songbook

John Newman
Love Me
Again
TG arranges John Newman’s
massive 2013 soul-pop hit
for acoustic guitar
We love a good pop song here at TG
Towers and this soul-tinged hit single
from Yorkshire-born John Newman is
an absolute banger! Sure, there’s not a
whole lot of guitar in the original track
(mostly just textural electric sounds),
but the simple four-chord progression is
perfect summertime busking material,
and the piano that opens the chorus
could almost be a strummed guitar;
just check out the tab on the opposite
page (and the backing track) and you’ll
see how those piano rhythms translate
seamlessly onto the six-string.
We’ve used barre chords, which
are just the job for tight, funky rhythm
playing. If you find barre chords a bit of
a challenge, you can use easier ‘partial’
© Bruno Marzi/Splash News/Corbis

barre chords. Simply start with the

shapes we’ve used, but strum only the
first, second, third and fourth strings. This
leaves you with fewer strings to barre
across and the partial barre chords still
sound great in the context of funky soul.

98 august 2015
 Open-Mic Songbook John Newman |
Love Me Again
Also Available: Ed Sheeran – X (TAB) Words and Music by John Newman and Stephen Booker
Guitar TAB notation, with lyrics & chord © 2013. B Unique Music and Kobalt Music Copyrights.
names, 112pp. £16.95 ref. AM1009591 Kobalt Music Publishing Limited, Cake Records and
All 16 songs from Ed’s second album, Universal Music Publishing Limited

John Newman
all arranged for guitar, in normal notation Reproduced by kind permission of Music Sales Limited,
and tablature, with guitar boxes and Hal Leonard Corporation and Kobalt Music Publishing
chord names; including the hits Sing,
TGR269.strumalong.fig01.musx
Thinking Out Loud, Don’t, Bloodstream Strumalong
All Rights Reserved. - Love
International Me
Copyright Again
Secured.
and 12 more. Complete with full lyrics.
File Date: 07:44 10/06/2015 John Newman

Love Me Again
www.musicroom.com
Page 1 of 1 Contributor: Steve Allsworth
Notes: Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com

Chorus
q =126
Bb
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
b 4 œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
Gm

œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
& b 4 .. œœœ œœ
œœ
œœ
œ
œœ
œ
œœ
œ
œœ
œ
œœ
œ
œœ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
0:49

T . 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 6 6 6 6 6 6 6

.
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
A 3
5
3
5
3
5
3
5
3
5
3
5
3
5
7
8
7
8
7
8
7
8
7
8
7
8
7
8
B 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 8 8 8 8 8 8 8

⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ≤ ≤ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ cont. sim.
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 8
1

b œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ n œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ
Dm C

b
& œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ ..
œœ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
T
5 5 5 5 5 5 5 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
.
.
6 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
A 7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
B 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
3

We’ve arranged our guitar part to mirror the piano part of the opening chorus. Brisk strumming should give you much the same vibe as the original track. Keep an
eye out for the passing notes at the end of each bar. You only get a moment on each of these before the chord change.

Chords
These are the chord shapes that we’ve used in our arrangement. The barre chords suit the funky vibe of the tune, but there’s no reason at all why you shouldn’t try to
use different shapes of the same chords if that’s what you prefer.

x x
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
3 6 5 3
Guitars and backing: Steve Allsworth

2 2

3 4 3 4 3 4 2 3 4

Gm Bb Dm C

In
association Find your nearest SP Lifespan dealer here:
with www.quickfind.me/splifespans

august 2015 99
 guitar tab Backing track (track 37)
this song comes with a backing track (minus guitar)
on your CD. Simply insert the disc in your player,
press play and jam along guitaraoke style!

www.quickfind.me/splifespans
video
w w w.bit .l

Song sheet
y/tg269 v
ideo

Verse 1 Gm Bb
Chorus Gm B b Dm
Know I’ve done wrong, left your heart torn
I need to know now, know now
Dm C C
Is that what devils do?
Can you love me again?
Gm B b X2
Took you so low, where only fools go
Dm
Interlude
C
I shook the angel in you
Gm Bb Dm C
Gm Bb
Now I’m rising from the ground
Gm Bb Dm C
Dm C Can you love me again?
Rising up to you
Gm Bb
Filled with all the strength I found
Dm
There’s nothing I can’t do
C Middle Gm Bb Dm C X2
Gm B b
I told you once I can’t do this again
Dm C
Chorus Gm B b Dm
Do this again oh no
Gm B b
I need to know now, know now
I told you once I can’t do this again
C Dm C
Can you love me again? X4 Do this again oh no

Interlude Gm Bb Dm C
Breakdown Gm Bb Dm C
Can you love me again?
Gm B b Dm
I need to know now, know now
C
Can you love me again?
Verse 2 Bb
Outro
Gm
It’s unforgivable, I stole and burnt your soul
Dm
Is that what demons do?
C chorus Gm B b Dm
I need to know now, know now
Gm Bb C
They rule the worst of me, destroy everything,
Can you love me again?
Dm C Gm B b Dm
They bring down angels like you
I need to know now, know now
Gm Bb C
Now I’m rising from the ground
Oh – oh – oh
Dm C
Rising up to you
Gm Bb Dm
Gm Bb Can you love me again?
Filled with all the strength I found
C Gm
Dm C Can you love me again?
There’s nothing I can’t do b
B Dm C Dm
Can you love me again?

In
association Find your nearest SP Lifespan dealer here:
with www.quickfind.me/splifespans

100 august 2015

 guest lesson

Bumblefoot
In the first of our new three-part series of
lessons, Bumblefoot takes us through his
weird and wonderful approach to creativity
and technique, complete with thimble…
Bumblefoot (aka Ron Thal) is lengths using harmonics. The idea
best known as guitarist for Guns is to think in terms of changing the
N’ Roses since 2006, and, as a length of the string rather than
solo performer, he has 10 releases relying on the frets.
under his belt. Ron’s guitar style is This leads on to Ron’s unique
uniquely creative, always delivered thimble tapping technique, which

video
with jaw-dropping technical skill. is his way of extending the range of
Ron’s lesson begins with some the guitar beyond the confines of

lesson
scale exercises with a difference. the fretboard and opening up the
TGR269.guest.fig01.musx The goal is to train your brain to entire length Bumblefoot
of the strings,Part
right1up
eo
269vid09/06/2015 work in a slightly different way: to to the bridge. Any metal sewing
File
w w wDate: 12:47
.bit.ly/tg practise without thinking, so your thimbleGuest
shouldLesson - Ron
suffice. Thal
At first, this
Page 1 of 1 unconscious mind controls your Contributor:
technique will Charlie
take Griffiths
guesswork,
Notes: hands. Next, Ron talks about Engraved
but, withbypractice,
DigitalMusicArt.Com
you will begin to
dividing the string into different learn where these notes are.

C major scale
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
& 44 .. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 42 œ
œ œ œ ..

T . 7 8 7
.
. .
8 10 10 8
A 7 9 10
7 9 10 10 9 7
10 9 7
B 8 10
7 8 10 10 8 7
10

TGR269.guest.fig02.musx Bumblefoot Part 1

File Date: 12:48 09/06/2015 Guest Lesson - Ron Thal
Page
Repeat 1 this
of 1 C major scale shape (C D E F G A B) until you can play it automatically. Play short phrases if the shape is new to you. Ron
Contributor: Charlie
recommends not lookingGriffiths
at your
guitar and simply letting it happen without conscious thought. Free your mind!
Notes: Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com

A major scale
Words and transcription: Charlie Griffiths  Photo: Catherine Asanov

## œ œ œ
& # 44 .. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ 42 œ ..
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

T . 4 5 4
.
. .
5 7 7 5
A 4 6 7
4 6 7 7 6 4
7 6 4
B 5 7
4 5 7 7 5 4
7

Just like example 1, repeat this A major scale shape (A B C# D E F# G#) until it becomes automatic and this time, try occupying your mind with something else, such
as reciting the alphabet, or, as Ron suggests, sing it in a different key… This is fiendishly tough!

102 august 2015

TGR269.guest.fig03.musx Bumblefoot Part 1

|
File Date: 12:49 09/06/2015 Guest Lesson - Ron Thal
Page 1 of 1 techniques guest lesson
Contributor: Charlie Griffiths
Notes: Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com

F major scale in triplets

> œ >œ œ œ >œ œ œ >œ œ >
> œ >œ œ œ œ œ œœœœ>
4 . œ œ 2 3 ..
3

&b4 . œ œ œ œ
3

œ œ 4
3 3 3

œ œ œ œ > œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ >œ > > œ
> œ œ
>
3 3 3 3 3 3
3 3

T . 8 10 12 13 12 10 8
.
. .
6 8 10 11 11 10 8 6
A 3 5 7 8
5 7 9 9 7 5
8 7 5 3
B 3 5 7
TGR269.guest.fig04.musx
1 3 5 6
7 5 3
Bumblefoot
6 5 Part
3 1
File Date: 12:50 09/06/2015 Guest Lesson - Ron Thal
Page 1 of 1 Contributor: Charlie Griffiths
This F major scale shape (F G A B b C D E) alternates between four- and three-note-per-string shapes. Play the scale in triplets and accent the downbeat with a louder
Notes:
pick attack and play the two notes in between as quietly as you can; count out loud: ‘1 & a 2 & a 3 & a 4 & a’ to keep time. Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com

Triplets with accents 1

> > œ >œ œ œ >œ œ œ >œ œ œ >œ œ œ >
b 4 . œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ >œ œ 3 2 3 ..
& 4 . œ œ
3

œ œ 4
3 3 3

œ œ œ œ >œ > œ œ œ œ œ
œ >œ œ > 3
3 3 3 3 3 3
3
> œ
> œ
T . 8 10 12 13 12 10 8
.
. .
6 8 10 11 11 10 8 6
A 3 5 7 8
5 7 9 9 7 5
8 7 5 3
B 3 5 7
TGR269.guest.fig05.musx
1 3 5 6
7 5 3
Bumblefoot 6 5 Part
3 1
File Date: 12:51 09/06/2015 Guest Lesson - Ron Thal
Page 1 of 1 Contributor: Charlie Griffiths
Once again we’re continuing to use all four fingers for the four-note-per-string phrases and your first, second and third fingers for the three-note-per-string parts.
Notes:
This time, accent the second note of each triplet, so the ‘&’s are the loudest notes as you count ‘1 & a 2 & a 3 & a 4 & a’. Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com

Triplets with accents 2

> œ >œ œ œ >œ œ œ >œ œ œ >œ
4 > œ œ œ œ œ œ >œ œ > 3 2 3
b .
. œ œ œ œœœœœ 4 ..
3

& 4 œ
3 3 3

œ œ œ
œ > œ œ œ œ
œ
œœ> œ > > > œ œ
>
3 3 3 3 3 3
3 3

T . 8 10 12 13 12 10 8
.
. .
6 8 10 11 11 10 8 6
A 3 5 7 8
5 7 9 9 7 5
8 7 5 3
B 3 5 7
TGR269.guest.fig06.musx
1 3 5 6
7 5 3
Bumblefoot 6 5 Part
3 1
File Date: 12:58 09/06/2015 Guest Lesson - Ron Thal
Page 1 of 1 Contributor: Charlie Griffiths
As with
Notes: the previous examples, continue to play up and down the F major scale using relaxed, controlled alternate picking. Tap your
Engraved footby
on beats 1, 2, 3 and 4 and this
DigitalMusicArt.Com
time accent the third note of each triplet; the ‘a’s in the ‘1 & a 2 & a 3 & a 4 & a’ count.

Dividing the string with harmonics

‚in quarters‚ ‚ ‚ ‚in fifths ‚ ‚ ‚
## · ·
& # 44 ·
Dividing the string: in half in thirds

w NH TH 12 TH 24 NH NH TH 9 TH 16 TH 28
NH

T
A
B 0 12 7 19 5 5 12 24 4 4 9 16

In this interesting example, Ron shows that dividing a string into equal lengths always yields the same harmonic pitches. This is most obvious in bar 3, where you’ll
see that the 7th and 19th fret harmonics sound the same because they appear at one third and two thirds of the length of the string.

august 2015 103

 TGR269.guest.fig07.musx Bumblefoot Part 1
File Date: 13:00 09/06/2015 Guest Lesson - Ron Thal

Notes:
|
techniques guest lesson
Page 1 of 1 Contributor: Charlie Griffiths
Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com

Thimble tapping near the neck

˙ œ ˙
# ˙ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
*

& 44
TT TT

15 27 15 19 22 19 15 19 22 27
T
A
B
TGR269.guest.fig08.musx * thimble tap TGR269.guest.fig08b.musxBumblefoot Part 1
File Date: 13:39 01/06/2015 File Date: 14:54
Guest09/06/2015
Lesson - Ron Thal
Page
Place1aofthimble Page
1 on the fourth finger of your pick hand, select your bridge pickup, then play the 15th-fret G note. Judge where the1halfway
of 1 point between
Contributor: Charlie Griffiths
your fretting
finger and the bridge is and tap with your thimble. Finally, try the lick in bar 2: the thimble lets you produce notes beyond your highest fret.
Notes: Notes:
Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com

Thimble tapping near the bridge 1 Thimble-tapping notation

# œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ (œ) œ œ œ ( œ) œ œ œ œ)
Pitch created

& 44
by tap

ΠΠ&
(

Thimble
TT+2 TT+2 Tap TT+2
15 15 Actual fret 15 Two-fret tap
position
15 17 15 12 15 17 15 12 15 (17) 15 12 15 (17) 15 12 (17)
T T
A A Implied/virtual fret

B B
TGR269.guest.fig09.musx Bumblefoot Part 1
File Date: 14:49 01/06/2015 Guest Lesson - Ron Thal
Page
Bar 11shows
of 1traditional tapping; play the 12th and 15th frets with your fret hand and tap the 17th fret with Contributor:
Ron’s technique Charlie
is pretty Griffiths
whacky and
your pick hand. Bar 2 shows the Bumblefoot method: use the thimble to add a tone above the 15th fret by the tab is equally unusual. Here’s how we’ve
Notes:
tapping the equivalent of two frets space near the bridge. Select the neck pickup for this to work properly. Engraved
notated by DigitalMusicArt.Com
bridge-position thimble tapping.

Thimble tapping near the bridge 2

# 9 . ( œ) œ œ œ) œ œ) œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
Play 4 times

œ œ œ œ
Play 4 times

& 16 . .. .. ..
( (

TT+2 TT+2 TT+3

17 15 12

T . (19) 17 15 (17) 15 12 (15) 12 17

. . 19 17 15 17 15 12 15 12 17
.
A
B
. . . .
TGR269.guest.fig10.musx Bumblefoot Part 1
File Date: 14:49 01/06/2015 Guest Lesson - Ron Thal
Page
Start1 this
of 1 lick by selecting a neck pickup and thimble tapping near the bridge while simultaneously holding hold the 17th fret withContributor: Charlie
your fretting hand. Griffiths
If you’re in the
Notes:
right spot, you should hear a B note. If you’re not sure what that should sound like, try playing bar 2 using traditional tapping. Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com

Thimble tapping near the bridge 3

# ( œ) œ œ) œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ (œ) œ œ œ œ
& 42 .. œ) œ œ œ œ
Play 4 times Play 4 times
(
œ ( .. .. œ œ ..
3 3 3 3
TT+2 TT+3 3 3 3 3
15 12 TT+2 TT+3

. (17) . . .
15 12
15 12 (15) 12 15 17 15 12 15 12 15
T
. . . .
15 (17) 15 12 (15) 12 15 17 15 12 15 12
A
B

This is a two-string variation on the previous example. This time, move the thimble back and forth to change the pitch by a semitone. Perform the string change with a
fret-hand tap (shown in squares) at the 15th fret. Check your accuracy by comparing the thimble tapping version to the traditional tapping version in bar 2.

104 august 2015

 |
TGR269.guest.fig11.musx Bumblefoot Part 1
techniques
File Date:guest lesson
14:49 01/06/2015 Guest Lesson - Ron Thal
Page 1 of 1 Contributor: Charlie Griffiths
Notes: Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com

Thimble tapping near the bridge 4

œ œ œ (œ)
( œ) (œ)
#3 œ œ Œ #### ( œ) ( œ)
Π4
& 4 # 4
TT+4
15 19 22 19 15

15 19 22 19 15 (19) (23) (26) (23) (19)

T
A
B
1

( )
( œ) œ œ œ œ
# ## 4 œ ) ( œ ) ( ) ( œ ) ( œ ) ( ) ( œ ) ( œ ) ( ) ( œ ) ( œ ) ( ). œ) œ) ( œ)
& # #4
( (
(

3 3 3 3 3
TT+4
22 15 19 22 19 15 22 15 19 22 19 15 22 19 17 15
(26) (19) (23) (26) (23) (19) (26) (19) (23) (26) (23) (19) (26) (23) (21) (19 )
T
A
B
3

In this final example, Ron shows how you can pitch-shift an entire group of notes with a combination of thimble tapping and fret-hand legato. Bar 1 shows the notes at
their normal pitch; for the second and third bars, play exactly the same frets, but apply the thimble near the bridge to add four semitones.

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106 august 2015

 next month on sale 31 july

T h e a c o u s t i c
su r v i va l g u i d e
Everything you need to know about
getting a killer acoustic sound!

25
singer-songwriter
Slayer
Full int
and meerview
rhytht
worko m
al

chords you need ut

to know!

Learn Plus!
To play
Failure
MÖtley CrÜe
The Darkness
And So I Watch
Thin Lizzy – Emerald (full tab) You From Afar
The Fray – How To Save A Life Symphony X
 get your grades!
Rockschool: Premiere Exam / Lesson Six

Melody line
video
lesson
w w w.bit .l
y/tg269 v
id e o

In this final look at Rockschool’s Premiere exam piece Party People

you’ll learn the last eight bars and be ready to play the whole track
Over the last five lessons, you’ve In this lesson, you get a chance to backing track. Make sure you can
looked at the Rockschool Premiere revisit some of the techniques you change between the single-note and
Exam pieces Rock City and Party looked at as they appear in the final chordal sections quickly, without Let’s Rock Book
People. You’ve learned about whole
TGR269.grades_rock.fig01.musx eight bars of Party People. pausing for at all. Once you can play Party People
Buy Rockschool’s
notes, half notes and quarter notes Now you’ve learned the different the whole track without stopping,
File Date: 14:41 09/06/2015 Rock
‘Let’s Rock’ bookSchool
to
and their respective rests. You’ve sections of the piece, it’s time for you’re ready to start playing to the get the rest of the
alsoPage 1 of
looked at1playing single-note you to put them all together. The backing track. Contributor: James Uings
syllabus. Go to:
Notes:
riffs, melodies and powerchords, as best way to get started is by playing For more information goEngraved
to by DigitalMusicArt.Com
www.musicroom.com
well as major and minor chords. the whole piece slowly without the www.rockschool.co.uk

Playing one note at a time

#
& 44 .. œ œ œ
..
œ
T . .
A
B
. 0
TGR269.grades_rock.fig02.musx 4 2
3
Party People .
TGR269.grades_rock.fig02.musx Party People
File Date: 17:39 15/06/2015 Rock School
File Date: 17:39 15/06/2015 Rock School
Page 1 of 1 Contributor: James Uings
Page 1 of 1 Contributor: James Uings
Notes:
Bar 11 of Party People features a tricky phrase where the notes can ring into each other. To stop an open string ringing for tooEngraved
long, play theby DigitalMusicArt.Com
next note with your finger at
Notes:
a slight angle, rather than right on the tip. The bottom of your finger should touch the open string and stop it ringing. Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com

‘Party People’
95
q=
(bars 9-16) tracks 38-39
# Em
& # 44 œ
q = 95
Em D C D

œ Ó D
Ó œ
C
œ œ
D
Ó
& 4 œ Ó œ œ Ó œ œ œ œ œ Ó
0:25
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
0:25
T
A
T 2 2 0 0
0
4 2 0 0
B
A 2 2 0 0
0
4 2
3
0 0
B1 3
1

# GG C G D G

&#
C G D G

& œ œ œ œ ˙ ˙ œ œ œ œ w
œ œ œ œ ˙ ˙ œ œ œ œ w
T
A
T 0 0
B
A 3
0 2
0
3 2
0
3 2 0
3
B5 3
0 2 3 2 3 2 0
3
5

Make sure you count ‘1 2 3 4’ along with the pulse as you play. The two notes in the first bar of music shown here should sound as you say the numbers 1 and 2. Beats
3 and 4 should be silent, so make sure you stop the strings from ringing out. The second and fourth bars of music shown also follow this rhythm.

108 august 2015

 techniques gET YOUR Grades |
RGT / Performance Award / Level Four

3/4 rhythm
Get to grips with 3/4 time and step up your playing
ready for RGT’s Level Four rhythm tests
video
lesson
w w w.bit .l
y/tg269 v
id e o

Performance
Awards
RGT’s Level Four chord charts To get a feel for 3/4, try a you gain confidence, try varying RGT is the UK’s only
come in 3/4, 4/4 and 6/8 time simple strumming exercise. the strumming pattern by specialist guitar
signatures and this issue, we’re Count ‘1 2 3’ and strum a chord introducing some upstrokes. examination board.
looking at a typical 3/4 time on every beat – but use only With the 3/4 rhythm under You can download a
chart. In 3/4, there are three downstrokes for now. Emphasise your belt, you’ll need to master free Performance
Awards syllabus and
quarter-note rhythmic pulses in beat 1 by strumming harder, but RGT’s Level Four barre chord
find a registered guitar
each bar of music and for those don’t change your timing. You shapes and get to grips with the tutor to help prepare
more used to playing in 4/4, 3/4 should start to feel the groove repeated sections and the you for RGT exams at
can feel like it is ‘missing’ its now. Introduce a chord change dynamic markings in the chart. www.rgt.org.
fourth beat. every few bars if you like, and as Watch the video for more info.

Level Four chords

x x x x x x
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
5 5 5
2 2 2 2
3 4 1 1 1 1 1 3 4 3 3 2 3 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 4

3 3 4 2 3 4 3 4

TGR269.grades_rgt.fig01.musx Rhythm Playing Chart

F Gm7 Bb maj7 Am7 Dm7 Bb Gm C C7 Dm
File Date: 08:17 27/05/2015
TGR269.grades_rgt.fig01.musx Rhythm Playing Chart RGT
PageDate:
File 1 of 08:17
1
These are27/05/2015 Contributor:
the chords used in this issue’s rhythm chart. Avoid striking any strings marked with an X – these should stay silent. Take your time to Tony Skinner
ensure all the notes RGT
Notes:
Page 1 of 1
are sounding clearly, especially if these barre chord shapes are new for you. Notice that these are all based on open E and A shapes.
Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com
Contributor: Tony Skinner
Notes: Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com
Level Four rhythm chart

43 .. ’ ’ ..
Uptempo

’ ’ ’ ’ ’’
B b maj 7 ’ ’ Bb ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’
43 .. P
G m7 A m7 D m7
.
F Gm C

A m7 ’ ’ .
Uptempo
1
’ ’ Gm ’ ’ B maj ’ ’
b ’ ’ Bb ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’
P
F 7 7 D m7 Gm C
1

G m7’ ’ C7 ’ ’ ’ ’ D m7 ’ ’ G m7 ’ ’ C7 ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’
’ ’ GFm7 ’ ’
Dm F

Gm ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’
9
7 C7 D m7 C7

F
Dm F
9

The chart is marked ‘Uptempo’ but take your time to build speed. It’s better to practise slowly, making sure the chords are clear and your changes are slick before
worrying about tempo. It can be hard to play quietly (as directed by ‘mp’ and ‘pp’ in the chart) when you’re playing quickly, so make sure to practise this.

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 techniques tab guide |

Tab Guide
Get more from TG by understanding our easy-to-follow musical terms and signs

What is tab?
Tab is short for tablature, a the sixth (thick) string at the Unfretted strings are shown
notational system used to give bottom to the first (thin) string with a ‘0’. The key and time
detailed information as to at the top. On these lines, signatures are shown in the
where notes should be played numbers represent the frets traditional notation. TG also
on the fretboard. Tab appears where you should place your includes a timestamp to tell
underneath conventional fingers. For example, an A note you where in the original track
music notation as six on the 2nd fret, third string, will you’ll find each example.
horizontal lines that represent be shown as a number ‘2’ on Finally, a tempo marking is
the strings of the guitar, from the third line down on the tab. expressed in beats per minute.

FRET BOXES: chords, scales and capo notation

Hand labelling Nut and Fretboard Chord example
2 m o o o o o o o o o
3 1 i a
4 c
1
T p
2 3

G
Here are the abbreviations used for each finger. Fretting hand: 1, 2, 3, 4, (T) This fretbox diagram represents the guitar’s fretboard exactly, as seen in the photo. This diagram represents a G chord. The ‘o’s are open strings, and a circled number
Picking hand: p (thumb), i (index), m (middle), a (annular), c (little finger) This design is used for ease of visualising a fretboard scale or chord quickly. is a fretting hand finger. A black ‘o’ or circled number is the root note (here, G).

capo example capo notation scale example

o o o x o o
CAPO 2nd
FRET >
CAPO 2nd
FRET > 4 1 1 1 1
1
2 2 2 2
1 2
3 3
2 3 3
4 4 4 4 4

A major scale
A (G) D (C)
The blue line in the diagram represents a capo – for this A chord, place it at the Here the chord looks like a C in the tab, but the capo on the 2nd fret raises the The fret box diagram illustrates the fret hand fingering for the A major scale using
2nd fret. Capos change the fret number ordering. Here, the original 5th fret now pitch to make it a D. The 2nd fret capo’d notes are shown with a ‘0’ in the tab as black dots for root notes and red dots for other scale tones. The photo shows part of
becomes the 3rd fret, 7th fret now 5th fret, etc. if they were open strings. the scale being played on the fourth string with the first, third and fourth fingers.

Guitar techniques: Picking

Down and up-picking Tremolo picking Palm Muting pick Rake Appreggiated chord

The symbols under the tab tell you the Each of the four notes are to be Palm-mute by resting the edge of Drag the pick across the strings shown Play the notes of the chord by
first note is to be down-picked and the alternate-picked (down and up-picked) your picking hand palm on the strings with a single sweep. This is often used strumming across the relevant strings
second note is to be up-picked. very rapidly and continuously. near the bridge saddles. to augment a rake’s last note. in the direction of the arrow head.

110 august 2015

 techniques tab guide |
Fretting Hand
Hammer-on & Pull-off NOTE TRILLS Slides (glissando) fret hand tapping Fret hand muting

Pick the first note then hammer down After picking the first note, rapidly Pick the first note and then slide to the Sound the notes marked with a square X markings represent notes and
on the string for the second note. Pick the alternate between the two notes shown in next. For the last two notes pick the first, by hammering-on/tapping with your fret strings that are muted by your fret hand
third note and pull-off for the fourth note. brackets using hammer-ons and pull-offs. slide to the next and then re-pick it (RP). hand fingers, instead of picking. when struck by your picking hand.

Bending And vibrato

Bend and Release re-picked bend pre-bend quarter-tone bend Vibrato

Fret the first note (here, the 5th Bend up to the pitch shown in the silently bend the string up from the 5th Pick the note then bend up a quarter- Your fretting hand vibrates the string by
fret) and bend up to the pitch of the brackets, then re-pick the note while fret (PB5) to the pitch of the 7th fret note, tone (a very small amount). This is small bend-ups and releases. Exaggerate
bracketed note, before releasing again. holding the bent note at the pitch shown. pick it and release to the 5th fret note. sometimes referred to as a ‘blues curl’. this effect to create a ‘wide’ vibrato.

Harmonics
Natural Harmonics Artificial Harmonics pinched Harmonics Tapped harmonics touched harmonics

Pick the note while lightly touching Fret the note as shown, then lightly After fretting the note in the triangle, Place your finger on the note as shown, A previously sounded note is
the string directly over the fret place your index finger directly over ‘x’ dig into the string with the side of your but sound it with a quick pick hand tap at touched above the fret marked TCH
indicated. A chiming harmonic results. fret (AH‘x’) and pick (with a pick, p or a). thumb as you sound it with the pick. the fret shown (TH17) for a harmonic. (eg, TCH 9) for it to sound a harmonic.

Vibrato bar / whammy bar

Whammy bar bends Scoop and doop Sustained note and Divebomb Gargle Whammy bar vibrato

The note is picked as shown, then the Scoop: depress the bar just before A Note is sustained then the vibrato Sound the note and ‘flick’ the vibrato Gently rock the whammy bar to
vibrato bar is raised and lowered to the striking the note and release. Doop: bar is depressed to slack. The square bar with your picking hand so it ‘quivers’. repeatedly bend the pitch up and down.
pitches shown in brackets. lower the bar slightly after picking note. bracket indicates a further articulation. This results in a ‘gargling’ sound! This sounds similar to fret hand vibrato.

Others
Pick scrape Violining Finger numbering pima directions Pick hand tapping

The edge of the pick is dragged either Turn the volume control down, The numbers in the traditional Any kind of fingerpicking Tap (hammer-on) with a finger of
down or up along the lower strings to sound the note(s) and then turn the notation refer to the fingers required to requirements are shown at the bottom your picking hand onto the fret marked
produce a scraped sound. volume up for a smooth fade in. play each note. of the tab notation. with a circle. Usually with ‘i’ or ‘m’.

august 2015 111

 The Final Countdown
Gig punters we
all recognise
9. The Rivals
Every night, motionless at the mixing desk,
you’ll clock the boys from Clegnut: your local
arch-rivals and sworn enemies since the singer
took a dump on your drum riser last year. While
the rest of the venue goes apeshit, they’ll spend
your set inspecting their fingernails and yawning
theatrically, while mentally scribbling down all
your song ideas to steal for themselves.

8. The Drunk Maniac

Shirtless, liberally tatted and around 10 pints
down, he never stops thrash-dancing, even when
you’re covering Lego House. While you’re packing
up, you’ll see him picking a fight with a wheelie bin.

7. Mr Do-You-Do-Requests
Every time you finish an original song, cutting
through the cheers, you hear cat-calls from the
bloke who can’t grasp the concept that you’re a
band, not a jukebox. “Play Freebird!” he bellows.
“Play Wonderwall! Play Enter Sandman!”
For once, Smartphone
The grey panther and Cameraman, couldn’t you
the silver fox are 6. The Smartphone Cameraman just live in the moment?
common, unwelcome There’s one on every front row. With his idiot face
gigging wildlife illuminated by the glow of a Samsung Galaxy, he
films every second of the show, before slapping
2. The Fanboy 1. The Gear Nerd
At early gigs, you
the blurry mess up on YouTube for strangers to say
were delighted to spot Cometh the
how bad the mix sounds.
10. The Rock Veteran the haunted-looking soundcheck, cometh
teenager who “lives
There’s a quiet sadness 5. The Poacher for your music”. But by The Gear Nerd,
about the greying gent He casts himself as the band’s confidant, shouting
you all Jägerbombs and helping you untangle the
the time they’ve trailed poking around
you from Dundee to
in the bifocals and leads. On the sly, he’s a Machiavellian headhunter Brighton, taken a lock
your backline with
Bad Company T-shirt. from a bigger band, dripping poison into the ears of your hair, got your a Maglite, tutting
of your rhythm section and promising them a
Placing a paternal major-label deal if they drop you like a hot bollock.
band logo tattooed
in a slightly worrying
like a mechanic
hand on your shoulder, location, turned up at inspecting a write-
4. The Chatterboxes off, and badgering
he rambles wistfully It’s Friday night, and nobody expects a monastic
your mum’s house, and
hyperventilated at the
about his long-defunct silence, but would it kill the blokes at the bar to shut idea you may someday you about the fasel
band Jamboree, who their traps for just one second? It’s hard to sing
about lost love during a heartfelt acoustic section
break up, you’ll wish inductor in your Cry
your punters were a bit
“opened for Sham 69” when you’re competing with a high-volume more ambivalent. Baby. Everyone in the
and “could have been conversation about loft insulation. band will breathe a
contenders” if “those 3. The Critic sigh of relief when he
Words: Henry Yates Photography: iStock

bastards at Decca had Bounding up after the gig to introduce himself as electrocutes himself
the music editor of The Runcorn Bugle, The Critic
pushed our album”. flips open his notebook, then goes on to rip into after opening up your
He swallows down your stagecraft, musicianship, haircuts and body Whammy pedal with
odour. He’ll then outline his six-point plan for
a sob: “It’s a shit world domination, offer to manage you – and be
the mini-screwdriver
business, boys…” told to piss off. on his belt loop.
Look who’s stalking:
beware the obsessive fan

112 august 2015

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