G U I TA R P L AY E R .

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BILLY GIBBONS: MY CAREER IN FIVE SONGS

BLACKBUR
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guitar deal LES PAUL

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Vintage treasures
from his massive
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I N T R O | FROM THE EDITOR

Vol. 58 No. 1 JANUARY 2024

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CONTENTS 40

J EN ROS ENSTE IN (KI NG FIS H); ZUMA PRESS, INC. /A LA MY STOC K PHOTO (GR IS MAN ); E RI KA GOLD R IN G/ WI REI M AGE (N IC HOLS); K EN CA RL (FRE EM A N); JESSE D EF LORI O ( H AUS E) ; J IM ARB OGAST ( S H EPH E RD) ; OLLY CU RT IS (B ONA M ASSA)
JANUARY 2024 | VOLUME 58 | NUMBER 1

PLAYERS
34
Kenny Wayne Shepherd
66
40
Joe Bonamassa

58
George Freeman

66
David Grisman

NEW & COOL

17
G&L Espada HH and
Espada HH Active

ALBUMS
20
34
58
Buffalo Nichols

22
Dave Hause

24
TIPSHEET
24
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram
22
ON THE COVER JOIN THE GP COMMUNITY
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12 JAN UA RY 20 24 G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
CONTENTS
JANUARY 2024 | VOLUME 58 | NUMBER 1

FIVE SONGS
26
Billy F. Gibbons

COLUMNS
30
Dave Hunter’s Classic Gear
Electro-Harmonix Big Muff

32
Jim Campilongo’s
Vinyl Treasures
Roy Buchanan — Second Album

32
LESSONS
74
Superimpose parallel major
and minor pentatonic scales
for expressive blues soloing.

79
Learn generational tunes 87 92
MIC HAEL PUTL AN D/G E TTY I MAG ES
from Luther Dickinson’s Fender Tone Master Pro TWA Krytical Mass KM-01
Magic Music for Family Folk. Floor Modeler and Reactive Octave Fuzz
FR-10 Powered Cabinet

GEAR 90 HOW I WROTE…

80
Gear of the Year 2023
Two Notes Special
Edition Limited Run
Torpedo Captor X
98
“The Story In Your Eyes”
98
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14 JAN UA RY 20 24 G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M

HUMBUCKER HEAVEN
With the Espada HH and Espada HH Active,
G&L offers two versatile variations on
Leo Fender’s late-1960s design.
B Y D A V E H U N T E R
L EO F E N DE R S PE NT roughly 20 years at
the musical instrument company that bears
his name. Perhaps it’s due to his storied
history there that people often forget he
spent another 20 years, from 1971 until his
death in 1991, continuing to design guitars
suited to the ever-changing needs of
contemporary musicians. In addition to Music
Man, the company he co-founded in 1971,
Leo spent much of his final years at G&L, the
company he created in 1980 with his former
Fender colleague George Fullerton.
Remarkably, one of G&L’s newest models
comes from a design Leo drew up well before
the company came into existence. After
G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
N E W & C O O L | G&L
selling Fender Musical Instruments to CBS
in 1965 and launching his consultancy for
the company as part of his non-compete
agreement, Leo formed CLF Research (for
Clarence Leo Fender), an R&D operation into
which he poured a ton of new thoughts about
guitar design. In 1969, he applied much of his
latest thinking to a new model he called the
Espada, after which he placed the blueprints
and R&D materials in his desk drawer. And
there they sat for years; his design would
never come to fruition in his lifetime.
Decades later, the folks at G&L discovered
the plans in Leo’s old workspace and
recognized the opportunity they presented.
ESPADA HH & ESPADA HH ACTIVE
The Espada HH
(bottom) and Espada
HH Active (top)
are G&L’s latest takes
on Leo Fender’s
late-’60s design.
Released in 2019, the G&L Espada featured
two split-coil Magnetic Field Design (MFD)
pickups, an innovative hum-canceling
single-coil unit designed by Leo himself
and used on several G&L models since
the inception of the brand.
Now come two new takes on this model:
the Espada HH and Espada HH Active. One
glance at these new variants reveals that the
“HH” stands for dual-humbucker, a pickup
complement intended to take the Espada
into slightly different tonal territory. That
aside, both models are very much as Leo
sketched out his original design 54 years ago.
When asked his first thoughts upon
discovering the lost design, G&L president
Dave McLaren told Guitar Player, “I wondered
how such a good-looking design didn’t get
produced at some point. It could have been
the last ‘Leo Fender’ Fender, or it could have
been repurposed into a Music Man or a G&L
here at the CLF Research factory on Fender
Avenue. Obviously, there would have been
technical changes, but the proportions of the
body, the curves, the pickguard, the styling
were all fantastic. It was waiting patiently for
JAN UARY 2 024 17
NEW & C O O L | G&L ESPADA HH & ESPADA HH ACTIVE
decades, kind of like lost tapes from an artist.
It just takes someone else who’s well versed
in the artist’s style to complete the song,
applying some of the artist’s later musical
development to make the song into a
cohesive piece.”
Although it took some creative thought to
bring the raw design to fruition, the G&L team
saw a natural path from the blueprints to the
final realization. “The technical aspects of the
design were being developed by Leo in 1967
and ’68, although nothing was ready for
production,” McLaren explains. “The styling
was fully developed by the end of 1969, and
I think Leo’s intent was to have a completed
Fender model ready for a 1970 launch, but
the clock ran out on Leo’s consultancy with
CBS/Fender and the project was abandoned.”
In any case, McLaren adds, the concept likely
wasn’t well received at CBS, which was then
focusing on growing and streamlining
production at its big new factory.
The Espada HH in
Cherryburst (left)
and Espada HH
Active in Vintage
White (right).
18 JAN UA RY 20 24
Vintage-style
Kluson Deluxe tuners
with slotted
SafeTi-Posts grace
the six-a-side
headstock.
The pieces were all there for G&L,
however, and mainly required an update to
the breadboard preamp design — Leo’s
solution to overcome guitar-cable loading
and deliver more clarity and better transients
— and the use of a solid, sustain-enhancing
bridge that had already become a G&L staple
via another of the founder’s later designs.
The Espada’s body is clearly a descendant
of Leo’s seminal Broadcaster and Esquire
solidbody designs of 1950, but with more
comfortably rounded edges and a rib cage–
sparing belly contour. The passive and active
variations are available in two wood choices,
alder and ash, with two finish options for each
of those timbers. Our review samples include
an alder-bodied Espada HH in Jet Black and
an ash Espada HH Active in Cherryburst.
Thanks to identical ergonomics, both
guitars are extremely comfortable on the lap.
The rounded edges eliminate the Telecaster’s
propensity to cut into a player’s ribcage and
forearm — one factor that led to the
Stratocaster’s contoured shape — and make
for a more huggable playing experience.
The Espada HHs’ 25 ½–inch-scale necks
are made from maple and feature unbound Both models have a
second mini-toggle
Caribbean rosewood fingerboards with
for coil splitting.
pearloid block inlays. Carved to a
medium-C profile, they sport a width
of 1 5/8 inches across the nut and The ostensibly Gibson-style, full-size
are attached with four wood screws humbuckers are a departure from the
rather than the three-screw plate and circa-’69 Espada design, comprising a G&L
micro-tilt adjustment Leo Fender AS4255Z and AW4370Z with uncovered
pioneered in the earlier days of G&L. zebra coils in the passive model and an
Vintage-style Kluson Deluxe tuners AS4255C and AW4368C with chrome covers
with slotted SafeTi-Posts grace the in the active, all made with alnico magnets.
six-a-side headstock, while Leo’s Meanwhile, the rest of the electronics and
own seminal G&L Saddle Lock control section retain hefty portions of Leo’s
hardtail bridge anchors things firmly design DNA. The preamp in the active version
down at the body end. was part of the intention of the original
G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
An Espada HH Active in
Honeyburst finish sits
on Leo Fender’s chair
in his workshop.
Espada concept, although here it’s G&L’s
existing Micro-Preamp fed by a single
nine-volt battery rather than the six AA
cells of Leo’s design. That model includes a
three-way toggle switch for selecting passive/
active/active-bright modes (replaced by
a two-way kill switch in the passive Espada
HH), and both guitars have a second
mini-toggle for coil splitting.
Each guitar also includes a three-way
pickup selector positioned toward the front
G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
of the scimitar-like control plate. Rather than
one of the configurations more commonly
found today, the three knobs deliver volume
plus Leo’s Passive Treble and Bass (PTB)
circuit, allowing more interactive EQ sculpting
than traditional high-pass tone knobs provide.
Both guitars had good setups right out
of the gig bags, along
with the easy
playability G&L is
“I WONDERED HOW
known for. I tested SUC H A GOOD-LOOKING
them through a
65amps London head
D ESIG N DIDN’ T GET
and 2x12 cab, and PRODUCED”
a tweed Deluxe-style
1x12 combo, using a selection of pedals, and
both guitars revealed a versatile character
that could easily suit a wide range of gigging
needs. The passive mode of each can lean a
little to the warm and rich side of the sonic
spectrum and be a tad boomy with the neck
humbucker selected alone. But turn the
bass control down 30 percent while leaving
the treble up full, and the rhythm position
exhibits more bite and clarity. From there,
the balance between the two is simply
outstanding, and a twist of a knob or a flick
of a switch takes you from clear and jangly
to gutsy, thick and rocking.
The active and active-bright settings
on the Espada HH Active are well specified,
as the latter never sounds too bright even
with the pickups in single-coil mode and the
treble control up full.
Instead, it adds extra
sparkle and bite that
really helps the
Espada HH Active
come alive. As such,
this model delivers
an enticing blend
of classic and modern, and proves itself
incredibly versatile. Ultimately, these two
new models offer performances very close
to a something-for-everyone package. The
fact that it all stems from one of the last of
Leo’s original Fender designs sure makes
for an enticing back story.
CONTACT glguitars.com
PRICES Espada HH $1,999; Espada HH
Active $2,099
JAN UARY 2 024 19
A L B U M | BUFFALO NICHOLS
BLUES
WITH
808 BEATS
With programmed
drums, samples and
a renewed sense of
purpose, Buffalo
Nichols ponders what
blues might have been
on The Fatalist.
B Y J I M B E A U G E Z
CA R L N ICH O LS ISN ’ T here to “save the
blues,” whatever that means. Rather, on The
Fatalist (Fat Possum), his second and latest
album of blues-rooted music as Buffalo
Nichols, he wanted to envision what the genre
might sound like today if it “hadn’t been
hijacked and trapped in amber,” he says.
Considering the evolution of traditionally
Black music forms in the past half-century,
especially the emergence and development
of hip-hop, the logical next step in Nichols’
neotraditionalist approach was to incorporate
drum programming, samples and synths into
his resonator blues. Songs like “You’re Gonna
Need Somebody on Your Bond” make use of
all of the above. Nichols performs the Blind
Willie Johnson slide blues as ghostly samples
of blues pioneer Charley Patton hover in the
periphery, held in place by synth washes. This
isn’t a firm stylistic crossover, though;
throughout The Fatalist, Nichols peppers his
lyrically driven songs with slide licks, natural
harmonics and other tricks he’s learned
playing rock, metal, bluegrass and blues.
“I thought if I could bring all the old and
the new together, it might help people
understand the blues,” he says. “That’s what
I was talking about with regard to the
gentrification of the music. I wanted to just
imagine what the music would sound like
if it stayed relevant.”
20 JAN UA RY 20 24
After spending a spell in Austin, Texas,
during which he recorded and toured behind
his 2021 self-titled debut album, the
Milwaukee native returned to his hometown
to retrench and explore creative paths he had
previously abandoned. The Fatalist took
shape around expanded instrumentation,
such as fingerstyle guitar on “The Difference”
and fiddle on “The Long Journey Home.” But
listeners looking for extended soloing might
be surprised by Nichols’ restraint, at least on
his studio work.
“When I was a teenager, if I bought a blues
album and it didn’t have three guitar solos per
song, I’d be like, ‘Oh, this is no good,’” he says.
“As I’ve gotten older, I just want to hear that
less and less. I don’t ever want to be seen as
a guitar player more than a songwriter, so
I always try to save that for the live show.”
We spoke with Nichols about the journey
that led to The Fatalist, taking creative risks,
and what he really thinks about the never-
ending blues debate.
How far were you into The Fatalist when
you returned to Milwaukee, where your
career began?
Probably half of it was written around the
time of the first album. At that time, I didn’t
have the creative control or the confidence
to do what I really wanted. So I took some
older songs and gave them a second chance.
And then, as I started to see a theme in what
I had been writing over the last couple of
years, the rest of them came along.
Did regaining creative control loosen
things up for you?
In the back of my mind, I still had this feeling
like, I’ve gotta make sure this song is
‘commercially viable,’ because that was the
term used by industry people that was burned
in my mind. And I hate it. I’m still working on
getting rid of those thoughts. But in practice,
I just did what I wanted. I took my own advice,
and, for better or worse, I did things in a way
E RI KA GOLD RIN G/ WI RE IMAG E
that was my own idea. I didn’t really do much
collaborating or ask opinions. I just wanted to
see what was on my mind.
Do you get pushback on your approach to
the blues?
G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M

A lot of people have this expectation that I’m
gonna be a traditionalist, or somebody who’s
gonna save the blues, or all these weird things
people say. Certain things that are totally
harmless in other genres — like promoting
yourself in a confident way, or not wanting or
seeking the approval of the people who are
already at the top — is seen as this huge,
offensive thing in the blues. I don’t care what
these people think of me. That’s normal in
punk and hip-hop and rock and roll. You’re
supposed to reject a certain part of the past.
I don’t go out of my way to offend people, but
I’m not trying to do what they do, and people
are offended by that.
Do you consider yourself a blues artist?
I’ve always gone back and forth on this
question, because it means something
different to me than to other people. I want to
change the meaning of it for myself and just
say, “Yes, I am a blues artist,” and let people
catch up or figure out what that means, even
though it makes my job a lot harder. But yeah,
I am a blues artist, but not the way that some
people think.
G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
Your take on “You’re Gonna who I actually am, and it’s not
Need Somebody on Your RECOMMENDED just this.” Right off the bat,
Bond” is a clear departure LISTENING I was experimenting live. In the
from traditional blues past two or three years I’ve
arrangements. Why is it The Fatalist been so busy and haven’t
important to revisit canonical “You’re Gonna Need practiced or explored music in
blues songs? Somebody on Your a way that I used to. I’m relying
Playing this kind of cultural Bond,” “The Difference,” on so much muscle memory
music, I feel like I have a duty to “Cold Black Stare,” and trying to remember these
at least give people a trail of “The Fatalist Blues,” techniques that I practiced 10
breadcrumbs back to the “Love Is All” years ago. Also, it’s forced me
source. If people can make that to try new things on the fly, and
connection, they might go back every once in a while it works
and appreciate the old stuff in a different out. It has made me be a lot more aware of
way. And then, at the same time, I wanted to my playing in the moment.
imagine what blues music would sound like
if it stayed relevant. That was the challenge, Your flatpicking stands out on songs like
and the biggest goal I had was imagining “Turn Another Stone.” When did that style
a totally alternate universe where the music enter your lexicon, and how did it make it
was cool and it didn’t get turned into onto this record?
cruise-ship music. A couple of years ago, some friends of mine
played this Tuesday night bluegrass gig at a
You’ve been opening your cover of Skip bar in Milwaukee, and I’d just go to hang out.
James’ “Sick Bed Blues” with two-hand Then the guitar player moved, and they were
tapping. Is that your way of welcoming like, “You want to play guitar in this bluegrass
listeners into your world, to let them know band?” I had never played bluegrass, and the
you’re not just a guy who plays blues? only thing I knew about bluegrass was this
Yeah, that is my way of trying to draw people one compilation CD that I bought from Target
in. I never want to offend my audience, but in, like, 2007. It had all these gospel bluegrass
sometimes I like to see how far out there I can songs from the ’40s and ’50s on it, and that
go, ’cause I know eventually I’m gonna come was all I really knew. I got into it for that bar
around and do that thing they want, and band and started taking it more seriously,
they’re gonna forgive everything I’ve done and then I moved on to something else. I have
before that. That gives me a little bit more some other songs I play live every once in
freedom. a while that are
But the main bluegrass inspired.
reason was because “I T HOUGHT IF I COULD
the years of playing in BR ING AL L T HE OLD AND A downtuned,
bars and opening for amplified resonator
people taught me all
T HE NEW TOGET HER, brings a lot of
these little tricks to get IT MIGHT HELP PEOP LE bombast. What is the
someone’s attention aesthetic that you’re
for 10 seconds. When
UNDERSTAND going for, sonically?
you show up to a set T HE B LUES” I’m just trying to figure
thinking you’re gonna out what works. The
hear acoustic blues and you hear tapping on way I play a lot of my songs relies on the bass
an overdriven resonator, it might make you with the thumb and the melody on the high
stop talking for a second and listen. strings. So one thing I was looking for was
having really high tension on those high
What has being on the road so much strings, and I had to go all the way up to the
revealed to you about your playing? resonator gauge to get that. It also brings a
My debut album was such a small part of totally different sound out of the pickups.
who I was. As soon as it was out, I was like, So I just keep following the sound and seeing
“Now I have to spend the next 10 years of what sounds good and what doesn’t, and try
my life trying to get people to understand not to break my guitars in the process.
JAN UARY 2 024 21
A L B U M | DAVE HAUSE
MELODY MAKER
As Dave Hause puts the focus on songs,
he keeps the guitar work all about the hooks.
B Y J I M B E A U G E Z
P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y J E S S E
SINGER-SONGWRITER DAVE
Hause has had a guitar around his neck,
professionally speaking, for two decades
now, first as the frontman for acclaimed
Philly punks the Loved Ones, and for the past
dozen years as a solo act. But when it comes
to laying down guitar tracks, he’s as likely to
perform them himself as call in a Nashville
ringer like Tom Bukovac, Sadler Vaden or Kris
Donegan, who guests on his sixth and latest
album, Drive It Like It’s Stolen (Blood Harmony
Records). “They can generate licks so much
faster than I could,” Hause says. “It’s like each
of these recording sessions has been a really
expensive guitar lesson for me.”
22 JAN UA RY 20 24
D • F L O R I O
Hause built, deconstructed and rebuilt
the 10 songs on Drive It Like It’s Stolen on his
Martin OM-21 and piano before hitting the
studio with producer Will Hoge. Written
from the perspective of a father navigating
post-millennium tension, ever-present global
calamities and all the uncertainties that lay
ahead, the record finds Hause testing the
fortitude of his heartland-inspired songwriting
by turning down the volume, similar in spirit to
the quieter moments on Bruce Springsteen’s
Born in the U.S.A. and Tunnel of Love.
“It wasn’t all just ‘ripping rock band,’ like
you’ll hear at the end of ‘Pedal Down’ or
‘Cheap Seats,’ where the band comes in the
very end as a finale,” Hause says, referring
to songs from his album. “We did more of
a hybrid, where the live band felt like a fader
on the board that we could turn up or turn
down, and we could have other elements
guide the song.”
With that said, he didn’t abandon the
sonic blueprint that got him here. Songs like
“Hazard Lights” and “Damn Personal” stomp
as hard as anything on 2021’s Blood Harmony,
a precursor of sorts to Drive It Live It’s Stolen
that reveled in the optimistic glow of new
parenthood. Strings, Mellotron and horns
add to the emotional heft of Hause’s earnest
songwriting, an expertise he mastered on
2017’s Bury Me in Philly and 2019’s Kick. “As
much as I love guitar,” he says, “I’m more of
a student of them than a journeyman guitar
player. I’m more focused on songs.”
We caught up with Hause as he began
the process of adapting the songs and guitars
from Drive It Like It’s Stolen for the stage.
The underlying anxiety of your previous
work assumes a larger role on Drive It Like
It’s Stolen. What kind of space were you in
G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
while writing the record?
I was in a pretty low spot. I was watching the
world now with three-year-old kids. Blood
Harmony contains a lot of excitement around
family, a lot of falling in love with having a
family. This was more like going out into the
world after all that and being like, Oh, did we
unwittingly bring these innocent kids into a
world that may not be able to sustain them?
So I think you have a vibe shift. I was intent
on honoring that with the production and
the sounds.
You made some bold sonic and structural
choices.
For Blood Harmony, we got incredible
musicians into a room and made, essentially,
a roots-sounding rock and roll record. I had
at least one good idea with Drive It Like It’s
Stolen, which was to try not to repeat that.
My ear was being pulled more by stuff that
was happening in pop and hip-hop in terms
of production. I wanted to push further into
getting the sounds that are in my head,
instead of putting limitations on things based
on how we would play them live, or what I’m
personally capable of as a musician. I just
wanted to shoot the moon.
Keys and strings take up more real estate
here than on your past records. Did those
songs originate on guitar?
Yeah, there’s always an early version with
guitar. Even if I’m writing on piano and I put
together a demo, I’ll do a more straight-
forward guitar-and-vocal version to make
sure the song is sturdy. Oftentimes it’s like,
Well, that just sounds like a folk song.
But if there’s a folk song principle, which for me is
rendering that’s compelling, RECOMMENDED typically melodic. It’s gotta be
then I know all the other stuff LISTENING a melodic line, otherwise, it
should fall into place. sounds like guitar playing
Drive It Like It’s Stolen instead of music.
There’s continuity in your “Cheap Seats,” “Pedal
melodies, and also in how Down,” “Damn Personal,” What was your writing
you tip your hat to other “Hazard Lights,” “Drive It process?
artists, like in “Cheap Seats” Like It’s Stolen” On some level, I know what my
when you hit that “American default choices are, especially
Girl” chord before the on electric guitar. On
full band comes the demos, I would
crashing in. “MIKE CAMP BELL IS MY often come up with
I think that continuity FAVORITE GUITAR a song idea on an
has a lot to do with acoustic guitar or
sensibility. I’m pretty
P LAY ER. T HERE’S N OT the piano, and then
forthcoming with my TOO MUC H FLASH, BUT I would leave guitar
weaknesses as a guitar out of the demo.
player. But I think the
YOU’RE ALWAYS GONNA I would just play bass.
weakness that guitar S ING HIS GUITAR LINE” It made it more like an
players often have is open slate for whoever
they’re good at noodling or stuff that feels was gonna come in — and sometimes that
impressive, but not necessarily at making was me. Sometimes I would go back and
a hook that sticks to your ribs. And that’s record things once other elements had come
why Mike Campbell is my favorite guitar in and I knew what I want to hear on the
player. There’s not too much flash, but you’re electric guitar.
always gonna sing his guitar line.
For me, it gets back to melody. As that Are you still a Les Paul Junior guy?
process has unfolded on each album, I’m Yeah. I’ll probably have it till the day I die. It’ll
guiding that electric guitar player. I’m going, go to my kids, and they’re gonna have to fight
“Well, that’s a really cool lick, except if you over it. That and my Nash Tele are my main
repeat it over and over, it’s even better.’” two guitars live, and we’re always trying to
Sometimes that comes from me and find a way to put my Rickenbacker 12-string
sometimes it comes from the producer. into the mix. I’ve been more or less playing my
You have to leave people enough room Martin OM-21 Special for years now, but I’ve
to be creative and really look at it as a become pretty fascinated with [early ’40s
collaboration. You have to respect their Gibson] Banner guitars. They’re obviously
expertise, and then also have a guiding really expensive, but that’s the next really big
breeze that’s blown into my guitar mind. I just
love what those guitars are and how they’re
“As much as I love
tied to American history.
guitar, I’m more of a
student of them
than a journeyman What amps do you gravitate toward
guitar player.” these days?
I got interested in the Kemper a little bit after
we toured with Bad Religion. A friend said,
“Look, man, people aren’t coming to see you
switch amps six times, because you’re playing
rhythm guitar for the most part. Just make it
sound great, and the way you do that is with
your hand doing what it does through the
best gear you have, which is that ‘65 Fender
Deluxe Reverb and the ‘56 Junior or your
Nash.” And it was really good advice. Those
are my trusty tools.
JAN UARY 2 024 23
A D V I C E | CHRISTONE “KINGFISH” INGRAM
TIP SHEET
He’s played with and learned from the masters.
Here are Christone “Kingfish” Ingram’s
best practices for performance.
B Y G A R Y G R A F F
M AK IN G MUSIC I S in Christone
“Kingfish” Ingram’s DNA. His mother, Princess
Pride, was a first cousin of the late country
music barrier breaker Charley Pride. Ingram
grew up playing and singing in church in
Clarksdale, Mississippi. while soaking up the
region’s rich blues heritage — not making any
deals at the crossroads (at least none that we
know about) but blending interests in blues,
R&B, funk and country, and performing shows
by the time he was in seventh grade.
From there, it’s been a non-stop ascent as
Ingram, now 24, wowed audiences and older
musicians alike. He played on Eric Gales’ 2017
album, Middle of the Road, at the Chicago
Blues Festival and on TV’s Luke Cage. That
was all before his own debut album, Kingfish,
came out in May 2019, hit number one on
Billboard’s Blues Album chart and was
nominated for a Grammy Award. A second
studio album, 662, came out in July 2021, and
Ingram added stage appearances with Buddy
Guy, Eric Gales, Samantha Fish, the Tedeschi
Trucks Band and others to his resume. Says
Guy, ”That kid is the future of the blues. He
tells me that the blues is in good hands.
Ingram’s latest release is Live in London,
a 16-track set recorded with his quartet this
past June 6 at the Garage. As he prepared for
its release, Ingram checked in with Guitar
Player from the road (naturally) to share
a few of the lessons he’s learned about
playing live during a career that’s not that
much younger than he is.
1 DO N’ T RE HEA RSE TOO
MUCH… JUST EN OUGH
“All the guys in the band are really seasoned
musicians, so we try to get one or two
rehearsals under our belt, not much more. It
becomes like muscle memory: Once we put
J E N ROS ENSTE IN
 7 LEA RN FROM
TH E MASTE RS
“I’ve played a lot with Mr. Guy. He teaches me
whenever I watch him live. He has the crowd
in his hand. It’s all about how he works the
audience and relates to it. That’s how he
teaches me and influences me directly. Some
Kingfish and Buddy of the local guys in Clarksdale have taught
Guy perform at
me stuff, too, lessons about performing —
Buddy Guy’s
Legends, Chicago, about not going overboard or stepping on
January 18, 2019. other band members. It’s the kind of thing
you might do when you’re still young and
inexperienced, so
the time in, we’re good to just get up there notice I really don’t it’s helpful to have
and go with the flow.” play blues covers so “AS T HE OPENING ACT, someone older guide
much. I prefer to play you to avoid those
YOU WANT TO PUT ON
2 BE PR EPAR ED — B UT
STAY OPEN TO CHANGES
songs you don’t hear
a lot of people do, like A G REAT S HOW BUT
mistakes.”

“We tend to keep the set list the same most

of the tour. But if I get a feel from the room
during sound check, or from the crowd during
‘Hey Joe,’ ‘All Along the
Watchtower’... pretty
much stuff that’s
ALSO T RY TO STAY
IN YOUR LANE”
8 FEE L YOUR
SO LOS
— BUT DON’ T
the show, we might switch a song or two. It familiar but not too LET TH EM
can be spontaneous. We’ll come up with an overplayed.” TA KE OVE R EVERYTH ING
idea onstage and share the moment. I’ll go “I don’t put a solo together by thinking about
into a riff and the band will follow along. But
most of the time we like to give them a nice
mix of blues, gospel and some rock and roll,
6 SPEAKING OF WHIC H
— YOU CA N’ T GO WRON G
WITH HEN DRIX
how it should fit into a song; I just play — I feel
it. And what I’m mostly feeling is that I want
my solo to be melodic — not a ‘pretty’
which is at the heart of our set list.” “Most definitely. He was one of the few melodic but an aggressive one. But I never
players that took the blues out of the let it go on too long. I like to rein it in. Because

3 DON’ T LOSE THE PLOT

“When I perform, I’m trying to tell a story
rather than just playing a random song here
envelope and did his own thing with it. He
watched Buddy Guy do what he did, and then
he took it a little farther. That’s the influence
when it’s done right, you feel it for a few bars
and then you’re done.”

or there. Blues is all about life, so I try to tell

the story about my life and things I went
he has on me — to take something and create
my own lane with it.” 9 WHE N YOU’RE
THE O PE NING ACT,
BE EFFEC TIVE —
E RI KA GOLD RIN G/G E TTY IMAGES (S HOALS FEST); PAUL NATKIN /G E TTY I MAG ES (W ITH B U DDY )

through. As far as putting my set lists

together, I arrange the songs chronologically BUT RESPECTFUL
so they reflect my life — from being a kid to “I often play a whole show, but when I’m the
growing up into an adult, putting those opener, the best thing I can do is hype up the
moments of my life into an order.” crowd. I’m not there to dominate; I just want
to help set the mood. As the opening act, you

4 KEEP THE CROWD

IN MIN D, BUT N OT
AT TOP OF M I ND
want to put on a great show, but you also
want to stay in your lane. It’s not your show,
so do what you can to set things up for the
“I can get hung up on crowd participation. main act while giving people your best.
Some crowds are listening crowds — they “The first time I opened for a band outside
don’t get all hyped up — and, I’ll be honest, the blues was for Vampire Weekend. That
sometimes I interpret that as, ‘Oh, man, they was humbling, because the crowd was young
really aren’t into us,’ when in fact they were and not really into the blues. But we did, like,
into us. I try to keep that in mind every time 13 shows and they went great. Everybody
I play so that I don’t get thrown off.” enjoyed it. We got more feedback from the
parents than the kids, but they all seemed to

5 CCOV
HOOSE YOUR
ERS WI SELY
“We’ll cover songs, not the usual ones but
Performing at
Shoals Fest,
enjoy themselves. It was a little better with
Steve Miller. His crowd didn’t know us that
well, but they knew the blues, so we could
Florence, Alabama,
those you don’t see anybody else doing. You’ll October 1, 2022. go balls to the wall on that one.”

G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M JAN UARY 2 024 25

F I VE S O N G S | BILLY GIBBONS
MY CAREER
IN FIVE
SONGS
“La Grange” aside,
these are the songs
Billy F. Gibbons
considers among his
finest achievements.
B Y M A R K M c S T E A
W H EN WE ASK E D Billy F. Gibbons to
select five key songs from across his career,
there was a proviso: He couldn’t include “La
Grange,” as it had already been the subject of
in-depth scrutiny in our “How I Wrote” feature
of May 2021. “When I was asked to participate
in this series, I got lit up and began peeling
the onion over what songs to zero in on,”
the Reverend tells us. “The most obvious,
‘La Grange,’ was ZZ Top’s first national
breakthrough to climb the pop singles chart.
But, alas, having been asked to set it aside,
the question that I had to ponder was, ‘Where
to start?’ ”
Certainly, it’s no easy task when you’ve
got a back catalog with the quality and depth
that Gibbons has amassed both with ZZ Top
and in more recent years as a solo artist,
where he’s found an alternative outlet for
his creativity. “It’s something of a different
headspace when engaging with the solo
excursion adjacent to ZZ,” he explains. “Of
course, the sometimes obvious six-string
similarities have much in common, yet there’s
a considerable vibe in the mix. There’s mucho
feel, which can connect in a very ZZ-like way,
and yet also some far-fetched opposites to
balance the affair. Some of it’s a bit outside,
some a bit inside, but all of it is quirky. The
down-and-dirty process slides into mindless
instinct while bringing things to conclusion.”
As far as Gibbons is concerned, the solo
process fires up the creative juices for ZZ Top,
and vice versa, with ZZ looking at scheduling
some recording time in the near future. “Yes,
26 JAN UA RY 20 24
we’re on the edges of nailing another album
down. Keeping the band on the road so much
of late continues to stir up the angst for a
rapid studio return. I guess it’s time to write
the new ones.”
When they get around to recording them,
those tracks will be the band’s first with
bassist Elwood
Francis, Gibbons’
guitar tech for three “I’M MORE EXCITED AND
decades, who came ENT HUS ED THAN EVER
into ZZ Top following
the 2021 death of
BEFORE, IF THAT ’S
founding bassist Dusty P OSS IBLE”
Hill. As far as Gibbons
is concerned, they couldn’t have found
a better person to step up to the plate and fill
Dusty’s shoes. “The directed transition eased
in, with all the senses fired up,” he says. “The
unexpected but strident instruction came
from Dusty to get Elwood to fill the spot
when he knew he was going to be out of
action for a few months prior to his death. We
accommodated his wishes and immediately
solidified the move. It’s a legacy from the
Dust, moving forward with Elwood keeping
the bottom on the Top.”
Gear-wise, of late, Gibbons has been seen
sporting a hybrid SG-style guitar that features
a Flying V-styled headstock. “We defined a
design that emerged from the drawing table,”
he says. “It was a valued collaboration with
John Bolin at Bolin Guitars and the fine folks
at Gibson. It’s an expression with a visual
appeal which seems
to work, while working
within the collective
components found
throughout the running
history of Gibson
appointments.”
As always, Gibbons
continues to favor extremely light-gauge
strings, which seems remarkable given the
depth and weight of tone that he manages
to pull from his axes. “Yes, Jim Dunlop
managed to draw the ultra-light .007 gauge
wire with success on all counts,” he affirms.
“The resiliency of the string’s tension,
combined with the secrets of the Dunlop
J E N ROS ENSTE IN
alloy, make for some rad reaches for bending
over the fretboard. They require nothing in the
way of adjusting your touch or approach. It’s
just a matter of grab the guitar and go.”
G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M

Gibbons has long been renowned as a
collector of some of the finest guitars ever
created, plus some of the downright weirdest.
There remains one guitar though, that is his
most prized possession. “That’s gotta be that
mysteriously magnetic Pearly Gates, the ’59
Les Paul Standard that sounds like no other
I’ve encountered,” he says. “She’s gotta be the
first I’d put in the ‘go’ bag in the event of fire
or disaster. The real trick is thinking about the
next one.”
Gibbons continues to find inspiration in
the blues music that first excited him, and
in making music with some long-time Texan
contemporaries. “Seems that lately we return
to a handful of a dozen select LPs or so
which continue to inspire. It’s an ongoing
discussion among the regular gathering with
our sideband act, the Jungle Show, back in
Texas, with Jimmie Vaughan, Sue Foley, Mike
MI C HAE L OCHS ARC HI VES/GET T Y I MAG ES (M OVI NG S ID EWAL KS ); TOM HILL /G E TTY IM AGES (ZZ TO P)
Flanigin and Chris ‘Whipper’ Layton, as we go
on arguing about elusive new directions
which might light the fuse unexpectedly. We
know it’s out there. It just morphs into the
unknown as fast as greased lightning.”
Given the number of years and miles
Gibbons has put on the clock since the mid-
’60s, you would be forgiven for thinking that it
might start to take its toll, but you’d be way
off the mark. “I’m more excited and enthused
than ever before, if that’s possible,” he attests.
“Having this job — getting out there and
playing each and every night, spending
countless studio hours exchanging sonic
ideas with others — is one of the greatest
privileges one could have. Sometimes,
dreams abound in Technicolor about
thrashing on the guitar, and then it happens
to righteously unfold onstage. Hard to predict,
yet easy to savor and enjoy. I never tire of the
old ZZ Top standards. They’re like old friends
and it’s always good to get together with
The Moving
Sidewalks meet Jimi
Hendrix. Gibbons is
second from right.
G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
ZZ Top perform at
Soldiers and Sailors
Memorial Auditorium,
Chattanooga, Tennessee.
October 23, 1973.
them. When they’re played, there’s a recurrent
recollection of what it was like early on, so it
becomes ‘the now.’ At the same time, it’s a
vivid trip down memory lane. There’s a new
stage and a new audience to engage which
always keeps things fresh, fine and foolish.”
“99TH FLOO R”
MOVING SI DEWA LKS — SING LE
(1 967)
“Going way back to
the Moving Sidewalks,
our pre-ZZ band, we
stabbed the stake
in the ground. That
was back in those
pre-Cream, pre–Jimi
Hendrix Experience days, inspired by
psychedelic pioneers and fellow Texan pals
the 13th Floor Elevators. Their brilliant
frontman, Roky Erickson, was, as they say in
the tech biz, ‘an early adopter’ — of exactly
what is hard to say. The Elevators came up
with some rather unearthly sounds, not
previously conceptualized. Elevators go up
and sidewalks move forward, which inevitably
brought the name ‘the Moving Sidewalks’ into
focus, figuring the realm to be all things
horizontal — the contradiction, of course,
being ‘99th Floor.’
“The first recorded version of the number,
by the way, pre-dates the Sidewalks, as it
was originally cut with Billy G and the Blue
Flames, my band from way, way back. We
recorded the demo to get the ball rolling,
moving into the Sidewalks with drummer
Dee Merrill Mitchell. We re-recorded a
streamlined version, releasing the new track
on the Tantara label, which hit with some
commotion in Houston. The folks at Scepter
caught it and licensed it for their Wand
subsidiary — the same label as ‘Louie Louie’
by the Kingsmen, along with the classic ‘Twist
and Shout’ by the Isley Brothers. That was
some seriously august labelmate company
we were keeping. That release led to
additional airplay and touring opportunities,
including teaming up with the Jimi Hendrix
Experience, who became our friends and
mentors. As I remember it, I played a Fender
Jazzmaster through a Vox Super Beatle, and
a Hohner harp through a Fender Bassman.”
“WA ITING FOR THE
BUS”/“JESUS JUST
LEFT CH ICAGO”
ZZ TO P — TRES H OMBR ES (1 973)
“Yes, there are
two song titles here,
I admit, yet the two
tracks are counted as
one song stream.
That’s the way they’ve
been perceived ever
since they debuted as ‘side one, tracks one
and two’ on the album Tres Hombres. Our
engineer, navigating the space between the
two songs, used the tried-and-almost-true
method of razor blading for tape splicing,
and it seemed then he did too good a job.
However, the effect eliminated any silent
space between the two songs on the album.
The two tracks heard together in rapid
succession made for an unplanned — or
maybe unchained — medley that serves both
of the songs so well.
“The two are really one in most fans’ eyes.
‘Waiting’ offered an anticipatory experience
of a down-and-outer spending a significant
part of a day in a state of suspension, and
‘Jesus’ set the pace moving from Chicago to
New Orleans and all points in between.
[laughs] In essence, it’s a blues suite in 4/4
and 6/8 time. It’s still being auspiciously
JAN UARY 2 024 27
F I VE S O N G S | BILLY GIBBONS
delivered on the concert stage as a ‘two-fer.’
The guitars of choice for this were a ’54
hardtail Strat and Pearly Gates, the ’59
’Burst, through an early Marshall 1968
Super Lead 100.”
“LEGS”
ZZ TOP — ELIMI NATOR (1 983)
“This is an exemplar
of the Eliminator era,
although we might
equally lean into
‘Sharp Dressed Man’
or perhaps ‘Gimme All
Your Lovin’ ’ from the
same zillion-selling album. This was the time
when that little red ’33 Ford three-window
coupe became a cultural icon, when MTV
began and against the odds created an
unexpected ZZ Top video trio commotion.
The unassuming fact remains, we ceded the
spotlight to ‘them pretty gals’ and the cool,
custom car. It translated to the stage easily,
as we used the fuzzy, spinning guitars seen in
the video. and the visual connection ignited
a delight with audiences across the board.
“That video, by the way, was a reshoot.
The original filming, shot over a weekend,
was accidentally misplaced by a lab worker
which required us to return back the very next
week, reshooting the whole thing, frame by
frame. Quite the happy accident, on par with
the ‘Waiting’/‘Jesus’ splice, especially when
the song went Top 10 for an extended run of
Dusty Hill and Billy
Gibbons perform at
Monsters of Rock
August 20, 1983.
28 JAN UA RY 20 24
months on the charts. And wouldn’t you
know it, it was adapted for use in a pantyhose
commercial: Pins ‘R’ Us! The guitar used to
record it was a fur-covered solid-body plank
fabricated from the Bolin production line,
mic’d up under an ark of archaic tube amps
that I named the Amp Cabin.”
“I GOTSTA GET PAID”
ZZ TO P — L A F UTURA (2 012)
“This is another
favored track definitely
perceived as a left-field
turn, as it’s actually
an interpretation of
a track borne of the
Houston ghetto: ‘25
Lighters’ by DJ DMD, featuring Lil’ Keke and
Fat Pat. Our engineer, G.L. ‘G-Mane’ Moon,
worked at John Moran’s Digital Services in
Houston, the studios patronized by a plethora
of rap and hip-hop clients. We shared many
off and on hours with some of those cats,
coming up with some rad ideas and
comparing notes. Our
newfound friends
showed us beats, “I NEVER TIRE OF
and we showed them THE OLD ZZ TOP
some guitar chops, as
STANDAR DS. THEY’RE
could only happen in
Houston. LIKE OLD FR IENDS”
“We dig into that
track with our own take inspired by a coupling
of Lightnin’ Hopkins styling throughout. The
song was a highlight of La Futura. I think many
Top fans perceived that album as one of our
strongest for many years, and it certainly felt
like it was a worthy addition to our catalog.
Once again, when it comes to the perfect tool
for the job, Pearly Gates stepped up to the
task, bolstered with a mid-’60s Fender VI
running through a blond Fender reverb tank.”
“TREAT H ER RIGH T ”
BILLY GIBBONS & THE
BFGS— PERFECTA MUNDO (2015)
“Lastly, I’ve decided to
go for ‘Treat Her Right,’
from my first BFG solo
album, Perfectamundo,
which was recorded
and released in
preparation for the
annual Havana Jazz Festival, following an
invitation to perform there. The brainstorming
in the recording studio led to delving, in
advance of that performance, into the world
of Afro-Cuban music. This lit up the idea of
recording a Latin-inflected record that drew
upon the revered experience as apprentice to
Tito Puente many years earlier. Of course, the
original version by Roy Head, recorded and
released on Don Roby’s Back Beat label,
made a huge splash, crossing all charts when
it came out in 1965. Knowing Roy Head and
his inimitable frantic stage antics, we
attempted to follow the rhythmic exercises,
and so it was with the
BFGs jumping at the
notion to take it for a
ride. Upon its release,
word reached us of
ROB AN TON ELLO ( TOP); F IN COSTE LLO/R ED FERN S (19 83)
Roy’s delight over our
recorded efforts.
“Speaking of
Mr. Head, Roy included a song on the flip
of his ‘Your (Almost) Tuff’ single entitled
‘Tush Hog’ back in the day, and, of course,
that possibly led to a veiled R&B influence
on another favorite, ZZ Top’s ‘Tush.’ The guitar
and amp was the same as can be seen on
the Conan O’Brien TV clip: a Fender Cohiba
Esquire hard-wired into a Magnatone Super
15 tube amp, gained hard with the volume
cranked out.”
G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
C O L U M N | CLASSIC GEAR

The Tortoise
and the Hair
Although late to the
fuzz-pedal competition,
the Electro-Harmonix
Big Muff won the race.
THE FUZZ BOX hit the scene in the early
1960s, and by the latter part of the decade
nearly every gear manufacturer was
promoting their own version of the effect.
But the most popular American-made fuzz
pedal of all time, the Electro-Harmonix Big
Muff, wasn’t released until the end of the
1960s or possibly the very start of the next.
Remarkably, it very quickly became a favorite
of guitarists everywhere.
That hairy form of distortion known as
fuzz was first boxed in a compact solid-state
device when Nashville studio engineer Glenn
Snoddy devised a circuit to re-create the
enticingly clipped sound of a faulty mixer
channel. His invention was subsequently
released as the Maestro Fuzz Tone pedal
in late 1962 or early ’63. Within a year or so,
English engineer Roger Mayer was building

custom fuzz pedals for London guitarists, and
British makers Sola Sound and Arbiter took
their own creations to market in the years
following that. Back in New York City,
however, Mike Matthews, an aspiring rock
keyboard player working a day job as an
electrical engineer for IBM, decided the
market was far from oversaturated and
started getting his own pedal ideas together.
Some time around 1966 or ’67, Matthews
and an IBM colleague concocted a fuzz pedal
that sold in significant numbers as the Guild
Foxy Lady. Additional work with Bell Labs
engineer Bob Myer led Matthews to create
the simple LPB1 preamp, which was housed
in a small enclosure that plugged straight into
a guitar output. It became the debut product
of Electro-Harmonix upon the company’s
inception, in 1968. It was followed by the
Muff Fuzz, a simple two-transistor dirt box
contained in a similar compact case.
The quest to make an even more powerful
fuzz — and place it inside a floor unit with a
convenient foot switch — led them to design
P EDAL COURTESY OF MIK E & MIKES GUI TAR BAR. PHOTOS BY MIK E BALL AND (TOP THI S PAGE ) PHIL DO NL EY
ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS
• Triangular knob layout
• Controls for volume, sustain and tone
• Four Fairchild FS37000 silicon
transistors
• Separate power switch
• Printed circuit board with hand-
soldered components
the Big Muff д. Matthews and Myer have both
said they released the pedal in 1969, and early
documentation shows Electro-Harmonix was
advertising the Big Muff in 1970. Matthews
claimed to have a copy of an order from described by its control layout — was built
Carlos Santana with a 1970 date and said in 1972. Those controls include volume,
he’d seen Jimi Hendrix use one in the studio in sustain (a.k.a. gain, or fuzz) and tone, as well
1970 after someone tipped him off that the as a sliding on/off power switch, included in
guitarist purchased the pedal from Manny’s an age when pedal makers weren’t yet using
Music. Reliable accounts indicate that full switching input jacks.
production only ramped up in 1971. The Often referred to as the second version of
excellent example seen here of an early the V1 Big Muff, it replaced a debutante pedal
“triangle” Muff — so called for the shape that had the power switch built into the

30 JAN UA RY 20 24 G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M

volume potentiometer and on which the
tone control was labeled “fuzz,” although it
performed the same function. This example’s
distortion is generated by four rare PNP
FS37000 silicon transistors from Fairchild
Semiconductor (sometimes purported to be
re-labeled variations on the more common
2N5133), which in this iteration produced
a fuzz sound that is thick, warm and smooth,
G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
BY DAVE HUNTER
logo. The V4 had red bubble letters and a
black field around the lower part of the pedal,
a look that was retained for several years.
Supply-chain issues and an impactful
worker’s strike led to Electro-Harmonix’s
bankruptcy in 1984, putting a period at the
end of the development of the Big Muff that
had lasted nearly a decade and a half. “After
that,” Matthews told me in 2004, “I helped
Akai get their sampler program off the ground
and developed some wireless products. Then
I got sidetracked and involved with vacuum
tubes from Russia.”
That connection not only helped
Matthews develop the Sovtek tube brand — it
also led him to produce several popular E-H
pedals there, including the Big Muff. He first
edged toward a reintroduction of the
legendary fuzz via the Mike Matthews
Red Army Overdrive, manufactured in St.
Petersburg and released around 1991 or ’92.
Soon after, Matthews applied the Sovtek
brand to a range of Russian-made Big Muff
pedals, which used the same variation of
the Big Muff circuit found in the Red Army
Overdrive but carried the Electro-Harmonix
name. Originally housed in enclosures
screened with “Civil War” graphics, so called
yet with good articulation. for their contrasting blue and grey ink and
Although the 1972 triangle Big Muff is 19th century font, these morphed into the
constructed with a rudimentary printed BMP tank-colored “green Russian” pedals
circuit board (PCB), that are probably the best known among
its components are E-H’s eastern-bloc
hand-soldered to production.
that foundation COMPONENTS C HANGED Increasing demand
and include several FREQUENTLY, SO THE for the Big Muff and
ceramic disc and poly its variations led
film capacitors,
TONE OF EAR LY B IG Matthews to
carbon-comp resistors MUFFS OFT EN DI FFER ED reintroduce a New
and two pairs of York City–made pedal
diodes, in addition
S LIGHTLY FROM in 2000. With a circuit
to the essential P EDAL TO PEDAL redesigned by Fran
transistors. The makes Blanche, formerly of
and values of these components changed the boutique pedal maker Frantone, the
frequently, with the result that the tone of modern Big Muff hit the ground in red-and-
early Big Muffs often differed slightly from black graphics, and this seminal fuzz circuit
one pedal to the next. — in myriad further variations — has been
The V3 Big Muff of 1973 saw the a mainstay of the Electro-Harmonix lineup
introduction of the three-in-line controls and ever since. Famous Big Muff users are many,
brought the iconic “ram’s head” graphic to but a short list includes J. Mascis, Jack White,
the enclosure — first printed in violet, then in Ernie Isley, David Gilmour, Dan Auerbach and
black ink — along with red ink for the Big Muff The Edge.
JAN UARY 2 024 31
C O L U M N | VINYL TREASURES
How to Play
a Telecaster
On Second Album,
Tele evangelist Roy
Buchanan raised Leo’s
creation to new heights.
O N E OF MY favorite moments as a Roy
Buchanan fan was his late-night performance
of Willie Nelson’s “Night Life.” Roy interpreted
Buddy Emmons’ steel-guitar voicings, played
unique jazz lines and commanded beautiful
ii-V progressions. I listened like a voyeur with
jaw agape, sensing Roy was playing entirely
for himself. I also recall seeing him during
bleaker times, in his post-Polydor, pre–
Alligator Records era, with an audience of
about 20 people as he sang a blues using
improvised lyrics: “I used to make $100,000 a
year, and now I have to play a place like this…”
When I’m asked, “What are the best Roy
Buchanan albums to get?” I always answer,
“His first two.” That’s the Roy Buchanan I love.
Although there are wonderful moments on all
of Roy’s records, and I’m grateful to Alligator
Records for rekindling his career, I’ve always
loved his versatility and sound on his first two
Polydor releases. I’ve
already covered Roy’s
brilliant self-titled ROY’S SO NGS A BOUT
debut here in Vinyl P RAY ER A N D JESUS
Treasures, so I’ll
address the equally
WER E A FA R CRY F ROM
wonderful Second R ITC HI E BLAC KMO RE
Album to help you dig
further into his genius.
TH ROWI NG A STEAK
Released on the IN A R ESTAU RA NT
Polydor label in 1973,
Second Album is a seamless sequel to Roy’s
1972 release, featuring largely the same lineup
of Dick Heintze on piano and organ, Teddy
Irwin on rhythm guitar, Chuck Tilley (who
sings “Treat Her Right”) and drummer Ned
Davis (who plays on “She Once Lived Here”).
Newcomers include Jerry Mercer, who fills out
the drum chair, and bassist Don Payne. The
producer, once again, is Peter Kieve Siegel.
32 JAN UA RY 20 24
The record kicks off with “Filthy Teddy,” on
which Roy’s right-hand pyrotechnics, pinch
harmonics, volume swells and melodic
approach are all solid. It’s followed by “After
Hours,” on which he gives a nod to the
swinging Jimmy Nolen, best known as James
Brown’s guitarist. Roy redefines the song and
makes it his own with drastic dynamic shifts
and toggle-switch variations as he jumps
seamlessly from
double-stops to
steel-guitar sounds
while wrenching from
his Telecaster almost
every sound it can
make. “Five String
Blues” is a minor-key
tune that earned its
name after Roy broke
a string recording it.
His vocal-like guitar tone and volume swells,
mixed with his singular shredding, make this
track a keeper. Roy sings “Whoa, Jesus, this is
my final day,” as he closes side one with
“Thank You Lord,” and his right hand has a
pianistic way of sweep-picking the chords.
Roy’s religious references captured my young
imagination. He was unlike any guitar hero I
listened to, and his songs about prayer and
BY JIM CAMPILO NGO
Jesus were a far cry from Ritchie Blackmore
throwing a steak in a restaurant.
Side two opens with “Treat Her Right,”
on which Chuck Tilley vocalizes before Roy’s
solo jumps out like a rocket ship breaking
through the atmosphere. On “I Won’t Tell You
No Lies,” Roy throws in the kitchen sink, using
octaves, double-stops, harmonic squeals and
his trademark chicken picking. ”Tribute to
Elmore James” is a personal favorite. I love
how Roy plays the blues while retaining a
melody, almost like a gospel singer. His
melodicism was unique and iconic, and unlike
Clapton, Beck or even Hendrix, there was
something deeply American in his playing.
On the country-style closer, “She Once Lived
Here,” Roy both defines and advances
Telecaster stylings, showing his genius as
a stylist and an original.
Second Album remains innovative
50 years after its release. Roy raised the
Telecaster out of the guitar herd and showed
us the sonic range it was capable of. If you’re
a Tele player, or just a fan of great guitar
music, it doesn’t get much better than this.
Jim Campilongo has 14 critically acclaimed
instrumental records available on vinyl, CD
and digital download at jimcampilongo.com.
G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
“AM I A BLUES ARTIST
THAT PLAYS ROCK, OR
A ROCK ARTIST THAT
PLAYS BLUES? IT’S
HARD TO SAY”
 P L A Y E R S | KENNY
Looking for fresh musical inspiration,
Kenny Wayne Shepherd left Nashville for
Alabama’s FAME Studios. The result is Dirt on
My Diamonds, Vol. 1, the first half of a new album
project that continues his blues-rock evolution.
B Y G A R Y G R A F F
H
OME IS CERTAINLY
where Kenny Wayne
Shepherd’s heart is —
and where his body
is at the moment, which,
given his heavy touring schedule, is not
always the case.
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children, Shepherd says it’s even more
“nonstop” than any given day in his
prodigious touring schedule. “There’s
ORWVRIVFKRROGURSSLQJNLGVRŲWU\LQJ
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to be, what they’re doing,” Shepherd
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renovating this place since we bought it
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Domesticity does not delay the
music, however. Shepherd — a one-time
WHHQSURGLJ\IURP/RXLVLDQDZKR·VQRZ
46, with 10 studio albums behind him
(plus two with the Rides, his all-star
band with Stephen Stills and Barry
J IM AR BO GAST
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\HDUDQGDKDOIFHOHEUDWLQJWKHWK
DQQLYHUVDU\RITrouble Is..., his Platinum-
G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
WAYNE SHEPHERD
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album that topped
Billboard’s Blues
$OEXPVFKDUWDQG
spawned a number
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He even re-recorded
the set as Trouble Is...
25, chronicling the
growth and depth he’s
attained as a player
and singer during the
past quarter-century.
Waiting in the
wings, meanwhile,
has been Dirt on My
Diamonds Vol. 1,
perhaps the most
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writing sessions he conducted with
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The Shepherd gang came up with a batch
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boldly. The blues is still alive and well
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when they hear the subtle scratching
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Fighting,” which he even sings with
a great deal more clarity than John
JAN UARY 2 024 35
P L A Y E R S | KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD

delivered in the original. Shepherd

clearly had his eye on some new musical
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through the narrative surrounding it.
Or maybe he’s just trying to get
WKURXJKWUDűFLQWLPHWRSLFNXSWKH
QH[WNLG

You’ve spent some time celebrating the

25th anniversary of your second album,
Trouble Is…, during the past couple of
years. Did that factor into Dirt on My
Diamonds at all?
,GRQ·WWKLQNVR7KH\·UHSUHWW\VHSDUDWH
,DOUHDG\KDGWKHURDGPDSWKHUHZLWK
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was already established on the original
record. Then it became a really special,
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just how well that music has held up
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the music and those songs would be
DVH[FLWLQJDQGUHOHYDQWLIWKH\ZHUH
released today as all-new material.
$QGWKHJURRYHVMXVWQDWXUDOO\FRPH
That’s a hell of a gauntlet to throw in front
“I DON’T WANT RXWRIPHZKHQ,·PWU\LQJWRFUHDWH
of a brand-new album then. ANYBODY TO THINK VRPHWKLQJRUZULWHVRPHWKLQJ,NLQG
<·NQRZWKHQHZPXVLFLWDOOKDVWLHV RILQWXLWLYHO\NQRZZKHUH,VLWEHVWDQG
to the past, right? There is a common
THEY KNOW WHAT THE ZKLFKWHPSRVDQGZKLFKJURRYHV,IHHO
thread in all my music, besides it being NEXT ALBUM WILL DUHDJRRGSODWIRUPIRUPHWRVKRZFDVH
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evolution over the years. My goal has \RX·YHJRWWRWDNHLQWRDFFRXQWZKDWLV
DOZD\VEHHQWRPDNHDOEXPVWKDWVRXQG it about? What’s the message here? That
unique and stand on their own and are LQÁXHQFHVWKHDSSURDFKRIWKHLQHYLWDEOH
XQSUHGLFWDEOH,GRQ·WZDQWDQ\ERG\WR new, young, energetic album. That’s my guitar solo. You have the one in the
WKLQNWKH\NQRZZKDWWKHQH[WDOEXP goal, to continue trying to put the music PLGGOHWKHRQHLQWKHHQGLQJDQGDOORI
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on the new record, pushing in a number RQH´'HMD9RRGRRµIURP>1994’s] LQÁXHQFHZKDW·VFRPLQJRXWRIWKHJXLWDU
RIQHZGLUHFWLRQV<RXFDQKHDUDORWRI Ledbetter Heights — that’s not a blues when it’s time to solo.
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Has your approach to them changed much WU\LQJWRSXWULŲVDQGHPRWLRQVLQWR
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to be? ,W·VRQDVRQJE\VRQJEDVLVUHDOO\EXW SHRSOHWKURXJKZKDW,·PSOD\LQJ,ZHQW
,W·VOLNHWKLV$P,DEOXHVDUWLVWWKDW QLQHWLPHVRXWRIDOOWKHVHVRQJVVWDUW EDFNDQGOLVWHQHGWRP\KHURHV:KHQ
SOD\VURFNRUDURFNDUWLVWWKDWSOD\V ZLWKDPXVLFDOLGHDWKDW,·YHFRPHXS their playing stirred up something in my
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J IM AR BO GAST

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36 JAN UA RY 20 24 G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M

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moment.
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the instrument through maybe not the
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Who were some of those guitar heroes you
referenced?
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them. How do you do that? But they
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King, B.B. King, all the blues electric
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never gets old listening to him because
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what you do.
“THE FACT WE’RE
NOT PERFECT IS
WHAT MAKES US
INTERESTING AND
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ON THE DIAMONDS”
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notes, and not vibrato, which gives the
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ways to do vibrato and said, “This is the
most important thing you’ll learn in your
guitar playing. That’s how B.B. King can
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Take us into the creative process of Dirt
on My Diamonds, which started at FAME
Studios in Muscle Shoals.
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over my career have been written in
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and vibey that might actually have a real
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run into one room and say, “Here’s an
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And in a really interesting place.
Oh, man! Being in those studios, in that
town. The studio is pretty unchanged.
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the carpet, in the console and everything.
:HMXVWZHQWLQWKHUHNQRZLQJWKDWE\

So what can you do differently, or better,

now than what you did back on Trouble Is…
or Ledbetter Heights — or even The Traveler
four years ago?
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instrument — that’s probably the best
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a lot and can play things now that
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playing and touring every year since
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just being a little more melodic in my
playing, a little more vocal in my
approach, and just mastering vibrato,
J IM AR BO GAST

which has always been important to me.

In what way has it been important to you?

G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M JAN UARY 2 024 37

 INTO THE
FLAME
Kenny Wayne reveals
his long search for
the perfect ’Burst.

What was the last guitar you

bought and why did you
choose it?
A 1960 Gibson Les Paul
Sunburst — an original one.
I had been on the hunt for some
time, at least 10 years. The thing
is, Les Pauls always felt a bit
awkward because of my style
of playing. I have to adapt
my approach with Les Pauls,
otherwise I’ll be in the middle
of playing and I’ll accidentally
hit the pickup selector and
change the sound of the guitar
mid-solo.
For a long time Strats were
the most comfortable guitars
for me, but over the course of
my career I started using Les
Pauls on various songs on
various records, and also
onstage. Because if you want
that sound, you can only get it
from that guitar. I found that the
features of the 1960 Les Pauls,
with the thinner neck profile,
just seem to play faster and
easier for me.
A year or two ago, I finally
found the right one and it’s a
beautiful guitar, with a
tremendous flamed top and
basically the appearance of a
’59, so it has all the good looks
you would ever want and a
great personality to go along
with it. — David Mead

“THE 1960 LES PAULS,

WITH THE THINNER
NECK PROFILE,
JUST SEEM TO PLAY
FASTER AND EASIER”
STEVE JE NNI NGS /GE TTY IMAG ES

EHLQJWKHUHLWZRXOGKDYHVRPHVRUWRI
LQÁXHQFHRQZKDWZHGLGEXWWKHQZH
let the project happen naturally. My goal
WKHQH[WWLPHZHJRGRZQWKHUHLVWR
record an album as we’re writing.
Would that be for Dirt on My Diamonds
Vol. 2?
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there again and write songs and record
while we’re writing. Just do a totally
GLŲHUHQWDSSURDFKWRZKDWZHGLG
What does “dirt on my diamonds” mean?
0DUVKDOOIHOWYHU\VWURQJO\WKDWVKRXOGEH
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He just thought that song encompasses
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as an artist.
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interesting and unique, and also gives us
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6RWKDW·VLW,W·VWKHGLUWRQWKHGLDPRQGV
WKDWPDNHVWKHPUHDOO\LQWHUHVWLQJ
What did you use to record, gear-wise?
)RUWKHSDVWIHZUHFRUGV,KDG$OH[DQGHU
'XPEOHEXLOGLQJWKHDPSOLÀHUV,W·V
EDVLFDOO\WKHVDPHULJLQWKHVWXGLRWKDW,
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ÀYHPD\EHPRUH)RUHDFKVRQJZH·OO
ÀJXUHRXWZKLFKZLOOEHWKHIHDWXUHG
amp and create a blend with another one
RUWZRRIWKHRWKHUDPSV>Dumble’s]
DPSVKDYHPDGHVXFKDKXJHGLŲHUHQFH
IRUPHFUHDWLYHO\·FDXVHWKH\UHVSRQGVR
MARK SE LI G ER
ZHOOWRP\SOD\LQJ7KH\GRZKDW,ZDQW
DQDPSWRGRPXFKPRUHHŲRUWOHVVO\VR
WKDWIUHHVPHWRIRFXVRQRWKHUWKLQJV
G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
“EFFECTS-WISE, IN THE
STUDIO I USE THE
REAL-DEAL STUFF.
ON THE ROAD I BRING
REISSUE PEDALS OUT”
UDWKHUWKDQIRUFHDQDPSWRGRZKDW,
want it to do.
(ŲHFWVZLVHLQWKHVWXGLR,XVHWKH
UHDOGHDOVWXŲ2QWKHURDG,EULQJ
UHLVVXHSHGDOVRXW,KDGDQRULJLQDO
Klon Centaur on this one, an original
9R[&O\GH0F&R\ZDKSHGDO:HKDG
a Uni-Vibe that supposedly belonged
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VRXQGLQJ8QL9LEH,·YHHYHUKHDUG
,XVHGDQ$QDORJPDQ.LQJRI7RQH
overdrive pedal, a TS-808 Tube Screamer
DQGDQ$QDORJPDQ%L&KRUXVSHGDO
And the guitars?
0\·6WUDWLVKHDYLO\IHDWXUHGRQWKLV
record, and so is my new signature
guitar. We had just gotten some early
SURWRW\SHVVR,ZDQWHGWRPDNHVXUH
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&XVWRP6KRS6WUDWVWKH&RSSHUER\DQG
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´6DWXUGD\1LJKW·V$OULJKWIRU)LJKWLQJµ
that’s a ’90s Custom Shop Gibson a
IULHQGJDYHPHIRUDJLIW,MXVW
recently bought a 1960
VXQEXUVWWKDW,·YHEHHQG\LQJ
WRJHWWKDW·OOPDNHWKH
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called my buddy at Gibson
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song that
needs a 330
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own one,” so they sent it over
immediately.
Did you do anything that you felt you’d
never done before on an album?
The solo on “Man on a Mission” has that
UHDORSHQURRPVRXQG7KH>Fender]
Vibroverb amp is just singing on that
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Is there a timetable for Vol. 2?
6LQFHWKHUH·VDYROXPHRQH,ZRXOGVD\
volume two would maybe be released
a year later.
Meanwhile, are the Rides over, or…
0HDQG6WHSKHQUHFHQWO\GLGDIHZWKLQJV
WRJHWKHU+H·VOLNH´2KPDQ,PLVV
you! We need to do this again.” We love
each other and we love playing together.
,W·VMXVWDORWPRUHFKDOOHQJLQJQRZ
·FDXVH,·PLQ7HQQHVVHHDQGKH·VLQ
&DOLIRUQLD,WZDVPXFKHDVLHUWR
get into the car and go to his
house and write an album. But
,ZRXOGVD\WKHLQWHQWLRQLV
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with my schedule and his
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would be nice to do it one
PRUHWLPHIRUVXUH
JAN UARY 2 024 39
P L A Y E R S | JOE BONAMASSA

WINNER
TAKES ALL Twenty years ago, Joe Bonamassa placed a bet on himself
and hit the jackpot. Now he celebrates two decades of
musical independence with Blues Deluxe Vol. 2, a return
to the album concept that made him the blues’ reigning
champion. Guitar Player visits Nerdville for a little chat
and a look at a few of Joe’s very fine vintage axes.
I N T E R V I E W B Y J O E B O S S O

G E A R S P E C S B Y R O D B R A K E S

P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y O L L Y C U R T I S

N 2003, JOE By the mid ’90s, Bloodline Recording), and his last $10,000,
Bonamassa was was over and Bonamassa went Bonamassa recorded covers of
nowhere. The solo. But after two critically blues tunes by Elmore James,
26-year-old hailed albums — 2000’s A New Buddy Guy, Freddie King, B.B.
guitarist had Day Yesterday and 2002’s So, It’s King and others, along with
enjoyed a fast start Like That — failed to click with a few choice originals. “It was
to his career. Hailed record buyers, the guitarist took basically a live gig. We didn’t
as a prodigy, he was a grim assessment of where have to rehearse anything,” he
mentored by the things stood. “Things were bad,” says. “The weird thing was, it
likes of Danny he says. “I was dropped by one ZDVWKHÀUVWWLPH,ZDVKRQHVW
Gatton and had toured with label, and another label I signed with myself. Instead of trying
B.B. King. Before he reached 18, to went out of business. My to be something I wasn’t and
he was part of a group called booking agent dropped me. trying to do songs that would
Bloodline that featured the sons I really didn’t know what to do.” get on the radio, I said, ‘This is
of Miles Davis, Robby Krieger He did the only thing he the music I love. I’m going to
and Berry Oakley. Everybody said could. With a gift of free studio do what I really want.’”
“Smokin’ Joe” Bonamassa was time (thanks to Bobby Nathan The whole thing was done in
going places. at New York’s Unique a week — mixed and mastered

40 JAN UA RY 20 24 G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
 “THINGS WERE BAD.
I WAS DROPPED BY ONE
LABEL. MY BOOKING
AGENT DROPPED ME.
I REALLY DIDN’T
KNOW WHAT TO DO”
P L A Y E R S | JOE BONAMASSA

1 2

— and the guitarist called the 1 This ’Burst has

album Blues DeluxeDIWHUD-HŲ seen some action 3
in its time and
Beck Group song he covered.
suffered a
“It should have been called Blues headstock break in
Deluxe: Last Chance, Kiddo,” the line of duty.
Bonamassa jokes. “That’s how Nevertheless, a
things felt at the time.” good repair will
often render guitars
As Hail Mary passes go, the stronger than
rationale behind Blues Deluxe before.
seemed plausible enough. “We
thought, We’ll just make a real 2 Being a Strat
player, Tommy
blues record so we can tour,”
Bolin enjoyed using
Bonamassa says. “Worst case a vibrato. Taking
scenario, we’ll sell them out of inspiration from
the back of a van — which we Bigsby-equipped
did.” Little by little, though, Telecasters, this
famous ’Burst was
retrofitted with a
“IT WAS THE FIRST B5 “horseshoe”
model. Note the
TIME I WAS HONEST white ground wire.

WITH MYSELF, INSTEAD 3 Tommy Bolin,

OF TRYING TO BE pictured here on
stage in 1975,
SOMETHING I WASN’T” played the ’60 LP
FI N COSTEL LO/ RE DFE RNS /G E TTY IMAGES

Standard with both

Zephyr and Deep
things started to turn around. Purple. But the
A deal was struck with an indie guitar actually
South Florida company to belonged to his
distribute the record, and thanks guitar tech,
David Brown.
to strong reviews, copies began
to move. The guitarist soon
scored opening slots for B.B.

42 JAN UA RY 20 24 G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
EX–TOMMY
BOLIN
1960 GIBSON
LES PAUL
STANDARD
Serial Number: 0 7458 “I LOOKED FOR
THIS GUITAR FOR
“ TO MMY BO LIN never ABOUT A DECADE
owned this guitar. That’s the
misconception. It was owned
AND FINALLY
by a guy named David Brown, LOCATED ITS
who bought it in 1966 for $125 OWNER IN MOAB,
in Denver. His daughter actually
sent me the receipt. When
UTAH… IT WAS
Tommy’s goldtop got nicked in ALSO THE
the early ’70s when he was with STRANGEST
Zephyr, David was Tommy’s
right-hand man and he loaned
GUITAR DEAL
him this ’Burst. And so Tommy I EVER DID”
played it all through Zephyr and
Deep Purple. He didn’t use it
on [the Billy Cobham album]
Spectrum, where he used a
Strat. They put the vibrato on
it because Tommy was a Strat
guy. I looked for this guitar for
about a decade and finally
located David in Moab, Utah.
I made a deal with him, paid
him in cash, and he died two
months later in a car accident.
His last text to his daughter
was, ‘I buried the money in the
desert.’ Weird, weird story. It
was also the strangest guitar
deal I ever did.”
P L A Y E R S | JOE BONAMASSA

“THE GENTLEMAN WHO

ORDERED THIS WANTED
A BLACK GUITAR, BUT HE
COULDN’T AFFORD A
CUSTOM. SO GIBSON
‘THE
PAINTED HIM A BLACKBURST’
STANDARD BLACK” 1960 GIBSON
LES PAUL
STANDARD
Serial Number 0 0162

“T H E GEN T LE M AN who
originally ordered this wanted
a black guitar, but he couldn’t
afford a [$395 Les Paul]
Custom. A [Les Paul] Standard
was $265, plus the [$42.50]
Lifton Faultless case. So Gibson
painted him a Standard black.
They just took a very flame-y
Sunburst guitar, painted over
it, and shipped it to him. He
couldn’t afford the Faultless
case, either, so he got an
Alligator case with it. It was
discovered in 2002 in a
retirement home. It had one
owner before me, and I bought
it in 2012. As far as the Les Pauls
go, it’s the most valuable one
I own. It never comes out. It is
called the Blackburst. There
was some confusion earlier this
year I had to straighten out,
but it is the one, the only,
the Blackburst. It’s a 1960, but
it’s got the big neck, not the
skinny one that came in later.
It’s essentially a ’59 [in terms
of specs].”
 4 5

King, Peter Frampton, Foreigner 4 Gibson Les

and Bad Company. Pauls from the 6
’58-to-’60 era are
“Things were beginning to
among the most
break my way,” Bonamassa collectible and
recalls. “We were only making expensive electric
a hundred dollars a night, so we guitars ever
sold CDs to stay out on the road. produced. The
white plastics
One minute, nobody wanted alone are worth
them; the next thing you know, five-figure sums.
we were selling 300 CDs a night.
We couldn’t print ’em fast 5 Aside from its
über-rare black-
enough. I thought to myself,
over-sunburst
Okay, something is connecting.” finish, this 1960
Twenty years later, Joe Gibson Les Paul
Bonamassa is the most successful Standard features
and popular blues guitarist — or regular specs
including four
blues artist — working today, bonnet knobs for
RQHZKRLQKDELWVDUDULÀHGVSDFH independent tone
in the music business. Along and volume control
with his manager, Roy Weisman, of dual PAF
humbuckers.
he operates J&R Adventures,
which oversees all things 6 Being a
Bonamassa: albums, tours, mid-priced
merch — hell, he’s even got a instrument, the
cruise. To celebrate his two- Gibson Les Paul
Standard was
decade mark of independence, fitted with
Ronnie Earl and Peter Green–era last record. This time, I know I’m
the guitarist revisited the concept nickel-plated Fleetwood Mac, among others, going to make another one.”
of the record that started it all hardware, including with a drizzle of potent originals.
by recording a sequel, Blues its fully adjustable $VNHGWRGHVFULEHWKHGLŲHUHQFH The revisionist view is that there
ABR-1 Tune-o-
Deluxe Vol. 2SDFNHGZLWKÀHU\ between the two albums, was some sort of grand plan
matic bridge and
renditions of numbers by Bobby stopbar tailpiece. Bonamassa laughs. “With Blues behind Blues Deluxe and the start
“Blue” Bland, Albert King, Deluxe, I thought it might be my of J&R Adventures. In reality, you

G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M JAN UARY 2 024 45

P L A Y E R S | JOE BONAMASSA

7 8

and Roy were just making it up as 7 Like Gibson’s

you went along. other top-of-the- 9
line models, the
Totally. Now there’s a lot of
Les Paul Custom
awareness of what we’ve done, and Super 400CES,
but at the time we were just the ES-355TDSV
trying to get to next month. features five-piece
People say, “Oh, you guys were split-diamond
headstock inlays
visionaries.” We were in danger and gold-plated
of going out of business all the hardware. Note the
time. There was no fucking truss-rod cover is
romance in what we were doing. engraved “stereo.”
Nobody wanted Blues Deluxe
8 The ES-
— even Alligator passed. 355TDSV was
[Alligator president] Bruce Iglauer fitted with a vibrato
is a good friend, but I tease him unit — in this case a
Sideways Vibrola
— plus stereo
“YOU DON’T HAVE TO wiring and a
BE A RADIO ARTIST Varitone switch,
hence “SV.”
TO HAVE A GOOD “TD” indicates a
thinline, dual-
FOLLOWING. AND WE pickup guitar.
STARTED TO PROVE 9 Being Gibson’s
THAT 20 YEARS AGO” most expensive
semi-hollowbody
thinline, the ES-355
all the time about that. So we was made with
put it out ourselves. We had one multiple-ply top/
lady, Faye Cobb, who worked for back body binding.
us and administered the whole Look closely and
you can spot a
thing. We had a shitty little
single layer of black
RűFHWKDWFRVWDWKRXVDQGD binding around the
month. Roy had a day gig, and fretboard.

46 JAN UA RY 20 24 G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
1961 GIBSON
ES-355TDSV
IN ‘TUXEDO’
FINISH
Serial Number: 25409 “THE TUXEDO
ES-355 IS A
“ T HE T UX E DO ES-355 is a
unicorn. Never say ‘never,’ but UNICORN. NEVER
we think it might be the only SAY NEVER, BUT
one. It’s from 1961 and has a
WE THINK IT
Polaris White finish with black
binding, hence ‘tuxedo’. If there’s MIGHT BE THE
another one, I haven’t seen it. ONLY ONE… I’M
I’m surprised they didn’t do
more because aesthetically it’s
SURPRISED THEY
so cool. The black binding on DIDN’T DO MORE
the neck almost makes it look BECAUSE
like it’s not bound at all — it
kind of marries into the ebony.
AESTHETICALLY
I bought it from David Davidson IT’S SO COOL”
[of Well Strung Guitars]. I
remember seeing that guitar
in the [Songbirds] museum
and made a note, it was one of
the coolest I’ve seen. When he
turned the museum into a shop,
this was one of the few things
I went after. I also have a tuxedo
Custom Telecaster in white
with black binding. Oddly
enough, you see a lot of them
in Australia. Mine’s a rosewood
neck, but I’ve seen more
maple-neck tuxedos. It’s a
really cool look.”
P L A Y E R S | JOE BONAMASSA

10 11

I was just trying to stay on the 10 The black

road to make rent. It was just rubber rest strip on 12
this Flying V
step and repeat. About a year
remains
after Blues Deluxe, we went to remarkably intact.
(XURSHIRUWKHÀUVWWLPHDQG
there was some immediate 11 The Gibson
notoriety going forward. That Flying V was fitted
with a pair of PAF
was the beginning of what was humbuckers.
to become.
12 “Donny J sounds
And you were set on doing it all mint, but I don’t
play it much,”
without radio.
reveals Joe, who
<HDK7KDWZDVWKHYHU\ÀUVW owns two other
time that things felt connected 1958 Flying Vs:
to some movement and it moved Amos and Trash
Bag. “Amos is the
brightest. Trash
“FEAR IS WHAT DRIVES Bag is the best-
YOU TO BE BETTER. IF sounding one.”

YOU WALK IN WITH A

FULL EGO YOU RUN THE
RISK OF EMBARRASSING
YOURSELF…”
the needle. And it was because, that are like, “Hey, we need to At a certain point, however, you
I think, we were being honest get you on the radio.” It was guys must have sensed there was
with ourselves, or at least I was like radio, radio, fucking radio. a strategy to build on.
being honest. This is who I am. You don’t have to be a radio We were making decisions as we
You know what I mean? Because artist to have a good following. went. Fortunately, Roy graduated
up until that point, there was a And we started to prove that from Syracuse University — he’s
lot of outside A&R and things 20 years ago. a CPA — so money management

48 JAN UA RY 20 24 G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
DONNY J
1958 GIBSON
FLYING V
Serial Number: 8 3709

“ T HI S IS a mint-condition ’58
Flying V I call Donny J. I got it
from my friend Don in
Oklahoma. He bought it in 1976
for $1,100, which was a lot of
money. It belonged to a
“IT’S THE MOST
preacher outside of Oklahoma MONEY I’VE
City. I always thought it would EVER PAID FOR
be an odd sight going to church
and seeing your pastor rocking a
A GUITAR IN
Flying V. All my korinas have MY LIFE: OVER
provenance going back to day $400,000. BUT
one, pretty much. This one’s
mint and is the cleanest I’ve
WHAT’S A FLYING
ever seen — although, allegedly, V WORTH?
there’s one in New Hampshire
that’s just as clean. It also has a
mint case. When I made the
deal with Don. I said, ‘Don, in
1976, it wasn’t cheap. And it’s
not cheap in 2019, either.’ He
goes, ‘No. It isn’t.’ In fact, it’s the
most money I’ve ever paid for a
guitar in my life: over $400,000.
But what’s a Flying V worth?
It’s worth what someone’s
willing to pay for it.”
P L A Y E R S | JOE BONAMASSA

“‘WHY WON’T YOU JUST

PLAY IT?’ MY JOB IS TO
PRESERVE HISTORY
UNTIL SOMEBODY ELSE
CAN BE THE CUSTODIAN.
IT’S ONLY MINT ONCE!”
GIBSON LES
PAUL MODELS
IN COPPER
IRIDESCENT
FINISH
From left: 1955 (serial
number 511761); 1972
(serial number 104202);
1955 (no serial number)
“ I LEA R N ED a long time ago
in the guitar collecting business
never to say you own the only
one of anything. I bought the
first of these from Gruhn Guitars
a long time ago thinking it was
the only one. We found it in the
[Gibson] ledger and saw it was
made for CMI Music in Chicago
for a trade show. They made a
whole batch in Copper
Iridescent, Arctic White, Ebony,
Samoan Beige… None of which
I know the whereabouts of,
apart from the Copper one. Next
thing I know, Trevor and Jay
Boone [of Emerald City Guitars]
go to the Arizona desert and
find another Copper Iridescent
’55. So, now there’s two! Fender
made very few custom finishes
in the ’50s; Gibson made even
fewer. It’s unobtanium of the
highest order. People will argue,
‘Why won’t you just play it?’ But
my job is to preserve history
until somebody else can be the
custodian. It’s only mint once!”
13
14
13 Les Paul Models was always our thing. As soon
originally featured as we started making money, we
dual soapbar P-90
invested in our future and in
single-coil pickups
with cream-colored the brand. Our saying was,
covers (replaced by “Coca-Cola still advertises.”
PAF humbuckers in Think about it: Everybody knows
1957) and a gold Coca-Cola, so why do they
finish as standard.
advertise? You still have to build
14 Les Paul Models awareness, and you have to keep
feature individual hitting people.
pickup controls
comprising
By 2006, you met producer Kevin
rhythm/neck tone
and volume (top Shirley and began an ongoing
left and right) and collaboration with him.
treble/bridge tone That’s right. In the years between
and volume Blues Deluxe and Had to Cry Today,
(bottom left and
I met Kevin, and that set the
right).
stage for what we would release
15 Gibson’s debut with You & Me. That took things
solidbody, the Les to another level.
Paul Model, was
released in 1952
and the early Everything started paying off by
instruments this point. In 2009, you headlined
display no serial the Royal Albert Hall in London.
number. The Even then, we were all in with
absence here, in
our chips on black. We spun the
a 1955 model,
is unusual. wheel with the DVD of that
show, and it hit. Then the PBS
special became a thing, and
suddenly we were selling out
big places. We played arenas in
Europe. I look back now and it
15
seems very simple and
calculated, but it wasn’t.
Over the past 20 years, you’ve
played lots of other prestigious
places: Red Rocks, the Hollywood
Bowl, the Sydney Opera House,
Carnegie Hall —
All in my neighborhood. [laughs]
Exactly. Lots of classy joints. Was
there one venue where, the minute
you walked in, you thought, Okay,
I’ve arrived?
That happened in 2011, the
second time I played the Royal
Albert Hall.
The second time? Why was that?
Because I was much calmer then.
I’d already done it. That’s when
the realization kicked in, because
I played it once and thought
maybe I couldn’t return or
whatever. When I sold it out the
VHFRQGWLPHLWIHOWGLŲHUHQW,W·V
IXQQ\7KHÀUVWWLPH\RXSOD\
somewhere, the place seems
larger. I’ve now played Red Rocks
10 times. We’ve done the Ryman
in Nashville 10 times — that’s
just a couple of blocks from
JAN UARY 2 024 51
P L A Y E R S | JOE BONAMASSA

“EVERY MUSIC MAGAZINE,

EVERY GUITAR BOOK, LEADS
BACK TO 1950 AND THE
FENDER BROADCASTER…
IT’S A HISTORICAL PIECE.
1950 FENDER
IT’S JUST PURE HISTORY” BROADCASTER
Serial Number: 0640

“B EI N G A 1950, this guitar

really goes back to the birth of
the electric guitar. Paul Bigsby
was ahead of his time and
doesn’t get enough credit, but
Leo Fender was the first one
to mass produce it. In 1950,
the Esquire was first and the
Broadcaster was second. And
everything that’s come after has
been a derivative of that. Every
music magazine, every guitar
book, leads back to 1950 and
the Fender Broadcaster. Why
do I want a Broadcaster in my
guitar collection? Because it’s
a historical piece. It’s just pure
history. All of this stuff is just
as cool and relevant as it was
70-plus years ago. This 1950
Fender Broadcaster is in Norm’s
book [Norman’s Rare Guitars].
There’s a significant price
difference between a 1950
and 1951 Broadcaster, and
a Nocaster is worth less than
a Broadcaster. But what’s in
a name? They just cut the
word ‘Broadcaster’ off the logo,
hence they’re called ‘clipped
logo’ guitars.”
 16 17

where I’m sitting. This year I 16 The rear knob

played Red Rocks, and I was like, blends between 18
both pickups when
“It’s not as big as I thought.” the three-way
:KHQ\RXÀUVWVWDQGRQWKDW selector is in the
stage, the seats go forever. After rear position, while
a while you go, “It’s 9,000 seats the middle position
is assigned to the
and it’s cool.” Don’t get me
neck pickup alone.
wrong — I’m not jaded, but With the selector in
,GHÀQLWHO\IHHOOLNH,·YHDUULYHG the neck position, a
They’ve got my picture in the heavily filtered,
back of Red Rocks. It takes an non-adjustable
bass-y sound is
act from the city to take the achieved via the
picture down. neck pickup.

You’ve released quite a few 17 When Gretsch

issued a cease-
records…
and-desist over
Like, 50 of them. [laughs] Fender’s use of the
Broadcaster name,
Are there any that stand out to you the name was
as real growth records? omitted for a short
period of time.
The Ballad of John Henry was the
one that set it up. Studio-wise, 18 Ash-body
I’d say that one and Driving Esquires,
Towards the Daylight. Live, I would Broadcasters,
Nocasters and
say Muddy Wolf at Red Rocks.
Telecasters had
I think those three represent big Blonde finishes as want, but you have to sing most in the Three Kings record [Live
spikes, along with the acoustic standard. The black of the night.” Both of the at the Greek Theatre]. That’s one
Live at Carnegie Hall. On that one, pickguard was acoustic live records — Carnegie I’m proud of, too.
I had no other option than to just replaced with a Hall and the Vienna Opera House
white ’guard in ’54,
sing. It’s like, “You are a singer marking the end of
— were the biggest challenges With Blues Deluxe, you had
tonight, not a guitar player. You the Blackguard era. that, I think, made me a better everything to prove. With Blues
can noodle about as much as you artist. By the way, you can throw Deluxe Vol. 2, you don’t have

G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M JAN UARY 2 024 53

P L A Y E R S | JOE BONAMASSA
anything to prove anymore.
Only to myself. I went to Josh
Smith, who plays guitar in our
band, and I said, “Do you want
to produce?” He said, “Let’s do
it,” and we started picking songs.
I wanted to prove two things:
Am I a better artist overall today
than I was 20 years ago, and am
I a better singer? Coming out
of the sessions, I said to myself,
Twenty years ago, I couldn’t
have made this as an artist and
as a singer. I think I’ve improved
in those areas, and I’m proud
of that.
“WHY TRY TO RE-
CREATE SOMEBODY
ELSE’S MAGIC? YOU
HAVE TO PUT YOUR
OWN PERSONALITY
AND SOUL INTO IT”
This is the first album you’ve
made in quite some time without
Kevin Shirley.
I talked to Kevin and said I
wanted Josh to produce because
54 JAN UA RY 20 24
19 20
19 “This guitar ,KDGDYHU\VSHFLÀFLGHDLQPLQG
spent 17 years in Kevin approaches things
the Rock & Roll
production-wise a certain way,
Hall of Fame,
where I first saw it like, “How can we make this
in 2003,” Joe more palatable to the masses?”
recalls. “I bought On this one, I didn’t give shit.
it 10 years I wanted it the way I wanted it.
later, in 2013”
Since Blues Deluxe Vol. 2, Kevin
20 “The initials has produced two things for me
were present from — a new solo album and a live
the ’50s,” he notes. record from the Hollywood Bowl.
“Back then, people
used to do things
like paint their Blues Deluxe Vol. 2 sounds very
name on the authentic, almost like a blues
pickguard or put record from 60 or 70 years ago.
their initials on That was the vision, but it’s not
the guitar.”
a soundalike record. We mess
with everything. Why put on my
soundalike version of something
when you can hear the original?
Why try to re-create somebody
else’s magic? You have to put
your own personality and soul
into it. I don’t think we went
more than three takes with
anything. Ninety percent of
the solos were cut live. Flaws
are human. People want to hear
WKHÁDZV
Last year in Guitar World, you wrote
that you were going into this record
“with an eye towards curtailing
your propensity to overplay.” Do
you feel that you were somewhat
over the top on Blues Deluxe?
At that time, I had chips on both
shoulders, and I was daring
VRPHRQHWRNQRFN·HPRŲ
I knew I could play guitar.
But when you’re young and
struggling, you want to get
noticed. How do you get noticed?
You overplay.
1RZWKLQJVDUHGLŲHUHQW
I’ve already shredded my way
to success. Maybe now is a good
time to just go, “Is this serving
the song in the right way without
over-intellectualizing it?” You
know what I mean?
Sure, but you do play some pretty
seismic stuff, like on Fleetwood
Mac’s “Lazy Poker Blues.” What
were you trying to bring to what
Peter Green once played?
That was me tipping my hat
to London blues. I didn’t go
through Chicago or Mississippi
— I went west, not east. The
British blues was very powerful
to me. “Lazy Poker Blues” was
my upbeat tribute to Peter Green,
G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
EX-HOWARD
REED 1955
FENDER
STRATOCASTER
IN BLACK
FINISH “IT ULTIMATELY
Serial Number: 10041 REPRESENTS MY
JOURNEY IN THE
“ T HI S IS a 1955 Fender
Stratocaster, and I will
MUSIC BUSINESS
definitively say it’s the first one MORE THAN ANY
with a factory black custom OF THE GUITARS
color finish. It was ordered from
McCord Music Company in
I CAN PULL OUT.
Dallas in 1955 as a black Strat IT’S ONE OF
and belonged to Howard A. THE MOST
Reed, a guitarist who played a
brief stint with Gene Vincent
SENTIMENTAL
and the Blue Caps. There are GUITARS I OWN”
three definitive pictures from
the late ’50s of Howard Reed
playing the guitar. At nine
pounds, it’s heavy, but it
ultimately represents my
journey in the music business
more than any of the guitars
I can pull out. It’s one of the
most sentimental guitars I own.
I had a poster of it on my wall in
1988; it was a Guitar World
centerfold and I still have the
original poster. I had it tacked on
my wall, and I thought it was the
coolest Strat on the planet. I
never thought that [25] years
later I’d be picking it up.”
P L A Y E R S | JOE BONAMASSA

“THIS IS A MUSEUM-
GRADE EXAMPLE OF
A PREMIUM MARTIN
THAT JUST HAPPENED
TO COME INTO MY LIFE
1941 MARTIN
FROM OUT OF NOWHERE” 000-45
Serial Number: 76993

“T H ER E’S AN argument
about what constitutes a
pre-war Martin because there’s
a two-year difference [between
the start of World War II in 1939
and 1941, when the U.S. entered
the conflict]. Now, this guitar is
January ’41. Mint condition. The
guitar has never left Southern
California since it arrived from
Nazareth, Pennsylvania, where
the Martin factory is. It was
sold in L.A. County East, and
ended up in Costa Mesa,
Orange County. It has the
receipt and the original price
tag, which was $225 — a lot of
money in 1941. It belonged to a
lady whose husband had
passed away and it was once
his grandfather’s guitar, so she
had inherited it. She was about
to lose her house, but the
money she got from me via
Guitar Center ultimately saved
the situation. It’s got this
beautiful flamed spruce and it’s
a museum-grade example of
a premium Martin that just
happened to come into my life
from out of nowhere.”
 21 22

DQGLWJDYHPHDQH[FXVHWRÀUH 21 In addition to
up the JTM45 and a Les Paul. its pearl body 23
inlays, this
And on “Well, I Done Got Over gorgeous Martin
It,” the Guitar Slim cover, we 000-45 features an
could have done more of a ebony bridge and
traditional thing with more 20-fret fingerboard
adorned with
traditional sounds. But when I
“long-pattern”
heard that beat, I said, “Just give snowflake pearl
me a Les Paul, and let’s just do it inlays from the first
like Clapton on Blues Breakers.” to 17th frets.
And that was it. It’s one of my
22 Style-45
favorite songs on the record. instruments
feature pearl
How about “You Sure Drive a Hard headstock inlays
Bargain”? What did you bring to that changed from
the Martin “torch”
that one?
to the C.F. Martin
Fear. Again, you have to bring block logo in the
your own personality. It’s easy to 1930s. Production
play shitty blues, but it’s hard to ceased in 1942.
play it right. I’ve been guilty of
23 “When I say
both. I was afraid that I was ‘mint,’ I mean it
going to “Albert King” the song. looks new,” Joe
I needed to sing a song that says. “Nobody’s
,NQRZLQDGLŲHUHQWZD\DQG allowed to play it.
I don’t use a pick
SOD\DGLŲHUHQWZD\DQGQRWGR
with it because
DOOWKH$OEHUWVWXŲEHFDXVHWKHQ I don’t want to People reading this might be yourself. You have to be humble
you can just listen to Albert’s mark it.” surprised that you still have fear in front of your musical gods,
version. It’s a very pragmatic when you record. because if you’re not, they’ll bite
way of looking at it. It’s a very Fear is what drives you to be you in the ass. Every time I play
non-egotistical way. Why would better. If you walk in with full a Muddy Waters song, I’m like,
anybody listen to my version? If ego and you’re like “I got this,” “Okay, this is a big one. I’ve got
it’s just like Albert’s, who cares? you run the risk of embarrassing to do it right.”

G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M JAN UARY 2 024 57

 George Freeman
performs in the
studio, June 13, 2022.

58 JAN UA RY 20 24 G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
 He’s a bebop originator who’s played
with everyone from Charlie Parker to
Jimmy McGriff. Now 96 and fronting
a new album, Chicago guitarist
George Freeman shows no sign
of slowing down.
B Y N I K K I O ’ N E I L L
KE N CARL

G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M JAN UARY 2 024 59

P L A Y E R S | GEORGE FREEMAN
EORGE
FREEMAN MAY
have only been
in his teens,
but he was a
visionary. In the
early 1940s, as a
youngster in the
band program
at DuSable High
School, Chicago’s legendary birthplace of
bebop, Freeman shared classes with jazz
legends attending the school, who over
the years included saxophonists Gene
$PPRQV(GGLH+DUULV-RKQQ\*ULűQ
and his own brother, tenor saxophonist
Earle “Von” Freeman. But while other
guitarists were settling for the more
established role of a chord-strumming
accompanist, Freeman saw another place
for guitar, in the front, where he could
play the same lines as these great
Chicago tenor players.
Fast forward a few years to his live
1950 performances with Charlie Parker
at the Pershing Ballroom. Recordings
from these dates show Freeman didn’t
shy away from using amp overdrive and
even power chords as he swapped solos
ZLWK%LUGÀULQJRŲFKURPDWLFSKUDVHV
60 JAN UA RY 20 24
and his trademark escalating chord development of modern jazz guitar and
clusters, which race away from the key made groundbreaking contributions to
until he brings everything home and the instrument. Over an 80-year career,
right back into the groove. during which he has recorded and
As rock and rhythm and blues began performed as a sideman, bandleader and
to take over the market from jazz in the composer, he has loyally kept Chicago
1950s and ’60s, Freeman absorbed these as his home base, aside from a brief
signs of the times by teaming up with aborted excursion to New York City.
MD]]RUJDQLVWVOLNH-LPP\0F*ULŲDQG 7RJHWKHUZLWKKLVQHSKHZWKHKLJKO\
Charlie Earland to champion a blend of active tenor saxophonist and trumpeter
hard-boppin’ soul Chico Freeman,
jazz with references he continues to be
to Chicago gospel “BIRD JUST GRINNED an integral part of
and blues. In the FROM EAR TO EAR the Windy City’s
’70s, Freeman’s soulful groove- and
FUHDWLYHÀUHVWXUQHG BECAUSE HE HAD NEVER blues-driven brand
white hot on Gene
Ammons’ 1971
HEARD A GUITAR PLAYER of jazz. In June, Freeman
album The Black Cat!, PLAY LIKE THAT” released The Good
the 1972 solo disc Life (HighNote
FranticdiagnosisDQG0F*ULŲ ·VOLYHDOEXP Records), a collection of original
from the same year, Concert: Friday the FRPSRVLWLRQVDQGFRYHUVWKDWÀQGKLP
13th – Cook County Jail. In addition to supported by bassist Christian McBride,
his bebop virtuosity, Freeman is a lyrical drummers Carl Allen and Lewis Nash,
melody player with a deep blues feel and the late Hammond organist Joey
and appreciation for space, as showcased DeFrancesco. At this stage of his life,
RQWUDFNVOLNH´&RQÀUPHG7UXWKµIURP Freeman’s playing has become more
KLVVRORHŲRUWNew Improved Funk. lyrical and economical, but equally
Now 96 years old, George Freeman masterful. We spoke to him just a few
has been part of every stylistic weeks before his performance at the
2023 Chicago Jazz Festival.
On The Good Life, which was tracked
at Chicago Recording Company, you’re
leading two trios: one with Christian
McBride on bass and Carl Allen on drums,
and the other with Louis Nash on drums
and the late Joey DeFrancesco on organ.
How did you meet the musicians, and
how did you select the songs?
I’ve been around so long, and the record
company wanted me to get more
recognized than I had been, so they put
me together with these bigger names.
But surprisingly enough, these musicians
had known about me and my previous
albums, like Franticdiagnosis. Playing with
them also enabled me to record what
I wanted to record: no rock and roll or
rhythm and blues, just straight-out jazz.
I picked the compositions quickly and
we recorded them quickly, because we
Freeman (far right)
performs at the
didn’t have much time. But that goes to
Garrick Lounge, show when you’re working with people
Chicago, 1946. RIWKDWFDOLEHU7KH\ZHUHWKHUHWR
G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M

support me, and they gave me all the
respect you could ask for.
Who inspired you as a guitarist?
,VDZ7%RQH:DONHUDQGZKLOHKHGLGQ·W
inspire me, he was exciting, and people
were going crazy for him. Who inspired
me was my family. My brothers Bruz
[drummer Eldridge “Bruz” Freeman] and
9RQDQGP\SDUHQWV7KH\WDXJKWPH
how to approach the guitar. When
KARE N I. HI RSCH/ZUMA PRESS W IRE (2023); K EN CARL (2022)
I started, the guitar wasn’t as famous
as it is now. It was a good instrument,
but it wasn’t the one that inspired me.
7KDWZDVWKHVD[RSKRQH:KHQ,ZDV
coming up, you had Lester Young,
Coleman Hawkins and all those people.
You studied at DuSable High School, which
Dinah Washington, Gene Ammons and Von
also attended. What was the jazz scene like
in Chicago when you came up?
When I was 13 to 15 years old, I was
playing football or basketball and
G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
Freeman in the
studio with Carl
Allen (left) and
Christian McBride,
May 7, 2022.
PDQXIDFWXUHGE\WKH¬*ULJVE\*UXQRZ
&RPSDQ\¬RI&KLFDJRIURPWRDQG
trademarked as “The Mighty Monarchs of the
Air”.] My mother was into gospel, and
I’d listen to her sing. And I’d listen to
Von play the saxophone.
Once I began to hear the story, that
was it for me, and I haven’t been the
Freeman onstage
at the Chicago
same since. When Charlie Parker got out
Jazz Festival, there, it just blew my mind. And Dizzy
August 31, 2023. Gillespie was there too. Bebop came in.
You’ve got to remember that during that
time, they were all telling their story,
somebody told me that there was but they were swinging the story. And all
another guitar player living across the the kids got into bebop and the words
street from me who was really good. He [the musicians’ slang expressions@7KDW·V
taught me how to approach the guitar how powerful it was. Now I know about
by playing scales and chromatics. He and EHERSEXW\RXKDYHWRÀQG\RXURZQ
Von taught me how to play standards. style of playing it and the direction you
We’d play standards ZDQWWRWDNH7KDW·V
day and night. Von the complicated part.
also used to put on “I MET ALL THE GREAT But that’s what I did.
records with tenor CATS, INCLUDING JOHN
players and say,
Bebop is
“Listen to what he’s COLTRANE, WHEN harmonically
saying.” And I’d ask.
“Well, what is he
THEY WERE YOUNG advanced music.
How did you learn
VD\LQJ"µ$IWHUÀUVW JUST LIKE ME” to play it?
thinking he was My brother and
playing the same thing over and over I were learning by mostly playing
again, I learned that the player actually standards. Beautiful songs, like
was telling a beautiful story. “Stardust.” You had to learn the chord
I’ve been a jazz man all my life, and changes for all of them, and the more
used to listen to jazz as a kid. My dad standards you learned, the more you
was a policeman, and he used to put his could play. But you can’t leave out that
Majestic radio on and we’d listen to all I was coming up in the swing era, so
the jazz giants of that time. [Majestic was everybody was swingin’, playing
JAN UARY 2 024 61

Michael Allemana (left)
and George Freeman
‘FREE’ STYLE
What makes George Freeman an original? Michael Allemana,
his friend and musical partner, has some valuable insights.
D R. M IC HAE L ALLE MA NA
is a Chicago-based jazz guitarist,
arranger, composer, ethno-
musicologist and educator who
has known the Freeman family
since the early 1990s, when he
played in Von Freeman’s band.
He and George Freeman also
played in a band, with Bernard
Purdie on drums. We spoke
to Allemana about George
Freeman’s contributions to jazz
guitar and the historic Chicago
jazz scene.
How would you describe
George Freeman’s playing?
George has a wealth of blues,
bebop and swing vocabulary.
That’s where he resides. What
really sets him apart is his
rhythm. He has a way of leaving
space, and he has a behind-the-
beat feel in his quarter notes,
eighth notes and other rhythms.
When he and I practice
together for our group,
periodically he complains to
me about how I’m rushing
something, and when
I listen back to the recording,
I can hear that I’m ahead of him
and he feels that. It’s very much
an aesthetic for him that is
absolutely purposeful, this
playing behind the beat at
whatever tempo.
On top of all of that, George
is a lyrical ballad player, and that
is something you don’t hear too
much on guitar. He sounds like
a voice when he plays ballads.
He’s often said he isn’t a blues
player, and he repeated that in
our conversation. Yet there’s
so much blues in his playing.
Jimmy Griffin told him that if
he wanted to get work, he had
to bend strings. George has
always said to me that there has
to be blues in your playing as
a jazz player. But he makes a
distinction by saying he hears
bebop, while blues players
hear something else. He’s not
denigrating it at all. It’s said with
total respect. What I think he
means by “hearing” is what
touches your soul, what you feel
and gravitate toward.
What sets him apart in the
world of jazz guitar?
When he first heard bebop in
1942 to 44, he got more familiar
with it than his brother, because
Von was in the Navy during the
war. Tell me what other guitar
players were playing bebop
heads in 1944? And he was 18
doing this! He had a hot band
with Jimmy Griffin and others
called the Baby Bebop Band [so
named because all the members
were short], and people would
come out to the shows and
dance to it; they weren’t just
listening to it. There’s a scholar
at Arizona State University
who’s done research on bebop
and dance, and this idea that
bebop was supposed to be
a listening artform isn’t 100
percent historically accurate.
There were dance clubs where
people in the Black community
would get together and dance
to Charlie Parker with strings.
With George being on the
frontline with the horn players,
we’re also talking about the
beginnings of amplification. His
father had a friend who got a
DeArmond pickup for George.
When Charlie Parker came to
town and they worked together,
he could play all the heads
because he had learned them
all. And many of the guitars
back then, holy Jesus, those
HARVEY S. TILL IS (THIS PAG E); COURTESY OF THE FR EE MAN FAMI LY (OPPOSI TE)
necks were nearly impossible to
play. They looked like baseball
bats. The action is really high
too, as they weren’t built for
low action. He didn’t have the
wealth of string possibilities
that we have now. Someone
else I met who had played back
then told me that the G string
was like playing a pencil.
Many people know of New
York City’s significance in jazz,
but how would you describe
Chicago’s jazz sound?
You had different regional
sounds for sure, since there was
no internet, so things developed
with local innovations. You can
talk about the cats from New
Orleans who came to Chicago
with the Great Migration in the
’20s and ’30s; that’s one
category. But if we’re talking
about jazz as we know it now,
informed by its swinging bebop,
it really comes out of the
musicians who attended
DuSable High School.
Besides the big sound of the
tenor players, the principal
aesthetic of the Chicago sound
is the behind-the-beat feel and
soulfulness. It’s not as much
“GEORGE HAS ALWAYS
SAID TO ME THAT THERE
HAS TO BE BLUES IN
YOUR PLAYING AS
A JAZZ PLAYER”
about technique like New York
is. They certainly could be
innovative about technique, but
it was in service of the soul —
the “blues” sort of feeling, plus
bebop’s higher original music
conception. But that feeling,
swing and blues, had to be
there, and the way you work
with the pocket.
When we played this year
at Chicago Jazz Fest, you can
tell that the whole old guard,
musicians and fans, are all
about the groove. Sure, they can
play some fast tunes. But get
that medium pocket with a little
blues thing going on, and people
start screaming and clapping.
It’s a very vital part. It has so
much to do with the history of
who came up in the migration,
particularly the second
migration. Even with the first
migration, you had a lot of
people from the Mississippi
Delta area, where the folk-blues
sound, which was very much
a part of the culture there,
G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
became gospel music and urban
blues. And it definitely touched
the jazz world, because we’re
talking about a very small space
of land with a lot of people
stuck in it. The music wasn’t
separated like it is today. Cats
would work all kinds of gigs,
including gospel, blues and jazz,
within the small boundaries of
the city’s South Side and Black
neighborhoods like Bronzeville.
There were clubs in every corner,
and everyone was informed by
everyone else.
What jumps out to
you about George’s
aesthetic choices
and techniques?
Maybe in the ’60s,
but definitely in his
performances in the
’70s, he started to
bring in elements that
he would probably call
“outside,” like wild sonic- and
timbre-related things on the
guitar — the escalating chords
up and down the strings, and
the tremolo. He started to
develop ways of pacing his
solos to really get people going.
Everything was in service of
speaking to his audience, to
reach them and make them
feel good. Over that time, he
developed a mix of bebop and
blues and his own original
source of vocabulary, while
coming up with his own ways of
fingering things on the guitar.
I’m still mystified by it, even
when I’m sitting right in front
of him and he shows me what
he does. He developed his own
way of getting around the guitar
neck. He also uses a dresser
drawer knob for a pick, because
he can’t use his wrist like he
used to and misses those days
of having the pick. But that was
his solution. And he gets the
most gorgeous sound.
— Nikki O’Neill
Freeman standards and playing blues. But my
performs at brother taught me about telling the
the Zanzibar, story, and the story was not in the blues.
in Philadelphia,
I mean, the blues was in there, but he
with the Joe
Morris Band, wanted me to “hear” standards. And
August 1947. when I heard Charlie Parker play
(from left) standards, he took me for a ride.
Embra Daylie,
Leroy Jackson,
Wilmus Reeves During those formative years, you learned
to play the solos of other musicians, like
on piano (behind
trumpet player), Lester Young’s “D.B. Blues.” Some think
Joe Morris, transcribing is a great way of building
Johnny Griffin
vocabulary, while others disagree. What
and Freeman.
are your thoughts on that?
You’ve got to remember that I had a
band that played standards during the
swing era, and the kids in the audience
could dance to swing and sing the horn
SOD\HUV·VRORV7KHQ/HVWHU<RXQJJRW
here, and I had learned his solo on “D.B.
Blues” because it was popular with the
kids. When I played it for them, they
loved it. But when I played it in front of
Lester, he didn’t appreciate it too much.
I also played with Coleman Hawkins,
and I’ll never forget when he looked at
me onstage and told me, “Blow!” My life
has been very successful as far as playing
with good musicians.
You had just turned 20 in 1947 when you
moved to New York City to perform and
record. What was that experience like
for you?
When I went, my hopes were very high.
-RKQQ\*ULűQDQGKLVEDQGWRRNPH
WKHUH7KHÀUVWRWKHUPXVLFLDQ,PHW
there was Sonny Rollins. I was ready,
because I was already playing bebop in
Chicago. I got turned around, and came
back home. It’s a sad story. But I met all
JAN UARY 2 024 63
P L A Y E R S | GEORGE FREEMAN
the great cats, including John Coltrane, You did two onstage collaborations: one in
when they were young just like me. Chicago and one in Detroit. Did you ever
talk about recording?
When you came back to Chicago, you met Bird asked me. He asked me to come to
Charlie Parker. How did that happen? New York City. And those were the last
My brother Bruz was working with Sarah words he spoke to me. I never did go,
Vaughan, and she had a manager who because I was working with my brothers.
knew Charlie Parker [‘Bird’]. Since Bird
was coming to Chicago, she asked Bruz Going outside the harmony is a big part of
if there was anything about the city he your playing. How did you get into that?
wanted to tell him, I heard Coltrane
and he mentioned go outside in his
that I was here. “THEY WERE ALL playing, while my
When Bird got here, TELLING THEIR STORY, brother was playing
he contacted us. inside, and I don’t
BUT THEY WERE think anybody went
There’s an audio
recording of the two
SWINGING THE STORY” outside the way
Coltrane did back
of you playing “Keen WKHQ7KDWJRHVIRU
and Peachy” live at the Pershing Ballroom all the cats like Sonny Stitt, Dexter
in 1950. What was your collaboration like? *RUGRQDQG*HQH$PPRQV7KH\GLGQ·W
When you get onstage, you try to play go out. So when I joined Gene Ammons’
something that everybody knows. Bird band [LQ], I used to go outside on
had a heart of gold, and he could play purpose, and he loved it.
anything. I had been playing standards
and dances, no problem. But when he In a Downbeat interview with Ammons
called out that song, I got nervous. I was from 1970, he said that he didn’t like avant
standing next to him playing, and he just garde playing, but he liked how you did it
grinned from ear to ear, because he had because you were still connecting with the
never heard a guitar player play like that. rhythm section.
Freeman onstage
at the Chicago
Jazz Festival,
August 31, 2017.
64 JAN UA RY 20 24
You can’t just go out and stay out there.
You’ve got to have the melody in your
mind and also know when to come back
in again with the drummer and the
organ player. I used to make Gene
Ammons dance.
When you came up in Chicago, were the
jazz and blues scenes very separated at
that time?
I don’t think anything is ever separated
from the blues. It’s always been
prominent. Charlie Parker was
instrumental in the direction blues
was taking as far as horn players was
concerned. But players like B.B. King
had nothing to do with that.
Since you were so influenced by horn
players, how did the guitar end up being
your instrument?
Well, I like the sound of the guitar. My
brother tried to teach me how to play
the alto saxophone, but my lips weren’t
strong enough, so that didn’t last.
When I got to DuSable High School,
the musical director there asked me
what instrument I wanted to play. I said
“I want to play the guitar.” He looked
really surprised, as he thought I was
George Freeman
and his group
the Monks pose for a
photo in the 1960s.
G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M

going to pick anything else but guitar.
Your solo on “Franticdiagnosis” is an
amazing bop showcase, where you’re not
afraid of switching to a more biting pickup
sound and getting some amp dirt as you
end it all in an escalating frenzy.
7KDWVRORMXVWKDSSHQHG,ZDV\RXQJ
DQGIDVW7KHPXVLFLDQVZKRHQWHUHGP\
mind at the time were Charlie Parker
and John Coltrane. Nowadays, players
have such a hard time with the swing.
What advice would you give to players to
help them with swing?
Swing is about supporting, and you’ve
got to support. You’ve got to love your
fellow musicians. When they take a solo,
you’ve got to listen, push them and
make them feel good. You want to make
WKHPVRXQGJRRG7KDW·VWKHVHFUHW$QG
I expect the same from my musicians
when I’m soloing. If you don’t support
me, you don’t have any love in your
heart for me. Players can get so focused
on what they’re doing. Musicians back
then had a way of approaching and
connecting with other musicians. I was
never inspired by Miles Davis, but I did
admire him for always keeping a
swinging rhythm section.
XI NHUA/ALAMY STOCK P HOTO (2017); KE N CARL (2022)
For the last few years, you’ve been
playing with a very unorthodox guitar pick:
a dresser drawer knob. What motivated
you to go with that kind of pick?
,WWRRN\HDUVWRFRPHXSZLWKWKLV7KH
rounded edge has enabled me to slide
over the strings and go up and down the
VWULQJVOLNHDPDQLDF,XVHGWRXVHVWLŲ
picks and big, fat silver dollars, but then
I couldn’t play fast. When you get to be
P\DJH\RX·YHJRWWRÀQGVRPHZD\WR
make things work.
G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
BY GEORGE
Discover the bebop style of
George Freeman in five selected tracks.
These five tracks capture highlights from Freeman’s 80-year career as
ABOVE: George a bandleader, sideman and composer. His career has included
Freeman (toting collaborations with Charlie Parker, Christian McBride, and also many
a Supro guitar) of the finest jazz organists including Jimmy McGriff and Joey
and the
DeFrancesco. — Nikki O’Neill
Swingmasters
pose for a photo
in Chicago in “FRANTICD IAGNOSIS”
1953. (from left) GEO RG E FREEMA N — F RA NTICDIAGN OSIS ( 1972)
Freeman,
You think you’re listening to uptempo swing until Freeman
Eugene “Bon
Bon” Miller, switches pickups and starts tearing through melodic and
Walter Spratley, harmonic boundaries. Upcoming jazz masters like
Von Freeman Christian McBride took notice.
and Don
Balthazar.
“TH E BLACK CAT ”
TOP RIGHT: GENE AMMO NS — THE BLACK CAT! (197 1)
Freeman in the With fiercely grooving support from Ammons, Ron Carter,
studio, June 13, Harold Mabern and Idris Muhammad, Freeman brings his
2022.
solo from a hip, funky simmer to a rapid, escalating boil.
He also wrote this composition.
“KE EN A ND PEACHY”
CHAR LIE PARK ER — TH E COMPLETE L IVE
PERFOR MANCES ON SAVOY
Recorded live at the Pershing Hotel Ballroom in 1950, on
this track Freeman proves that he’s a worthy soloist
alongside Bird during a time when bebop guitar was
extremely rare.
“FREE DOM SUITE , P T. 1”
JIMMY McGRIFF — CONCERT FRIDAY THE 13TH
COO K COUNTY JAIL (1972)
In this live performance before inmates at a Chicago jail,
Freeman digs deep into blues and doesn’t fear to let a few
moments of silence go by between his phrases. Freeman
takes the first guitar solo. The twangy solo that comes
later is likely performed by O’Donel Levy.
“UP AND D OWN”
GEO RG E FREEMA N — THE GOO D L IF E (20 23)
Recorded back when Freeman was 95, the joyful musical
camaraderie between him, organist Joey DeFrancesco
and drummer Lewis Nash is unmistakable in this bopping
jump tune. Although Freeman’s playing has mellowed
and become more lyrical, his tone is as beautiful as his time is solid.
DeFrancesco passed away shortly after this album was recorded.
JAN UARY 2 024 65
66 JAN UA RY 20 24 G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M

AMERICANA
AMBASSADOR
David Grisman details the historic mandolins, guitars and
banjos he played on the Acoustic America album, as exhibited
at Arizona’s Musical Instrument Museum.
D
AVID GRISMAN
EMBODIES the concept
encapsulated in Acoustic
America, the Musical
Instrument Museum’s new
exhibition. The iconic mandolinist, gear
collector, musicologist and former Frets
columnist has lived the life Americana.
Inducted into the International Bluegrass
Music Hall of Fame in 2023, Grisman
has worked with a litany of legends,
including guitarists Jerry Garcia, Tony
Rice and Martin Taylor. He founded the
Acoustic Disc label in 1990 and has
remained dedicated to the preservation
and integrity of acoustic music,
musicians and instruments.
And now, through a partnership with
the Musical Instrument Museum in
Phoenix, Arizona, he is presenting the
Acoustic America project, an exhibition
featuring 90 iconic folk instruments
ZUMA PR ESS, I NC. / ALAMY STOC K PHOTO
associated with heroes of American
music. About a third of the show’s
pieces come from Grisman’s personal
collection and appear on a new Acoustic
Disc compilation of the same name.
Highlights from Grisman’s collection
include the 1925 Gibson F-5 “Fern”
mandolin he played exactly 50 years ago
ZLWKWKHKLJKO\LQÁXHQWLDOVXSHUJURXS
G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
R E T S
F
––
S
F R E T
T S
E
R
F
S F
T R
E T
F R E
B Y J I M M Y
Old & In the Way, featuring Garcia on
EDQMR9DVDU&OHPHQWVRQÀGGOHDQG
Peter Rowan on guitar. There’s also the
1918 Gibson MB-4 mandolin-banjo
Grisman played on “Stealin’,” from the
seminal 1996 Garcia/Grisman album,
Shady Grove. Rice plays Grisman’s 1930s
/H'RPLQRÁDWWRSJXLWDURQ´9LQWDJH
Gintage Blues,” a track culled from the
VHVVLRQVWKDWSURGXFHGWKHÀUVWRI
Grisman and Rice’s three landmark Tone
Poems albums that present “The Sounds
of the Great Vintage Guitars and
Mandolins.” “It Had to Be You,” from
Tone Poems II, features Martin Taylor on
Grisman’s Gibson Lloyd Loar L-5 while
––
F R
E T S
F R
E
T
S
S
L E S L I E
Grisman conjures a full string section
using a trio of Loars — a mandolin,
mandola and mandocello — from the
roaring ’20s.
The larger exhibition includes a 1935
Martin D-28 owned by Mike Seeger and
used by Elizabeth Cotton to record
“Freight Train” for her 1958 Folkways
album Folksongs and Instrumentals With
Guitar. There’s also Mississippi John
Hurt’s 1964 Guild F-30 that John Oates
XVHGRQWKHÀUVWWZR+DOO 2DWHV
records, fabled Gibson designer Lloyd
Loar’s personal 1924 F-5 mandolin, Earl
Scruggs’ 1928 Gibson RB-Granada banjo
and Michael Hedges’ 1913 Knutsen harp
guitar. “These are instruments that have
changed so many lives of artists and
audiences alike,” MIM senior curator
Rich Walter explains. “Each one has a
unique story and personality, but
together they remind us of the shared
connections within America’s most
LQÁXHQWLDOPXVLFµ
Acoustic America: Iconic Guitars,
Mandolins, and Banjos runs through
September 15, 2024. Dawg (as Garcia
dubbed Grisman) was excited to give
Guitar Player insights into his historic
instruments and the recordings featured
on the Acoustic America album.
JAN UARY 2 024 67
F R E T S | DAVID GRISMAN David Grisman and
Jerry Garcia perform
at the Squaw Valley
Music Festival,
August 25, 1991.

What is the origin story of Acoustic

America?
Acoustic America is the brainchild of Rich
:DOWHU:HPHWDERXWÀYH\HDUVDJR
when I played a gig at the Musical
Instrument Museum with my Dawg Trio.
He mentioned being a fan of my Tone
Poems recordings, and wanting to do an
exhibition featuring American-made
instruments that were used in creating
acoustic American music. I’ve been all
about that for a long time and have quite
a collection. I sent him a list and he
narrowed it down to 30-plus
instruments. He spent a few days How about a couple examples? chronologically in terms of the
visiting at my place, and by then I was 7KHÀUVWWUDFN´%DUFDURODµE\*LXVHSSH instruments.
aware of the instruments he wanted. Pettine, is a mandolin solo from 1955.
Naturally it inspired the thought to turn +LVLQVWUXPHQWPLJKWEHWKHÀUVW Can you address the guitars from your
this into a recording project. I’d already artist-endorsed mandolin made in collection?
used a bunch of these instruments on a America. [Boston-based mandolin company] There are only a few guitars. Tony Rice
lot of recordings, but some had never Vega made the Pettine Special in 1898. played my 1930s Le Domino on “Vintage
been recorded. I sprang into action and The fourth track, “Lonesome Mama Gintage Blues” from Tone Poems, and
WULHGWRVRUWLWDOORXWLQWHUPVRIÀQGLQJ Blues/Bolero” is a solo banjo there’s an alternate take on Acoustic
material to play on them. In some cases performance by Fred Van Eps. He was a America. I don’t remember where I got
they inspired me to write new music, banjo virtuoso who also designed banjos, that guitar. It was a Sears and Roebuck
plus there are a couple of tracks by and I had one of his instruments in my type of brand and I think it was made by
musicians associated with these collection from the ’20s. I tried to put Regal. There was a whole range of Le
instruments. the album together more or less Domino instruments with domino

The David Grisman

Sextet performs, with
mandolinist Joe Walsh
(on Grisman’s right), at
the 2014 Fresh Grass
Music Festival at Mass
MoCA, North Adams,
Massachusetts,
September 21, 2014.

TI M MOSE NFE LDE R/G ETTY I MAG ES (19 91 ); DOUG LAS MASON/G E TTY IMAG ES (2014 )

68 JAN UA RY 20 24 G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
 “A LOT OF THESE GUITARS WERE
INEXPENSIVE AND YET SOUND
PRETTY GOOD”
1947 D’ANGELICO EXCEL 1925 GIBSON F-5 “FERN”
BLONDE ARCHTOP One of MANDOLIN Grisman’s “main
John D’Angelico’s earliest axe” that he played with
cutaway guitars. Ordered Old & In the Way and on
and played by Nat King his first David Grisman
Cole guitarist Irving Ashby. Quintet recordings.
G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
FREDDIE GREEN’S 1956
GRETSCH EL DORADO
ARCHTOP Played for
decades in the Count Basie
Orchestra by the definitive
big-band rhythm guitarist.
JAN UARY 2 024 69
F R E T S | DAVID GRISMAN

1935 MARTIN
“HERRINGBONE” D-28 Mike
Seeger owned this guitar.
Elizabeth Cotten borrowed
it to record “Freight Train”
and others in 1957.

1923–’24 LLOYD LOAR 1918 GIBSON MB-4

QUARTET Martin Taylor MANDOLIN-BANJO Grisman
played this Gibson Lloyd used it on “Stealin’,” from
Loar L-5 (far right) with Grisman/Garcia’s Shady
Grisman on “It Had to Be Grove. Acoustic America
You,” from Tone Poems II. has an alternate take.

70 JAN UA RY 20 24 G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M

“DJANGO REINHARDT PLAYED IT.
THAT’S WHAT MAKES YOU LIKE IT, NOT
HOW THE GUITAR SOUNDS”
appointments, including an archtop
guitar with a bigger body and an oval
soundhole, called a Big Boy. Those are
mostly what you run across. I don’t
know if I’ve ever seen another like mine,
but Tony liked it, even though it was a
cheap guitar. A lot of collectors are only
interested in ultra-fancy and expensive
instruments, but a lot of these were
inexpensive and yet sound pretty good.
There’s a newly recorded version of
“Wabash Cannonball” with Danny
D OUGL AS MASON/G E TTY I MAG ES
Barnes playing an unusual guitar. It’s a
1933 HG-24 [round-shouldered
dreadnought], which is cool because it has
a round soundhole, four f-holes and an
inner chamber. It was intended for
Hawaiian playing. Gibson only produced
these strange instruments for a few
G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
Grisman performs at
the 2014 Fresh Grass
Music Festival .
years, until the early ’30s.
“It Had to Be You,” from Tone
Poems II, includes a quartet of Lloyd
Loar instruments from 1923–’24.
Martin Taylor plays my L-5, and I’m
on mandolin, mandola and mandocello.
What I’m playing is like a string quartet,
meaning that a mandolin corresponds
to a violin, a mandola corresponds to
a viola, and a mandocello is an octave
below a mandola, which is the way
a cello is tuned. Martin is also on
another track, “Unforgettable,” from
Tone Poems II, where he plays the very
same D’Angelico guitar that’s in the
exhibition, but it’s not from my
FROOHFWLRQ7KHÀUVW6XSHULVRQ
there — or at least it’s a very early
Gibson Super 400 from 1934, designated
MORE ONLINE!
Scan this QR code with
your phone or tablet to
learn more about David
Grisman’s Acoustic
America album.
as a “Super L-5” on the truss-rod cover.
Danny Barnes plays it on the cut of “Big
Blue” by the Dawg Trio that I used on
the Acoustic America album. The 1925
Gibson F-5 “Fern” mandolin I played on
that track was my main axe for many
years. I used it for Old & In the Way and
on all my original Quintet recordings.
Jerry Garcia plays guitar on a couple of
cuts. One features you playing a mando-
banjo. Can you share some thoughts?
I don’t have any of Jerry’s guitars, which
I’m sure they would’ve wanted. As for
the mandolin-banjo, I played that on
“Stealin’,” from the Shady Grove album
Jerry and I did. Jerry played a guitar
made by Dexter Johnson from Carmel
Music. That 1918 Gibson MB-4 was the
ÀUVWPDQGROLQEDQMR,HYHUERXJKWDQG
I got into collecting them because they
were readily available at bargain prices.
But I soon discovered after dragging
them around to various recording
sessions that nobody wanted to hear it.
[laughs@-HUU\ZDVWKHÀUVWSHUVRQWROHW
me use one on a recording, so it ended
up on “Stealin’” and I believe one other
bonus track on the deluxe download of
Shady Grove, which was the only other
way this alternate take of “Stealin’” was
available as well. There’s also an entire
album of alternate takes from the Jerry
Garcia & David Grisman album, and that’s
where I got the version of “Arabia” that
appears on Acoustic America. I play a 1982
Monteleone Grand Artist mandola,
which as I mentioned corresponds to
DYLRODEHLQJWXQHGGRZQDÀIWKIURP
a mandolin. That’s a wonderful
instrument made by one of the top
luthiers in America, John Monteleone,
who became more famous for his
guitars, but he started out building
mostly mandolins and mandolas.
I believe that mandola is the second
RQHKHPDGH,KDGWKHÀUVWRQHEXW
I believe I traded it in when he showed
me that second one.
What instrument being exhibited, from
outside of your own collection, do you find
particularly intriguing?
They have a RB-G Granada banjo that
allegedly belonged to Earl Scruggs.
JAN UARY 2 024 71
F R E T S | DAVID GRISMAN
I assume they did their due diligence.
His famous banjo that’s not in this
exhibition is a Gibson Mastertone
Granada. Banjo parts often get replaced.
The neck on that was replaced many
times and many of the parts were not
original. I’d never heard of this
instrument, but they say he had another
Granada that’s not of the same
construction. A banjo nerd would say
that Earl’s famous banjo is a one-piece
ÁDQJHÁDWKHDGIURPDURXQGDQG
the Granada in this exhibition is a
*UDQDGDZLWKDWZRSLHFHÁDQJHDUFKWRS
VRLW·VUHDOO\DGLŲHUHQWEHDVW,·P
curious because I’ve never heard of him
having another Granada, but I certainly
don’t know everything.
What do you appreciate most about how
the MIM is presenting Acoustic America?
It’s great that they are trying to choose
instruments associated with musicians
and the music they made, because that’s
the real point. Like a couple of the
mandolins from my collection: I have
-HWKUR%XUQV·ÀUVW*LEVRQ³LW·VDQ$
PRGHO³DQG5DOSK5LQ]OHU·VÀUVW)
ZKLFK,ZDWFKHGKLPUHÀQLVKZKHQ,
was, like, 15 or 16 years old. I haven’t
played instruments outside of my own
from the exhibition, and in fact no one
can, which is kind of sad because
ultimately these things are meant to be
played. But it’s good people can look and
hear recordings of them. That’s why I’m
making this recording, and the Tone
Poems recordings, so everyone can hear
the instruments in the hands of the
associated musicians making music.
It really has to do with the player.
Who says that a Selmer guitar is a good
sound? Django Reinhardt played it.
That’s what makes you like it, not how
the guitar sounds. If George Gruhn
played it, nobody would’ve ever heard of
it. I’m not discounting the instruments,
but none of them are going to make
anybody else sound like Jerry or Tony or
Martin or any great guitarist. That’s all
in the hands. But people tend to give
credit to the instrument.
Acoustic Disc is issuing a live Old and In
the Way release to commemorate the 50th
anniversary of those gigs. What are some
72 JAN UA RY 20 24
Onstage with the
Garcia/Grisman band
at Squaw Valley,
August 25, 1991.
“I WAS BORN IN ’45, WHICH MADE ME 33 IN ’78.
I WAS MEANT TO BE IN THE RECORD BUSINESS”
other recent and upcoming releases?
Guitar players will be interested in a
release we put out this year that’s the
only concert of Tony and Wyatt Rice
playing guitar duets. There were two
nights totaling four sets recorded in
1996 that we released as Together!
We just put out a recording by a
banjo player and singer named Roscoe
Holcomb. In 1968, Eric Clapton said
Roscoe Holcomb was his favorite
country musician. The record is called
Raw Country and it’s the real deal — very
emotional music.
We also put out a compilation record
called We Love Django! featuring a
recording of Oscar Aleman. He was a
Grisman poses
with his mandolin,
circa 1970.
guitarist from Argentina who moved to
Paris in the thirties. He was Josephine
Baker’s accompanist and a friend and
rival of Django Reinhardt. The famous
jazz critic Leonard Feather said that
Oscar could outswing Django. Actually,
Jerry Garcia turned me onto Oscar
Aleman. That’s where he learned
“Russian Lullaby.”
How does it feel to be running Acoustic
Disc in the digital era?
Acoustic Disc started during the shift
away from LPs to CDs, and then we
eventually developed Acoustic Oasis as
the digital download arm of the label
about 20 years ago after I read a book
called The Future of Music that predicted
TI M MOSE NFE LDE R/G ETTY I MAG ES (19 91 ); GAB ARCHI VE/ RE DFE RN S (G RI SMAN)
the digital ascendancy. When my wife,
Tracy, and I took over operation of the
company about two or three years ago,
we abandoned making physical product
to focus purely on digital. It’s great
because I’ve been able to triple my
output from four discs per year to one
downloadable release per month in three
formats: MP3, CD quality, or high
GHÀQLWLRQELW.DXGLRÀOHVZKLFK
sound better than CDs. They’re all the
same price. I’ve having a good time
doing one of my favorite things, which is
making records. I was born in ’45, which
made me 33 in ’78. I realized that on my
33rd birthday. I was meant to be in the
record business.
G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
 MICHAEL HEDGES’ EARL SCRUGGS’ MISSISSIPPI JOHN
1913 KNUTSEN HARP GUITAR 1928 GIBSON RB-GRANADA HURT’S 1964 GUILD F-30 The
Hedges revived interest BANJO The bluegrass icon blues legend played this
in the harp guitar. This allegedly owned and guitar at the 1964 Newport
instrument has never played this historic Folk Festival. It’s now
been displayed before. instrument. owned by John Oates.

G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M JAN UARY 2 024 73

 SHADES OF BLUE
Learn how to superimpose notes from parallel major and minor
pentatonic scales for colorful and expressive blues soloing.
B Y J E F F J A C O B S O N

W H EN I WAS a teenager, I went
through a serious blues phase. One
summer day, at a friend’s house, I was
noodling around with the melody to
one that would give easy access to any of
WKHVRXQGVRUPXVLFDO´FRORUVµDŲRUGHG
by the major and minor pentatonic
scales, no matter where I was on the
it has most of the signature color tones
of the two pentatonics — plus, it’s
tailor-made for playing over dominant
7th chords and blues progressions
P HILI P SOWE LS /GUI TAR TEC HNIQUES

Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be
Happy” on my no-name Strat-style
guitar. After a few minutes, my friend,
rather perturbed, asked, “Why do you
always turn everything into a blues?”
Yes, I was deep into it, and along
the way I found myself searching for
DGLŲHUHQWDSSURDFKWREOXHVSOD\LQJ
fretboard. Switching back and forth
always struck me as jarring and a bit too
obvious. But whatever approach I took,
I had to be able to make the guitar sound
nasty in that bluesy way I loved.
I thought, Hey, everyone talks about
modes; surely, there’s one magical mode
out there. I looked to Mixolydian, as
(no need to understand why for this
lesson). Sounds perfect! But any time
I tried to improvise with it, I always
HQGHGXSVRXQGLQJDELWÁDWOLNH,ZDV
playing blues but without a true blues
feeling. I just couldn’t make it sound
freewheeling and “dirty” in the way
I was searching for. I’ve since come

74 JAN UA RY 20 24 G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
 MORE ONLINE!

For audio and video of this lesson,

go to guitarplayer.com/jan24-lesson

to realize that maybe that’s just not Ex. 1 C7

œ œ œ œb œ œ œ œ bÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
Mixolydian’s strong suit.
The dirt I was after always seemed 4 œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
œ ˙™ ‰ œJ œ ˙™ Œ
WRÁRZPRVWHDVLO\IURPWKHPDMRUDQG & 4 J
minor pentatonics. It was like they came
pre-installed with attitude and were
a conduit to the unique personality of C major pentatonic ¿ C minor pentatonic ¿
the guitar, via decorative, expressive
devices like string bends, vibratos and
1

5
1
ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ 1

8
1
ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
5 5 8 8 8 11
ÀQJHUVOLGHV6RZK\ORRNDQ\ZKHUHHOVH" 7 7 7 5 10 10 10 8
Maybe there was a way to think about ⁄
WKHSHQWDWRQLFVFDOHVGLŲHUHQWO\WKDQ
I had been. And so I set out to mix and
match their colors, much like a painter Fig. 1 C Minor Pentatonic Fig. 2 C Major Pentatonic
would utilize a palette, to create new
DQGGLŲHUHQWRQHVWRPDNHWKHWZR R b3 R ^2
scales sound like one, or maybe not like p5 b7 p5 ^6
a scale at all. b3 p4 b5 ^2 ^3
For the sake of comparison and b7 R ^6 R
ease of thinking, all the examples and
p4 b5 p5 ^3 p5
fretboard shapes in this lesson are
R b3 R ^2
presented in the key of C. The two Ex. 1
8fr. 8fr.
scales we’ll be working with are:
C major pentatonic, which is spelled Fig. 3 C Major and Minor Pentatonics Superimposed
C (the root), D (the major 2nd, or 9th),
E (the major 3rd), G (the perfect 5th) R ^2 b3
and A (the major 6th) and C major p5 ^6 b7
pentatonic’s parallel minor counterpart, C ^2 b3 ^3 p4 b5
minor pentatonic, which is built from ^6 b7 R
the same root note and is spelled C (the ^3 p4 b5 p5
root), Eb WKHPLQRURU´ÁDWWHGµUG ) R ^2 b3
(the perfect 4th), G (the perfect 5th) and 8fr.

Bb WKHPLQRURU´ÁDWWHGµWK 
Additionally, for added color and
blues grit, we’ll be incorporating into
the minor pentatonic scale the use of the
diminished 5th, or the “b5 blue note,”
Gb, which may also be thought of as the
augmented 4th, or “#4,” F#. Adding this
sixth note to minor pentatonic gives us
a hexatonic scale that’s formally known
as the minor blues scale, or simply the
blues scale.
Now, it should go without saying that
what you do with these parallel scales in
terms of rhythm, articulation and touch
is what will ultimately bring out your
LQGLYLGXDOYRLFHRQWKHJXLWDU%XWÀUVW
ZHQHHGWRÀJXUHRXWKRZWRRUJDQL]H
them on the fretboard. Okay, got your
guitar? Great. Let’s go!
Knowing both the major and minor
pentatonic scales immediately gives us
access to two broad categories of sounds,
or colors: minor, with its plaintive and
brooding tone, and major, which sounds
like it’s having a much better day. To
illustrate, Ex. 1 has the same-shaped
SKUDVHRŲHUHGLQERWKWKHPDMRUDQG
minor pentatonic varieties, done by
simply shifting everything up or down
three frets. (Note: All examples in this
4
lesson that are written in 4 meter are to
EHSOD\HGZLWKDWULSOHWRU´VKXŰHµ
feel. I performed all the online demo
UHFRUGLQJVÀQJHUVW\OHWRDGGDOLWWOH
“special sauce,” but feel free to play
them with a pick or with pick and
ÀQJHUV
Let’s begin with the basic minor
pentatonic “box” shape that likely all of
us already use — you know, the one you
learn and then promise yourself to
explore the other four shapes, and will,
IRUVXUHGHÀQLWHO\JHWDURXQGWRGRLQJ"
Well, now’s the time, because those
shapes are going to come in handy!
2ND\KHUH·VRXUÀUVWPLQRUER[
which starts on the C root note located
on the low E string’s 8th fret and spans
two octaves across all six strings (see
Fig. 1). Notice that I’ve already included
the b5 (Gb) in each octave, and how each
note is labeled in terms of its intervallic
and scale-degree relationship to the C
root note, which is indicated with a
circled “R.”
Now, let’s take a look at a major
pentatonic shape — not the identical-
looking box played three frets lower but
rather the shape that sits directly over
(or under) our minor box, as the idea
with this whole approach is to have all
the available major and minor pentatonic
FRORUVOLWHUDOO\DWRXUÀQJHUWLSVLQDQ\
given position on the neck. Fig. 2
shows the shape we’re looking for.
(The triangle symbols indicate “major,”
as in the major 2nd, 3rd and 6th.)

G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M JAN UARY 2 024 75

L E S S O N S | STYLE

You’ll notice that, other than the Ex. 2

common C root note, the C major C7 F7 C7
pentatonic scale shares only one other ÍÍÍ œ œ œ bœ œ œ >œ™
4 œ bœ œ œ œ œ œ
œœ
note with C minor pentatonic — G,
the perfect 5th, or simply the 5th.
& 4 œ 3 1
j
bœfi œ bœ nœ Ó
2
Next we’re going to superimpose this
major pentatonic shape over the minor 1

ÍÍÍ
1/2 1/4 1/2

pentatonic one, or vice versa, so that

10
they overlap and form a rather dense 7 7 7 10 10 8 8
composite. Fig. 3 shows how that looks. ⁄ 10 7 10 10 10 10 7
9 8
11

K N OW I NG T HE M A JO R
Fig. 4 C Major Pentatonic Fig. 5 C Minor Pentatonic
A N D M I N OR PE N TATO N I C
SCA LES G I VES US
^6 R b7 R
ACC ESS TO T WO BROA D ^3 p5 p4 b5 p5

CAT EG OR IES O F R ^2 R b3

SOUN DS , OR CO LO RS p5 ^6 p5 b7
^2 ^3 b3 p4 b5
Now, for heaven’s sake, do not ^6 R b7 R
practice this up and down! I’m asking 5fr. 5fr.

you not to practice a scale, rather, I want

to illustrate the range of colors at your Ex. 3
Ex. 3
disposal here, all in one position. C7 F7
However, this visual can be pretty 1 ÍÍÍÍœ œ ÍÍÍÍ
œ œ œ™ ÍÍÍ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ bœ ™ .
12 œ œ #œfij œœ œ ™ nœœ
confusing. It’s much more manageable
to think of each position as two separate & 8 ‰ œbœœœ‰ Œ ‰ nœ

shapes superimposed over each other,

ÍÍÍÍ ÍÍÍÍ ÍÍÍ
1 1 1/2
as illustrated earlier in Figs. 1 and 2,
each with various colors to pick and 8 5 8 6 8 4 5 8 5 8 6 8
5 7 7 5
choose from. And understand that all of
those dots are just the same nine unique ⁄ 7
6
7
6

notes — C, D, Eb, E, F, Gb, G, A and Bb

— residing and recurring in a range of C7
œ œ nœÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ . œ œÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
œ œ œ. b œJ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ™
over two octaves. 3
œ
Before we move on to playing some
& Ó™
actual music, let’s take things one step J
further. Consider this: I don’t want you
to see the fretboard as a series of frets, 1
ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ 1 1
ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
ÀQJHUSRVLWLRQVVFDOHVWHSVRUHYHQ 5 6
8 8 6 8 8 8
notes. Instead, I want you to think of 7 5

each one as a sound you can manipulate ⁄

using rhythm, phrasing and all the cool
QXDQFHVWKHJXLWDUKDVWRRŲHUWKHQ
combine with other sounds to create Fig. 6a C Minor Pentatonic Fig. 6b C Major Pentatonic
colorful solos.
Ex. 2SUHVHQWVRXUÀUVWPDMRUDQG b3 p4 ^2 ^3
minor pentatonic “mash-up” lick. Notice
b7 R ^6 R
how powerful nuances can be — a bend
p4 b5 p5 ^3 p5
LQWRWKHÀUVWQRWHDQXQH[SHFWHG
rhythmic turn in bar 2 (the 16th note R b3 R ^2
on beat 3 followed by the accented b5 p5 b7 p5 ^6
dotted eighth note), and a soulful b3 p4 ^2 ^3
10fr. 10fr.

76 JAN UA RY 20 24
JUDFHQRWHSXOORŲLQEDU$OVRWKH Ex. 4 C7 F7
LQGLFDWHGIUHWKDQGÀQJHULQJVLOOXVWUDWH
bœ “”ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ bœ œ œÍÍ
how listening in a musical way can lead 1
4 œœ œ ˙™ œ bœ œ nœ bœ
œ œ œ œ
œ bœ
you to physically reach for sounds you
& 4 3 ‰ J
might not have “thought of” with your
ÀQJHUV%XWUHPHPEHUZH·UHUHDFKLQJ
for sounds here, not frets. 1
ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ 1 1

Now, someone in the back might 1/2

1/2 1/2
1 ÍÍ
interject, “Congratulations! You’ve just 11 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 10 10
10 13 11
discovered the Dorian and Mixolydian
modes.” True, the colors available are ⁄
MXVWDERXWLGHQWLFDOWRWKRVHRŲHUHGE\
these theoretical mode-based entities, C7
but it’s how you choose to think about ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
Ϫ
the notes. I’ve found that seeing the
3 bœ œ bœ œÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ bœ œ .
neck as a palette of sounds, while & J œ Œ Ó
focusing squarely on rhythm and
phrasing, ultimately leads to more
musical playing. You’ll note that I’m not ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
concerned with the “guitar” per se, just 11 11
10 10
the music we’re making. At a certain
point in time I realized I no longer ⁄ 13 13 10
12

wanted to be a good guitar player — I

wanted to be a good musician who plays
JXLWDU7KHUH·VDZRUOGRIGLŲHUHQFHDQG Fig. 7a C Minor Pentatonic Fig. 7b C Major Pentatonic

if that appeals to you too, this is a great

place to start! p4 b5 p5 ^3 p5

The more time you spend with these R b3 R ^2

colors, the more you’ll begin to tell p5 b7 p5 ^6
them apart and recognize each one’s b3 b5
p4 ^2 ^3
unique “personality.” This will enable
b7 R ^6 R
your ability to play what you hear, by
p4 b5 p5 ^3
allowing you to transfer it to the p5
13fr. 12fr.

Ex. 5
S E E I N G T H E N EC K AS ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
œœ œœ œ bœ ˙ bœ œ œ œ œœ œœ bœfij œ
bœ.
1
œfij œfij
A PA LET T E OF SOU N DS, 4
& 4 Œ
W H I LE FO CUSI N G 3 3
O N R H YT HM A N D
1/4
1 1
ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
P H RAS I N G, LEA DS TO
13 13 13 13
12 14 12 15 15 15 12 14 12
M OR E M US ICA L PLAY I N G
⁄ 15 13 16 15

fretboard quickly, if not immediately. C7

bœ ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
A great exercise is to listen to some œ œ ˙
¿. b œ
3
music, choose a note and try to identify bœfij œ bœ œ
its relationship to the root, either by & ‰ J Ó
counting up the scale steps or by
checking on your guitar.
Before we move up the neck, let’s
3
1/4
1 1
ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
shift down to 5th position and look over 16
15 15
the C major pentatonic box shape shown
in Fig. 4. As before, each scale degree is ⁄ 16 15 13 X

G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M JAN UARY 2 024 77

L E S S O N S | STYLE

labeled with its relationship to the Fig. 8a C Minor Pentatonic Fig. 8b C Major Pentatonic
C root note.
Now let’s look at the C minor
pentatonic shape played in the same p5 b7 p5 ^6
general position, in Fig. 5. In Ex. 3, we b3 p4 b5 ^2 ^3
see a mash-up lick that uses notes from b7 R ^6 R
these two overlapping shapes. It’s in the
p4 b5 p5 ^3 p5
context of a slow blues, which gives us
extra time between beats to consider R b3 R ^2
note-choice options. Notice in bar 2 how p5 b7 p5 ^6
we can even use the major 3rd in our key 15fr. 15fr.

of C, E, over the IV (four) chord in bar 2,

F7, even though the note notoriously
clashes with the F7’s b7, Eb. But the E
note works here because it’s part of a Ex. 6
C7 F7
repeating theme that we set up right
ÍÍÍÍÍ
from the get-go and don’t lean on too œœ œœ œ . œ ™ œ b œ œ ÍÍÍÍÍ
œfij
œ œbœ œ œ bœ œ œ
œ
heavily. As this example demonstrates, 1 œ bœ œ œ œ
you can use any color just about 12 bœ nœ‰ ‰ J ‰
anywhere, as long as it’s phrased in a & 8 4
musical way. 4
Let’s skip over to the other side of
our starting C minor box and look at the
1/2 1/2 1
ÍÍÍÍÍ ÍÍÍÍÍ
15 15
last three positions higher up the neck. 15 17 15 16 18 16 18 15
17 14 14 14 17 17 15 17
We’ll quickly go through them and just
have some fun playing. You’ve earned it!
⁄ 17 15
18

The next set of patterns are shown in

Figures 6a and 6b), followed by its C7
mash-up lick in Ex. 4). “” ÍÍÍÍÍ
. . . œ™ œ œœ
bœ nœ œ œ bœ nœ œ œ bœ nœ œ œ œ b œ œ œ
Next up, the penultimate set of 3
≈ œbœ œ œ. ‰ Œ ™
bœ
patterns, illustrated in Figures 7a and
7b, are followed by its corresponding &
mashup, presented in Ex. 5.
Finally, our last two patterns are grad. bend sim.
shown in Figures 8a and 8b, along with
their mashup lick in Ex. 6. 1/2 1/2 1/2
1/2 1
ÍÍÍÍÍ
15 17 15 17 15 17 17 15 18 15
Lastly, just for fun, Ex. 7RŲHUVRQH
17 18
16 16 16 18 16
more phrase that travels between two 17 14

sets of our pentatonic positions. ⁄

So much of being a musician has to
do with our attitude and how we choose
to think about the information we take
in. I’ve found that knowledge is both
Ex. 7
useful and powerful, but, in the end,
G7 F7 C7
ÀJXULQJRXWKRZWRPDNHLWVRXQGOLNH
œ b œ œ b œ œ n œ œÍÍÍ œfij œ œ b œ œ ÍÍÍÍÍ “”
you’re a natural always seems to produce œ œ œ b œ œ œ œ œ œ#œ ˙™ÍÍÍ
WKHEHVWUHVXOWV,KRSH\RXÀQGWKLV 4 ‰ nœ
lesson helpful. & 4 3 3
3 3 3
-HŲ-DFREVRQLVDJXLWDULVWVRQJZULWHUDQG
YHWHUDQPXVLFWUDQVFULEHUZLWKKXQGUHGVRI 1 1/2
ÍÍÍ
1/2

SXEOLVKHGFUHGLWV)RULQIRUPDWLRQRQYLUWXDO
10 9 8
1

10
ÍÍÍ ÍÍÍÍÍ 15 15 13 12 13 14
JXLWDUOHVVRQVRUFXVWRPWUDQVFULSWLRQVIHHO 11 8 13 16 13
12 14 14
IUHHWRUHDFKRXWWR-HŲRQ,QVWDJUDP#
MMPXVLFPHQWRURUYLVLWMHŲMDFREVRQQHW ⁄

78 JAN UA RY 20 24 G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M

Family Matters
Learn generational tunes from Luther
Dickinson’s Magic Music for Family Folk.
B Y J I M M Y L E S L I E
G ROW I N G UP IN a musical family has
its perks. Just ask Luther Dickinson,
whose father was legendary Memphis
musician and producer Jim Dickinson.
Luther, who co-founded the North
Mississippi Allstars with his brother
Cody, recalls how his parents made folk
music an intrinsic part of their family
home. Now he hopes to help others do
the same with Magic Music for Family Folk
(New West), his charming new album
of traditional gems.
“This collection of my childhood
favorites evokes memories of my mother
playing her Martin parlor guitar and
of my father at the family turntable,
telling stories about Furry Lewis and
Gus Cannon,” Dickinson says, “or
J OSHUA BLACK WI LKI NS
explaining a song’s meaning.”
In that same spirit, he’s made Magic
Music for Family Folk DIDPLO\DŲDLU
“My daughters sang on the album,”
he explains. “I made it to keep them
G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
company in my absence on tour, hoping
they’d sing along in their mom’s car.”
This month, we’ll learn a pair of the
album’s tunes, courtesy of Luther.
LEARN A LOVE LY STAPLE
7KHÀUVWFXWDQGVLQJOH´$UH<RX
Sure,” was originally recorded by
another family band, the Staple Singers.
Dickinson’s version grabs your attention
with a mystical-sounding lick. “That
open string harp-style melody is a
VRXQG,GHYHORSHGGRLQJÀOPVFRUHVµ
he explains. “There are two guitars:
a high-strung acoustic and a Sho-Bud
eight-string resonator, both tuned to
the melody. I pick it out using all open
strings, letting all the notes resonate
together, either using harmonics or not.
7KHWXQHZRUNVMXVWÀQHRQDQ
DFRXVWLFJXLWDULQVWDQGDUGWXQLQJ<RX
FDQHDVLO\ÀQGWKHPHORG\QRWHVE\
working on the top three strings from
F R E T S | LEARN
an open D chord position. The only other
chords are G and A. There’s a simplistic
quarter-note feel to the rhythm, which
can be embellished or not, making it a
great tune for a friendly gathering of all
skill levels on all the instruments as well
as the sweet group vocals. The message of
kindness is crystal clear from the get-go:
“Are you sure there’s nothing you can do
WRKHOSVRPHRQHZRUVHRŲWKDQ\RX"
7KLQNEHIRUH\RXDQVZHUDUH\RXVXUH"µ
METERS MAD E
1H[WXSLV´7KH\$OO$VN·GIRU<RXµ
a tune originally cut by seminal New
Orleans music makers the Meters, about
going to see the animals at the Audubon
Zoo. Says Dickinson, “I remember being
a youngster and my dad standing at the
turntable explaining the joke of the song,
which is in the pronunciation. The way
Zigaboo Modeliste sings, ‘The monkeys
ask’d, the tigers ask’d…’ sounds like,
‘The monkey’s ass, the tiger’s ass,’
et cetera. [Meters bassist] George Porter Jr.
told me that Zig’s mom used to sing that
to him as a lullaby, so that’s part of the
tradition here as well.”
´7KH\$OO$VN·GIRU<RXµKDVDSHSS\
Mardi Gras “boom-chick” feel with
a rudimentary chord progression.
Dickinson plays it a whole step down
from the original, so the chords are D,
A and A7 — plus there’s a little diatonic
bass-note run in the key of D that kicks
RŲWKHWXQHDQGVHUYHVDVLWVVLJQDWXUH
lick. It can also be found easily working
from an open D chord position, but
this time the sousaphone-style melody
KDSSHQVRQWKHIRXUWKDQGÀIWKVWULQJV
It’s great if you can execute that without
UHPRYLQJWKHWRSWZRÀQJHUVIURPWKH
D chord. Do so by hitting the C# at
WKHIRXUWKIUHWRIWKHÀIWKVWULQJZLWK
a pinkie stretch, and then use the index
ÀQJHUWRFDWFKWKH%DWWKHVHFRQGIUHW
Or, if you’re a thumb wrapper, you can
catch the B in the bass run that way too,
OHDYLQJWKHÀUVWWKUHHÀQJHUVVHFXUHGRQ
the D chord above the whole time.
Jimmy Leslie has been Frets editor since 2016.
See Guitar Player– and Frets–related videos
on his YouTube channel, and learn about his
acoustic/electric rock group, spirithustler.com.
JAN UARY 2 024 79
 Guitar Player’s editors serve up
their favorite selections from 2023.

B Y D A V E H U N T E R , J I M M Y L E S L I E ,
C H R I S T O P H E R S C A P E L L I T I A N D A R T T H O M P S O N

UAFX
shrunk to pocket size, and it’s easily one of the
most amazing reverbs ever put in a pedal. The
1176 Studio Compressor offers the great
sounds of the rack-mount UA studio classic
and provides different emulations of dual 1176
Evermore, 1176, Orion setups as used by Jimmy Page for

and OX Stomp compressed distortion and slide master

THE UAFX CO M PAC T series pedals
feature the same high-horsepower DSP
found in the company’s larger and more
comprehensive pedals, but are easier to use
and have a streamlined interface and mono
I/O. The Evermore Studio Reverb is a
large-format 224 — an icon of top-tier
recording studios in the late ’70s and ’80s —
Lowell George for his trademark clean
sustain. The Orion Tape Echo emulates the
famed Echoplex EP-III, delivering juicy-
sounding echos that can be adjusted to suit
your tastes. And the OX Stomp offers the
same wealth of miked-speaker-cabs-in-
studio-room emulations as the OX Top Box
(minus the power-attenuation circuitry) for
amazingly realistic tones in the studio or
onstage. $199 to $399. uaudio.com — AT

80 JAN UA RY 20 24 G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M

MARTIN
OM Biosphere
T H E OM BIOSP H ER E is one of those rare
instruments that both sounds great and
makes a strong artistic statement. Unlike the
world’s oceans, the Biosphere is completely
free from plastic, and all the wood used for its
construction is fully certified by the Forestry
Stewardship Council to ensure it is
responsibly sourced, thereby benefiting both
the forest and its local people. Even the hip
gig bag is made of hemp! And to show
support for the conservation of precious and
increasingly endangered coral reefs, the OM
Biosphere features aquatic-themed art by
Robert Goetzl ink-printed on its top. The
guitar has an organic feel and tone to match
its striking looks, and with the classic
playability of a Martin OM, the Biosphere
demonstrates environmental awareness with
every note. If you’re highly eco-conscious and
want to encourage others to be, here’s your
jam. $2,299. martinguitar.com — JL
ORIGIN EFFECTS
M-EQ Driver
ESS ENTIA LLY A BO OST- M EETS -
LOW- GAIN overdrive, the M-EQ Driver takes
the studio-gear inspiration route that got
EVENTIDE
H90 Harmonizer
IF YOU BOUG HT just one multi-effects
pedal this year, this was the one to get. For
the past 10 years, Eventide’s H9 has been the
ELECTRO HARMONIX
Lizard Queen
A CO MPACT VE RS I ON of JHS’s “big box”
pedal of the same name, the EHX Lizard
Queen Octave/Distortion has octave, volume
GEAR OF THE YEAR!
British effects maker Origin started with the
near-legendary Cali76, a pedal that sought to
encapsulate the magical Urei 1176 compressor
for guitar. This time out, the rugged metal box
encloses Origin’s clever reduction of the
Pultec M-EQ, a hulking studio EQ beloved not
only for its frequency-crafting capabilities but
also for its knack for deliciously driving a
guitar’s midrange content. Controls include
knobs for drive, level, mids and cut, with a
two-way toggle switch for Adapt on/off (kind
of a “pick attack sensor”), plus a three-way
KCS (kilocycles) switch to select three
mid-boost frequency bands: 0.8kHz, 1.0kHz
or 1.3kHz. It all adds up to some serious tone
sweetening and tactile drive. $319.
origineffects.com — DH
solid choice for accessing the company’s
“greatest hits” of effects, including studio-
quality reverb, delay, modulation and pitch
shifting. The H90 ups the ante by allowing
the simultaneous use of two algorithms, in
series or parallel, with various modes of mono
and stereo connectivity. In addition to newly
enhanced versions of the H9 Max’s 52
algorithms, the H90 delivers 10 brand-new
varieties, including Polyphony, Prism Shift,
Bouquet Delay, Head Space, WeedWacker
and SP2016 Reverb. Better still, presets can
be easily edited using the onboard controls
and screen. Granted, it’s not cheap, but when
you consider how many pedals it replaces,
the H90 is a gear investment worth making.
$899. eventideaudio.com — CS
and balance controls. It’s not a clone of a
Roger Mayer Octavia but rather a fixed-gain
fuzz that dispenses with a standard gain knob
in favor of the balance control that affects
both tone and gain. The pedal sounds
thickest and heaviest with the balance
control turned counterclockwise, to the
Shadow position. It’s more biting and gated
sounding when turned clockwise, to the Sun
position, particularly when the highly
interactive octave control is also halfway
up or so. Having a dedicated octave control
is a cool feature because you can turn the
octave almost completely off or progressively
add it to get the desired amount of ring
modulation–infused shriekiness to your fuzz
sound. $99. ehx.com — AT
JAN UARY 2 024 81
R E V I E W | GEAR OF THE YEAR 2023

DINOSAURAL
Cogmeister Overdrive
H AV I NG M AD E HIS reputation as the
co-founder of Lovetone and designer for
ThorpyFX, Dan Coggins has introduced the
Cogmeister Overdrive, a pedal that
encapsulates his concept of the ideal
all-in-one drive station: three independent yet
highly chainable and gain-stageable boost
and overdrive circuits. The three channels
comprise Push (boost), Drive (medium-gain
overdrive) and Solo (added sizzle-meets-lead
boost to cover the full range of dirt). I found
the Cogmeister particularly delectable with
a Telecaster into a clean-ish amp, but the
format delivers toneful versatility to suit a
wide range of styles and genres. $375 direct.
cogginsaudio.co.uk — DH

DANELECTRO COLE CLARK

PEAVEY 6505
1992 Original
A LO N GT IME FAVO R ITE of the hardcore
crowd, Peavey’s 6505 1992 Original is a
re-creation of the 120-watt bruiser that
debuted some 30 years ago. The two-
channel head uses four 6L6GC power tubes,
five 12AX7s in the preamp and a custom-built
output transformer to deliver scathing metal
tones. This amp is fairly simple compared to
most modern, multichannel high-gain
monsters, but it has all it needs to crank out
kick-ass tones at high volume, including
pre-and post-gain knobs on both channels,
a shared three-band EQ, and global presence
and resonance controls that affect the
response in the power stage. $1,299.
peavey.com — AT
’59 Triple Divine
WITH I TS S PUT N I K- ERA lines, this
lightweight guitar pays homage to the DC-3
Deluxe “shorthorn” model from the late 1950s
and features three period-correct lipstick-
tube pickups with tape-wrapped Alnico
VI magnets and chrome covers made from
80/20 bass-zinc alloy, the formulation used
in the lipstick casings that Dano sourced from
Max Factor back in the day. These twangy-
sounding single-coils feed volume and tone
knobs and a five-way blade switch. In classic
form, the body is constructed with a spruce
frame with Masonite top and back, and the
bolt-on maple neck is carved with a C shape
and sports a 25-inch scale, 14-inch radius
rosewood fingerboard with 21 frets and a
bone nut. The ’59 Triple Divine is a nice-
playing guitar that sounds cool for roots
rock, blues and Americana — and even faux
acoustic-electric sounds. $749.
danelectro.com — AT
True Hybrid
(TL2EC-BLBL-HSS)
M Y FAVO R I T E NA M M 2 0 23 discovery,
Cole Clark’s True Hybrid was so impressive on
both sides of the acoustic/electric equation
that I plunked down the dough to buy one for
myself. Since then, I’ve used it at every show
I’ve performed. If there’s only room for a single
instrument on a plane or at a gig, this durable
double-sided axe is the one that goes,
because, as the name suggests, it’s a true
hybrid that features a full complement of
acoustic and electric pickups, for a grand
total of six. Dual outputs facilitate sending
the acoustic tone to an acoustic amp or a P.A.
while the electric tone goes to its own amp.
Acoustic strings give it a bona fide feel, and
the easy playability and cutaway body make
it ready to rock. Without a doubt, the True
Hybrid is a true classic. $3,399.
coleclarkguitars.com — JL

82 JAN UA RY 20 24

TAYLOR
BE 814ce Grand
Auditorium
TAY LOR WE NT ALL-OU T with its new
flagship Builder’s Edition, giving it beveled
edges, fancy appointments, top-shelf woods
and high-end tuners. It’s gorgeous, comfy to
hold and plays like a dream, plus it has a
modern high-fidelity sound that matches its
look and feel. Taylor creates the top from four
pieces of Adirondack spruce rather than the
usual pair of book-matched Sitka slabs.
Adirondack is considered an upgrade and
was the standard until supplies dwindled.
Taylor employs it here seamlessly in pieces
once too small for use. The result is a
quintessential Taylor that represents a new
pinnacle for the storied guitar maker. $4,499.
taylorguitars.com — JL
KISS MY STRINGS
JAM Offset Bridge
G ERMA N GEAR M AK E R Kiss My Strings
has joined the ever-growing market for
replacement Jazzmaster/Jaguar bridges
PRESONUS
Eris Studio Monitors
PR ESON US GAV E I TS entry-level line of
Eris studio monitors a revamp this year with
the arrival of the Eris Essential, Studio and
MESA/BOOGIE
Mark VII
THE SU PREM E LY CAPA B LE Mark VII
lets you dial-in practically any tone at any
gain and volume level via three channels,
GEAR OF THE YEAR!
with this rugged, thoughtful design. The
company first came to my attention when
I spotted one of their creations on a Piet
model guitar made by countryman Nik Huber,
indicating there was virtue in this interesting
new chunk of hardware. Part of KMS’s
solution to the offsets’ age-old “wobbly
bridge” syndrome comes via custom
“thimbles” and chunky bridge posts that fit
into them precisely, eliminating the rocking
action of the originals. The intonated solid
brass saddles are cut with “V” slots that hold
the strings securely and plated to let the
string slide through the groove. The results
are clearly evident as heard in improved
sustain and greater tuning stability. $155.
kissmystrings.de — DH
Pro active studio monitors, each of which is
aimed at different groups of users. The
Essential line is ideal for project studios and
offers Bluetooth and headphone outputs. The
Studio line ups the ante with more power and
clarity via a custom-tuned EBM waveguide,
improved high- and low-end reproduction,
and controls to fine-tune the monitors for
your space. But I was immediately sold on the
Pro 6 and Pro 8, a pair of Atmos-ready coaxial
monitors that offers pinpoint precision for
detailed mixing. Toss in the Pro Sub 10
subwoofer for even more low-end clarity.
Essential, $85–$215 per pair. Studio,
$114–$221 per monitor. Pro 6, $354 per
monitor. Pro 8, $444 per monitor. Pro Sub
10, $399. presonus.com — CS
each with three selectable modes that
include the new Mark VII and Mark IIB modes
on channels two and three. Each channel has
independent gain, treble, mid, bass, presence
and master controls, and there’s a channel-
assignable five-band graphic EQ. The tubes
consist of four 6L6s (or EL34s via the bias
switch) and five 12AX7s, and the Multi-Watt
function lets you independently select 90-,
45- or 25-watt operation for each channel,
while the Simul-Class power section provides
three distinct tonal characters depending on
the wattage and associated operating class.
All this plus a built-in Cab Clone IR, an XLR
direct out, MIDI, FX loop, channel-assignable
spring reverb and a six-button foot switch.
$3,799. mesaboogie.com — AT
JAN UARY 2 024 83
R E V I E W | GEAR OF THE YEAR 2023

3RD POWER Clean

Sink MkII
T H E CL EA N S INK MkII adds a host of
features to the already popular MkI model to
make this a most impressive and versatile
clean-voiced tube combo. The amp delivers
around 20 watts from a pair of 6V6GT output
tubes — a volume level easily reduced by
designer Dylana Nova Scott’s patented
Hybrid-Master control — with lush onboard
tube/spring reverb. Rolling 3rd Power’s unique
Voicing control from AM to AC dials the Clean
Sink MkII from American to British tonalities,
or lands you anywhere in between. The
compact 1x12 combo carries Scott’s preferred
Celestion Alnico Gold speaker, and the whole
package comes in at a scant and portable
31 pounds. $2,599. 3rdpower.com — DH

NEURAL DSP
Quad Cortex
THE QUAD CORTEX backs up its claim
of being the most powerful modeling floor
processor with 2GHz of six-core SHARC- and
ARM-based processing, more than 50 amps,
70-plus effects and over 1,000 IRs. It has 256
factory presets and up to 2,560 user preset
slots, as well as amp, cab and pedal-capture
capabilities, full touchscreen control and
editing, USB audio-interface capabilities and
more. With 11 stomp switches that double as
rotary controls, a large volume knob and a
touch screen that displays the current preset
and detailed signal flow, the interface gives
access to all amp, pedal and cab blocks.
Small wonder it’s redefining how guitar tones
are created. $1,699. neuraldsp.com — AT
KNAGGS
Severn SSS Trem
AN IMPR ESS I V E S -ST YLE meticulously
crafted from top-grade woods, the Severn
has a novel two-piece vibrato that uses a
steel plate surrounding the bridge pickup, in
Tele fashion, hinged to a bridge that rides on
bearings to eliminate friction. The result is a
system that provides incredibly smooth trem
action and return-to-pitch reliability, making it
the centerpiece of the Severn SSS Trem. More
than a gorgeous and superb-playing guitar
with delicious tones, this is a musical
performance tool for those who seek the
ultimate expression from a classic-style axe
with three single-coils. Knaggs offers a vast
array of options in woods, neck shapes,
pickups and custom work, and, as such, the
Severn SSS Trem that we presented in the
December 2023 issue represents the tip of
the iceberg in terms of what’s available from
this innovative builder. $5,600.
knaggsguitars.com — AT
PRS
Myles Kennedy
Signature
T HE S I G NAT U R E M O D EL of Alter Bridge
guitarist and vocalist Myles Kennedy has a
T-style swamp-ash body and a meaty bolt-on
maple neck topped with a maple ’board that
has a 25 ½–inch scale, a 10-inch radius and
22 frets. Kennedy asked for elements found in
his vintage axes, so PRS gave it a plate-style
steel bridge with two brass barrel saddles.
They further twisted the recipe with a pair of
Narrowfield pickups that blend humbucker
mass and single-coil sparkle — with zero hum
— and a control scheme consisting of volume
and tone knobs, a five-way blade switch and
a push-pull function on the tone pot that
works like a preset treble-rolloff on the rear
pickup for quick segues into fat distortion
tones. The result is a sleek workingman’s
guitar that puts playability and tone above all
else. $2,899. prsguitars.com — AT

84 JAN UA RY 20 24

FENDER
Gold Foil Telecaster
T H E SO - CALL E D “GO LD -FOI L”
pickups found on budget-grade guitars of
long ago have enjoyed renewed popularity
since the early 2010s or so, and indeed can
sound wonderful in the right setting. The
units on Fender’s Gold Foil Telecaster,
however, are in fact not authentic gold-foils
under the hood. Instead, those trendy
covers hide a pair of great-sounding
mini-humbuckers made in the style of the
Gibson Firebird mini, and which issued
surprisingly toothsome tones in our test
guitar. Still bright and outwardly “Fendery,”
they also delivered a juicier, slightly hotter
performance than traditional T-style
single-coils, birthing a guitar that’s able to
rock, twang and jangle all at once. $1,199.
fender.com — DH
FISHMAN
AFX Mini Pedals
FIS HMAN DOV E H EAD LO NG into the
pedal pond with the AFX series of mini effects
boxes that deliver pristine tone and superior
PRS
Sonzera 20 Combo
PRS AMP D ES I G NER Doug Sewell
tweaked the Sonzera’s circuit for improved
voicing, lower noise and greater reliability, and
L.R. BAGGS
HiFi
THE HIFI IS a simple and affordable
plug-and-play acoustic bridge pickup system
that bottles a guitar’s acoustic essence and
GEAR OF THE YEAR!
flexibility. The Pocket Blender AB/Y mixer,
Broken Record looper/sampler, Pro EQ Mini
preamp and equalizer, and AcoustiVerb
reverb are voiced to play nice with acoustic
amps like the venerable Fishman LoudBox,
and we loved what we heard. AFX effects
process at 32 bits in parallel, meaning the
effected signal runs alongside the pure direct
signal, not right on top of it. AFX pedals can
operate in mono with standard instrument
cables, but they also have an option for
dual-channel audio when utilizing TRS stereo
cables. You can then assign each pedal using
the little switch on the back to set the audio
path to tip or ring and choose between
buffered or true bypass. $119 each. Pocket
Blender, $89. fishman.com/afx — JL
updated the feature set to deliver American-
voiced performance at an impressive price. As
a 20-watt, black-panel, 1x12 reverb combo,
the new Sonzera checks several boxes made
standard since Fender’s legendary Deluxe
Reverb arrived in 1963. A foot-switchable Gain
(lead) channel, FX loop and external bias-
adjustment facilities extend the amp’s range
considerably, while the pair of 5881 output
tubes (up from the original format’s 6V6s)
deliver a big-amp voice with a smaller-amp
output, gaining reliability and long tube life in
the process. Add it all up, and the Sonzera
impressed with everything from its American-
leaning clean to crunch tones, and even some
Brit-stack-worthy lead girth when pushed.
$999. prsguitars.com — DH
electrifies it in unique fashion for vivacious
and organic tone. It’s like a cross between a
mic and a hot, sensitive pickup, with none of
the feedback issues. HiFi captures string
brilliance and body percussives in a way that
transcends the middy tone of a typical
magnetic soundhole pickup, with none of the
plastic quack associated with an undersaddle
piezo. A pair of transducers adhere non-
invasively under the bridge plate, and a
high-fidelity preamp sculpts the output
signal. According to Baggs, the HiFi is the
next-level version of the company’s iBeam
active bridge-plate pickup system, as well as
a response to a challenge thrown down by
Lloyd Baggs’ friend and tone chaser Jackson
Browne. $199. lrbaggs.com — JL
JAN UARY 2 024 85
R E V I E W | GEAR OF THE YEAR 2023

SOMA Cosmos Drifting

Memory Station
IN S PI RE D BY RO BERT FRI PP and
Brian Eno’s Frippertronics system, Cosmos
creates ambient washes of sound through a
combination of extremely long delay times
and multiple delay lines. It offers four
algorithms — Two Delays, Four Delays, Giant
Reverb and Granular Delay — each with three
variations, along with unique controls like
Blur, Drift and Suppressor/Compressor that
affect how various algorithms perform.
High- and low-pass filters allow further
sculpting of the effects, as do reverse and
looping functions. Far from your traditional
delay pedal, Cosmos is a generative musical
device designed for mindful sonic discoveries.
$699. somasynths.com — CS

FENDER ’48 Dual
Professional JB Edition
T H IS BEAUT IFU LLY R EN D ERED
replica of Joe Bonamassa’s personal amp has
instrument volume, mic volume and tone
controls; four inputs; hand-wired circuitry; a
solid-pine cabinet; white tweed covering and
a brown fabric grille with chrome center strip.
The two-channel combo uses two EF806S
pentode tubes in the preamp, two 6L6 power
tubes and a 5U4GB rectifier to deliver 26
watts into a pair of Celestion JB35 10-inch
speakers. The Dual Pro is an aggressive rocker
for a late-’40s design, with killer distortion
and great clean tones that are totally
controllable from your guitar’s volume knob.
Leo Fender really got it right with this badass
combo. $3,499. joebonamassa.com — AT
REVEREND
Crosscut
THE CROSSCU T H AS a body made of
korina to enhance harmonic richness, and a
six-bolt-joint roasted-maple neck with
roasted fingerboard that offers a 12-inch
radius, 25 ½-inch scale and 22 medium-
jumbo frets. Sustain is enhanced with a
plate-style steel bridge and through-body
stringing, and tuning stability is excellent
courtesy of Reverend’s Pin-Lock tuners. But
it’s the Railhammer pickups that are essential
to this guitar’s soulful tones. Their hybrid
construction places rails under the wound
strings and poles under the plain strings to
deliver fat, tight and clear tones without
noise. Controls include a treble-bleed volume
that preserves highs when you turn down,
a master tone and a Bass Contour knob that
varies the voicing of the pickups. There’s even
a Pure Tone output jack to give the output
signal that extra bit of juice. $1,099.
reverendguitars.com — AT
EPIPHONE
1958 Korina Flying V
AN I M P R ESS I V ELY ACCU RATE
rendition of Gibson’s radical V from the year it
was introduced, the 1958 Korina Flying V
features a korina body and neck, the latter
offering a period-correct shape and a
long-tenor joint for vintage authenticity. The
rosewood fingerboard has a 25 ¾–inch scale,
a 12-inch radius and 22 frets. The PAF-style
Gibson Burstbuckers feed a three-way toggle
switch and high-quality CTS pots for the dual
volume and master tone controls, which sport
black top-hat knobs with nickel dial pointers.
The gold-plated hardware includes an ABR-1
Tune-o-mater bridge, a V-shaped brass string
plate and Epiphone Deluxe tuners with tulip
buttons. It has excellent playability and
delivers thick, rich and expressive tones,
and — like its partner, the 1958 Korina
Explorer — comes at a great price. $1,299.
epiphone.com — AT

86 JAN UA RY 20 24

Editors’
FENDER
Pick
Tone Master Pro
Floor Modeler
TESTE D BY DAV E HU NT E R
W IT H ARGUAB LY T HE richest history
and deepest track record for groundbreaking
tube-amp design and manufacture in the
industry, Fender was bound to make big news
when it joined the digital competition with a
modeling rig. Indeed, the introduction of the
Tone Master Pro late in 2023 sparked some of
the most frenzied gear buzz of the year, and
immediately changed the calculus for every
old-school holdout who might consider a
future move to modeling.
The modeling format in general is familiar
to most guitarists by now, whether or not they
have ever played one, and the Tone Master
Pro presents no obvious surprises. It’s a
foot-switchable, floor-based unit that
G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
includes digital processing for more than 100
amp and effects models, 6,000 Fender-
captured impulse responses (IRs) of speaker
cabs and mics (plus support for third-party
IRs), a 60-second stereo looper, onboard
space for more than 500 user presets and
thousands more from the cloud using the
remote Tone Master Pro Control app, with
USB and Bluetooth connection to auxiliary
functions, stand-alone digital audio interface
capabilities and much more.
The Tone Master
Pro’s dark-gray metal
enclosure and general
T HE INTRODUC T ION
layout put it in line SPARKED SOME OF T HE
with the serious
competitors looks-
MOST FRENZIED GEAR
and layout-wise. At BUZZ OF THE YEAR
14.6 by 10.3 by 3.8
inches, and a weight of just under nine
pounds, it’s about 30 percent smaller than
the Line 6 Helix Floor, 20 percent smaller than
the Fractal FM9 and some 40 percent larger
than the Neural DSP Quad Cortex, all of
which are also currently identically priced.
Like the Quad Cortex, its 10 foot switches
double as rotary knobs to dial in myriad amp
R E V I E W S | MODELERS
and effect parameters, but these are bigger
and designed like mini knurled Telecaster
knobs, a nice touch that also aids grip. Other
nifty features include the built-in power
supply, requiring no external units to misplace,
just a standard three-prong cable with IEC
connector. Switch on the Tone Master Pro and
a miniature red amp-style jewel light comes
to life to indicate the early stages of powering
up. It’s a nice, familiar touch.
The control face also includes two large
knobs, one either side
of the seven-inch color
touch screen, for rotary
preset selection (push
to toggle rig view) and
master volume (push
to access internal
mixer). Each foot
switch also includes an LCD “scribble strip”
that elucidates its current function, which
changes according to mode (from preset
selection, control parameter, amp/effect on/
off and more). At most, this allows for eight
instant tone selections from any rig while in
FS (foot switch) mode, but foot switches
can be programmed to perform multiple
JAN UARY 2 024 87
R E V I E W S | MODELERS

S P E C I F I C AT I O N S

Tone Master Pro Floor Modeler

CONTACT fender.com
PRICE $1,699

CONTROLS Rotary preset selector, master

volume, 10 dual-function foot-switch/rotary
controls, full color LCD touch-screen interface
DSP Eight core processor, 32-bit digital audio,
44.1kHz internal sample rate (project sync
44.1/48/88.2/96kHz)
I/O Inst input, mic/line input (dual XLR and Each foot switch has
an LCD “scribble
¼” TS/TRS), send and return for four FX
strip” that elucidates
loops, left and right output 1 (both XLR and its current function.
¼”), left and right output 2 (¼” only), aux In,
headphones out, Exp 1 & 2, toe switch, amp
control, USB-C, DIN MIDI In and Out/Thru, The matching Fender/
micro SD card slot, and IEC AC power Mission Engineering
SP1-TMP foot pedal is
connection
sold separately.
SIZE 14.6” x 10.3” x 3.8” (WxDxH)
WEIGHT 8.8 lbs
BUILT China

KUDOS A well-designed and ruggedly

constructed modeler with professional-
caliber sound quality and impressive
versatility on all fronts
CONCERNS The non-Fender amp models
initially available might seem limited for
some tastes

functions (e.g. overdrive and delay on and screen presents realistic-looking graphic
tremolo off with the press of just one button), representations of the effects, amps and cabs
and external expression and switch pedals available in the selected rig, along with very
can further expand the range. The two foot clear designations for further functions. Tap
switches at the right end of each row remain an amp or a pedal to reveal a larger rendition
dedicated to, in the top row, FS mode (or hold and full access to its controls via eight rotary
for looper) and, in the bottom row, tap tempo foot-switch/encoders. Suffice it to say these
(or hold for tuner). adjustments and the saving of edited presets
All the above adds up to a lot of easy and are about as easy as one could hope for and
intuitive user access to programming and mostly self-explanatory, even without the
functionality. But perhaps the biggest boon in comprehensive literature included. (It’s worth
this package is the noting that editing
seven-inch color doesn’t offer deep-
touchscreen. Unlike
TO M Y EA RS, THE dive tweaks of tube
the generic symbols F EN DE R MOD ELS SOUND bias and other techy
offered on those of parameters, the way
most of its rivals, the
TH E M OST DIA L ED-I N that Helix and Quad
Tone Master Pro’s O F THE BU N CH Cortex do.)
Connectivity is extremely comprehensive.
In addition to the single ¼-inch instrument
input and Amphenol combined ¼-inch/XLR
mic/line input, there are sends and returns
for a full four FX loops (with three and four
combinable in stereo); left and right ¼-inch
and XLR outs with ground-lift switch for
output 1; left and right ¼-inch outs for output
2; a ¼-inch stereo headphone out; an 1/8-inch
aux in (external sources can also play through
the unit via Bluetooth); connections for Exp 1
and 2; a toe switch (an extra latching or
non-latching foot switch); Amp Ctrl (for
switching of up to two functions on an
external amplifier); MIDI In and Out/Thru;
and a USB-C connection.
There’s also a Micro SD card slot to
expand storage capabilities. And while the
Tone Master Pro has no expression pedal built
into the unit, Fender has partnered with
Mission Engineering to offer the SP1-TMP
($175, sold separately), a rugged co-branded
foot pedal specifically designed to access
a range of Tone Master Pro functions (more
on this to come).
The Tone Master Pro’s selection of 30
amp models represents respectable

88 JAN UA RY 20 24 G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
versatility (most are doubly available as either
combo/half-stack or head to match with
alternative speaker cabs), but is perhaps not
overabundant in its variety. Fender offerings,
unsurprisingly, make up nearly half the
content, with the 14 models including the
expected classics plus emulations of the
Bassbreaker and Blues Jr, yet no tweed
Champ, Deluxe or Super, rather puzzlingly.
Otherwise, there are thinly disguised
renditions (as per most modelers) of several
Marshalls (but no JTM45), a Vox AC30, a
Roland JC120, a couple of Mesa/Boogies, a
Friedman BE-100 and Bogner Uberschall, and
the first ever authorized models of the EVH
5150 IIIS 6L6 Stealth. No Hiwatt or Orange; no
Dumble, Trainwreck, Matchless or the like,
and no bass amps, but Fender has
commented that there are many more to
come. Effects options are relatively plentiful
and span all the essential categories, while
including a range of Fender specifics, veiled
renditions of classics and generic studio units.
Add the 26 cabs (with more available) and
seven mics, and it covers a good range of
essential sounds.
I tested the Tone Master Pro with a
Telecaster, a Jazzmaster and a Les Paul,
through a pair of Fender Tone Master FR-10
cabs as supplied (see sidebar) and with
headphones. By any measure the amp, cab
and effects models sounded fantastic. The
emulations sound entirely realistic, dynamic
and expressive, relative to the aural
adjustment that your listening format of
choice requires. The sturdily built, co-branded
Fender/Mission SP1-TMP functioned
seamlessly, too, offering easy access to not
only wah-wah and volume but also creative
control over up to five modeler parameters at
once. To my ears, the Fender models sound
the most dialed-in of the bunch, and the
editing capabilities made it easy to fine-tune
and create presets and from-scratch rigs
brewed to my preferences.
Ultimately, the Tone Master Pro offers an
impressive amount of versatility — in sounds,
functionality and connectivity — all at a level
of quality that suits the professional stage as
well as the weekend club, basement and
rehearsal room. Most such releases land
these days with an implied “more to come”
caveat, and undoubtedly there is, but just as
it sits, the Fender Tone Master Pro is easily
worthy of an Editors’ Pick Award.
G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
Editors’
FENDER
Pick
Tone Master Pro FR-10
Powered Cabinet
THE RAM PANT QU EST for suitable
amplifiers and speakers to reproduce all that
DSP-generated guitar tone as sound waves
has yet to produce a
clear winner. Powered
cabs by Kemper, THE FR-10 SOUNDS
Atomic, Line 6 and GREAT AND DELIVERED
Friedman have won
over some fans, FUL L-RANG E R ES PONSE
while others have AND AMP-LIKE FEEL
conscripted powered
monitor wedges. But the gasp of relief heard
round the world when Fender introduced its
first full-range, flat-response (FRFR) powered
cabs, the Tone Master FR-10 and FR-12,
suggests that this sector is still very much up
for grabs. We tested a pair of FR-10s to tap the
full stereoscopic depths of the Tone Master
Pro modeler featured in the main review.
Designed as a Hot Rod Deluxe combo cab
with a top rear-facing control panel, this box
looks almost identical in its black Tolex with
silver grille cloth. The FR-10 cabinet is made
from light plywood and contains a 1,000-
watt, Class-D power amp driving a 10-inch
special-design speaker and a one-inch
wide-dispersion high-frequency tweeter. (The
FR-12 is also 1,000 watts but carries a 12-inch
speaker.) There’s a combined ¼-inch/XLR
input and an XLR output for chaining to other
destinations. Controls include an appealingly
amp-like volume, treble, middle, bass, and cut
(i.e. high cut). Amid all this, the tilt-back legs
present as a strangely exciting feature, and the
porting forward of this ’60s Fender innovation
is extremely practical, too, enabling the guitar
cab to achieve monitor-wedge projection.
In addition to the Tone Master Pro, I tested
the FR-10 with a Neural DSP Quad Cortex and
an Atomic Ampli-Firebox, since this powered
cab will also be of interest to guitarists eager
to cross the streams. Through it all, I found it
was both great sounding and extremely easy
to use, delivering an impressive marriage of
full-range response and amp-like feel, and
giving an overall performance that I felt at
home with much more quickly than some
FRFRs at twice the price.
The unit presents some white noise even
with no modeler plugged in, but its audible
level doesn’t increase as you roll up the volume
and becomes entirely
unobtrusive when you
start playing. The
volume control has
a very slow taper from
zero to noon, then
increases exponentially
from there to two
o’clock, but that’s easy to work with once
you’re aware of it. For its impressive four-way
ratio of sound quality, convenience, portability
and price, the Tone Master FR-10 earns an
Editors’ Pick Award.
S P E C I F I C AT I O N S
Tone Master Pro FR-10 Powered Cabinet
CONTACT fender.com
PRICE $499 street; FR-12, $549 street
CONTROLS Volume, treble, middle, bass, cut
POWER 1,000 watts peak, Class-D
CONNECTIVITY Amphenol ganged ¼”/XLR
input, XLR output, IEC power cable connector
CABINET Lightweight plywood
SPEAKERS 10” special design speaker and 1”
wide-dispersion high-frequency tweeter
SIZE 19.5” x 17”x 9.5” (WxHxD)
WEIGHT 26 lbs
BUILT China
KUDOS A well-built and impressively
good-sounding FRFR at an extremely good
price, with appealing amp-like looks
CONCERNS Some white noise audible
JAN UARY 2 024 89
R E V I E W S | AMPLIFICATION About the size of
a twin pedal, the
Torpedo Captor X is a
viable substitute for
cabs and mics, and
offers a ton of sound-
sculpting options via
its editing software.

TWO NOTES
Special Edition Limited
Run Torpedo Captor X
TESTE D BY DAV E HU NT ER

T H E ORIG INAL AN D standard Torpedo

Captor X came out mid-pandemic to a flurry
of anticipation and excitement that was
further pumped up by supply-chain issues
that made examples rather thin on the
ground. The Limited Run Torpedo Captor X SE
— the latest rendition of Two Notes’ compact
reactive load box, attenuator and IR loader —
is thin on the ground by design: It’s a Special
Edition made in vintage-looking, dark-brown
crinkle-coat finish with beige script logos,
with just 450 units available worldwide.
The Captor X SE is a descendant of the
long-running Two Notes Torpedo range and
the latest in a line of studio and live tools that
deliver efficient and great-sounding ways of
replacing cumbersome speaker cabinets with
versatile digital solutions, while delivering a
boatload of versatility. A rack-mounted Two
Notes Torpedo Live gave me my first lasting
diversion into Impulse Response (IR) cab
tones, and I enjoyed that unit in the studio
and occasionally live for several years.
Considerably smaller and configured as more
of an amp top box, the Captor X SE holds just
six DynIR presets compared to 128 in the
now-discontinued Torpedo Live, although the
full 128 can be accessed on the fly from the
Torpedo Remote preset editing software.
The Captor X SE also does several things
better than its larger predecessor. Dual left
and right XLR outputs make the most of the
multidimensional sounds you can craft in the
Torpedo Remote editor, and the function of
the reactive load box is extended as an amp
attenuator, with a three-way switch on the
back offering two levels of attenuation to any
matched speaker cab connected, plus full
power. In addition to the six-position preset
switch and high/low input level switch,
front-panel controls include output level
(which also governs the ¼-inch stereo
headphone out), voicing (global EQ) and
space (stereo width).
As handy as these are, it all gets a lot
more powerful once you access the Torpedo
Remote editing software via USB to your
computer, or wirelessly from your phone or
tablet. While Captor X SE works without
Torpedo Remote, the software opens up
astounding levels of user control and is
essential for crafting your own presets rather
than merely sticking
with the six loaded
from the factory. AFTER JUST 30
Highlights include
the ability to swap and
MINUT ES , I FOUN D
fine-tune the 32 DynIR MYSELF ABOUT READY
cabinets included with
the software (or
TO ABANDON AL L
substitute third-party OT HER FORMS OF RIGS
IRs); capture sounds
from them with pairs of virtual microphones
individually selectable from eight classics
within 13 studio-grade room simulations;
add post-effects processing for stereo image,
parametric EQ, reverb (12 room emulations
plus spring, plate and custom) and more;
and even access a built-in tuner. A nifty
Twin Tracker feature offers automatic double
tracking (ADT) with variable width and depth
at the touch of a button on any preset you set
up, adding gobs of thickness and dimension
to an already big tone.
That’s a lot going on in a box about the
size of a dual effects pedal. While a pair of
Neutrik-style combined XLR and ¼-inch
outputs would be handy for those not
connecting to an
XLR-equipped stage,
and some form of
delay effect would
make the Torpedo
Remote’s post-effects
suite complete,
perhaps that’s
nitpicking.
I tested the
Torpedo Captor X SE with a variety of guitars
at the back end of a Friedman Small Box
head, a 65Amps London head and a tweed
Deluxe-style combo, occasionally into one
of a number of guitar cabs but mostly into
headphones or connected to Pro Tools and
the studio monitors via a Universal Audio
Apollo Twin Duo interface. It was here that

90 JAN UA RY 20 24 G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M

I hit one minor snag. Even with the two sub-
20-watt amps — never mind the 50-watt
Friedman — the red overload light flashed
easily and often when the unit was set to
the low input mode (high and low meaning
the reverse of what you might assume).
Fortunately, there were no issues with that
button in the high position, and I detected no
audible overload. I was also surprised to find
there’s no indication what decibel reduction
each of the two attenuated positions delivers.
The manual calls the middle position “Club”
and the lower position “Home,” while no
attenuation is called “Stadium,” and I’d say
that’s about right. While it doesn’t allow for a
whole lot of attenuation adjustment in a live
or rehearsal setting, the Captor X SE is all
about the cab-sim IRs and direct to front-of-
house or recording interface setups, and to
those ends, it utterly excels.
While the six factory-loaded presets
are generally usable, the Captor X SE really
comes to life once you start dialing in presets
in the Torpedo Remote to suit your own
playing style and genre. After just 30 minutes
or so spent in that pursuit, I found myself just
G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
The Torpedo Captor
X packs a lot of
analog and digital
I/O options in its
compact panel.
about ready to abandon all other forms of
rigs — whether physical speaker cab or digital
all-amp modeling solution — in my own
playing and recording. More than just a viable
substitute for a collection of bulky cabs and
several mics, this package simply provided
a lot more sound sculpting and, ultimately,
better results than I’ve almost ever achieved
doing things the old-fashioned way.
As much as an old analog nut like myself
hates to admit it, the thick, punchy and
near-infinitely adjustable stereo sound from
this rig simply rocked, and with so much ease
that I never once found myself wanting to
plug in a cab. Playing dynamics felt and
sounded entirely cab-like, too. All that, and
it’s great to have viable, toneful, yet neighbor-
friendly access to the familiar, dynamic
sounds and playing feel of my tube amps.
While I didn’t see it detailed in the user
manual, I was able to place stereo delay
effects pedals after the Captor X SE’s
IR-treated output by running a stereo-to-
dual-mono Y cable from the headphone
out to a stereo delay processor’s inputs and
adjusting the output level to suit. This setup
places the spatial effects differently than
most in-the-loop settings, which go between
preamp and output stage, bumping them two
stages further and past the miked speaker (in
the virtual realm, at least), but these effects
often work perfectly well there and I was very
happy with the results.
All in all, the Two Notes Torpedo Captor X
SE is a cleverly designed unit that offers an
incredible bundle of sound crafting within its
brick-sized box, and it earns an Editors’ Pick
Award for this achievement.
S P E C I F I C AT I O N S
Special Edition Limited Run
Torpedo Captor X
CONTACT two-notes.com
PRICE $599 street
CONTROLS Output level, voicing, space,
six-position preset selector, high/low input
level switch, three-position attenuation level
switch, ground-lift switch.
CONNECTIONS Amp input (100 watts max),
cab output, L and R XLR outputs, power input,
USB input, MIDI input, ¼” stereo phones out
SIZE 6.7” x 5” x 2.5”
WEIGHT 2.9 lbs
EXTRAS 12VDC 200mA power supply
included
BUILT China
KUDOS Built in a handy and well-conceived
form factor; offers excellent cab sims, room
sound and more for both live and studio use
CONCERNS ¼-inch outputs would have been
a nice option, and attenuation output-level
settings are limited
JAN UARY 2 024 91
R E V I E W S | EFFECTS

TWA
Polara and a Fender Vintera II
Telecaster, the KM-01 offers lots
of ways to dial in sounds and is
indeed reactive. The sensitivity
control adjusts the fuzz intensity
Krytical Mass KM-01 and is responsive to picking

Reactive Octave Fuzz dynamics and guitar volume

TESTE D BY A RT TH OM PSO N
THE EARLY ’70s Maestro Bass
Brassmaster is the inspiration for Totally
Wycked Audio’s new Krytical Mass KM-01
Reactive Octave Fuzz. Originally designed in
2008, it was shelved for 15 years for reasons
that included founder Kevin Bolembach’s
obsession with nailing the sound of the
original Maestro. The wait seems to have been
worth it, because the Krytical Mass is a great-
sounding fuzz that’s more straightforward
than the TWA prototype that engineer Robert
Derby developed.
That said, the KM-01 is still a featuresome
device with knobs for sensitivity, dry and level;
a pair of mini pots for edge (high-frequency
rolloff) and bias; and four powerful mini-
toggle switches: HPF activates a high-pass
filter; LPF 1 activates a low-pass filter situated
post clipping diodes to add low-end to the
fuzz; LPF-2 is another low-pass filter located
after a twin-T notch filter to affect overall
tonality; and Mids is a three-position switch
that cuts midrange at specific frequencies in
the up and down positions (center is off). A
trimpot adjusts the Q,
or sharpness, of those
frequencies, which are
A TWEA KA B LE O C TAVE
in the 1-to-8kHz range. FUZZ THAT PU TS
A recessed phase
switch on the side of
M YRI A D TO N A L O PT IONS
the die-cast housing AT YOUR FI NG E RT IPS
changes the internal
transformer’s wiring from positive to negative
for more or less low end, respectively.
The display, which TWA says is based on a
scientific illustration of an atomic critical-
mass reaction, comprises 21 white and yellow
LEDs that can be set to cycle via an internal
switch (an adjacent trimpot varies the rate)
when the effect is active. It can also be set so
all the LEDs shine brightly when it’s active,
and dimmer when it’s bypassed.
Tested through a Fender Deluxe Reverb and
a Marshall JTM 50, and using a Guild Kim Thayil
settings, while the dry knob works
like a blend control to vary the
depth of the effect. Turn it left for
more octave-fuzz color and right
for thicker, rounder grind. The level
control adjusts the final output,
and there’s plenty of boost on tap.
The switches provide
abundant control over how you
shape tones, and with HPF up,
LPF-1 and LPF-2 down, and Mids
up, the Krytical Mass proved a
formidable fuzz that’s aggressive
and tight, yet surprisingly warm
and not at all harsh. The cool octave-up
tonality is more present with the LPF-1 switch
on (down), and that sound is shadowed by a
subtle low octave that combines to give the
KM-01 a voice that’s woolier and less shrieky
than a classic Octavia. Background
modulation is mainly noticeable on sustained
notes. It adds to the fun and makes things all
the more enticing as you start working the
feedback envelope at sizable volume.
The KM-01 sounds great with
humbuckers and single-coils, and the edge
control is useful for taming highs if you want
a smoother fuzz tone. The bias pot is another
tonal feature. It
adjusts voltage to
the transistors before
the clipping diodes,
allowing the fuzz to
sound softer/cleaner
or more distorted. The
sweet spot, where the
harmonic content sounded juiciest, was
around 11 o’ clock, and that’s where it stayed.
While it’s a very tweakable octave fuzz
that puts myriad tonal options at your
fingertips, at its core the Krytical Mass is an
organic and natural-sounding pedal that can
give the feel of playing something from ages
ago, when designers were excited about
taking transistor distortion in new directions.
In that sense, the KM-01 is modern, but with a
vintage soul, and well deserving of a spot on
any fuzz fanatic’s pedalboard.
S P E C I F I C AT I O N S
Krytical Mass KM-01 Reactive Octave Fuzz
CONTACT godlyke.com
PRICE $299
CONTROLS Sensitivity, dry, level. Mini pots:
Edge and bias. Switches: HPF (activates
high-pass filter), LPF 1 (activates low-pass
filter post clipping diodes to add low-end to
the fuzz), LPF-2 (low-pass filter post twin-T
filter, alters overall tonality of the the fuzz),
mids (3-position switch cuts mids at specific
frequencies in the up and down positions;
accompanying trimpot adjusts Q or
sharpness of the midrange frequencies).
Phase switch on the side changes wiring of
internal transformer from positive to negative
for more or less low end.
I/O Input, output, 9VDC power jack (adapter
not included)
FOOT SWITCH Mechanical on/off with true
bypass
EXTRAS Two internal trimpots and one slider
switch. 21-segment LED display with two
different visual options
SIZE 5.5” x 3.5” x 2” (DxWxH)
WEIGHT 1 lb
BUILT USA
KUDOS A unique octave fuzz with inspiring
tones
CONCERNS None

92 JAN UA RY 20 24 G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
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E N D P A G E | LEGACIES The Moodys perform on
Top of the Pops, July 1971.
(from left) Mike Pinder,
Graeme Edge, Ray
Thomas, Justin Hayward
and John Lodge.

How I Wrote…
“The Story
in Your Eyes”
Justin Hayward reveals
the story and hidden
message behind
the Moody Blues’
timeless 1971 hit single.
B Y J O E M A T E R A

“ T HE SO NG J UST sprung out of my it?” Hayward says with a laugh. “I wish I could channel of an AC30 Top Boost turned up full.
acoustic guitar one day while I was at home,” tell you more, but some of that is private.” In the solo and at the end, that’s the ES-335
guitarist and vocalist Justin Hayward says Despite Hayward’s decision to take a again through a Marshall Reverb-Fuzz Unit.”
about “The Story in Your Eyes,” the 1971 more rock-forward approach, an early demo
classic-rock tune by English legends the of the track emphasized keyboardist Mike ‘STORY’ TIME
Moody Blues. “I was just playing my Martin Pinder’s Mellotron orchestrations. “Only a Released as a single in the United States in
D-28 — I don’t know for certain if it’s from ’55 couple of weeks before entering the studio, July 1971, “The Story in Your Eyes” climbed to
or ’57, but it’s been with me since 1969 — and I had done a version of it with Mike at his number 23 on the Billboard chart and proved
the first thing that came to me was the place, with just me playing the guitar and him a popular cut on radio and in concert. The
middle-eight section. And from there, the working out the piano part for the outro. Mike song’s opening guitar riff was a distinctively
rest of the song came together.” then did eight or 12 tracks of Mellotron, ear-catching sound for radio, but remarkably,
bouncing from one machine to another. And Decca declined to issue it as a U.K. single.
LESS P ROG. MORE ROC K. it only sounded good when he had done it True to Hayward’s intentions, “The Story in
“The Story in Your Eyes” would become a and multitracked it.” Your Eyes” helped the Moody Blues cut a
standout track from the group’s 1971 album, more rock-oriented path, something they
Every Good Boy Deserves Favour. The song 33 5 TO THE RESCUE continued to follow on future hits like 1973’s
marked a decided change for the Moody Even so, the Mellotron would be relegated to “I’m Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band).”
Blues, who had found the background when In more recent years, the song has been
fame as a progressive- tracking for the official covered by artists as diverse as punk-rocker
rock act with albums “ I T ’S A LWAYS A BOUT release began in Stiv Bators, who cut his version in 1987, and
like Days of Future Past A LOVE A FFA I R, November 1970, as the power-pop combo Fountains of Wayne,
and hit songs including the group assembled which tracked its take on the tune in 2011.
“Nights in White Satin,”
I SN ’ T I T? I WI SH at Decca Records’ And while “The Story in Your Eyes” is a
“Tuesday Afternoon” I COU LD TEL L YOU Tollington Park studios stellar example of both Hayward’s songcraft
and “Questions.” in London. “I first put and the Moody Blues’ endurance as a
Hayward decided to
MO R E, B UT SO M E OF the acoustic guitar hit-making group, as Hayward explains the
take a more straight- TH AT I S P R IVATE ” down using the same song’s lyrics contain a clue to the band’s
ahead rock approach Martin D-28, with impending, if temporary, breakup, from 1974
than he had previously explored within myself and Graeme Edge on drums, and then to 1977, due to the strains of their increasingly
MI CHAEL PUTLAND/G E TTY IMAGES

the group’s orchestral prog-rock format.
“I deliberately saw it as a more harder-rocking
song from the outset,” he affirms.
The song’s lyrical theme, while somewhat
ambiguous, is also less mystical than the
group’s previous efforts, with allusions to a
relationship that endures, despite difficulty
and strain. “It’s always about a love affair, isn’t
worked on it from there,” Hayward recalls.
“I also double-tracked the acoustic. When it
came time for the electric guitar part, I used
a Cherry Red 1963 [Gibson] ES-335 that I’ve
had since 1968. The electric guitar that opens
the song — including feedback that’s in tune
to an A note — and goes all the way through
the song is the ES-335 direct into the Normal
larger and more difficult tours.
“Despite its personal nature, ‘The Story in
Your Eyes’ is also kind of about the band,”
Hayward reveals, citing the lyrics, “We’re part
of the fire that is burning, and from the ashes
we can build another day.” “There’s a kind of
confession in it, as we were soon about to go
through a rather awkward phase.”

98 JAN UA RY 20 24 G U I T A R P L A Y E R . C O M
9000 9001