[Guitar Machine]

The Blackbird Rider. Awesome.

It sounds like the raven haired ghost of a southpaw bluesman ridin’ them blinds on the run from his own shadow. It isn’t though. Its the BLACKBIRD GUITAR COMPANY’s steel or nlyon string carbon fibre,  CNC routed, ultra modern solution for the guitarist on the run!

The Blackbird Rider features an all-hollow uni-body shell setting it apart from any guitar in the world. That is the body, neck, and head are cast in one-piece with the sound board, fretboard, tuners, etc. added to that main component.

Forming the main component in one-piece eliminates the weak and sound-absorbing joints associated with standard guitars. This patent-pending construction relies on the incredibly strong and stiff properties of carbon fiber as well as plenty of unique design features to create the strongest, most resonant small-bodied guitar available anywhere.

What makes these things ultra cool is that the entire guitar is hollow and acts as a resonating chamber. There’s a  sound hole in the HEAD of the guitar as well as within the body – BUT  in an unusual position where the top horn would normally be. Also because they’re made from carbon fibre they come as tough as old boots – bring it on!

AND, Just like the revolutionary Model T Ford you can get them in any colour – as long as it’s black! With such an unusual symmetry in design these things look like the geometrical offspring of a Futurists dream. In those softer moments when Darth Vader gets the blues and an oily black tear wells up in his cyborg eye you know that this is the piece he reaches for.

In a rapidly changing world sustainability is perhaps the most pressing issue for ourselves. That we are unable to think as a species living within and amongst and as part of the biosphere is a problem and a conceit that we may ultimately pay a rather large price for. Whatever your politics the bad news is tonewoods are likely to become more and more an exotic rarity than a standard material as the worlds forests are depleted. The good news is that many manufacturers are beginning to produce guitars from alternative more ecologically sound materials and the possibilities for sound and form are set to become infinite!

So…every now and then we’re going to have a look at some of the alternative materials available to the modern guitarist.

MADA GUITARS

These Mada semi-acoustic guitars are absolutely stunning to look at and come in a vast range of funky colours. And that’s right because these things ain’t for no SQUARES baby – there isn’t a corner in sight.

Looking as though they were designed by the smoothest hipsters determined to produce an ergonomically clean yet futuristic blend of less-is-more styling these guitars are the hybrid taste of your favourite ice cream parlour and a set of french curves. Hot Damn they’re cool!

The MADA caimes body is an organically shaped semi-acoustic electric guitar body made of hemp pulp and is not carved or milled like traditional guitars. Design has revolutionized the production technique. One form without any linings or bracings.  With its edge-less organic shape, MADA develops an unmistakable, wonderful sharp and organic sound. The permanent transition from impact sound into airborne sound is essential to the sound. That’s how resonances are formed. This makes Hempstone® the perfect 3 dimensional molding material for music instruments. The material consists of 100 % hemp fibres and contains no plastics, which would close these resonance-gaps.

That’s the soulful sound of Darren Watson, a resonator, a valve mike and a truckload of talent turning up the heat!

Last year I had the lucky chance to interview Darren Watson when I was writing for the Jamarama Guitar Blog and this year I was lucky enough to see Darren just recently cooking up some great blues tunes at the Ruby Lounge in Wellington whilst enjoying some fine, fine ales amongst the company of like minded blues rock afficionados.

What particularly caught my attention was Darren’s band. They were tighter than two coats of paint, never overplayed and the bass man was definitely off the hook – as fluid as a lavalamp in zero gravity.

Darren also cooked up some serious glass finger bottleneck on the stratocaster that really had the place buzzing. Every now and then the band segued into classic guitar motifs, such as Jimi Hendrix‘ melody hook from Third Stone From the Sun; and, I was pleased to see Darren bashing the ole guitar with his fist every now and then to generate some feedback. Something we can ALL relate to. It was a versatile set and a great show with plenty of varied pace and Darren’s range, tone and fidelity are something else – not only that Darren Watson is a great guy so go to his show – say “hello”, and  check out his records at www.darrenwatson.com.

Here is the interview from  last year and what will impress upon you immediately is Darren’s no-nonsense, down to earth unpretentious approach to the guitar, the blues and life in general; it’s a guitar lesson in itself!

Today I`m going to spend ten minutes with highly accomplished south pacific blues master Darren Watson. You may not have heard of Darren but in a career spanning three decades Darren has worked on the bill with such blues luminaries and giants as Robert Cray, Koko Taylor, George Thorogood, Billy Boy Arnold, Doug MacLeod, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Dr. John and Keb Mo . . certainly no bunch of blues slackers by anybodies stretch of the imagination and a real testament to Darren’s skills as a musician.

To those who remember New Zealand music back in the day, in the ’80s, or those who have even a passing interest in blues, the name Darren Watson will always bring on a smile. As the founder and leader of Wellington powerhouse band Chicago Smoke Shop, Darren enjoyed a 6 year stint in the public eye with chart singles like Mind On My Sleeve and I Can’t Live Without Your Love.

He has been nominated a colossal six times for New Zealand Music Awards for a body of recorded work that includes two Top 40 albums and singles and three critically acclaimed solo albums including 2002’s Tui Award nominated ‘King Size’, and 2005’s stunning and genre breaking ‘South Pacific Soul’.

Darren is the real deal when it comes to blues guitar. I’ve been listening to guitar myself for 30 years and Darren has style, taste, timing, technique and tone…and just what the hell else is there?

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QUESTION 1.

Jake:

Hi Darren, kia ora, How`s it going man, and how`s the weather up there, blue enough for you ?

Darren :

Heh heh… not today, bro`! It’s nine degrees and raining! Wellington in springtime.. heh heh

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QUESTION 2.

Jake:

Darren, our readers are more often than not beginner guitarists so I`d like to start by asking how, when and where you first became seriously involved in the guitar – was there anyone in particular that helped steer you in the right direction?

Darren:

I grew up in the era just after The Beatles broke up so their shadow loomed large in my life. That, and my cousin was guitarist in a pretty popular band in NZ in the 60s – the Librettos – so I got to hear a fair bit about how cool rock n’ roll was. I played some drums, piano and trumpet before I actually thought I had settled on bass. My first couple of years playing was on bass . . a regular rightie Macca heh heh…. in my DREAMS!
But, yeah then I stopped playing in covers bands at about 17 and started taking guitar seriously instead. About the same time I discovered blues for myself.

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QUESTION 3.

Jake:

And, did you start out with a high-end guitar like a gibson 335, or like most of us, begin playing on a rotten old plank from Walmart? (myself – I had an old plank but I had to take a ferry from the fretboard to the strings the action was so damn high!)

Darren:

LOL…. No way man. My first six-string was a nasty Carlos Les Paul copy. The neck warped within a couple of weeks. Grin* A total P.O.S..
I didn’t have my first real Strat` until we had a record in the charts when I was twenty-two!

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QUESTION 4.

Jake:

Okay. So, do you have any advice for those who are struggling to get to grips with the instrument? Can you remember your early days, and which artists really inspired you back then?

Darren:

I am really lucky in that music has always come really easy to me. I feel like I have always understood how it works, even before I had NAMES for things. Getting to grips with the guitar was all about mechanics for me – and I think it is for a lot of people – you know, finding a technique that works for them. I don’t buy this idea that there is only one ‘right’ way to play.

As for inspiration on guitar, I was hugely inspired by the ‘lefty-upside-down’ players like Albert King, and Otis Rush. Also really got into guys using different techniques and tunings – like Albert Collins and Skip James. You can’t go past early BB King either. I mean his 1950s stuff is almost without peer vocally and for the guitar stuff. I also like Robert Cray and early Jimmy Vaughan with the Fabulous Thunderbirds. I reckon Cray is the most important guy in blues today – he’s actually got his own voice. Too many Stevie Ray Vaughan clones out their, may he rest in peace one day…..

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QUESTION 5.

Jake:

Well Darren I`ve got to say I agree with you there. And why is the blues a great place to start when approaching the guitar? is it because there are a range of styles and forms from the simple to the highly complex that  allow players such a depth of expression ?

Darren:

I think it’s because to make it sound good you really have to get to grips with rhythm and your sound. There’s nowhere to hide melodically or harmonically. If you just wail away playing scales you are guaranteed to sound shit in my opinion. It forces you to be inventive with time.

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QUESTION 6.

Jake:

That`s a smart smart answer people! Right Darren; you`ve got a killer guitar tone – what`s the deal with your guitars and amps, have you got any particular amps and guitar combinations that you prefer for electric blues playing?

Darren:

Thanks man. I have really concentrated on this for most of my life. I used to think it was about gear but the older I get the more I realize it’s mostly in the hands. You can line up 30 people playing through the same gear and they’re all gonna sound completely different. Having said that, great gear helps plenty. At the moment I’m mostly playing a Fender ’59 ThinSkin Strat through a Headstrong Lil King-S. It’s like a souped-up blackface Princeton, LOL,  but not as souped up as  a MK1 Boogie! I run a HBE compressor and a MXR CAE clean boost into the amp and that’s it as far as effects go. The comp for slide and the boost for… um, well  boosting. Grin*

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QUESTION 7.

Jake:

Awesome Darren, just awesome. I just love the MK1 Boogies; but they`re definitely supercharged amp’s. The MXR CAE clean boost sounds great – and unusual; I’ve never heard of one before. Cool man.

For those out there just beginning to become familiar with the language of the blues are there any fundamental scales that you tend to use ?

Darren:

I’m a big believer in playing the changes and not getting too hung up on scales. Most of my favorite blues players aren’t big on the minor pentatonics like a lot of blues/rock players tend to be. I get modal from time to time but I really don’t think about it too much. I teach people how to use their ears and play the changes first. Too many people I hear playing in music shops and (God forbid!?!) sometimes on stage sound like they’re running exercises as solos. Rambling and phrase-less. I actually think we can all learn from singers and wind instruments. BREATHE in between those phrases, baby! Heh heh Make the notes count. Soloing is basically composition on the fly – so let’s have some hooks. I would rather play a fat groove than solo anyway.

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QUESTION 8.

Jake:

(smiles) Yeah Darren; I`m with you on that one it’s saxophonists for me!
So, when it comes to playing acoustic fingerstyle blues what do you look for in your guitar sound – I see you`re using a `58 Gibson LG-2 – could you also tell me what’s so special about this instrument and how it informs your playing?

Darren:

Oh man, that guitar is a total babe! I’m so lucky I found her. It’s the first small box I have found that lets me really dig in and doesn’t choke.  You can also play whisper quiet and the tops are just so silky sounding….. I’m in love with that guitar, man. It cuts without ever sounding nasty and there’s not a hint of nasty boxiness. But it’s also not a boomy strum box like the D28 etc. They’re o.k. for some stuff but for what I do a small box is perfect and this is about the best example I’ve played.

Jake:

I May have to translate that  for our readers a little Darren!
I think what Darren is saying is that this guitar allows him to really rhythmically groove, like a steam train, without losing any tone or characteristic timbre and clarity at high or low volumes. Here is what it sounds like:

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QUESTION 9.

It would be great Darren if you could pick five inspirational records and maybe give us a short explanation as to why they resonate with you:

Darren:

1. BB King – Live At The Regal

The ultimate blues performance? Probably. BB King at the peak of his powers. 40ish and taking no prisoners. The band swings like a whorehouse and even the audience is amazing.

2. The Fabulous Thunderbirds – Girls Go Wild

This album totally changed my life. Recorded in 1978 but it sounds like it could’ve been made in the 50s. I discovered Jimmie Vaughan and (harmonica great) Kim Wilson through this album. He was channeling all the great old blues players here – and his tone is to DIE for. Unlike Stevie Vaughan who was all about flash and brute strength, Jimmie had sweet touch and a rare economy of phrasing that puts Stevie in his place I reckon. If you haven’t heard this album I suggest you try your darndest to pick up a copy.

3. Tom Waits – Swordfishtrombnes

I was at high school when I saw a clip of Tom on TV. In a world of vapid synth-pop and dumb ass post-punk pop this record really spoke to me that blues, jazz and weirdness could still be grown and merged successfully. I’m a huge fan to this day. Not particularly about guitar this album but then neither am I really – I always reckon music counts above petty things like what it’s played on.

4. Top Of The Stax – Various Artists

Steve Cropper is a big hero of mine as a writer and a session master. He plays on most of the tracks on this Stax records compilation. He never played two notes when one would do – and how about the total genius of reversing the chords for the intro of Midnight Hour to make the riff for Knock On Wood. And getting away with it! Brilliant.

5. Muddy Waters – His Best 1947-55

This guy did more to teach me about TIME and tone than anyone else ever did. This is the best Muddy compilation and avoids a lot of the later crap that Chess Records led him into in search of a hit.

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QUESTION 10.

Jake:

Thanks Darren – these are great great discs and I think your comments about timing will really, really help some of our readers. Finally I noticed in some of your early performances with the big band sound you`re rocking a rather large quiff that gives you the suave yet dangerous appearance of a riverboat gambler – does this help at all – and can it be performed without blues supervision?

Darren:

LOL – yeah well at least I never sported a mullet, bro!     

Jake:

Fantastic !!
Well there you have it everybody , THE WORD from none other than south pacific bluesmaster Darren Watson. Thank you Darren for talking to us and for giving us such an invaluable insight into your approach to guitar and for sharing your time.

Darren is available for one on one lessons if you are in New Zealand’s beautiful harbour city capital of Wellington.

Don’t limit yourself and think that playing the guitar is all about technique – and don’t for one second think that
open tunings are really all about slide guitar glass finger playing. The idiosyncratic style of seminal folk maestro, peace messenger and Woodstock Festival icon Richie Havens illustrates a far more expressive and luminous emotionally complex language born of a primitive, feeling based approach to music and the guitar that speaks effortless volumes. Havens is as deep as the sea and as wide as the sky when he picks up the guitar and he plays it like he means it, like he can save us all with it.

If anyone ever needed a reason to pick up a guitar and sing, Richie Havens must have a thousand of them running through his being because his opening performance at the 1969 Woodstock festival in New York is something so inspirational to behold it’s nothing short of a call to arms, the divine fiat heralding the apocalypse, the second coming, the end of time encapsulating all the hopes, dreams, tragedies and fears of the festival, the decade, the generation and the human race. It is an epic moment in musical time.

Coming on first at the Woodstock Festival Havens mesmerised the audience for around three hours and was called back for encore after encore. Having run out of tunes, he improvised a song based on the old spiritual “Motherless Child” that became “Freedom”.

At the end of the day when you pick up that guitar, you have to play it like you mean it, make it yours and own it; no matter how you play it. SO, tune to open D and head on over to Richie Havens website here for the basic chord voicings he uses to play in the open D tuning. And Get playing.

The options for choosing pick ups are absolutely vast these days but if you are keen on the sound of Fender guitars Fender are now producing their own Fender Special Design dual-coil ceramic Noiseless™ pick ups in Stratocasters, so these, which Clapton (using the vintage model) and Jeff Beck have in their current signature guitar models should be pretty good. In the Fender Telecaster they are using Samarium Cobalt Noiseless™ Telecaster pickups.

	When you are choosing a guitar the best course of action is to try and find a guitar that really has that magic feel, playability and sound for you. Spend as much time as you can playing as many guitars as you can and trust your intuition and gut feelings.
List of Gibson Users	List of Fender Stratocaster Users, and Telecaster Users

If you’re thinking of buying a Fender piece off the shelf then consider the sound that Bruce Springsteen, Joe Strummer, or Keith Richards achieve with a telecaster and then maybe have a listen to some Stratocaster users – Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, Rory Gallagher or Jeff Beck.

If you are considering an off the shelf Gibson plank then maybe have a listen to Johnny Winter, Ronnie Wood (Faces), Leslie West (Mountain), Joe Walsh, George Thorogood, Mick Taylor, Freddie B.B. and Albert King, and, Bob Dylan.

There are two main styles of electric guitar pickups: single-coil and humbucker. Single-coil pickups are most commonly seen in Fender Stratocaster and Telecaster guitars.

The humbucker is basically, two single-coil pickups stacked on top of each other. They are the steroidal muscle car pick up of the guitar world and produce thicker, punchier tones. Humbuckers are seen in all kinds of guitars but are most closely associated with the Gibson Les Paul. It’s called a hum bucker because it was designed to do exactly that – buck the humming noise that permeated the world of the early single coil.

What you`ll find is that country rock or blues players often choose single-coils, while heavy metal music is predominantly played on guitars with humbuckers. There are however clear indications that in exceptional hands any guitar can create unique tones and sounds.

It is well worth remembering though that the “magic guitar” sound you are looking for is one that has a unique voice, one that seems to communicate your personality, one that literally speaks your language. There is no limit to your imagination either and you can combine any array of pickups you like.

At the end of the day the pickups you choose will become a highly individual matter and it is well worth taking the time to choose a pickup that suits your style and the sound you want to squeeze out of your guitar.

Spend some time listening to some of your  favourite records and use the internet to find out what kind of guitars, amplifiers and equipment the artist is using. Cruise on over to GUITAR GEEK and check out what your favourite recording artists are using. You`ll be very, very surprised at some of the ways guitarists choose to create their sounds, from the complex through to the simple…

When you want to select a guitar start by playing the guitars unplugged so you can gain an insight into the feel of the neck, the balance of the machine and the kind of tones it makes before amplification. Take your time and try as many as you can. When you think you’ve found a guitar that really feels right then you can plug it into something! Strangely enough it really is a case of looking for that particular instrument that has a certain “Je ne sais pas” or X-factor; trust your instincts and never, ever think about the finish, the looks or what you’re told is good and great.

Are you going to be playing live to 500 people or just playing at home? Will you be recording with your amplifier in the studio? Or will you be having a small jam down at your local bar?

These are the types of questions you should ask yourself when thinking about an amplifier to begin with. Having a huge stacking amplifier set up with a head and cabinets is great for high volume applications but difficult to move and incredibly loud. Personally I would suggest a valve amp but at the end of the day use your ears carefully. A Fender twin sounds markedly different from a Marshall amplifier for example and a Session highly different from a Peavey.


Most of your overdrive and distortion can be achieved through your choice of amplifier. Look for an amp with both a clean and an overdriven channel – then you can switch between the channels or combine them with a footswitch.

At the end of the day a good guitar and a decent amp will deliver a huge range of tonal and sound possibilities and characteristics before you go anywhere near effects or pedals.

Try clean sounds first with all combinations of pick up and tone control possibilities on the guitar and then play with the controls on the amplifier as well. Roll all your tone on and off across each pick up and do the same with the EQ section of the amp.

Then do the same thing with the dirty channel and a distorted sound. The combine the two and listen to the results. Spend as long as you can and concentrate on what your hear. It may take you an hour, a day or a even week. I used different Marshalls, combined with Fender Twins and a few others before I settled upon Session Amps for a while.

Then if you really want to kick out the jams try some distortion boxes.

Guitar effects. What a vast, eclectic cornucopia of the weird, wonderful and downright useful there is these days. You don`t need a burning stratocaster or the Jimi Hendrix account at New York`s Legendary Manny`s guitar store to find yourself spoilt for choice with a bewildering array and vast multiplicity of choices.

What I`m saying is that there are thousands of them. Back in the early 90`s I used Zoom effects – their half rack midi controlled 9050`s were completely wild at the time and offered convenience, portability, stereo output and ridiculous amounts of parameter control. It sounded like Steve Hillage on speed or the Ozric Tentacles. Of course there is a far simpler route to guitar sonics – use your hands, a bit of reverb and maybe a Loop station or a Hot Cake, or VALVE distortion pedal. All you have to remember is that it`s up to you.

Don’t overwhelm yourself with too much tap dancing unless you really want to. Maybe try some digital modelling if you`d prefer instantaneous sound emulation. Or if you really prefer the sound of an L.P. to a compact disc settle for something more traditional like a quality distortion pedal and a valve amp. I know a few artists who still dig that whole 2 inch tape scene in the studio and don’t like recording to digital at all…..

…it’s almost as though digital could be described as throwing ice cubes into a metal bucket whereas analogue is the sound of hummingbirds drinking from a waterfall…LOOK AFTER YOUR SIGNAL;
I’m in two minds bout it myself but sometimes you’ve gotta compromise and in a cut and paste world digital sure is fast!

The secret is to use your ears and your hands. Not your eyes, or your wallet or the company`s advertising spend or endorsees. Remember being unique, or just being yourself is where it’s at! The Edge from U2 has popularised an entire sound and melodic approach from intelligently using delay (and some beautiful skeletal arpeggios), Tom Morello kicked the ass out of the wah sound with a Digitech Whammy pedal with Rage Against the Machine, Jeff Beck tends to just let his fingers do the talking (with a bit of tremelo bar), Buckethead takes the Carlo Gesualdo route to chromaticism more often than not, although he is capable of playing incandescent, measured shining melodies…when he wants.

After years and years of experience what I will say is that turning on and off one or two effects at a time (without scrolling through menus) gives you plenty of time to focus upon what you play, less margin for error and a simple set up is alot harder to jump out of and handle when everything explodes, spontaneously combusts or evaporates. When it all goes wrong CAN YOU still plug straight into your amp and get through the show? Having kicked dodgy pedals off the side of the stage and plugged straight into an amp instead I know how I prefer my rig and I once ran a toaster in my effects line, timing the toast so it would pop up at the peak of a solo.  Sounded and tasted great!

Get the sound you want in the way you want – that`s all you need to consider. Perhaps the greatest thing about effects pedals is stomping them into an early grave and building up a small graveyard of dead ones. Last count I had seven dead effects units and that was just from a couple of years in one band. So it’s worth pointing out that if you play in a fiercely proto-pyrotechnic punk rock environment with flying beer, flying people and god knows what else buy pedals that are sturdy and crafted from tough metal…or concrete. I lost a tooth from a flying bass guitar once and that was just at a rehearsal.

Under my desk I run a Boss Drive Zone OD20, BOSS RC20XL Loop station, and a Line 6 Echo Park into a small line 6 amp set to the clean channel. I have the option to run out in stereo into the Marshall Valvestate VS230 to the side of my desk….
Live I prefer just one distortion unit into 2 amps for a Stereo mix. As an example of what can be done on the road to the temple of LESS is MORE…

…here is David Gilmour’s guitar set up for around 1970-2, an awesome period in his career especially with the Live at Pompei Performance. It’s Stratocaster based of course!

Guitars

- 1966-67 all stock Fender Stratocaster with a white alder body, white pickguard and a rosewood 4-bolt neck with a large headstock.
- Fender Telecaster of unknown date with natural brown body, white pickguard and a maple neck.
- 1969 all stock Fender Stratocaster with a black alder body, white pickguard and a rosewood 4-bolt neck with a large headstock.
- Gibson J-45 acoustic steel string

Amps

- 3 Hiwatt DR103 All Purpose 100W heads with Mullard 4xEL34’s power tubes and 4xECC83’s pre-amp tubes. Controls for normal volume, brilliance volume, bass, middle, treble, presence and master.
- 3 WEM Super Starfinder 200 cabinets with 4×12” Fane Crescendo speakers with metal dust caps.

Effects

- Vox wah wah
- Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face (NKT275)
- Binson Echorec II

Back in the late seventies, prior to the arrival of PUNK ROCK, with its garland of spit, safety pins, anarchy, piss, shit and the dirty, unkempt rebellion of anti-authoritarian posturing, Steve Hillage took the psychedelia of the late 60`s and infused it with the kind of production techniques it really deserved. Hillage took multitracking, phasing, and sequences of fractalised incandescent echoes to a new level and combined them with more formal song based hooks and ideas with a lexicon firmly focused upon metaphysics and what everyone nowadays calls new age spiritualism. What makes his music even more interesting is that it occupies a holistic space somewhere amongst Pink Floyd and the Canturbury sensibilities of remarkable song writers such as pyschedelic pioneers Kevin Ayres and formidable lyricist Syd Barrett.

Despite his psychological unravelling Barrett’s songwriting capabilities remain some of the most superlative, exciting, individual and exceptional in the history of English music – after the Beatles. And,  although there is very much to be lauded in Pink Floyds work many ascertain that without Barrett they became nothing more than the exegesis of Waters’ paranoia and latterly nothing more than a Gilmour solo act.

Towards the dying days of the 70’s Hillage’s progressive guitar-rock and psychedelic fusion leanings helped build a reputation that became synonymous with spacey, ambient soundscapes and musical “excursions”. 1978’s Green album, which was co-produced by Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason is an exemplary and landmark recording in this respect that, with both power and sensitivity focuses upon a pantheistic ecological message of oneness, salvation and elevation.

Of course Hillages “hippie” music was eclipsed, perhaps even smashed into a dust, by the D.I.Y. auto destructive madness of anarchy, punk rock and “dissent” at the end of the decade.

The Steve Hillage sound remained immortalised in the consciousness of a whole new generation principally by the UK “Festival” band The Ozric Tentacles. Ten years after Hillage released “Green” the Ozrics pioneered a new wave of acid soaked, techno space rock into the 90`s “dance” and festival scene updated with hard pounding beats, shifting time signatures, the use of eastern and exotic modes and instruments.

After the collapse of Thatcherite ethics in the 80`s the British music underground, fuelled by political unrest and the flood of drug fired madness exploded across the media and across the country in revolutionary fervour. Looking back from here, you can clearly see the high tide mark etched across the British landscape and we’re now living after the flood! Guitar Pedals never replace playing ability, groove, talent, technique, vision and expression but can really help having the brain of Hendrix sitting in a little box on the floor. At the end of the day its all in your hands, and your head.

Consider the John Butler Trio for example; how many fellas do you know who use an acoustic twelve string with a wah wah and a gravel box?  It certainly makes for a unique sound. Throw in a stand up bass and a drummer with a really frantic percussive style and you have a sound chock full of grit and character: earthy, organic, rootsy and soulful with plenty of bite too. What a combination.

You may use use an old suitcase for a kick drum, the grill for an oven as percussion or modify your instrument yourself. Roland Kirk, who named himself after a series of dream-visions,  and plays several reed or home made  breath instruments simultaneously fuses ragtime, free jazz, hard bop, and musique concrete with early electronics.
Consider David Bowie`s career in oddity or Tom Waits scarecrow-drifter, hobo junkstore,  down and out, rag and bone man blues, achingly sentimental ballads, and grotesque, vaudevillean strangeitude.  Jimi Hendrix reinvented feedback on Machine Gun, fused Baudelaire with Dylan on Bold as Love and was last seen on Nine to the Universe anticipating Miles Davis.

Carlo Gesualdo the Italian music composer, lutenist and nobleman of the late Renaissance was famous for his intensely expressive madrigals and bizarre chromaticism.  Lutenist John Dowland might be the melancholy blues master you need to augment your Robert Johnson, Freddie, B.B. and Albert King collection.

Captain Beefheart`s shifting time signatures, surreal linguistic complexities combined with Dr. Zeuss like syllogistics in a gritty, avante-garde, psychedelic blues hyperspace inhabited by the drunken ghost of Howling Wolf drinking absinthe from Miles Davis` open skull.

Beefheart was constantly prototyping  – if you want to keep it real, consider yourself in beta.

Almost everyone you can think of who has made an impact had something different, something unique. Look for it in your own music. Look for it in your self. Make it your own – commercial viability is never a useful litmus test for success or achievement – always do what you want and if somebody likes it, great.

And above all IGNORE EVERYBODY.

Jamie from the US has asked “How do I get a fat tone from my Les Paul?”

Should be easy right?

Well, tone is a particularly personal matter but also comes in as many flavours as ice cream. There is no single method, set up or solution. Alot of TONE variation is achievable simply through your guitar to start with. Experiment with your pick up choices: if you use your neck pick up you will find the tone becomes more warm, more naturally rounded, rich, arboreal and smooth. Experiment with the E.Q. on your amplifier, try combining both channels.

A tube or valve amp such as a Vox AC 30, or a Sunn amp will also help. Tone is also a matter of how you approach and play each note; literally how you attack the notes! It’s all in your hands wuite literally.

It`s best to experiment with as much gear as you can. If you cannot get hold of a valve amp try a valve based pedal – maybe an Electro Harmonix English MuFF`n or Big Muff PI. These things`ll give you a fat range of tones from Clapton through to Leslie West and more. You could of course hitch a ride along the digital highway and look at stuff like the Line6 Variax guitar and accompanying amps which perform digital modelling algorhythms on your signal to give you sounds that emulate vintage, classic and modern equipment. Using digital gear is the fastest, easiest way to achieve and emulate famous tones and sounds.

Have a listen to  and compare the classic guitar track Freddie King’s Hideaway by the following three artists

A:Johnny Winter,

B:Eric Clapton, and

C:Freddie King

This will give you an idea how different guitars and amplifier combinations contribute to tone in both a sonic and a stylistic way. Dont quote me on it but I think:

Winter used to favour a Music Man amplifier and a Gibson Reversehead Firebird.
Clapton used a 1962 Les Paul Standard with PAF pickups and a 1965 Marshall Combo.
Freddie King used a Les Paul and Gibson 345 stereo.

Winter	Clapton	King

The heavier the gauge of strings you use will contribute to depth of tone too. A heavier gauge equals a bigger, brighter and more substantial TONE but are therefore harder to play and require a higher action.

This post started out as a best guitar solos post, but, it has mutated into a great players post and  has begun to encompass hooks, riffs and more. I mean, you just can’t exclude Keith Richards from a post about great guitar can you?

I had a rummage around inside my head and here, in no particular order, are some great guitar players. I’ve named the specific tracks in the videos. Most of these artists are HOT on anything they play…

If anyone out there would like to offer up any more superlative examples then please comment.

1. Snowy White (on Peter Green’s) Slabo Day

2. Jeff Beck Where were you

3. Junior Wells & Buddy Guy Stormy Monday

4. Chet Atkins Kicky

5. Eric Clapton Blues Power Live on Just One Night

6. Jimi Hendrix Are you Experienced Live at Winterland UK L.P.

7. Billy Corgan Soma

8. Johnny Winter – Mississippi Blues

9. Dire Straits Sultans of Swing

10. Alvin Lee Live (with 10 years after) I’m going Home

11. Roy Buchanan The Messiah will Come Again

12. Santana – Soul Sacrifice

13. Ry Cooder – Paris Texas

14.Rolling Stones with Mick Taylor - Cant You Hear Me Knocking ?

15. Joe Satriani – Surfing with the Alien

16. Nirvana – Smells like Teen spirit

17. Otis Rush – unsolo on I can’t quit you babe

18. Jimi Hendrix – Bold as Love

19. David Gilmour – skeletal arpeggio from S.O.Y.C.D.

20. B.B King – Sweet Sixteen live in Africa 1974

21. Jimi Hendrix – Machine Gun

22. Adrian Legg – Pedal Steel without Pedals

23. Eric Johnson – Song for George

24. Radiohead/Jonny Greenwood – Airbag

25. Rory Gallagher – Too Much Alcohol

26. Son House – Death Letter

27.King Crimson - Discipline Album

28. George Benson-Breezin’

29. The Edge / U2 -When I look at the World

30. Django -Honey Suckle Rose

31. Keith Richards -Happy

32. Sonny Landreth -Zydeco Shuffle – almost everybody slides

33. Joe Bonamassa -Sloe Gin

34. Freddie King -Woman Across the Water

35. Scotty Moore - That’s Alright Mama

36. Albert Collins - If trouble was money

37. Mississippi John Hurt - You’ve got to walk that Lonesome Valley

38. Robert Cray - Don’t be afraid of the dark

more soon

There are a lot of players out there doing the same old, same old…. Being unusual really, really helps stylistically. What it means is bringing as much of yourself into the equation…for many it usually means finding:

A: a guitar that works for you – I’ve found one, so far, in 25 years – you`ll only know it when you pick it up!

B. actually having something to say with your guitar and f**king well meaning it – that way you`ll always sound real.

Here are a few interesting players who are definitely onto something unusual and unique!

Keith Richards – 5 strings only and G tuning – D, B, G, D, G (high to low)
Django – predominantly two  finger playing style as other fingers were badly burnt
Robert Johnson – almost supernatural physical technique beyond the horizon
Mississippi John Hurt – earthy brown-dirt piedmont picking sounds like  molasses, & golden syrup
Charlie Christian – pioneer of amplification
Jesse Lone Cat Fuller – one man band blues-folk player who invented the Fotdella bass machine
Jeff Healey – Being blind the guitar is played on his lap
T bone Walker – played behind his head, with teeth and before Jimi
Jimi Hendrix – uses teeth, lighter fluid, art-destruction, plays behind head, innovative
Jeff Beck – one of the early feedback pioneers, also uses unorthodox approach to neck-scales-tremolo etc

Frank Zappa – watermelons in easter hay and shut up and play your guitar – theme from the 3rd movement of sinister footwear
Stevie Ray Vaughan – uses half step down tuning
Eric Mongrain – a highly melodic tapping style (see also Kaki King for a percussive style)

Jimmy Page – used a violin bow and a theremin on occasion
Alvin Lee – completely unique English sound and style  – live, using a drumstick for a right hand, incredible
Johnny greenwood,  Adrian Belew, Reeves Gabrels – completely insane sounds
Robert Fripp – loops and frippertronics
Frank Gambale, Alan Holdswoth, John Maclaughlin – jazz fusion of various degrees
Paul Ubana Jones – mind blowing and unique style
Fred Frith – avante garde un-guitar playing
Richie Havens – open D tuning tour de force
The Edge -underrated master of skeletal arpeggios soaked with melodic feeling – redefined rock/pop guitar

Adrian Legg – idiosyncratic individual picking style complemented with technique & taste
Son House – unimaginably authentic individualism

So, do what feels best even if it`s unusual and strange!

Do what suits you.  Do what you like. Use your limitations to your advantage & if you only know a few scales – there`s no limit to what you can do – explore them fully in all senses. You dont have to be blind, crippled or named after a fruit, but it might help…a little.

Why not try practising underwater, great for making those  leagues below sea-sounds.
Later this week I`ll be travelling to the earth`s core to conduct electromagnetic, heat exchange, tone experiments.

Personally, Ive got my Strat` set up with the bridge in a unique way that “should” leave the guitar out of tune. It came about through an accident where I ripped the unit out of the body years ago and the tremsetter fell apart. It`s now become part of my overall style…it`s great.

Cheers, Jake.

After a couple of weeks off playing an electric I decided to fire up my under the desk guitar rig which consists of a loopstation, a delay and a distortion box into a Music Man amp. After four hours it was about midnight and I was pretty burnt out but I whipped through the footage real quick and here are some random guitar snacks for anyone who gives a damn….

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Here `s a snapshot of an unfinished riff that was recently used in the Auckland Xmedia lab, unmixed and pretty much raw straight into Logic. Followed by another riff thrown down when I fired up Logic and my midi controller for the first time. Play Loud.

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Robert Johnson; there`s a lot of hoodoo wrapped up around the man, in particular that he sold his soul to the devil down at the crossroads in Clarksdale. Originally, Son House suggested, Johnson was not regarded as a good musician at all but after the trade with Satan he returned with the blazing skills and blues mastery of a demi-god. Much of the early blues protagonists framed their content within the context of african american hoodoo/religious belief wrapped up in the historical context of migratory diaspora and most of the cliches of the blues narrative are more culturally rich in meaning than they might at first appear. The simple cliche alone of “the highway” is extrapolated and interpolated by numerous artists over the last 90 years by Bob Dylan alone many times across his recorded work. A great bridging work for the blues to the present date is Michael Gray’s ‘Song and Dance Man III’, which illustrated Dylan`s reappropriation of the blues through other song forms.

The narrative and folk tales, the telling of lies or competitive tales, the healthily obscene “putting in the dozens”, the long and witty toasts and the epigrammatic rhyming couplets which enliven the conversation of folk negro and harlem hipster alike, have their reflections in the blues.

Paul Oliver`s book “Conversation with the Blues” (1965)

There`s a great thesis here about the concept of the Trickster, which leads me onto what I`ve talked about previously with regards to Radioheads re-appropriation of the blues through a series of post modern metaphors and the Sublime. Eric Clapton himself has suggested that Johnson`s cross tempo work is unparalleled and Johnny Winter makes use of this technique also.

In the following video Eric Clapton, another “guitar hero” whose early songwriting capabilities and exploration of new genres (e.g. Cale & Marley) seems to be wholly forgotten now, talks about Robert Johnson and plays “Stones in the Passway”.

It`s a great place to start exploring what Robert Johnson has to offer and why he is who he is. It also illuminates the sheer technique, the impact of the unusual, that is often confused with something arcane, mythical, metaphysical, divine and otherworldly or more specifically in the blues with superstition, an encounter with the Devil or other dark force and the conceit of a conspirational universe.  It’s also interesting to note that the cross tempo section Eric Clapton discusses is a technique that many artists have plagiarised or emulated: Johnny Winter and Rory Gallagher have used it in varying degrees throughout their careers.

At any rate as much as Johnson’s technique was formidable and undeniably unique recordings have always sounded odd: his voice always seemed pitched too high and anyone who owns a gramophone knows that speed is ultimately the choice of the listener. Anyway, it seems that we may been listening to Robert Johnson at too many revolutions.
Touched.co.uk are offering Steady Rollin’ Man – 24 tracks of Robert Johnson slowed down – click here. I.M.H.O. this is the way Robert Johnson should sound and you can read all about it here.

For a while now (Ten Years) I`ve been really into the Jeff Beck road to guitar sounds and that`s a simple dirty old fuzz pedal (hot cake anyone?) into a great amp. Got my stratocaster bridge set up in a unique way so its a bit of a bastard to play too, you have to earn everything with it – you don`t have to fight it but it doesnt give too much away either. The vastly tactile approach of a used strat has all the character and excitement of a divining rod in a lightning storm as far as I`m concerned.

I`ve been really keen on using AWARD SESSION amps since I first tried one in 1990-91. I finally got my hands on one in 1999. They were known as the British Mesa Boogie and Clapton used a couple on his album Behind the Sun.